Two years ago for Christmas we thought it would be a great lesson to our children if rather then indulge ourselves in Christmas gifts that we "adopt" a family and give our entire Christmas to a less fortunate family.
Knowing that giving up Christmas gifts would be a challenge for everyone (especially me) we sat the kids down and taught them a biblical lesson on love, charity, and of taking care of the poor and needy. We thought we had struck a grand-slam when one of the older kids who could perceive where this lesson was going said, "We could give up our Christmas gifts to a family in need". Acting as if this wasn't a planned event my wife said, "That's a great idea. Is that something you all want to do? If we're going to do this we need to do it as a family, all in". We were delighted when all the kids seemed to leap for joy as they each said they wanted to do it.
It wasn't until the next day that the kids started thinking extra hard about their decision. Our then 6-year old said, "Dad, does this really mean that I'm not going to get any gifts for Christmas?". Trying to stay true to the Christmas message I responded, "Of course not, you'll get the greatest gift of all, the gift of giving. You will remember this Christmas for the rest of your life. You will know that you freely gave up your Christmas gifts to a family that has needs far greater than ours". I also knew that it would force my wife and I into focusing our attention on the true meaning of Christmas. If we failed in this effort we would probably do more harm than good.
I knew this was hard for him but I let him walk away to have some time to himself. I could tell it was taking every bit of strength he had to keep from crying. He wanted to do the right thing but he could hardly handle missing out on the spirit of receiving. Watching him struggle was almost more than I could handle.
Christmas of 2009 was one to remember. I believe with all my heart that the long-term benefits of the small sacrifices we made will positively impact my family for many years to come.
If we're not careful, we can all find ourselves struggling to make short-term sacrifices that we know will bring long-term success in life and in business. As we work on our business plans for 2012 we need to build in "short-term" sacrifices that will bring long-term success. These sacrifices come in many forms; "putting off the purchase of a new car so that more money can be invested into your marketing plans, committing an hour or two a day to making cold calls, spend the time to really learn how to leverage social media, upgrade your website, and more.
My challenge for 2012 is to get past the immediate short-term satisfaction that comes from doing things that don't bring long-term results. The challenge we have is to do those things that bring real value to our clients.
Great selling out there and Merry Christmas
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