The following is an extract from a book by John C. Maxwell.
It's a great analogy of why the media’s cry of “we are
heading into a recession” is a self-fulfilling prophecy and why mindset is so
important.
A man lived by the side of
the road and sold hot dogs. He was hard of hearing, so he had no radio. He had
trouble with his eyes, so he read no newspapers. But he sold good hot dogs.
This man put up signs on the
highway advertising his wonderful hot dogs. He stood on the side of the road
and cried, "Buy a hot dog, Mister?" And people bought his hot dogs.
He increased his meat and bun orders, and he bought a bigger stove to take care
of his trade.
He made enough money to put
his son through college.
Unfortunately, the son came
home from college an educated pessimist. He said, "Father, haven't you
been listening to the radio? Haven't you been reading the newspaper? There's a
big recession on. The European situation is terrible, and the domestic
situation is worse."
Whereupon the father thought,
"Well, my son's been to college. He reads the paper and he listens to the
radio; he ought to know."
So the father cut down his
meat and bun orders, took down his signs, and no longer bothered to stand out
on the highway to sell his hot dogs. Of course, his sales fell overnight.
"You're right,
son," the father said to the boy. "We certainly are in the middle of
a big recession."
To emphasise the point and the importance of mindset I will
continue the story myself:
On the other side of town. A
fellow hot dog seller also heard that there was a big recession. However, this guy’s attitude was rather
different from the pessimistic son of the other hot dog seller.
He increased his advertising
and he increased his meat and bun orders.
He did so well that he bought out the business of a hot dog seller on the
other side of the town.
The way we see things and the way we react to them is a
choice. Making a personal choice, rather than following heard mentality, requires effort and a success mindset.
