Francis J. Kong: If at first you don’t succeed

February 24th, 2008 --

I like the writings of Francis J. Kong. The bad thing is that the Philippine Star’s archiving function doesn’t work too well. So for the benefit of spreading his words, I’m reposting them here.

Originally posted here

If at first you don’t succeed
BUSINESS MATTERS(BEYOND THE BOTTOM LINE) By Francis J. Kong
Sunday, February 24, 2008

A Canadian lumber company advertised for a lumberjack.

A skinny little guy showed up at the camp the next day carrying an axe. The head lumberjack took one look at the puny little guy and told him to get lost.

“Give me a chance to show you what I can do,” protested the skinny guy.

You see behind the skinny frame lies a tenacious spirit but of course the head lumber jack could not see that.

And so he decided to test the skinny man.

“Okay, see that giant redwood over there?” said the head lumberjack. “Take your axe and cut it down.”

The guy headed for the tree, and in five minutes he was knocking on the lumberjack’s door. “I cut the tree down,” said our hero.

The lumberjack can’t believe his eyes and exclaimed, “Where did you learn to chop down trees like that?”

“In the Sahara Forest,” said the little puny man.

“You mean the Sahara Desert?” corrected the lumberjack.

“Sure……That’s what they call it now!”

Do not underestimate some people’s tenacity.

Let me bring you to another scene.

Bar exams, Board exams…guess how many people passed and have you ever thought about how many people failed too? For those who passed of course congratulations are in order. But for those who did not pass, what about it?

Tenacity is what you need.

Here’s a story coming from America concerning a would-be-lawyer named Maxcy Flier.

Maxcy Filer has some advice especially for those 3,940 lawyers who failed in the bar exam. His advice: “Try, try, again.” That’s how the California Bar Journal opened a February 2004 story about the “unstoppable” Maxcy Filer.

In 1966 Maxcy took the California Bar exam for the first time at the age of 36 and he failed. He took it again and failed. He took it again and again and again and again, and each time he failed. He took it in Los Angeles, San Diego, Riverside, San Francisco and anywhere else it was offered. And each time he failed.

He took it when his children were still living at home and he took it with each of his sons when they had earned their own law degrees. He even took it after he started working as a law clerk in the law offices of his sons. He continued taking it even as he reached an age when most people are thinking of retirement.

After 25 years, $50,000 in exam fees and review courses, and 144 days in testing rooms, Maxcy Filer took the bar exam for the 48th time, and he passed. He was 61 years old.

Maxcy never saw each failure as the end of his dream. They were merely another step toward the inevitable. What dream can you take another step toward today?

And you can find the story of Maxcy Filer in Cynthia Kersey’s great book, “Unstoppable.”

That’s exactly what some people are.

They are unstoppable. They never stop trying.

Contrast this to many young people I know. I talk to HR practitioners all the time. They say that many young people today just give up too easily.

There was a time when we were thought: “If at first you do not succeed, try and try again.”

Today their motto seems to be: “If at first you do not succeed, try something else.” This is not good. We have to have tenacity. To stick to a given job until we finish it excellently. Then and only then do we tap into our hidden potential. Then and only then do we develop character.

Why are there sales people who rake in a lot of money and then why are there sales people who are average and mediocre?

Ask the winners.

Without any exception they will tell you that they never give up trying.

The sales trainee was trying to explain his failure to close a single deal in his first week. “You know,” he said to his manager, “you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink,”

“Make him drink?” the manager sputtered. “Make him drink? Your job is to make him thirsty.”

Brian Tracy says it right: “If every possible objection must first be overcome, nothing would ever get done.”

Trying times are not times to stop trying.

Stick in there and learn from the experience.

It’s the same thing with living life. It’s not how strong you start but how well you finish. Forget what is behind, strain toward what is ahead and press on toward the goal. Paul said this in the New Testament, great stuff for us to learn too.

(Francis Kong will be the lead trainer for the one day Zig Ziglar Sales System Workshop this February 28 at the EDSA Shangri-La Hotel. For further inquiries contact Inspire Leadership Consultancy Inc. 632-8129125)

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