The Walmart Syndrome
The Walmart Syndrome
The other day I went to Walmart. Nothing special happened but I did have sort of a revelation.
One, Walmart is a great place to see the new summer fashions (up yours Paris runway) and B, something strange is happening in the parking lot.
I was stopped at the stop sign and watched the traffic pattern. It was a particularly busy day and I was waiting for a couple minutes. And in that time I noticed the same cars going around and around, down the aisles looking for a spot. The same cars!
It dawned on me, they were looking for a parking spot closer to the door. Now granted, there were plenty of spots way off in the parking lot where the people would have to walk to get to the store. But these shoppers weren’t just frugal, they were lazy. Double threat!
So, just to make a point, I drove way off to the end of the parking lot and walked in. My own personal trek.
Being Different
If you miss the opportunity to stand out and be great, it might not come back the rest of that day, the rest of the month, the rest of your life.
You HAVE to take a chance and take absolute action, without fear and without hesitation.
Another Story
Let me tell you another story that just happened recently.
I had an idea. It was one of those ideas where I actually heard angels singing, you know, like when they put peanut butter and jelly in the same squeezable bottle?
It was an idea for a DVD. Not only a DVD, but a really good one. It involved some pretty unique training for athletes and I wanted to have Joe DeFranco involved. Joe and I worked on the AMPED system together and I thought this new product would be just as successful.
So here is the sequence of events that happened after the idea.
Saturday: I called Joe, he did not answer (he never does, he’s always too busy!)
Saturday (1o min later): I texted Joe to have him call me NOW!
Saturday (many minutes later): Joe called me, I told him my idea
Tuesday (3 days later): We were filming
To put it mildly, I take action. I don’t hesitate. Because if I hesitate, I might miss the opportunity to be great. I might miss the opportunity that might not present itself again.
In this case, it was never so true. DeFranco has something big going on and if I didn’t act, this DVD would NOT have happened. There was a very small window to film and get it ready. That was the hard truth and instead of saying “f*ck it” or “we’ll film it later”, we DID it. BOOM!
PLEASE LISTEN TO ME NOW
Don’t let other people’s complacency lull you into not being great. Be your own person. Park your car out in BFE and walk your ass to Walmart.
Oh yeah, here is the trailer for the new DVD:
By Smitty on June 14th, 2011
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I’ve seen the Walmart syndrome too many times, and not only at Walmart. I have always looked at it like this. The amount of time they waste at finding that spot closest to the door, they could have gotten into the store and be already shopping for what they need. I’m starting to think that the same people who have the Walmart Syndrome are also the ones who checkout with their cart overfull with stuff they are buying, half of which they do not need.
Dude! People do this ALL THE TIME at Walmart! In the time that I park (in the back of the lot…TONS of spaces open back there) and make it to the front door, they’re still looking for that super close spot.
Great read Smitty, I did an article similar to this a few months back and was told I am insensitive and crude.
I’m sure the people that were upset at me looked just like the perfect 10 in your article.
Great stuff as always.
Mike
HA! The other day while at the local beach I saw something that left me amazed. She was 5 feet tall and pulling nearly 250#+! In a bikini and strutting her stuff like it was no big thing. Considering the fact my sons (4&6) have NO concept of keeping it inside, and I was paralyzed by what I was seeing they busted out laughing. “She’s not wearing any bottoms!” Which I commented, “They are there somewhere.” Now we were staring like we would find the lost treasure. “There it is under her back roll!” Exclaimed my son.
I am working on there “keep it inside” outbursts but I have to say I couldn’t move or talk. It was like seeing bigfoot!
It is amazing how many people think they should wear tight/revealing/clingy (for guys usually grossly undersized MMA apparel :)), clothing regardless of how obese they are. I don’t want to see it and I am sure no one else does either.
If many of these same people who spend lots of time worrying about their hair/makeup/nails/cloths(gack) would spend the same amount of energy and thought regarding their food intake and exercise then this might be less of an issue :).
Dale