One of the biggest distractions to putting in a full day’s work is losing your power of concentration. If where you work is anything like where I worked, there’s a lot going on around you. It’s noisy. People are always talking. Phones are ringing and so on. You probably have a similar situation where you work. You have to learn to shut all that out. Sometimes people will want to come into your office. Maybe they just want to chat. The way I handled that was simple. I was never impolite, but I made it very plain to everyone who worked around me that unless it was an emergency, I didn’t want to hear from anybody. If someone didn’t seem to understand, I would say, “Bob, please excuse me but I’ve got a lot of things scheduled that can’t wait. If it’s important, please drop me a note and I’ll take a look at it later. Thank you”. My message was clear: “Not now, Bob”. I rarely ever got a note or message back, which told me they just probably wanted to chew the fat. As a rule, I also kept my office door closed. I wasn’t trying to be rude. I was focused on Joe Girard’s agenda for the day.
Concentrate on the Moment
I didn’t want anybody bugging me or disturbing me for any reason when I was working. Period. They all got the message, and that’s the way I operated. A lot of them disliked me for that. I probably did offend a few people with that approach along the way. But I made the choice, and it was the right one!
Listen, I’m no different from anyone else. Sure, we all want to be liked. We all want to be accepted. But that was a sacrifice I was willing to make. I wasn’t there to become a member of a social club. I was there to make a living. That was my priority. I had no other reason for being there whatsoever. That was my only purpose for being in that showroom every day. That’s why I was successful.
At the end of the day when I would be driving home, I remember the good feeling I had because I knew I had given it my best shot and put in a full day’s work, even if things didn’t go quite my way. I never had the sense of disappointment in myself that a lot of others must have felt because they slacked off. My appreciation of time was too ingrained in me to ever have that be an issue.
If you think you can cheat time, you’re dead wrong. You’re cheating yourself. Time is master over all of us. There is nothing on Earth that can stop its irreversible march. Only God can stop it. And that happens the day you’re told to “cash in”. That’s the day the party’s over. There’s no going back.
All you have is this golden moment—NOW! Right now. What are you going to do with it? Work when you work. Think of it as the very last race you will ever run. For the time of your life, give it all the gas you have in you! See you at the finish line!
Photo Credits: Quotes everlasting
