Last Friday morning I found myself standing in line at the Mapco mini-mart in Clarksville, TN. I was on my way to do a Lunch & Learn for some potential clients. I don’t eat at these things since I provide the “Learn” while those who attend eat the “Lunch” so I stopped to get a mega-sized Slim Jim and a Monster Energy drink.
The line was long. The holdup was the usual suspect: people buying lottery tickets.
I’m not a big fan of lottery tickets. Nor am I of slot machines, horse racing, or anything else that takes my hard-earned cash in exchange for a remote hope that I’ll win some money. I understand there’s a certain rush of adrenaline that comes from the chance of a win. I see that optimism in folks whenever the Powerball jackpot gets into the hundreds of millions. Unfortunately, the odds are NEVER in your favor.
I prefer to win the old fashioned way: by outworking folks. As I stood there watching the folks in front of me, it dawned on me that I had much better odds of winning with a Slim Jim and a can of Monster. Odds were for me that at least one attendee from my Lunch & Learn would be interested in a further conversation. Maybe an onsite Lunch & Learn at her company. This free session would be so valuable it would parlay into a workshop for a pilot group of managers. They would find it so useful that they’d want it implemented at the headquarters site and then it would spread out to the remote sites. At least one of those attendees would leave the company within the next six months and keep the course workbook with my contact information in it and arrange for me to visit their new employer. I’d then do a Lunch & Learn there and the cycle would repeat.
This scenario happens frequently. The odds are ALWAYS in my favor. They are because I stack the deck to my advantage. I’ll take those odds. I prefer my destiny be in my hands rather than the Tennessee State Lottery’s hands.
But what about you?
All of us have equal access to the favorable odds that come from diligence, perseverance, and hard work. This week, rather than scratching off the silver foil from your ticket with crossed fingers, why not keep your cash and focus your attention on what actually makes a difference: working more efficiently, learning new skills, coming up with new ideas, or building a stronger network.
Let the dreamers dream. We’ll wake up and turn reality into that dream!
