Sometimes You Have To Get Back In Line

I once attended an event featuring the legendary motivational speaker Les Brown. I was excited, inspired, and completely fired up by everything he said. I spent nearly $100 on his books and materials, and afterward, I stood in line to have them signed.

When I finally reached the front, I told him my name was Taralynn and asked him to personalize my book. He said the line was too long and he didn’t have time to write my name.

Now, this was the same man who had just spent hours telling us not to accept “no” when we knew what we wanted. So I stepped away—and quietly got right back in line.

When I reached him the second time, he looked up and asked, “What’s your name?”

“Taralynn,” I said.

And this time, he wrote it.

Later, I briefly left my signed materials unattended, and someone stole them. At first, I couldn’t believe it. But because the books had been personalized with my name, they probably weren’t nearly as valuable to the person who took them. Had I accepted a generic signature, those books might have been much easier for someone else to sell.

I didn’t get mad. I got motivated—and I got exactly what I asked for.

That experience taught me something I have never forgotten: Sometimes you have to step away, get back at the end of the line, and start all over again to get what you want.

The first “no” does not always mean it’s over. Sometimes it simply means: Get back in line.