Do you play the lottery? Me either. But a lot of people do. Those of us that don’t probably make the rational that we’d never win; it doesn’t make sense and well, what are the odds? But what if I told you that you had a 50% chance of winning, would you grab a ticket —- probably, right? We all know the odds of winning the lottery are a long shot, but it’s a longer shot if you don’t play.
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Okay, so this really isn’t an article about playing the lottery. It’s an article about taking action. Sometimes in business it feels like you’re playing a lottery game — lots of competitors, really long shots, and scenarios that make you feel like winning is completely against the odds.
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But you have to play. You have to take action even if it feels like you have a chance in a million to win.
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Here’s a relevant scene from my own play book. I received a RFP for a project that sounded really interesting. I knew it would be just the type of project I would love working on so I put it in the “to-do” box. A few days transpired and I didn’t connect with my collaborative partners the way that I wanted to. Actually one didn’t get back to me and I let a bit too much time go by. So as I thought about it, you know what happened. I began to think, maybe I shouldn’t bother, there are probably much larger companies and too much competition anyway that would beat me out. That was my initial thinking and then I thought, NO, you said you were going to submit the proposal, it’s a great project and you’d love to get the contract. Maybe you won’t get it, but one thing is for sure, you have 0% chance if you don’t take action.
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Every action leads to something. For example in my case, maybe I don’t get the contract but it provided me with an opportunity to introduce my company, put a solid proposal together, collaborate with peers in the industry and consider the types of projects I might seek out more in the future. The alternative would be inaction, which doesn’t lead to anything.
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At the end of the day you can’t run your business thinking that the odds are more AGAINST you than for you. So here are some actions I want you to take today:
- Build up your confidence by going after something you really want. Don’t doubt your chances.
- Make the phone call, write the email or send the letter. Just do it.
- Get beyond, I have a chance in a million thinking, and step out on faith, do the work and watch the results start to shift in your favor.
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In business, there are opportunities all around you. Some will be presented to you and some you have to go get. To get ahead, you have to be willing to take some action and recognize that in doing so the odds are more for you than they are against you.
Biz Practitioner
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