I’m numb.
I gave everything and still came up short.
It’s a terrible and sickening feeling. One that eats and eats at your very soul. Giving everything and still coming up short is not easy to swallow. Twelve months of sacrifices and pure grit and hustle suddenly seem meaningless and you begin to mentally scratch and claw to figure out how it could happen. How it could end this way.
I’m referring to my career in sales. I sell new home construction, and all of us sales reps have one goal in mind each year – to hit President’s Club. President’s Club is determined by achieving a certain percentage above what you are supposed to sell in a given year. Without going into much detail, it equates to a $20,000 bump in pay the following year.
I was blessed to achieve this goal my rookie year, and was motivated even more to re-qualify my second year (2018). After my sales partner left to move to another market back in April, I was determined more than ever. I was alone and it was all on me to make it happen. Over the next 9 months, I pushed hard – sacrificing personal time and family time.
For me, it was all about my family. As the sole provider, I needed the bump in pay to help pay off medical bills and to get us back to being debt free. Though there were many hurdles to overcome, I was bound and determined to make it happen. And I was all in! Down to the wire. Writing sales on December 31. But would it be enough?
My office manger was a gem and ran the numbers late on New Year’s Eve. The email arrived in my inbox, and I opened it. All I remember seeing were the words, “Kent, I am so sorry. You came up ONE sale short”
One sale.
I immediately resonated with those sports players who have experienced an excruciating loss by ONE point, or ONE goal, or by ONE run. Imagine a Major League baseball player sweating and hustling through 162 regular season games to lose by merely ONE run and miss the playoffs – or even worse yet – lose by ONE run in the World Series.
But as cruel as the game of life can be sometimes, a loss is a loss. And coming up a sale short, is a sale short.
So I type this as a testament and a reminder to myself as to why I exist. And that is to give glory to God for His goodness in my life. Though I feel like sitting here in disappointment and despair, I choose to praise Him for a very successful year despite not being back in President’s Club. Most of all, I’m thankful for my buyers who have become friends, and my fellow reps and office staff who are absolutely wonderful, and for my wife and kids who lift me up and who are literally everything I need.
So in the moment, though incredibly disappointed, I thank God for giving me a great career, opportunities to help make dreams come true, and the ability to provide for my family.
How about you? Have you ever experienced coming up short in something you have worked so hard for? I’d love to hear about it!
HOUSE OF PRAIN 