Yesterday was not a great day. I was driving on the highway and a car in front of me hydroplaned. In a matter of seconds, I smashed into it and then into a concrete block on the side of the road. You can see that the result in this picture. The car is probably totaled.
Fortunately, I survived with just a few bruises and when I went to the auto body shop today to take pictures, the watermelon I left in the car was still intact. Also, we were thinking of getting a new car anyway so could have been a lot worse.
High speed accidents are pretty scary. Everything seems to be moving in slow motion and then BOOM! You see it unfolding and there is nothing you can do. If you are lucky like me and you walk away unscathed, it is important to get back in the drivers seat (whether it is the same car after it has been repaired or into a different car). Then you should think about whether there is anything you could have done differently. In my case, the answer was a definite no. The driver next to me simply lost control of her car.
When I woke up today, I was trying to think of what lessons I could take away from this accident and suddenly it came to me. Success comes from moving past adversity. And moving past adversity is a key to marketing success.
When you are practicing law, you do the work, record your hours and send out bills. Most of the time, you collect your fees. When you are marketing, many of the activities you engage in yield no results. You follow up with a lead, have a great conversation, think they are going to hire you, send them a proposal, and never hear back from them.
The key to your success is to expect some degree of failure and know that in the end, you will succeed enough of the time to have a nice practice. So what have been your failures and how have you gotten past them? For me, it was Tylenol, Advil, ice, and a heating pad. I also sent out some follow up emails to prospective clients who never got back to me to see if they are still in need of my services. Failure is part of life. Success means getting past failure. Now I want to find out why my airbag failed to deploy!
