It ain’t over till it’s over. Please excuse my bad grammar, but that famous saying by the man himself, Yogi Berra, really has a lot of meaning.

Now, if you’re a football fan, there’s no doubt you’ve heard of “The Play.” You’ve certainly probably seen it on television whether you’re a football fan or not.

It happened in 1982. California and Stanford are playing in a big game, and for all practical purposes, the game appears to be over. Stanford, with the future NFL Hall of Fame quarterback, John Elway, drives the length of the field, they kick a field goal to go ahead with just four seconds left in the game.

They’re going to kick off to California and everybody thinks the game is over, everybody except the California football team.

They get the ball, they lateral, they lateral, they lateral, five times they pass the ball off to one another. And, if you remember, the Stanford band thought the game was over and they ran onto the field and the California player ran through them and he scored in the end zone.

That’s just an example of the idea that it ain’t over till it’s over.

December is a month, folks, that you shouldn’t write off when it comes to your goals. A lot of people do.

I’ll give you a good example. I know that there are a lot of people in the real estate business who just kind of check out for the month of December.

They assume people aren’t interested in houses in December, they’re interested in the holidays, they’re interested in shopping.

Well, I’ll tell you a little secret. A lake house that I bought two years ago, I bought in December not long before Christmas because of an ambitious realtor who recognized that there are people looking for property during that period of time.

He didn’t assume that I would be shopping. He didn’t assume that I would be too caught up in the holidays. And that’s a common misconception.

Let me just share with you that there’s a lot less competition in December, in whatever business that you’re in, unless you’re in a retail business going head-to-head with Walmart or a big department store.

If you’re in insurance sales, for instance. A lot of people take off in December. If you’re in any type of sales business, in most cases, people take off in December.

If you’re in the direct sales business, and you’re recruiting people, December can be one of the greatest months of recruiting. Why? Because money’s on people’s minds. And you’ve got a way to show them how to make more of it!

They’re out there and they’re looking at their gift list one part of the time and then they’re looking at their budget. Their gift list and their budget; they don’t meet up. They’re thinking about money. It’s a great time to show them your opportunity.

If you decide December is going to be a big month, it’s going to be a great month.

What can you do to swim against the tide? What can you do to set yourself apart from your competition?

See, if you’re out there and you’re running hard in December, people are going to notice. Your customers are going to notice. Your prospects are going to notice.

You can also use December to get a running start on the New Year.

A lot of people wait till January before they ever sit down and start their goals, for goodness sakes.

Well, I’ll tell you what happens on January 1st for me and members of the Champions Club. We zoom by the start line. While everybody else is trying to figure out when they’re going to get started, we’re at a full-tilt sprint. We’re running by. And that’s because we use December to get ready.

Evaluate the goals you worked on this year and you haven’t made much progress with. Did you put the wrong date on it? Sometimes the goal’s not wrong, it’s the date that is wrong. So, we just reset the date. There’s not a problem with that. There’s no loss of esteem for doing that. We just reset the date and we go after it again.

Ask yourself, if I keep doing what I did this year, will success eventually come? Sometimes the answer is, “we’re just doing the wrong things.” Did I engage in the wrong activity?

Many times you’re out there busy, you’re working hard, but you’re doing the wrong things. What can I do differently next time I go after it? That’s what you have to ask yourself as you go into the New Year.

December is a month that can give you the greatest results you’ve had this year, regardless. This is fourth and goal. This is your play. So, go for it. And never forget — it ain’t over till it’s over!