Obscurity...

Toiling away in obscurity. Quick, name the top 5 all time leaders of stolen bases in baseball. You may know some or most, #2 Lou Brock led the way with 938 until #1 Rickey Henderson came along and smashed it with 1406. #4 Ty Cobb Had 892 and was considered the most fearsome and fearless basestealer ever. A man from my generation, someone I watched play heer in Denver with the Denver Bears, #5 Tim Raines pulls up the back of the pack with 808.

So who is #3 you ask? The man who actually held the record with 912 official stolen bases from 1901 until Lou Brock broke the mark in 1979.

Today August 3, in 1888 Billy Hamilton stole his first base in the major leagues. Before returning to the minors in 1902, "Sliding Billy" totalled 912 stolen bases.

Most people have never heard of Billy Hamilton, even most baseball fans. Many of us are great at what we do, perhaps even the worlds greatest, but no one will ever know. Through some odd combination of work, persverence, sacrifice, luck, skill, contacts, relationships, education, networking, looks, talent, personality and probably a thousand other factors, some of us rise to the top. Dale Carnegie. Zig Ziglar. Brian Tracy. Tom Hopkins. There are many more.

But there are hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of regular salespeople toiling away in relative obscurity that are excellent at their craft. Perhaps they do not want to leave their small town because of family. Perhaps they are comfortable with the small industry they are in because it just makes them happy. But they can be just as good as any of the others, just as thoughtful, just as motivated, just as talented.

It doesn't matter if no one has ever heard of you, you still may be the best at what you do.