In 1993, a small bank in Abbotsford, Canada hired a 23-year-old stock broker named Trent Dyrsmid. As a rookie, the bank expected the performance typical to a first-year employee. What they received was the performance typical in a veteran. How did Dyrsmid do it?
Dyrsmid began each morning with two jars on his desk. One was filled with 120 paper clips. The other was empty. When he started his production efforts early in the day, he made a sales call. Immediately after the call, he would move one paper clip from the full jar to the empty jar. Then he repeated the process. “Every morning, I would start with 120 paper clips in one jar, and I would keep dialing the phone until I had moved them all to the second jar,” he said.
Within eighteen months, Dyrsmid was bringing in an astounding $5 million to the bank. His persistence paid off. His income at age 24 rivaled those twice his age and much more seasoned. His methods produced the outcomes that also attracted other opportunities.