Motivational Articles & Stories - Harvey Mackay

Harvey Mackay

Customer Service Shopping Cart

Home

Biography

MackayMitchell Envelope Company
Harvey's Books

Speaking

Speaking Reviews
Companies Addressed
Booking Information

Columns

This Week's Column
Sign-up for Email Updates
Best Of...
RSS Feed/RSS Information

Store

Excerpts
Books
Mem-Cards
Bundles
Audio
Video
Accessories

Advice

Harvey's Podcast
Mackay 66
Harvey's Daily Quote
Share What You Learned
Publishing

Contact

Blog

Disappointment is opportunity in disguise

By Harvey Mackay

On Super Bowl Sunday, it was a real challenge for me to watch the
game at home and not wish I were in Miami losing my voice and
cheering for my hometown team, the Minnesota Vikings, to win it all.

Of course, we should have been there. The best offense in football.
A record-breaking season for scoring the most points ever. The
perfect kicker. The Vegas favorite to win the Super Bowl. And then,
ouch! The overtime loss to Atlanta. I've never heard the "Thunderdome"
so quiet. Sixty-five thousand silent fans. The disappointment was
crushing. We all sat there in shock. We were waiting for something
-- anything -- to make it all better. Not this time. But there's
always next year.

Handling disappointment is one of life's little challenges, and
often an indication of how we deal with adversity at work as well.
Anyone who has been in business can tell war stories about the bumps
in the road. But if they've outlasted the competition, ask for their
stories about survival. They've figured out how to turn
disappointments into opportunities.

Lose one of your best customers? Bummer. But it's not necessarily a
defeat. Find out why their orders are going elsewhere. If you messed
up, fix what you can and resolve not to make the same mistake again.
If the purchasing manager has a new brother-in-law who sells for
your competition, well, that's not a disappointment anymore. That's
your new challenge. Just don't lower your expectations. If you
expect nothing, that's exactly what you'll get.

Didn't get the promotion? Be honest with yourself. Were you right
for the job? Was it right for you? Do you have a future with the
company? Use your disappointment to do some soul-searching. If there
were two qualified people ahead of you, it could be a matter of
timing. If you've been passed over before, it's time to quit being
disappointed and recognize that you might have to jump to another
lily pad. You'll thank your old company later for helping you get
out in time.

Take a lesson from James Whitaker, the first American to reach the
summit of Mount Everest. Even though he was emotionally and
physically prepared, he encountered more than his share of
disappointments: avalanches, dehydration, hypothermia, and the
physical and mental fatigue caused by the lack of oxygen at 29,000
feet. Why did Whitaker succeed where so many had given in to their
disappointments? "You don't really conquer such a mountain," he
said. "You conquer yourself. You overcome the sickness and e
verything else -- your pain, aches, fears -- to reach the summit."

Achievers, like Whitaker, focus on the road, rather than the bumps
in it, to reach their destination.

Okay, you're on the other side of the desk. Can't find the right
person for a job? That's not a disappointment, that's a business
emergency. It's time to call in the pros. I use a headhunter and an
industrial psychologist for all my key hires. I can't afford to be
disappointed.

Is your staff underperforming? Time for another look in the mirror.
Perhaps they're as disappointed in you as you are in them. If you
can make their job more satisfying . . . challenging . . .
rewarding, do it. The results won't disappoint you.

Next time you're on the golf course, pick up your golf ball and take
a close look. The first golf balls manufactured had smooth covers.
An avid, but broke, golfer couldn't afford new ones, so he used
whatever he found along the course: beat up, nicked golf balls. His
playing partners soon noticed that their smooth-covered balls didn't
fly as accurately or as far as his. What was going on? But they
finally figured out what gave their friend the advantage.

Today, golf balls have as many as 432 dimples. The "rough spots"
enhance the ball's distance and accuracy.

Life's like that: rough spots sharpen our performance. And more
often than not, the obstacles can be turned into advantages. You
just can't let your disappointment get in the way.
Sign up for Harvey's weekly emails and never miss a column. You can also get each new column delivered right to your desktop by subscribing via RSS .

Sign up for Email Updates! | Content © 2007 Harvey Mackay