Roma: You want to learn the first rule you’d know if you ever spent a day in your life . . . you never open your mouth till you know what the shot is.

Mamet, Glen Gary Glen Ross

This line from the play Glen Gary Glen Ross is delivered in ire. In this bit of dialogue, the ellipses demonstrate the character’s inability to finish a thought, he’s so angry. The character of Ricky Roma was in the process of deceiving a disgruntled customer into keeping his large land purchase. However, right when Roma has the customer in a place of believing the lie he was telling him, the manager of the office butts in–ruining what he describes as “the shot”. According to Roma, the manager, Williamson, is not only clueless about the basics of the job, but also about how to know the shot.

In this scene, Williamson thinks he’s helping with the ruse, but his words make Roma out to be a liar. Even though Roma was indeed a liar, that was part of getting the shot. Lie to the customer + take customer’s money = the shot (Roma gets a Cadillac).

The shot in golf

In some sports, there’s a shot to make, a defined landing for the ball. In golf–it’s a drive down the green. The next hole is the clear target. There’s something called “shot making” in golf. Having this skill means, that the golfer has a magical ability to control the ball. This ability comes with time, practice, patience, and a bit of ballsyness. Ricky Roma had gotten good at shot-making in his profession. He could control customers and drive them down the green. It’s the reason he was the number one salesman in the office.

What’s the shot?

I listen to a lot of entrepreneurs trying to teach other wanna-be entrepreneurs how to figure out what they’re offering, who they’re selling to, and what their promise is (how they can make the customer’s life easier). They break it down into a format like the following:

I help (WHO) – 

do (WHAT)-

by (HOW) –

What they’re describing is how to know the shot, only they’re complicating it. Mamet’s line in the play is a simpler way of breaking down a sales objective. But–what if we could learn to use this concept to our advantage? What if we could figure out what the shot is in areas of our lives that we’re unsure about? For some of us who have decision fatigue, utilizing this concept might actually help us get somewhere.

Focus

The shot for us in life is our focus–the thing we want to achieve or accomplish. Having a clear focus or an objective keeps us looking in the right direction and therefore doing the right actions. Right actions are simply the next ones–the ones that move us forward– toward that degree, that job, that number of sales, finishing that garden, completing that novel, or becoming the next great chef.

Examples of knowing the shot

We can apply this idea of knowing the shot to our everyday lives. It’s essentially your “why.” Here are a few examples:

• If I want to plant a garden on the side of my house, the shot is that I prefer to have something colorful to look at other than the neighbor’s tan siding.

• If I want to get a degree in creative writing, the shot is that I desire a job as a creative writing teacher.

• If I want to buy a boat, the shot is that I fancy sunbathing in a yellow bikini out in the middle of the lake.

Figure out what the shot is, and you’ll get somewhere if you’re confused about what you want. Roma knew his shot–every day. Imagine if you could do the same. Roma wanted that Cadillac; he was motivated to get that Cadillac. Here’s my disclaimer: don’t lie and cheat like Roma, but use his drive as an example. Know what the shot is. Then–act.