From time to time, we all lose a bit of our enthusiasm. Running a successful convenience operation with all of its complexities can wear down even the toughest of us – even more so in time of a chaotic pandemic. Sometimes, we aren’t even aware that our enthusiasm is lagging a bit until we are reminded.
So, please allow me to be the one to provide some inspiring reminders from people ranging from a little girl to individuals as famous as Sir Winston Churchill and the genius of Albert Einstein. I promise you are going to love it.
Let’s begin!
- “You didn’t wake up today to be mediocre!” This comes from a TV ad featuring a precocious little African-American girl admonishing her father in an effort to get his attitude right. Think, though, not about the child delivering the message but rather the power contained in the statement – awesome!
- “Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm!” This provided by none other than the great WWII-era British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Being the best of the so called “Losers” will almost always make you a winner!
- “It isn’t where you came from, its where you’re going that counts!” – The fabulous singer Miss Ella Fitzgerald. I can only imagine how difficult it was for a woman of color to find worldwide recognition and adoration in her era!
- “If you are willing to do more than you are paid to do, eventually you will be paid more than what you do!” – Author unknown. This is a message I’ve tried countless times to get through to young people in the convenience store business. It’s not, “Show me the money”; it’s “Show management a willing work ethic!”
- “Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it!” I think Mr. Henry David Thoreau might have been talking to a group similar to that mentioned directly above – and doing a much better job of it than the likes of me. Thank you, Henry!
- This great thought from the father of modern math, Albert Einstein: “Try not to become a person of success, but rather try to become a person of value!” Einstein understood that a person of value would automatically achieve success!
- “Success is not final. Failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts!” – Prime Minister Winston Churchill again! Remember, even Hall of Fame Major Leaguers fail to get a hit almost 70% of the time.
- “Never bend your head. Always hold it high. Look the world straight in the eye!” – Helen Keller. This courageous advice from someone who persevered to overcome being born deaf and blind!
- “Believe you can and your halfway there!” – President Franklin D. Roosevelt served as our chief executive longer than any other despite polio leaving him wheelchair-bound much of the time!
- “It is our attitude at the beginning of a difficult task which, more than anything else, will affect its successful outcome.” Author William James.
- “No matter what your going through, there is a light at the end of the tunnel!” – Young music superstar Demi Lovato. Just another high achiever whose positive attitude would not be denied!
- “Try to be a rainbow in someone else’s cloud!” – Maya Angelou. When you do that, you focus on easing someone else’s problems and tend to forget your own.
- Lastly, from former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt: “You must do the thing you think you cannot do!”
All, of these now famous people “bucked the odds,” each overcoming seemingly insurmountable obstacles. You, too, have it within you to reach for the sky and achieve your lofty goals and dreams – Go For It!
My late father used to drum into me and my three siblings: “Anything worth doing is worth doing well.” While this isn’t his own quote, it served us – and countless others – well.
My personal favorite: “It’s not necessarily how much better things will get if you keep trying, rather it’s how much worse they will get if you quit trying!”
Remember, “Dreams don’t work unless you do!”
Jim Callahan has more than 40 years of experience as a convenience store and petroleum marketer. His Convenience Store Solutions blog appears regularly on CStoreDecisions.com. He can be reached at (678) 485-4773 or via e-mail at [email protected].