I don’t often stop to watch TV, but in the background the other evening the TV show “deal or no deal” caught my eye.
For those of you not familiar with the show – a contestant picks a box from random. There are 14 other contestants who have boxes too. One by one the contestant chooses a box to open. They range in value from 1p to £250k – the jackpot.
The aim of the game is to open 3 boxes at a time and eliminate the smaller amounts of money. There is a banker who will make offers along the way to stop the game and at this point the contestant can choose to “Deal or no deal!” The contestant’s box is the last one to be opened. If they have “dealt” with an amount offered by the banker during the show, the ideal result is that the contestant’s box is worth a lot less than they dealt at.
However they can continue all the way through and take their chances that their box has the bigger sum in it. It’s a game of chance.
The contestant this evening was a lady who just wanted a new car. She played the first round. Her offer from the banker was £3000. She declined the offer. The next round went well too, and she had some very high amounts left. She was offered £7500. She carried on and again the next offer was £14000 from the banker. By this time although there were a couple of large cash sums she could win, there were many many smaller amounts of £50, £750 etc.
This lady was on a mission. She was focused, and even the “banker” commented on her calculation. She knew exactly what she was doing. She kept saying, I have a big sum of money in here. She believed it!
She was offered £24000 in the fourth round. She took the deal and then carried on playing to see where the game went. She was left in the final round with £750 and £100k – one of those was in her box.
It was the £100k! She said she had a large sum in her box yet stopped at £24k! Who else would have done this? It’s very easy in hindsight to say that I would have carried on, but when REAL money is on the table, would I have done? REALLY? I really don’t know.
In business however, it’s this that sets aside the successful from those who don’t quite ever make it. They play the game, take the risks, won’t be distracted and go to the very end of a project. Sometimes they win, and sometimes they lose.
How determined are you? If your instincts tell you that something is worth it, no matter how crazy, would you follow them even if a better offer came along? Would you sell out for a £24k job and some short term security or will you stick it out. It’s not for you to answer to me, but ultimately to yourself.
What’s YOUR call? Are you in business? Deal or no deal?
Until next time
Richard Cooper, virtual office visionary
Follow me @holdeverything1