Gavin Baker

In sports, the only thing a player can truly control is effort. The same applies
to business. The only thing any entrepreneur, salesperson or anyone in any
position can control is their effort.

I had to kick myself in the ass and recommit to getting up early, staying up late and
consuming everything I possibly could to get an edge. I had to commit to making
the effort to be as productive as I possibly could. It meant making sure that
every hour of the day that I could contact a customer was selling time, and
when customers were sleeping, I was doing things that prepared me to make
more sales and to make my company better.

And finally, I had to make sure I wasn’t lying to myself about how hard I was
working. It would have been easy to judge effort by how many hours a day passed
while I was at work. That’s the worst way to measure effort. Effort is measured by
setting goals and getting results. What did I need to do to close this account? What
did I need to do to win this segment of business? What did I need to do to
understand this technology or that business better than anyone? What did I need to
do to find an edge? Where does that edge come from, and how was I going to get
there?

The one requirement for success in our business lives is effort. Either you make the
commitment to get results or you don’t.