Recently, I had the wonderful opportunity to speak to the Habitat of Humanity Nashville and Wilson County’s Habitat at their annual luncheon. It was a packed house and as I was going over last minute changes to my speech, I stopped to hear the testimony of someone who had just gotten a house from Habitat.
Now if you don’t know, they don’t just give you a house. It is a process. A long process that requires patience, commitment and dedication. Oh, volunteering as well. The lady was talking about the three jobs she had to improve her credit and show that she was responsible and could do this. Before that, you have to go through a pretty thorough vetting process and that is not easy.
“I applied and was told no, but that was okay, because I was not going anywhere.” That immediately caught my attention. I am not going anywhere means that you are not about to quit. She kept knocking and knocking on the door and guess what happened? The door opened. Not by itself, she made it happen.
Then one of the directors got up and gushed about that lady’s testimony and perseverance. Then she talked about the part where they had to turn her down in her first application and this hit me hard. “It wasn’t a no, it was a not yet.” Let’s read that again. It wasn’t a no, it was a not yet. Goodness, that is so powerful. How many times when were told no, we just quit? A lot.
What if though, when that person told you no, they added, it is a not yet. It changes everything instantly. Shorts steps;Long vision. You go back to work but you feel it. You feel the prize. You feel the payoff. You can visualize it. You can see yourself getting that yes, all because they said, “It is not a no, just a not yet.”
Imagine how many mountains would have been climbed, or stones rolled away, or goals reached had we just said that? Countless.
As I have said, the only person who can stop you, is you. When you are trying for that new job, or a promotion or anything and no comes up, just tell yourself that it is a not yet. Stones, mountains, you name it will be conquered. All because you didn’t quit and you knew what was happening if you didn’t.
