It was a typical Saturday afternoon as we approached Christmas. The dark clouds started to roll in and soon the Sydney sky was lit up by thunderbolts of lightning. As we settled in with the passing storm, my phones started to ring….

Life was a lot simpler before we all got tethered to instant mobile communications. I do a lot of driving during my working days and I see constant signs that the attachment to the mobile phone is far greater than the threat of 3 to 4 demerit points and a $304 to $405 traffic violation fine….

There is a little known rule in life that goes like this:.” If you don’t exercise your right of first refusal, you will run out of options…”

…It all started with the offer of the apple in the Garden of Eden. And according to the story, the offer was accepted. We have many more offers that fill our days now… All the fast things you can think of and any sort of entertainment you like. It is all served up for our taking every single day …And it is all kind of hard to refuse.

So we grab whatever we can and get stuck into it. And we stay STUCK.

For every business, a sure sign of success is when the phones start ringing…It can be an expensive exercise to get prospects interested enough to ring up and engage. This means that every single phone call cost money to generate and is important to that business.

As a roofer, storms mean potential business. So, when the phone starts ringing on a wet Saturday…it is time to “pick up”

However, a while ago, I had learnt that I had the right of first refusal. On my weekends, my phones go to message bank. It can be a refusal to do business – but it frees me up to many other options that weekends can provide.

Adam took the apple and he was shown the exit gate to the garden. If he had refused, the whole garden was available to him.

Life is filled with ‘new shining objects’ to overwhelm us and take us into a world of pure consumption. For many, it is a way of life that is hard to refuse.

But deep in your mind you KNOW. The offers can only get better – if you refuse the first one…