To open the meeting, the program director informed me that “They
loved the show idea and wanted to play it in the morning and evening drive
times.” He then let the other shoe drop and said, “But we want you to
know that the only programming we pay for is Rush Limbaugh and the
Minnesota Twins baseball—and you are neither one of those.” They then
offered to trade the program for 40 seconds of advertising space that I could
sell to a sponsor of my choosing. We shook hands and the show was
launched locally.
One of my first sponsors was a new business enterprise that was ex-
panding rapidly, and they decided to fund efforts to offer The Daily Dose to
other stations. Within 9 months, the show was airing on over 160 stations
around the country and is still going strong today with over 1 million lis-
teners daily.
When I think of the number of people hearing these inspirational sto-
ries and ideas every day, I wipe my brow in relief that I did not succumb to
my former pessimistic habits. My personal pessimism had been arrested—
and the benefit was being felt by hundreds of thousands of people daily.
Adversity and difficulty are not the enemies to fear—pessimism is.
Pessimism aborts ideas in the embryonic stage, ignores the possibilities,
and complains about the noise opportunity makes when it knocks.
I’ve also observed this fact about pessimists: they live very predictable
lives. I am an optimist, if for no other reason than a hopeful attitude keeps
the doors of opportunity swinging and makes every day feel like an adventure.
Optimism is the state we were born for. If we have lost our optimism, we
must recover hope in our emotional reactions to life’s challenges. An opti-
mistic attitude is not something we wait to feel; it is a direction we choose.
We will never surpass the expectations we have for ourselves. Optimism is
our greatest gift—as we follow its pulse, optimism opens up possibilities of
personal achievement that we never dared dream possible. Hope knows no
boundaries.
SELLING WITH EQ
- Keep pessimistic expectations in check. Your achievements must sur-
pass your expectations. - Make an attitude adjustment several times daily, especially when en-
countering negative people, discouraging reports, and disappoint-
ing results. - Be on guard for self-sabotaging thoughts, speech, and behavior. Take
your name off your enemy list.
106 SELLING WITH EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE