I came across this on Matt Morris’s Blog – A true MLM, business and personal development legend.
At first, I wrote it off as a very interesting way to market margarine. Then I realized that there are actually a couple of pretty important success and leadership lessons hidden in this broken escalator commercial…
People who are serious about success take charge instead of waiting for help to arrive.
Unfortunately, lots of people expect the journey to success to be effortless, simple and smooth – kinda like riding an escalator. When their escalator breaks, they start stressing out and waiting for help instead of creating and following their own plan to reach the top.
We’ve all felt like we were stuck at some point in our life. The difference between those who succeed and those who don’t is simple…
Successful people are willing to take charge of their life and create a plan for how they are going to reach the top.
In Matt’s audio book “7 Steps to a 7 figure income” he talks about leadership and taking 100% responsibility. He made a great point that really hit home with me. He said that in his early days of business when he wasn’t so successful he would blame his team for not doing anything. He would blame the online systems as not being good enough. He would blame the compensation plan as not being lucrative enough. He would blame his partners for never getting back to him or helping him. He didn’t know enough about the industry, the products don’t work etc and that was why he wasn’t successful (or so he thought at the time). I could relate to that.
Like Matt, I realised that our success starts and finishes with one person. You. He was, I am and you are exactly where you deserve to be and exactly where you want to be in life. If that position is not ideal for you then only 1 person can change it and that is you. So instead of blaming your team go out and find others that WILL do something. Instead of blaming the online system create your own, instead of blaming the compensation plan learn it and make it work for you. When no-one is there to help or get back to you go forth and find the answer yourself. Find people that have had great results with your products and learn their stories, research and learn the industry stories, history and statistics. Just because the elevator breaks down it doesn’t mean that you can’t take some steps yourself.
Leadership is an amazing responsibility and power to have. It can be learned and applied. I will bet you 110% that if the guy at the front of the escalator in this video had taken the few steps to get off the lady behind him would have followed. People want to be led, they want inspiration and leadership. You can conciously create that by just making the decision to take that first step. Whatever you do will reflect what others do. Don’t wait for the repair man – chances are he will never come, or he will also get stuck on the next elevator. You need to act straight away.
If you tell your team to be motivated and make sales or sign ups but you are down in the dumps, miserable and doing nothing, do you think they will perform well or poorly? They will mirror their leader, no matter what you SAY it is your ACTIONS that people will follow. So if you want motivated teams – be motivating, upbeat and involved. If you want sign ups then you better make sure you are signing, enrolling and selling yourself. When you are a 10 out of 10 as a leader you will attract other 8’s, 9’s and 10’s. When you are a 2 out of 10 as a leader then you will continue to attract 1’s and 2’s into your business. That is just how it works.
So when your elevator breaks down (and it will more than once – trust me) it’s what you do that counts. What message will you send? Give up and wait for the technician every time or take the step of leadership and responsibility, step up and push forward with even more determination to succeed. We all have our dreams and goals and are on a journey to make them a reality – don’t let something so small and so simple as a broken elevator keep you sitting down.
Now that you know it is coming, now that you know it will break down at some stage what are you going to do about it? I see too many people give up and stop at their very first NO, their very first negative month, their first failure, their first cancellation, their first ridicule, their first criticism or the fact that they didn’t make a million bucks in their first year. It’s a shame, as often success was just around the next corner. Success comes to those that stay in the race. You never know which corner you are coming up to. Tomorrow may just be it.
The next time you are facing an obstacle, look at it as an opportunity to enhance your success story. I promise it’ll make overcoming obstacles a breeze!
And, if you ever find yourself stuck on a broken escalator, think of it as an opportunity to get some unexpected exercise…
What did you learn from this broken escalator commercial? I’d love to hear your answer below in the comments section.