Of Crazy Days and Bumpy Ways

Today was one of those days.

You know, those days where your phone doesn’t stop ringing. And you pick up, each time knowing it is not going to be welcome news.

A fussy customer. Finance issues when processing an order. Urgent printing to be done by your customer and your much-needed consultant is out of town. Logistics headache.

Lunch was punctuated with calls between mouthfuls.

The mind was being yanked in different directions, with each train of thoughts dragged back from gathering momentum by another just as pressing thought.

Five things to do at the same time, and only two hands to do it.

My hands were slipping on the rope, losing grip from sweaty palms.

I knew it was time for a whistle to blow, for a much needed break in the tug of war against time. The moment when the coach calls the team into the locker room and says the motivating words that rouse their low spirits. When the Prep Talk comes to life. When the martial arts master looks his protégé in the eye, reminds him to focus, and strengthens his will to fight and win.

So when I finally retreated to the haven of Xiao Bai, my little car, it was with a sigh of relief that I slammed the door shut on the noisy world outside.

And then after a few calming breaths, I sorted through the mess inside my brains, compartmentalizing the information that belonged to each customer case.

Somehow that put things in a much more objective perspective. When issues become no longer problems but simply a task to be ticked off a To-Do list, it suddenly does not look that big and looming anymore.

But it went further than that.

Sometimes, what we need is not solutions but rather reasons why we need to take action. Going beyond scratching the surface by thinking up temporary solutions, we need to ask…

…Why am I facing the problem in the first place?

…Is the issue determined by external factors (environment, other people) or by internal factors (my attitude, psychological barriers, something I did or did not do)?

…Is the problem something that can be rectified permanently? And if so, then how?

The customer and logistics issues I was facing were not considered “good things.”

BUT, they came as a result of closing orders, which was DEFINITELY “a good thing.”

So what does that mean?

Should I NOT close any more orders so that I won’t have to face all these issues? Or does it mean that I have to accept that these are just part and parcel of closing orders? And if so, is there anything I can do or change in the way I am doing things to lessen the probability of such issues cropping up again the next time I close an order?

The questions could go on. But one thing became glaringly obvious:

If I want to be on the road of success, I gotta be willing to ride its bumpy turf because it’s not gonna be smooth.

If I want to be successful in whatever I am doing, I cannot expect things to be a walk in the park. Success is not going to appear at a snap of the fingers. It’s going to take A LOT of sweat, tears, and hard work. I will need to stay positive, to take “bumps in the road” in my stride, to stretch myself and rise to the challenges that come my way.

But hey, nobody said it would be easy….Only that it would be WORTH IT.

And that, for me, is motivation enough.

**After the self-prep talk, she went on to close the largest machine order she has done thus far. :)**