Lessons from Black Friday

Yesterday America celebrated Thanksgiving with family, friends, food, and entertainment such as sports, parades, and shopping.  Now that the turkey is eaten and leftovers packaged for family and friends, another big day has begun.  The beginning of the holiday shopping experience which some consider a sport of its own, Black Friday.

Before the sales were announced and as each day brought us closer to the big day, conversations turned to how they spent last year’s Black Friday and the strategies which helped them score big.  A few keys to a successful hunt are:
1.  Have a list of items, usually a wishlist of your own or a combination of yours and others;
2.  Know where the best deals are housed, this requires scouring the sales papers, text message deals, internet, etc. – in other words you hunt for the ;
3.  Set up a game plan as to which store to tackle first and how you are going to get to your coveted items;
4.  Have a support system, select others who love the day as much as you.  These are the people that won’t complain about long lines, rude people, and early rising.

These four keys coincidentally are also essential keys to achieving your goals:
1.  Identify what you want, make a list of these items.  Emphasis on multiple items so that you can increase your opportunities for success.
2.  Know where you can obtain assistance, resources and education for each item on your list.  This will require research from places such as newspapers (yes they still exist), magazines, internet, YouTube even.
3.  Set up an action plan by prioritizing the most important to you or the easiest to obtain.  Sometimes beginning with the easiest to obtain allows you to increase your confidence level by reminding you that success is within your reach.
4.  Identify a support system, select people who will help you search for what you identified in step two.  Make sure you choose people who are willing to go the distance whether that may include getting up in the wee hours of the night when you have writers block or anxiety attacks and need a sympathetic ear.

Black Friday is just one example of lessons to be learned from real life.    And real life can be the best educational institute if you are willing to look for the lessons it teaches.  So what did you learn from Black Friday?  If you are willing to share, I am willing to listen.

Til next time,

“Action expresses priorities” – Mohandas Gandhi