One young lady from Russia piped up and said [read this in a thick Russian accent], “The second summer would be better than thees one, because, as vee say in my country, ‘The first pancake is always bad.’” 

I liked it.  Her proverb is true isn’t it?

Anything worth doing, is worth doing badly, at first.  The first pancake you create generally is over or undercooked and may not be the best shape either.  So it is with the first go-round at Southwestern: over or underdone summers.  Sometimes students come out of their first experience in different shapes.

If you’re selling, more than likely it’s going to take some time to master the skills–probably more than one summer!  If you’re recruiting, you may blow the initial conversation with a friend.  Your first series of phone calls to prospect may be largely crappy.  Your first interviews will probably not be ideal.  (The first group interview I held, I was 0-5–not the best “closing percentage.”)

Get beyond the first try.  Get to the second pancake. 

I would love to mandate a two year minimum stint at Southwestern once a student joins the team.  Why?  Because it takes time to get good at selling!  Some students catch on right at the end of the summer–then there’s no time to excel.  A second go-round would be better.  If you’ve ever re-taken a class, generally you do better the second time.   Why?  This time you’re familiar with the prof, the class, how he/she grades.  Odds are you improve.

So remember, all things are difficult before they are easy.  “The first pancake is always bad.”

When I was selling with Southwestern Company as a college student, I learned to take emotional pain in stride.  One of my favorite affirmations was: “Something about today will help me become a better father, a better teacher, a better husband…”.  In other words, I was attempting to put frustrating circumstances into perspective–I was trying to reframe the situation.   I told myself, “Someday this will be funny–it’ll make a great story.”  (Some of you may remember The Dirt Pile story, as an example.) 

Most of us survived those sales ordeals, and the fact that we went through them made us better.  Think about it–most of the stuff you’ve been through by way of pain has had a refining element to it.  If you workout, you can relate to what I’m saying–you push yourself, you strain your muscles, you experience pain.  (During my workouts with the Masters Swim Team, I often wonder why I’m swimming at 52…).  When you’re finished, when the pain ends, you feel good, you look better, your resting heart rate is low, endorphins flood your body.  (In my case, you smell like Eau de Chlorine.)  When you compete and win, all the pain you went through is now minimized and in perspective.

And now to the world of music!  I was listening to Alanis Morissette the other day while driving.  If you’re a fan of hers, you can hear the pain and anger–especially in her earlier work.  Alanis has faced some life challenges, but has worked through them and is even thankful for the experience.  Check out the chorus of her song, “Thank U” :

thank you india
thank you terror
thank you disillusionment
thank you frailty
thank you consequence
thank you thank you silence

If you’re experiencing a tough period in your sales/recruiting career, be thankful!  What you’re experiencing is on purpose.  Pain is a teacher.  Difficult circumstances are the great Kiln of Life, and your “impurities” are being burned out–like dross.  Be thankful, instead of put out, by your circumstances.

Do you have a story or comment about the positive side of negative circumstances?  Share!

If you look at your most successful professional athletes, sales professionals, CEOs, students, politicians or even parents, there are a couple things  they share in common: 

   1. They know what they want and understand the price that must be paid to accomplish it.  Vince Lombardi was quoted as saying, “Once you agree upon the price you must pay for success, it enables you to ignore the minor hurts, and the temporary failures.”
   2. They simply fail more times than anyone else. And they are okay with it.

Anyone who has achieved great successes in life has also experienced countless failures and setbacks on the way to their eventual success.  Here are some famous examples:

    * Thomas Edison’s experiments failed approximately 10,000 times before he invented the working light bulb.
    * Henry Ford of the Ford Motor Company went bankrupt 5 times before he finally succeeded in the auto industry.
    * John Grisham is one of 21st centuries most accomplished authors.  16 agents and 12 publishing houses rejected his first novel, A Time to Kill, before being picked up.�
    * Brett Favre is the career leader in interceptions thrown. He is also the leader in touchdowns, passing yards, completions and wins as a quarterback.

Besides obvious talents in certain areas none of these people are any different then we are. I will repeat that again. None of them are any different then we are! The sooner you buy into and embrace this fact, the quicker you will begin seeing your own level of successes.

Three things you can do now to move from a setback to success:

   1. Know what you want.  Clearly decide what you would like to be, do and have.  I would highly recommend the book, The Success Principles: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be, by Jack Canfield.  

   2. Write 2-3 personal setbacks to success stories.  This reminds you that you can accomplish many things when you put your mind to it. You have proof from past experiences.  

   3. Be prepared to fail.  There are two certainties of Failure: 1) It is guaranteed 2) It is essential to growth.  Learn to look at failure as a positive and not a negative.  The faster you can fail and learn from your mistakes, the faster you will succeed.

If you will do those three things you will be well on your way to experiencing the kind of success that you so richly deserve. I will close by sharing a quote I heard from one of my mentors, Zig Ziglar:

“Anything worth doing, is worth doing poorly, at first.”

Go Forth and Fail and love the journey.  Be Free!

–David Shoup