Embracing the Lull Without Accepting It

Lately, I’ve been channeling a bit of my inner Michael Jordan.

Not the highlight reels.

Not the championships or the trophies.

But the mentality—the part most people never see.

The discipline to keep working when the outcome isn’t guaranteed.

The ability to stay locked in during quiet stretches.

The willingness to prepare relentlessly, even when there’s no immediate reward or external validation.

That mindset doesn’t just live in sports.

It shows up every day in business and sales.

The Lull Is Part of the Process

Every career has lulls.

Moments when deals slow down.

When momentum plateaus.

When progress feels invisible despite consistent effort.

The mistake many people make is treating these periods as failure or worse, as a signal to coast. But the lull isn’t the enemy. It’s information.

The real work is learning how to embrace the lull without accepting it.

Embracing it means acknowledging where you are without panic or denial.

Not accepting it means refusing to let it define where you’re going.

In business and sales, this is where separation happens.

While others disengage, complain, or wait for conditions to improve, this is the moment to sharpen fundamentals - how you think, how you sell, how you listen, and how you lead.

Growth Happens Off the Scoreboard

The most meaningful growth rarely happens when everything is working.

It happens in the quiet stretches:

• When results aren’t immediate

• When confidence has to come from preparation, not applause

• When improvement is internal before it’s visible

This is where I’ve learned to slow down and take inventory not of outcomes, but of judgment.

What did past wins actually teach me?

What did setbacks reveal about how I make decisions under pressure?

What patterns keep repeating and which ones need to change?

Instead of treating past events as baggage, I’ve learned to use them as leverage.

Every experience becomes raw material:

• refining how I evaluate opportunities

• strengthening how I communicate value

• deepening how I manage risk and uncertainty

This isn’t regression.

It’s recalibration.

Business, Sales, and the Long Game

Sales and leadership reward consistency more than intensity.

Anyone can sprint when conditions are perfect.

Very few can stay disciplined when progress feels delayed.

That’s where mindset matters.

The same mentality that separates elite athletes applies directly to business:

• preparation before opportunity

• learning before momentum

• discipline before results

This period - this lull isn’t a pause. It’s a build phase.

I’ve come to trust that the work done here compounds. Not always immediately. But inevitably.

“I will never give up.

And that’s why eventually

I will always succeed.”

That belief isn’t motivational - it’s practical. It’s rooted in pattern recognition. In understanding that sustained effort, paired with learning and judgment, eventually creates inflection points.

Looking Forward

The goal isn’t to rush the next chapter.

It’s to arrive ready for it.

Ready with sharper instincts.

Stronger fundamentals.

Better questions.

More perspective.

When the next opportunity appears—and it always does—I don’t want to be scrambling. I want to be positioned to catapult forward, not catch up.

That’s the work.

That’s the mindset.

And that’s the long game I’m committed to playing.