It doesn't last long

A few months ago I changed my gym schedule. I switched my erratic evening gym routine to a consistent early morning gym routine. 5AM, Monday through Friday and a 7AM Saturday visit. To my surprise I have been pretty true to the schedule and feel the best I have felt in a long time. Unfortunately I gained three pounds after my first month but that's another topic for another day.  I made the change as the days were growing longer and was happy to get up at 4:45 in the pre-dawn light when even a few birds were already chirping. By late June it was definitely daylight at that hour but here at the end of July, only one month later, it's black again at 4:45AM. And it's getting a little tougher to drag my sorry self out of bed. Pray for me and my effort when winter comes and light (and warm weather) are nowhere to be found.

The point is that opportunities don't have a very long shelf life. Long days, warm weather and 5AM songbirds are here but for a brief time. In life we have to enjoy every minute of them while they are here and, if we're lucky, we may get another chance someday. The same is so true of ad sales. Opportunities that come our way today may never be back, at least not soon. Fail to take advantage of the fall home improvement/ lawn & garden season sales and you miss out on that chance for a year. Same is true of holiday selling. Missing out on advising a new client to run a door-busting grand opening campaign and you (and the advertiser) have lost that opportunity forever. Think about it. You get one chance.

If you are the ad rep that makes sales calls based on ads you see (or hear) running in another medium that you are really missing out. Settling for seconds will never put you in first place.

This morning as I entered the gym I asked Jim, one of the other early AM regulars if we were "having fun yet?" He sensed my waning enthusiasm for being up early. "Being here is like going to church," he answered. "Not everybody goes but those that do can have their lives changed by it. In life it's not the big things we do but the little things we accomplish that make the difference." Jim should have been a motivational speaker. He told me exactly what I needed to hear today.

Join me in a pledge to pay more attention to the little things that make us more successful. I noted this morning that the 5AM late July sky is an amazing gradient color when you look east. Venus and Jupiter were as bright as could be; couldn't see them at this hour a month ago in the early daylight. But you can see them now. By late August there will be other amazing sights. You'll find them if you look for them and embrace them fully.

The same is true of ad sales.

If you're reading this (God, I hope someone is) then drop me a note on the little things you do that contribute to your success. I'll try to include them in a future post. I'm reading mail at tcuskey@scotsmanmediagroup.com. Thanks for your precious time today.