Last night I had to run out late to bring a golf club to my buddy, Ty Tryon, who was leaving early in the morning for Asian Tour Q-School in Japan. The access code to our condo complex was recently done away with and I had no way of getting back in our front gate once I returned at two o’clock in the morning. I waited and waited and tweeted and waited and answered emails and waited and browsed espn.com, waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting. Thirty minutes later I was still trying to figure out how I was going to infiltrate the Fort Knox my neighborhood had become.
I couldn’t help but feel “pot committed” after all the time I invested in waiting. I kept telling myself, “A car is due to show up. It’s bound to happen.” Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore. I decided to drive down the road and park in a day care center adjacent to our complex. I figured I’d hop the fence and worry about my truck in the morning. I gave up. I threw in the towel too early.
As soon as I jumped the fence a car rolled in the gate right in front of me. A few steps later, another car… then another. It was like the floodgates had opened. Oh well. Whatever. There was nothing I could do about it. Inevitably, if I had gotten back in my truck circled back around, I’d be locked out all night. My time had come. I missed my chance.
The same holds true in business (AND golf for that matter). When you put tireless effort into a project then give up, that’s it. It was all for nothing. You were *right* there. Why couldn’t you hold on for just one second longer?! Then when your miracle comes, it’s too late. You can’t go back. You can’t get back in. You may come to your senses and *want* to get back in, but once you miss the boat, you miss the boat.
This triggered me to think of a wonderful video post Adam Daniel Mezei put out a while back. Adam says,
“Most people surrender the fight too early, giving up “five minutes” before the miracle happens. Like a congenital defect.
Why do we do that? What is our collective problem? Time to check yourself and ask these all-too-critical questions.”
Oh yeah… And my truck got towed. If I had just waited a bit longer…
Tags: 5 minutes, Adam Daniel Mezei, business, Don't give up, Golf, John Raser, miracle, q-school, Ty Tryon
