--- title: Work Hard on What Is in Your Control | The Sales Blog description: You cannot control everything in business, or in life. Making sure you work hard at the things you do control is the difference between real success and image: https://www.thesalesblog.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/Watch-with-Heart.jpg --- ### [Now booking SKO meetings for 2026/27! 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I made the mistake of checking a bag. After waiting 10 minutes to exit the plane due to the lack of a gate agent, I waited another 55 minutes for my bag. No one said a word about either issue. Instead, a few hundred people waited, many impatiently, anxious to leave the airport. It cannot be easy to run an airline. There are too many things outside of your control. Mechanicals are going to happen, and you are always going to put safety first. From time to time, and more often than you would like, weather is going to make a mess of your business. In a business where so much is outside of your control, it makes sense to do the very best you can when it comes to what is within your control. **Communication:** When things go wrong, communication is something you can control. You can communicate what is going on, what is being done, and when your clients can expect an improvement. When this isn’t done, it feels like a lack of concern. **Hustle:** In a lot of businesses, there is going to be a delay in providing a promised result or outcome. This may be the reality of the business. What you can do is hustle to produce the result as soon as possible. Hustle is within your control. **Caring:** Both communication and hustle look and feel like caring. So does apologizing. In a business where things often go wrong, you can grow accustomed to those challenges. Because you are comfortable with these challenges doesn’t mean your clients, nor does it mean that you don’t have to do anything to try to improve it for your clients. The reality of some business is that much of what you wish you could control is beyond your reach. When this is true, the difference between you and your competitors is your willingness to work hard on what is in your control. ###### Tags: [Sales](https://www.thesalesblog.com/blog/tag/sales) [2017](https://www.thesalesblog.com/blog/tag/2017) Post by [Anthony Iannarino](https://www.thesalesblog.com/blog/author/anthony-iannarino) on October 10, 2017 Written and edited by human brains and human hands. ![Anthony Iannarino](https://www.thesalesblog.com/hubfs/ai-blog-profile-crop.jpg) Anthony Iannarino is an American writer. He has published daily at [thesalesblog.com](https://www.thesalesblog.com) for more than 14 years, amassing over 5,300 articles and making this platform a destination for salespeople and sales leaders. Anthony is also the author of four best-selling books documenting modern sales methodologies and a fifth book for sales leaders seeking revenue growth. His latest book for an even wider audience is titled, The Negativity Fast: Proven Techniques to Increase Positivity, Reduce Fear, and Boost Success. Anthony speaks to sales organizations worldwide, delivering cutting-edge sales strategies and tactics that work in this ever-evolving B2B landscape. He also provides workshops and seminars. Connect with Anthony on LinkedIn, X or Youtube. 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What we’re doing right now **is working**, even in this challenging economy. **Would you like some help?** [![Solve for Sales](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/2922376/d3a4938b-2008-4a27-8b44-7b2223f6d035.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/2922376/d3a4938b-2008-4a27-8b44-7b2223f6d035) ### Join my Weekly Newsletter for Sales Tips Join 100,000+ sales professionals in my weekly newsletter and get my *Guide to Becoming a Sales Hustler* eBook for FREE! --- ```json { "@context" : "http://schema.org/", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Anthony Iannarino" }, "dateModified" : "2021-09-17T2:38:04 PM", "datePublished" : "2017-10-10 08:00:19", "description" : "You cannot control everything in business, or in life. 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