Andy Neary describes a moment at a Milwaukee coffee shop when he stopped blaming external factors for his failures in sports and sales. He argues that mindset, not circumstances, determines success, and calls for changing how you think rather than changing where you are.
Chapters
I can remember the day like it was yesterday. It was a cold December Saturday afternoon, and I was at my favorite coffee shop, Alterra Coffee in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. If you can picture, this building was beautiful, two stories, right on Lake Michigan, and the aroma of coffee filled the entire building. And I was sitting at a table right next to the window, looking out over Lake Michigan, feeling as gray as that December sky. Because with one month ago, I was 70% behind my sales goal. And with one month to go, I was about to fail once again. Up until that point in my career, I had blamed all of my external factors on my failures. Professional baseball was the fact I was too old to play in the minor leagues. I wasn't the prototypical size of a pitcher. I wasn't a top draft pick. Now, in business, I was blaming my boss, my co workers, my territory, the economy. Heck, I was even blaming the weather. You see, when you fail, you. You can try to change your external factors, you can blame your external factors, you can try to change your environment. But if you don't solve the real problem, it will carry with you wherever you go. So here we are, one week before we kick off a new and exciting year. And maybe you fell short on your goals this year. You maybe even felt like you failed. And so you look to next year wanting to change your factors, your external factors, your environment. But maybe all you really need is a change of mindset. You see, at the end of the day, you can try to change your external factors in your environment, but mindset is all that matters. So here's to a prosperous and exciting 2019. And until next year, bear down, focus on the target and strike out the status quo.
