The story of two lions

In a jungle in Africa, there were two lions. These lions were twins. One was named Positive and the other Negative. They lived together, learned how to hunt together. One day their parents decided that they were old enough and decided to leave them to fend for themselves. They were placed in a cave high up in the mountains which was infested with bats.

The two lions, Positive and Negative, fed on the bats. As there were so many, there were always more bats than they could feed on. Both of them were contented in the cave. They had enough food to eat and were relatively comfortable.

One day Positive told Negative, "Hey brother! Don't you think that there may be other more delicious food out of this cave? Maybe there's a much brighter place for us to explore? For us to wander and run about?"

Negative replied, "Don't be silly. We have all the food we need. We get to sleep in the comfort of this cave. Out of the rain, out of the sun. Our lives are perfect."

Positive felt that he wanted to explore the unknown. To go out and fend for himself. He wanted to eat more than just bats. Yes he could survive on just bats for the rest of his life but he wasn't going to. That night, Positive left the cave.

Life was tough outside. The jungle had changed so much more as compared to what he knew when he was a young lion. He slept in the rain. Had to go for days without food before preying on small animals. His instinct had been severely hampered due to the lack of practice in hunting as bats were easy preys.

Negative saw his brother suffering from up above. He told himself, "luckily I was not foolish enough to listen to him and come out of this cave. This is paradise!"

Positive braved the weather, searching for shelter and food took a toll on himself. He had huge scars all over his body to attest to the tough times he had to face. Throughout all this, he stayed focused and continued to live the life he felt he should live. He ran for hours a day, looking for food, looking for shelter. His body grew lean and strong. As days turned to weeks and weeks to years, he developed much stronger and he knew his way around the jungle. He started to feed on deers rather than hares. He did not fear wind and rain and was comfortable sleeping in dirt and grime. Throughout all this, his brother, Negative, was up in his cave grinning and telling himself how fooling Positive was. He called this "self torture" which was "unnecessary".

One day while Positive was out hunting, he walked into a dark cave. His adventurous nature took over and he walked further in. Deep into the cave, suddenly he was attacked from behind by a huge bear. He fought and battled. It was no use, the bear was much stronger than he was. He managed to break free and made a dash out of the cave. The bear gave chase. Positive ran for his life. He had been badly hurt. He was bleeding profusely and was feeling weak. He turned around and realised that the bear was twice his size. He could never out muscle the bear. So he ran. He ran round the jungle as the bear gave chase. He ran for miles and yet the bear just would not give up. He knew the terrain well and was able to navigate quickly through the complicated jungle. All the animals in the jungle hid away as they saw the fearsome duo do battle. Minutes turned to hours and yet the bear did not give up. Suddenly he heard a loud thud. The bear had fallen down. Exhausted. It turned around and started to head back. Positive decided to pounce and with one swift motion bit the bear on the back of the neck. Blood splatted out and within a couple of minutes the bear was lying motionless on the ground.

Suddenly, a huge roar ensued. All the animals in the jungle came out of hiding and were screaming for joy.

"You have killed the tormentor of the jungle! We can live peacefully again!" explained a squirrel.

With that, the animals made Positive king of the jungle! All animals looked up to him and they did his bidding.

His brother, Negative, looked from above and said, "what a waste of time. My cave is so much better than that mess." He had gone senile and started talking to himself. His fur had turned pale and he died soon after due to malnutrition from eating the same food day in day out.


What's the moral of the story you might ask?

I got a message from someone on facebook. He mentioned that he has been a real estate agent for the last 5 years and to date he has managed to broker 10 deals throughout his career. He works from home and is fearful of trying new methods to do marketing. When I conversed with him via instant messaging, he was very resistant to change.

This is my advice to him and to all sales people:

1) Never get too comfortable. Never sit and regress into your own cave. Sitting still is actually a step backwards. Getting zero sales doesn't mean you are standing still. You still have to eat and pay the bills don't you?!?! Or is someone doing it for you? Hmmm...

2) Never resist other people's invitation to leave your "cave". If a colleague or a client asks you out for even a cup of coffee, never reject it unless you are busy. And by the word "busy" I don't mean going home to sleep. You never know when and where a lead may pop by. If you have zero sales your time is worth NOTHING so don't be snobbish and go meet some people!!!

3) Never blame your luck only blame yourself. Everyone starts from zero and from there you build your own destiny. I keep hearing things like "I distribute flyers and I'm so unlucky! I get zero calls" or "I follow up with this prospect but just my luck, he already bought the product from someone else" Like the two twin lions, they were genetically similar but their paths turned out very much different. You want success? Stop whining and make the first move

4) Never tell yourself that something cannot be done. Replace the word "impossible" with "challenging". Have you explored the whole "jungle" out there yet? If you haven't you still have not hunted down your big bear.

5) Never be afraid to tell yourself that you are doing things wrongly. It may be the working attitude to self pride. Many sales people love to stay at home and they come up with really lame excuses about how they can only work at home. If you are not making sales then please get out of that cave of yours. Listen to how others have made it and do not be stubborn.

6) Last but not least. Never be NEGATIVE.



Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.
- Thomas Jefferson



Yours Sincerely,
Daryl