As you wind down (or recover may be more accurate) from the 2022 NADA Show in Las Vegas, now is the time to double-down and get laser-focused on making the most of the opportunities that the show presented.

Whether your a dealer who needs to be implementing actionable advice from sessions or a vendor who needs to follow up with promising prospects, waiting will only lead to more waiting and less doing.

There is no day but today.

NADA… Las Vegas… sigh

I’m sure you know what quicksand is (or have at least heard of it.) Quicksand will suck you down to your death. You will struggle. You will fight for your life but, in the end, you will be buried alive as you suffocate.

Do you know how to survive quicksand?

You survive by dropping everything, staying calm and not panicking.

At times, life can feel like quicksand. Life can feel like you are in over your head.

Follow the same advice and you will survive.

If you don’t know what the title means, you don’t watch football. In layman’s terms, a football coach designs a play (strategy) and the players execute on it. If they do it right, the odds of success increase significantly. Do it wrong and it could easily backfire.

What’s your coach telling you the strategy is? Are you learning it? And do you execute on it?

If the answers to the latter two questions are “No” then you’ll get benched and won’t get to play.

Make sure that you get to play.

Do you remember the stories of normal people lifting cars off of others in danger? Or doing something out of the ordinary that make you feel astonished and leave you with a feeling of being happy that you are a part of the human race? (viral videos go viral for a reason… and I’m talking soldiers being reunited with their families, people doing acts of kindness for others.) You get my point.

Whenever you feel down, discouraged, beat up, defeated or that you can’t do anything right. Keep in mind that, when it matters, you will get laser-focused and accomplish what is necessary, achieve your goals, overcome obstacles and be the best person you can be.

And that is when you’ve found the mood.

I was watching a commercial last night and, in that commercial, it showed a woman eating dinner. The odd part to me was that her dinner consisted of coffee and french fries. I thought to myself, isn’t that odd?

When I thought about it more, I realized that it was only my perspective that made me feel that way. How many times in life have we thought that someone else’s behavior and/or choices were odd or out of the ordinary?

My guess is quite a bit – but that’s just my perception. Let people enjoy what they want to, no matter what it is and just let them be themself while you be you.

Makes for a happier world, right?

One of my most memorable (and oft used) phrases from Judge Judy is that you can’t eat the steak and then send it back after you ate it.

Many people make decisions that they don’t like or regret after the fact.

You can’t be a Monday morning quarterback. You made the choices. It didn’t work out.

Move on.

All too often, management has ideas/processes/solutions ingrained in their heads. That probably contributes to the high turnover rate at dealerships.

Perhaps by listening to the perspective of people that they manage, they might discover their challenges and solutions to that problem rather than be stuck in the “my way or the highway” mind set.

If you’re not already thinking about what I just said then you are in the “my way or the highway” group.

Open your mind and listen. You may find that whatever the problem(s) your business improve.

Too many people in careers feel entitled. Entitled to raises, promotions, better offices or whatever. The fact is that nobody is entitled. They may feel like their boss is being unfair or chose the wrong person for the job over you. Nobody can change how you feel and how you feel is never wrong. Those are YOUR feelings, however.

Just as in the title, if you work your ass off and are so successful at your job that you are killing it, people will notice. And those people will go to bat for you. If it is your boss that’s holding you back on purpose. The person that might notice your hard work might be your bosses boss.

In the end, you never know who is watching or paying attention to your work. Rather than let your feelings hold you back or interrupt your productivity, just plow ahead and you will get there…

At the exact right moment.

noun: a reasonable sum of money to be paid for services rendered or work done when the amount due is not stipulated in a legally enforceable contract.

There are a lot of times when businesses, management, employees and customers feel like they have been on the wrong side of agreements.

Quantum Merit is a legal term in which judges apply to case rulings.

Don’t be on the wrong side.