In 1870, a young man named Thomas Adams was trying to find a cost-effective substitute for rubber. He began experimenting with the sap from the Central American chicle tree, but every attempt to convert the sap into rubber failed.
He became so frustrated, he threw a piece of the sap into his mouth and began chewing. He liked the taste. Instead of continuing along the same road to rubber, which he felt would keep producing the same discouraging results, he changed direction. Adams used the sap to create the first mass-produced chewing gum in the world. The original name was Adams New York No. 1, but we know the gum today as Chiclets.
It’s natural to get frustrated .. tired … disillusioned in today’s housing market. You remember all those awards and top-salesperson-of-the-year plaques you won in the past and you wonder … what happened?
The short answer is “life.” Life happened. Life with all its uncertainties, challenges and unexpected twists. It rocks your boat and shakes your foundation. What can you do?
To begin with, forget the past. Ignore the awards on your wall. They can be anchors to your past and visual reminders of how sales used to be.
Then do what Adams did. Chew on your problems, chart a new direction and change course. Every day should be viewed as a new beginning … a new zone to explore. That zone isn’t the past or even the “just present” because as soon as you blink, the present becomes the past.
The zone you’ll be inhabiting is the future … the time ahead that’s filled with prospects, expectations, opportunities and your destiny. And the best part? The future comes at you one day at a time. You can handle that.
