By Sam Crowley

www.everydayissaturday.com

I’m sitting in a Panera Bread located on the corner of Mobile St. and SR 474 in Longwood, FL about 40 minutes outside of Orlando. Angela, myself and our three girls are staying with our friends in Longwood before leaving for Disneyworld tomorrow to meet up with my sister and her daughter.

We will be in Disneyworld until May 28th. The girls are so excited, they can’t sit still. We had a few challenges yesterday as we flew from Cincinnati to Orlando as you might imagine with three girls under the age of six. Our youngest daughter Paige who is 19 months, had a meltdown of epic proportions going through security at the Cincinnati airport. Then Paige and Laura (our two-year old) decided they would have an all all scream fest for the last 20 minutes of the flight. I just kept focusing on how much fun we were going to have once we landed.  Although it was challenging at times, Ange and I stayed focused.

It’s difficult to be upset when you are traveling to a fantasy land for families. As you watch the news every night and see all the broken families from Darphur to Iraq, it makes you feel guilty that you are able to enjoy family vacations while others suffer around the world.

That’s also one of my hot buttons when people tell me how difficult their job is or how someone said something to them that rubbed them the wrong way.

Here’s a funny story about commitment and focus.

 One time back in the late 90’s when I was in sales, I remember this slacker of a sales rep who worked for our organization. She would complain about everything from the water in the fountains to the AC being too cold, all the while missing sales quotas. She brought about as much value to our company as a paper clip.

One day she didn’t show up for work, so I asked our manager where she was. He said that she had to take the morningoff and will be in a little later. When I pressed him for the reason she was late, he said the rain had kept her up last night. I shouted “What!?” He said that the thunder and lightening from a storm the previous night had woke her  and she had trouble getting back to sleep. Honest.

She ended up making it to work later in the day and acted as though she was recovering from chemotherapy. I was disgusted. Just the same way I am when I see any person treat the gift they are given, which is another day on earth, as a right versus a privilege.  Life is not a dress rehearsal, you have to hit the ground running every single day. Not only are you robbing yourself of this gift, you’re hurting the people around you. I couldn’t think straight for the rest of that day after this joker of an employee abused a company policy. By the way, nothing happened to her. It was perfectly legal for her to take personal time to recover from the storm. That stuff doesn’t fly in the entrepreneurial world. If you don’t show up and add value, you don’t get paid.

I am in Panera Bread posting on my motivational blog because it is my commitment to champions worldwide. Prior to posting this blog I spoke with a gentleman who manages Olympic gold medal winners and we will be conducting a podcast in the next few weeks. He has an awesome story to share with all the listeners.

I also exchanged two more emails with companies in England who will be interviewing me for upcoming teleseminars. How ’bout that - champions in the U.K. want to hear about Sam Crowley and his Everyday Is Saturday story - amazing what can happen when you stay focused. I could have very easily hung out by the pool this morning and blamed a long trip, jetlag and late bed times on why I could not move the business forward today.

You have to shine a maginfying glass on one thing and watch it catch fire. The only way I know how to do that is daily, consistent, focused activity.

You are a champion.