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Fishing Lessons

Guest post by: Jim Stovall

Article Overview: Recently, I had the opportunity to spend an afternoon fishing with my father. This is something I highly recommend. He and I spent a lot of time fishing when I was growing up, but now we seem to get out once or twice a year. I find that the fishing is irrelevant. The key is the outing itself and the time we spend together, as well as the lessons I learn. Fishing is simply an excuse to enjoy an afternoon outdoors with someone you love and respect. Fishing somehow makes it legitimate. If you were to take an afternoon off work, stand at the lakeshore, and talk, you would be considered lazy or unproductive. But if you hold a fishing rod during the process, it makes it all somehow legitimate.

Fishing Lessons

Recently, I had the opportunity to spend an afternoon fishing with my father. This is something I highly recommend. He and I spent a lot of time fishing when I was growing up, but now we seem to get out once or twice a year. I find that the fishing is irrelevant. The key is the outing itself and the time we spend together, as well as the lessons I learn.

Fishing is simply an excuse to enjoy an afternoon outdoors with someone you love and respect. Fishing somehow makes it legitimate. If you were to take an afternoon off work, stand at the lakeshore, and talk, you would be considered lazy or unproductive. But if you hold a fishing rod during the process, it makes it all somehow legitimate.

During this last trip, I couldn't help but notice that my father and I were using the same equipment and standing in the same spot, but he consistently caught more fish than I did. I tried not to take this personally and tried to take notice of what he was doing different from me. Finally it occurred to me that he was casting out his line many more times than I was. He actually wasn't catching more fish per cast, he was just simply giving the fish more opportunities to be caught.

This is much like our success in life. The most successful among us may not have a higher percentage of success, they simply give themselves more opportunities to succeed. As a totally blind person, I am convinced that I could hit a baseball thrown by the best pitcher in the major league if you would allow me to swing as many times as I wanted to.

When you look at your own career, life, or success, ask yourself What is the one element that will do more to get me from where I am to where I want to be? Then, perform that critical element as much as possible. There are many sales seminars across the country designed to help those in sales and marketing to improve their closure rate. While these seminars may be beneficial, I would maintain that the easiest way to improve would be to simply make more sales calls.

Let the percentages take care of themselves. Control the things you can control. If we could ever eliminate the time we spend worrying about things we can't control, and invest that time focusing on the things we can control, we will be miles ahead. Focus on the important things in your day, and take every opportunity you can to go fishing.

Today's the day!

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Article Tags: excuses, Jim Stovall, lessons, productivity



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