TERRY FOX WISDOM…Terry Fox died on June 28, 1981 at the age of 22. Terry had cancer. He also had incredible spirit. In spite of earlier losing one leg to cancer, he ran halfway across Canada raising money for his cause. You can look him up on Wikipedia and see an amazing photograph of him running the equivalent of one Olympic marathon (26 miles 385 yards) on one leg every day! His plan was to run from St. John's, Newfoundland to Vancouver, British Columbia. His journey ended in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Terry left us with some powerful lessons. As the cancer started spreading to his lungs he was asked the following question… "Terry how you keep going every day… how do you keep making the effort to get to Vancouver in spite of all your pain?" He had an amazing answer. He said, "I don't worry about getting Vancouver… I just want to get to the next telephone pole!"
Terry's wisdom was that he was succeeding based on a very specific focus… "to get to the next telephone pole". For Salespeople there is a great message in his response. Don't focus too much on the long-term goals. Make some of your goals short term and be sure they are visible.
The benefit of short-term goals is that you can actually see them. Faith is not necessary. They are right in front of you. Just go ahead and do what you said you were going to do. Every step you follow, every short-term goal you accomplish leads you to your larger goals. As the expression goes, you are "eating the elephant one bite at a time". Set some short-term goals today, make them highly visible. Example: if you want to talk to 15 prospects today… take a sheet of paper, put a big 15 on it, and stick it in the wall in front of you. Get to that next telephone pole! No Excuses.