What goals?
What in God’s green country is a goal anyway? (said in a sarcastic manner)
I came into this year with two and only two simple goals – both of them were not financial and I am going out without meeting either one.
What were they?
Well I don’t want to say here because then that will open a can of worms and I have to complain about things that many if not most would not understand. SO I won’t waste your time with them.
Were they important?
Not really, my main objective is and always has been to generate revenue, which is on going but something I am at a complete standstill on right this moment.
Does it matter that I didn’t meet my two goals?
No not really, I feel that meeting a goal is not as important as the attitude one has.
Like today I had several people over trying to help me with my wife’s van, a situation that I can not just run out and get fixed because of money or a lack there of. But anyway the people wanted to help. I made them all stay in the house and keep my wife company while I lay on the cold cement in the rain while the wind kicked up around me trying to fix something that was futile and hopeless to begin with. The temperature dropped 20 degrees while I was stuck under the van, I was soaked through all my cloths by the heavy rain and when I got into the house, I ended up frozen to the bone. See to me it is made not to be fixed and I would rather have her drive something like one of my antique cars then this but what can I say. I finally gave up and called my brother-in-law to tell him that it will be at his shop in the morning to get fixed, he said it is a common problem. Had to go rent a car for my wife and that ended up to be even a bigger problem because the rental agency is not car repair friendly.
Soooo does this mean I am mad at the car?
No not at all, I understand the limitations of manufacturing junk, I seen it when I worked at the plants around here. So what’s the use, it happens.
Does this mean I have to go out and buy a new car to prevent another breakdown?
Nope, I have some determination here and the wife will have to live with it for a while because we are financially limited. The trade off is if something happens again, I will replace the van with something I already have, maybe a 1950 Packard or 1968 Sport Satellite convertible or worst for her 1964 Triumph (no heat).
What this really means is that I have to adjust to the problem and find a solution and move on. I had to try to fix it before I went outside to my brother-in-law and no one can say I didn’t try.
What this also means is a big lesson in patients and fortitude to get it done against the odds of success. I feel that some of you may not have the patients needed to see a positive out of a failure and turn it into a success, something I see all the time for myself but I don’t see it in the expediting world or trucking at all. There a lot to be said about a plan, about the proper use of resources and having a real exit strategy but there also has a lot to be said about the attitude of losing money and being able to walk away while taking a loss in stride.
Oh don’t get me wrong, I am not saying you don’t care about a loss or when you have to exit, what I am getting at is that you need to understand it is not the end of the world and things could be much worst and they can be better if you want them to.
As I said, success is defined at the person level, not by someone who claims to be an ‘expert’ – so to me I am successful even though I didn’t reach my two goals.
I write this to teach people, to have them learn from my mistakes and give them something to think about. I read all about how successful some are, some threads and posts are unavoidable and redundant but at the same time don’t say a thing about how to be successful by any means.
I guess my point is reality is a b*tch and hearing all the positives is not as helpful unless everyone shares with real numbers and experiences on how they got there and how this all works. What works for Phil, does not work for me and what works for Dave does not work for Larry and so on but somewhere in the middle of all this ‘stuff’ is something that others can use to help them learn.
One criticism I handed out to Phil was the idea that real numbers are not proper, sorry Phil they are proper to post and if you want to teach everyone, what’s the harm in putting them out there? (No need to answer it Phil, I understand why you don’t.) I am trying to figure out why would someone know what I made at FedEx while I can’t get that info myself on others? (Phil I am not pointing the finger at you, it is someone else here.)
Enough said, I got to go warm up.
