"I Forgot"

By Larry Hochman
Posted Tuesday, December 21, 2004

The classic excuse makes another appearance, this time in the world of home business. Here is the PERFECT example of a behavior that is screaming to be unlearned.

Here's the situation. My wife Diane and I run conference calls for our home business group. Among the requirements for these calls is to send in a weekly tracking sheet of your activities so we can check their progress, make suggestions, and celebrate the things they've done right.

"Carla" was one of the ladies we'd worked with on a previous group. She was a young woman... early to mid-twenties who had really good results from the products we market, but was not moving forward in her business. Nonetheless, she expressed an eagerness to participate in the group.

Group time came about and we noticed Carla had not submitted her tracking sheet. We asked her about this and she gave us the classic answer used by people of all ages throughout the generations:

"I forgot."

In the instant she used those words, I had a crystal clear picture of Carla as a high school student, being asked by a teacher for her homework. In the picture she used the exact same words, in the exact same tone that she used with us..."I forgot."

No doubt there was some annoyance and a bit of unpleasantness for the moment, but Carla had done the figuring (she's not stupid) and determined that the moment's unpleasantness was worth her not doing the homework.

It probably goes back well before that. I'm sure Carla's mom asked why she hadn't cleaned her room, done her homework, walked the dog, whatever, and Carla's answer was the same..."I forgot."

And no doubt the consequence, if there was one, was less unpleasant than having to do the task she "forgot."

Now Carla is a grown-up presented with a chance to control her own destiny, be financially free for the rest of her life, build the next 60 to 70 years however she wants...

...of course, with that opportunity comes the demand that you change what you do on a daily basis.

Carla looked at the picture, decided that this was very uncomfortable, and reverted back to what had worked before...

"I forgot."

And it worked this time too, because we didn't pester Carla for her statistics. We very gently and nicely gave her permission to leave the focus group.

Hey, we're business builders, not baby-sitters!

But to this day I'm still amazed at how what we need to UNlearn interferes with our desire to change where we are.

It's simple...what worked for you as a younger person in a different life situation just may be holding you back from greatness as an adult.

What do YOU need to unlearn?

How will you go about doing it?

Which is worse...the pain of staying where you are or the discomfort of unlearning some behaviors that have gotten you to where you are today?

Which is stronger...the comfort of not having to change or the promise of GREATNESS?

About the Author
Larry and Diane Hochman operate New You Marketing, a successful home business training and development program, in addition to their own home business from their residence in Bristol Connecticut. To receive Larry's FREE on-line four week home business development course, send a blank email to HomeBizMiniCourse@infogeneratorpro.com To subscribe to The Next Wave, Larry's free newsletter about home business development, email to: TheNextWave@infogeneratorpro.com