Life Is Fragile

Sales Man Up

Life Is Fragile

Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it. -
Charles R. Swindoll


Every man dies. Not every man really lives. - William Wallace


While attending a sales conference last month, I was afforded the opportunity of enjoying breakfast with one of my counterparts from Puerto Rico. When asked about what he learned from the devastating hurricanes that blew through his country last year, he replied with tears in his eyes, “ Life is fragile.” So it is. I know as I pondered my friend’s statement, remembering that immediately after the storm, his soul was tortured, not knowing if some of his closest family members were even alive; or the challenging days that ensued, consisting of hours of waiting in gas lines in hopes to receive just enough fuel to keep his generator running one more day ; I realized how much of this life I have taken for granted. I thought of our friends in Houston who endured their share of Hurricane flooding and destruction; and California residents who ravaged and displaced by fires.

When I reach for the light switch, I automatically assume that the lights will come on. When I twist the handle on the kitchen sink, I don't even question if water will flow out. It doesn't even phase me that my AC will kick on when the thermostat senses the temperature increasing within my house. I take for granted that there is plenty of food within my fridge and pantry, not even giving it a second thought that my family and I have more than enough food to eat for today and the coming weeks. My toughest decision is what we will cook tonight from our large stash of supplies that we purchased at the wholesale club, where it seems like foods are packaged in pallet size containers. And when I leave the house to head off to my sales calls, I assume that the garage door will open with just a push of a lighted switch, and that my SUV will of course start up with one button. For those of us that live in first-world countries, we have become accustomed to the finer things of life. This is not meant to be a guilt trip, but merely an honest assessment.  Only when a natural disaster or personal tragedy strikes, do we find ourselves evaluating which things in life are most important- and it is not usually material possession or things to entertain us.

I think the danger that exists when living with such abundance, manifests itself when we allow ourselves to become lulled into a state of mediocrity. We can even begin to think we deserve these blessings, or slip into a state of apathy . How easily we forget how fragile life really is, and how all of it can change with one blink of the eyes. Is a house really a home without people to live in it ? Do material possessions really matter if there are no meaningful relationships to share them with ? Just how big will HD TV’s become ? 100”?

Sales territories can be fragile too. We can become so comfortable in a position or a successful territory, that we slip into a semi-comatose business state. When things seem to run on auto pilot, the temptation is to lay back and take our foot off the throttle. This could happen in the form of a large contract or a huge annuity client that brings us a steady stream of business. Have you ever fallen into this trap before? I did. Years ago, in another life, I had grown a relationship with a large public entity that accounted for over thirty percent of my annual business. Then suddenly, without warning, the real estate bubble popped, jobs were lost and revenue depleted so that almost overnight; this client dropped in volume by nearly 80%! Yikes ! I made a tactical mistake by not going deep and wide within my market. I took that business for granted assuming that the flow of business would always be there. I was wrong.

Embrace the fact that everything changes, and we have to change and adapt with it. Life is a delicate dance, and at the very moment that we think we've learned all the steps, the song changes. We must stay in the moment, and be thankful for for every blessing along the way !

The major value in life is not what you get. The major value in life is what you become. - Jim Rohn


Happiness is not something you postpone for the future; it is something you design for the present. - Jim Rohn