About 30 years ago, a friend of mine named Eddie told me that August 1st was the worst day of the year for a minor-league baseball player. Eddie spent about five years jumping through single-a and double-a ball, so he knew. He explained that on August 1st, minor leaguers had been playing at least one game every day since April, riding with the same 30 guys in the same bus, staying in cheap hotels, and never getting a break. By August 1st, they were physically and emotionally exhausted … and they still had a month to go until the season ended.
I thought about this story last week when listening to someone share their dark mental state because of the coronavirus pandemic. I think we’re in the same emotional state as Eddie described to me 30 years ago. I think most people are exhausted and anxious and scared… and we still have several months ahead of us.
So, I thought I’d write this blog post to maybe help bring some hope to your perspective. Since most of our subscribers and random readers are salespeople or business owners, you must have a positive attitude, or your results will reflect your negativity.
Our situation stinks right now and its normal that you’re feeling bad. However, think about how little we knew about this virus in March and how much more we know today. Everything is getting better. It may not seem that way because of the things we read and watch, and because it’s been going on for months, but it’s getting better. We’re getting closer to a vaccine. We’re learning more about how our immune system fights this virus and that a good percentage of our population can fight it naturally. We’re learning more about drugs and methods to treat severe patients to keep them out of ICU and off of ventilators. We’re learning why some people have worse symptoms than others and using that knowledge to help our communities be safer. We’re lowering our numbers in the United States. Regardless of your opinion about the way our leaders have handled the pandemic, our economy is still alive. It’s not thriving, but its alive.
Finally, I keep hearing that a vaccine isn’t going magically bring us back to normal. No, it’s not going to be like a light switch. However, these little improvements and flares of hope will make August better than July, and September better than August, and October better than September, and so on. Each month is going to get better until we’re out of this mess. Think back only four to six weeks ago (early July): the numbers in America were out of control, there were no sports on TV, absolutely no one was traveling, and we had no idea where this thing was going. Today is so much different and we know so much more … a mere 30 – 45 days later.
I’m not an expert on viruses (I’m not even a novice), but I’ve made a career in sales and I know that our minds can be stolen from us from time to time. I think that is happening now. I believe that somewhere Eddie is wishing he could go back to playing minor league baseball again because he’s probably more exhausted now than he ever was on August 1st. I think we’re all tired, and that’s ok. Just don’t let it steal your mind – your companies, families and future-you are relying on your optimism and resilience. Yes, it sucks right now. But it’s getting better and it will continue to get better every month until we’re out of this thing.
