Life Is All About Positioning
By GLENN MOLLETTE
Guest Columnist
Good fishing requires positioning. Baiting your hook and dropping it in a place where there are fish is a start to successful fishing.
A salesman needs prospects and attitude. One shoe salesman was sent to Africa and called home crying, “Get me out of here! Nobody wears shoes!” Another salesman was sent and called back saying, “Send me every pair of shoes in the warehouse. I’ve never seen so many prospects!”
Selling requires having a product that people either need or very much want. People don’t need candy but they want candy so they buy it. People don’t really want to spend money on insurance but they need it. Sell what people want or need and you will sell.
Obtaining a certain job requires positioning. Becoming a schoolteacher requires college, teacher education, supervision and certification. You have to work hard and position yourself for potential opportunities.
A young man wants to be lucky in dating and maybe marriage. Yet, he may refuse to change his lifestyle. He doesn’t want to hold down a job, refuses to lose 20 pounds and is rude and inconsiderate. Thus, he refuses to try to position himself for potential dating prospects.
Every facet of life requires positioning. Positioning yourself for stability, success, or a major change always requires lots of time, training, sacrifice and commitment. Nothing is guaranteed, but with positioning comes potential.
Retiring at 65 most likely requires sacrifice the 30 years prior. It doesn’t always require 30 years. A friend of mine was flat broke at 50. He rented an old abandoned hamburger stand with an option to buy. He and his wife cleaned it up and worked it hard for sixteen years. They made the best food in town and averaged pocketing over $300,000 a year. They were able to retire. He knew at the age of 50 that he had to position himself if he had any chance of truly retiring.
Where do you want to be and what do you want five or 10 years from now? Start positioning yourself today and in a few years it just might work. However, it never comes with a snap of the finger. A garden is produced from preparing the soil, planting, cultivating and tending to the field. In time, you will reap some kind of a harvest if you don’t quit.
A lot of counties across America are hurting economically. People have left and nobody seems to be coming back to take over. The future of depressed areas begins today and it will probably take years to position these areas for economic stability. We all want it now, but we have to start today with hopes for tomorrow.
America needs to recuperate. We have debt to pay. We have an infrastructure to rebuild. There are millions of jobs that we must recapture and bring home. We have a military to strengthen and healthcare challenges. We can get to where we need to be. Getting there will take hard work and positioning ourselves to be where we need to be to accomplish what we want to do.
Glenn Mollette is an American syndicated columnist and author. He is the author of 11 books and read in all 50 states. This column does not necessarily reflect the view of any organization, institution or this paper or media source.
