Determination Exemplified -Week Fourteen of the Master Key Experience

In week eleven I wrote about the habit of persistence and determination. This week our homework was to watch a movie. The one I choose was “Door to Door” based on a true story. It stars William Macy, Helen Mirren and Kyra Sedgwick. It was a great movie to exemplify persistence and determination.

As we learned from the chapter on Persistence in “Think and Grow Rich”, there are 4 steps that lead to the habit of persistence:

• A definite purpose backed by a burning desire for its fulfillment.
• A definite plan expressed in continuous action.
• A mind closed tightly against all negative and discouraging influences, including negative suggestions of relatives, friends and acquaintances.
• A friendly (Mastermind) alliance with one or more persons who will encourage you to follow through with both plan and purpose.

In the movie “Door to Door” all four of those steps were clearly shown by the main character Bill Porter played by William Macy. In the movie he has cerebral palsy.

The cause of his cerebral palsy was a brain injury during his birth. This affected his muscle control, muscle coordination, muscle tone, reflex, posture and balance. In the movie we meet him as a young man living with his widowed mother played by Helen Mirren.

He exemplifies persistence and determination right at the beginning of the movie when he applies for a door-to-door salesman job. Bill is turned down but when he sees his mother who is waiting for him, he turns around and goes back in with the determination that he would not come back out until he had that job selling products on a seven-mile route in the Portland area.

He had a definite purpose backed by a burning desire for its fulfillment. He was determined to get that job.

Every day he had a definite plan to walk his 10-mile route until he got a sale. Bill was in continuous action and very focused. He also had doors slammed in his face and people saying “no” regularly.

His mind was closed tightly against all negative and discouraging influences and he never took rejection personally. Bill was relentless. He had a can-do attitude and an indomitable spirit.

His mother was his first mastermind partner.  She taught Bill to be patient, persistent and optimistic. When his mother went into a nursing home, he had to ask the bellhops at a downtown hotel to take over one of her tasks—buttoning his collar and attaching his clip-on tie each morning.

Bill then hired Shelly Brady played by Kyra Sedgwick to deliver packages and help around his house. Four years later his mother died of Alzheimer’s. This left Bill with only Shelly around for support. So, she became his next mastermind partner.

The movie was very heart warming and you could see his customers were like family to him. So, in the end they would have been like a mastermind for him as well. In 1989 he was awarded the Watkins Salesman of the Year.

So, the four habits that lead to the habit of persistence and determination were all encompassed in this wonderful movie of Bill Porter’s life as a door-to-door salesman. Obviously, I highly recommend this movie if you haven’t seen it already.

To your success.

Charlene

Please view past posts to get full impact of this journey.