Recently, my son realized that he wanted the video game NASCAR ‘25 for his Playstation 4. I suggested he call my Mom to let her know. We jumped on the phone and he shared his most recent Christmas wish list item with her. Being the Mammy that she is, she immediately went looking to see if she could find it. She texted me shortly after saying that she couldn’t find that game for the PS4 console. It appeared that it was only available for PS5. I’m not nearly as up to speed on those things as I used to be so I suggested that my Mom get in touch with my wife, who is brilliant at getting to the bottom of things. Sure enough, not available for PS4. Bummer. Sounds like that item needs to be removed from the Christmas wish list. 

Well, not so fast. My son contacted my Mom again. “I have an idea, Mammy,” he began. “Since I can’t get that game with PS4, what if you bought me Playstation 5 so I could get NASCAR ‘25?” Wow; what a bold ask (and I love it)! For context, NASCAR ‘25 retails for $59.99 and Playstation 5 starts at $399.99.  

So, my Mom goes back to work with my wife. Now our son is getting PS5 and NASCAR ‘25 for Christmas. He did this all on his own. There was no coaching from me (but as someone who does this for a living, this may be my proudest moment!). His desire. His boldness. Now his PS5. Why? Because he had an idea. He knew what he wanted, and he took a stand for the possibility of getting it. 

I’ve been sharing a sequence of personal stories with you over the past month or so. That’s intentional. It’s not because I don’t have any success stories to share from clients. There are plenty of those. One client shattering a revenue goal they laughed at and said was silly during last year’s annual planning session. Another client getting ready to open their third location in a matter of 16 months of working together. Another client hitting their five-year revenue goal in two years. Salespeople multiplying their income by six times. I’m so proud of all of them and I could keep going on, but let’s get back to why I’ve been sharing these personal stories. 

First, there is no such thing as a personal and professional dichotomy. There is one human being who is present in multiple areas of their life. If we are afraid personally, we will lead scared professionally. If we are trying to make everyone happy professionally, we will people-please personally. This idea that we can retreat from one area of our life to another without being the same person and taking the same things with us is romantic and naive. So we should be paying attention to how we show up in the office and at the dining room table. I’m passionate about working with people who care about building a better business so they can have a better life. If we don’t get the latter, who really cares about the former?

Second, we can learn from anywhere and anyone. Since there are so many parallels between life, sports, and business, we can take away such rich insights and reflections if we are just paying attention. I recently had a client who was gorging on self-help content. I invited her into a fast. Why? She was reading all of this stuff, but constantly looking for a silver bullet. You can either be disappointed or relieved with what I’m about to say: there is no silver bullet. In fact, two people will read that exact sentence and one of you will feel let down and the other elated that the pressure to keep searching like that is over. 

There is so much gold in this story of a 10 year old boy asking his grandmother for a PS5.

He actually knew what he wanted. In a world inundated with TikTok videos, edited Instagram photos, and AI-generated content that is so real we aren’t sure who created it, I observe many individuals trying to “keep up with the Joneses.” I’ll never forget asking a client, “What do you want?” He responded, “Wow, that’s a really good question. I’ve never spent much time thinking about that.” He isn’t the only one. I’ve had that happen many times since then. 

My son bravely asked the question. I wonder how many 40 year olds would have boldly asked for the PS5? Veiled under the guise of being considerate, I’d wager most would have put their desires to sleep. Why? They would have created stories that it was too expensive, they were too greedy, and they really didn’t want it anyway. All without actually asking the question. They would have created those stories in their own mind and prevented themselves from getting what they truly want. I’ve spent the better part of  20 years training salespeople. The amount of them who never ask for the sale is higher than those who do. Buffeted by fear of rejection, losing a sale they didn’t have anyway, or being seen as “pushy,” they never even ask the customer for the sale because they don’t believe in themselves or the product. 

When I was younger, I had a hard time understanding how the kingdom of Heaven was filled with children. I mean, on the face of it, it’s a beautiful sentiment. As I’ve gotten older and had my own child, I’m beginning to see what Jesus means here. Children are trusting. Adults call it blind faith—hardly a term of endearment. Children are innocent and let their guards down. Adults are busy building defenses because we’ve been hurt and know all the ways others can hurt us. We become jaded, afraid, and victims of our own creation. We blame others because we don’t get what we want. Perhaps we would get more of it if we, like the 10 year old, responded with, “I have an idea”.