Our memory banks are interesting to say the very least. Oftentimes we can’t remember. More often we remember incorrectly. Sometimes we get it just right.
I was once a 10-year-old lad in Hartsville, South Carolina. I can’t remember a darn specific thing about that year other than a skit I saw at summer camp that never escaped me.
A dog was out of sight of the audience, and it was howling and baying up a storm. Something horrible was certainly going on with that dog. Someone in the troupe was sent to check on the dog a few times and finally was able to find the problem. The poor dog was stuck “sitting on a cactus.”
But why wouldn’t he get off?
“He is just too lazy to move!”
I must admit I did not get the joke at first but over time I came to understand the remarkable lesson these folks were trying to teach us youngsters that day.
All of us will be pricked by the cactus from time to time in life. It may not be fair and certainly not predictable, but it will happen. When it does, are you going to bay and howl about it? Are you going to feel sorry for yourself or spend time agonizing over some decision that assisted you to the prickly plant? Are you going to find others who will listen to you and feel sorry for your plight, because it certainly is not your fault?
Or will you remember that it is normal to run into the cactus occasionally? That it happens to everyone. Are you going to struggle off the cactus, pull out the barbs and start the healing process?
When we are down for any reason, one of the best things I have heard to frame the situation in a favorable way is to think of the feeling like you would think of the flu: something that is uncomfortable but treatable. With the right prescriptions, the flu starts to go away.
Things like seven to eight hours of sleep a day, 120 ounces of water (not bourbon and water), healthy protein and veggies, hanging around positive people, and exercise of some sort for an hour a day are some of the antidotes to feeling down. If you are in sales or business, being down will not help you.
So, when you inevitably find yourself on that cactus, don’t howl and bay — move!
John Sterling is the Amazon bestselling author of “Sales for Noobs“ and CEO of NOOB School, an online resource for new salespeople. Previously, John helped build and sell Datastream for over $200 million. He has trained and hired hundreds of sales reps globally. Subscribe to his YouTube channel for new sales content every week. https://noobschool.org
