Keep a firm balance between your dreams and reality to avoid disaster

This month’s article was written with the help of ATI Head Coach George Zeeks.

Most of us have had these thoughts. Thoughts about what if I won the lottery? What if my business got better and I could take some time off? What if it grew so successful that I didn’t have to be there at all? What would happen if I lost my key people — I would have to go back to work at the shop. What if they treated the customers so bad they didn’t come back? What if I had to go back to turning a wrench again? I don’t think I could stand that. Maybe I should just be happy where I am?

There are the good “what ifs” that turn bad and the bad “what ifs” that turn even worse. It’s part of human nature, but how do we defend ourselves? Let’s listen to ATI Head Coach George Zeeks explain how to prepare yourself.

The good “what ifs” start out innocently enough. Small thoughts of good fortune that grow to huge proportions very quickly. Some people call this daydreaming and it can be fun if kept under control. The problem comes in when we turn to this fantasy to escape where we are right now. The attraction of having the things we want and having it now, can be too powerful for some to resist. The danger is that if we don’t stop to ask a key question, then we lose sight of our goals. We need to remind ourselves of “what is.” What is the reality that we face and not the illusion? We find that we want the result without doing the hard work. The idea is to protect yourself without giving up on your dreams. The key to that is to keep a balance between “what ifs” and “what is.”

What are what ifs?

“What if” is the key behind every invention, every new idea and every success story. This can only happen when you balance the “what is” right alongside of it.

I graduated from high school at 17. I had no real intention of going to college, but my mom demanded otherwise. She was in the process of fighting the cancer that would eventually kill her and she made me promise that I would go to college. The promise was to go to college and finish. I could do that much. It didn’t really sound that bad, at first. The problem, I soon discovered, was that there was no money in the family. Everything was being eaten up by the treatments. I had envisioned a great summer. I would go places and do things that I had never done before. I would work enough to get the money for the next trip and off I would go. I was caught in “what if.” The reality was much, much worse. I worked three jobs that summer. I saved every dime I could. The amount of money that I would need to pay, just for the fall semester, would take that much. I had to adjust to the reality of “what is.”

I tried to work while going to school but found that I couldn’t work enough and study enough to get it all done. It looked like a choice between flunking out or not having enough money for the spring. I thought college was supposed to be fun? What if I failed? What if I broke my promise? Would it affect her health? Would she see me as a failure, as a disappointment? The black hole of “what if” had full control of me now. I couldn’t get anything done. Nothing was possible. Everything started to slide downhill in a self-fulfilling prophecy. I was seventeen and I was already a failure. The great thing about being at the bottom is that there is nowhere to go but up.

I walked down my street, trying to find a solution. When you balance “what if” with “what is,” things begin to change. I saw some people at my neighbor’s house who were cleaning the carpets inside. Nothing better to do, I stopped and talked to the two guys. The conversation led me to ask my neighbor, Mrs. Baker, if I could watch the men clean her carpet. Her response makes me smile to this day. “I guess so,” she said. “You always have been a strange boy.”

As I watched I learned that the work wasn’t that hard. It didn’t take that long. Then I asked Mrs. Baker how much it cost to do those carpets. Then I got interested. I did some quick research on what I would need. I took all of my money out of the bank and bought the equipment and the chemicals. Now I just needed some customers. I took the change I had left and went to the library to photocopy phone numbers out of a crisscross reverse telephone directory. Now I had pages of phone numbers to call and get appointments, so I could clean the carpets in their house. I was on Cloud Nine! I was going to make a ton of money. I was stuck, once again in the land of “what if.”

The reality of what is

The reality of “what is” crashed down again. It took ridiculous amounts of work to call the people, get the appointment, sell the job and finally do the work. At first, I made far less money than I had working for someone else. Don’t forget I still had a full load at school and trying to help take care of my mom. Things got better, then they got worse. I hadn’t counted on having almost no work after the holidays. It seemed that after the New Year’s parties had been cleaned up, no one needed my services. What if I failed?

I understand the roller-coaster that many of you are on. I have been there many times. The key is to balance the “what if” vs. “what is.” To keep yourself grounded and under control. Too much dreaming and the dream dies. Too much worrying and your ability to drive on, dies. In case you’re wondering, I did graduate from the University of Maryland, with a degree in marketing. It took five years but, it got done. The business did well enough that by the time I had graduated in spring of 1982, I was making between $800 and $1,000 a week in net profit. I gave my business, contained in my Atari 800 home computer, to my father. I kept the promise and I was off to do what I wanted to do. By the way, I still hate carpet to this very day.

The technician shop capacity calculator

Some of you may be going through similar times. You may be stuck, wrapped up too tight in one of the black holes. Some of you may have hit a ceiling that you can’t break through. Some of you may be wondering what is the answer to the what if/what is that YOU may be going through. If it has to do with your shop, a great place to start is with a solid “what is.” How about answering the question, what is possible in my shop? What is my shop built to do? How much can my technicians produce? How close to the best practices are we? If you are curious, simply go to www.ationlinetraining.com/2018-09 and receive the Technician Shop Capacity Calculator, to find out what is possible for your business.