A great many people "break training" mentally as well as physically at the celebration stage. Their minds and muscles turn flabby after they succeed. They are so proud of their accomplishments that they rust in self-satisfaction. Then, usually too late for remedy, they find themselves afflicted by the rheumatic twinges of deep-seated discontent with what they have done.
We are all familiar with the tragedies of the farmer who sells his acres and moves into town "so that he can take life easy," and of the business man who retires from his "daily grind" to enjoy the fortune of success. So long as they remained at work they were vigorous in mind and body. But nearly always men who give up their accustomed activities begin to develop mental and physical ailments soon afterward. They age and break down in a few years. In order to stay well, one must keep going. It is far less wearying to walk than to stand still. Normal fatigue of mind and body are not so exhaustive of mental and physical energy as torpid idleness.
Advance or You Will Slip Back
Probably you do not think of quitting work for a long time. You look at your future retirement as a remote possibility. Very likely you feel it is premature to consider "your declining years" now, when you are in the full vigor of ambition. But if you stop advancing, in order to celebrate your progress thus far, you have quit working your way ahead. If you stay contented with what you have done, even for a little while, you have temporarily retired from the game of success and are in danger of rusting into a partial failure. If you do not continue moving ever upward, you will slip into a decline without realizing that you are going back and down.
The Zest for Work
The successful salesman thrives on his work, and pines for it when he "lays off." He welcomes the end of his annual vacation with more zest than its beginning. He celebrates each order gained by planning at once how he will get another. He is like Alexander, who sighed only when there were no more worlds to conquer. He is as perennially tireless as Edison, the wizard who is never weary. To the true salesman there is no enjoyment equal to selling. He often declares that he "would rather sell than eat."
Pattern after Master Salesmen
You know the importance of being a good salesman. You have studied the methods he uses throughout the selling process. Now at the celebration stage pattern after the masters of the profession. Do not get into the bad habits of the mediocre fellows who slacken their efforts after each success, and who need the spur of necessity to make them do their utmost.
When a good salesman has booked an order, and has taken pains to make a fine last impression on his customer, he does not go to his hotel and play Kelly pool, or otherwise spend the rest of the day just loafing around. Only the poor salesman celebrates in such a way; thereby showing that his successes are so rare he is not used to them.