A.C.E.

I wrote last week about how the great closer for the New York Yankees, Mariano Rivera, reacted when he gave up the winning run in game seven of the World Series in 2001. The two things that stood out to me about how he responded were his acceptance of what happened; that it was in the past, and that there wasn't anything he could change about it after it happened. The second thing that stood out was his resolve to use it to grow and get better. There are many lessons in that for all of us.

I'm unsure if Mariano Rivera ever read the book How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. But he certainly lived those principles, which had a massively positive impact on his performance.

One of the first principles taught in that book is never to criticize, condemn or complain. You never once heard Mariano Rivera complain about the umpires or anything that happened during a baseball game. He never condemned or criticized one of his teammates or his opponents. He was universally respected and admired by everyone he came in contact with. That could have something to do with his unanimous choice when he was elected to the Hall of Fame.

Another principle in that book is to focus on solutions rather than problems. After losing that game, he made it clear that he was committed to using what happened to become a better baseball player -because of what happened. He didn't dwell on the problem. Instead, he focused on the solution.

Another principle of the book is always to do your best, especially when things are getting tough. During difficult times it's easy to become complacent or give half an effort. And honestly, that is what most people do, and that is precisely why it's the best time to focus on hard work and effort to overcome the difficult situation you find yourself in. Rivera could have gone on to have a mediocre career after that epic loss. But instead, he resolved to get better from it.

How many of us in the mortgage lending space today wish it was easier, hoping for rates to go lower or more inventory to magically appear on the market? But, unfortunately, none of those things will save us, at least in the short term.

But if we focus on what we can control, things can get a lot better for us quickly. I didn't invent this, but I read it in a book where the University of Massachusetts hockey team had a slogan that they could control their A.C.E., or attitude, commitment and effort. We use that here at Zenith Home Loans. We can't control interest rates, and we can't control inventory, but we can control our attitude, our commitment, and our effort. The truth is there are many things we can't control in our business. But we can control our A.C.E.

Mariano Rivera controlled his A.C.E. after losing game seven of the World Series in front of millions and millions of people. He endured the post-game news conferences and all the questions about what happened to him and how he lost that game, and he still maintained his A.C.E.

All of us are capable of doing the same. So, let's resolve to do that.