When I worked at Foot Locker right out of college, we had a day I fucking hated: Inventory. Simply explained, we would count every single item in the store and match it against what the clutter tightwad should have. Man I absolutely HATED doing these. Thing is, Foot Locker stores have so much stuff, workers from other stores would get called in to help -- on your damn off day. If you want dot lose your job, easy: don't show up for an inventory day.

If you've ever played sports, you know the practice/play thing. No football player misses practice all week and shows up on Saturday/Sunday in full pads expecting to participate. Many coaches have a hard rule: You MUST practice a certain number of times fully in order to play in a game. You don't practice -- no matter who you are -- forget about the games.

Business is the same way. But many people don't get the memo.

If you're in business, practice is everything that isn't selling your products and services. Learning how to do your business. Reading, seminars, continuing education, audio tapes, sales training, update calls, quarterly meetings... Practice. Some people just want to come to the games of getting customers and counting the profits, and realize the games only continue when practice is happening on a regular basis.

You have to show up to the inventory days -- when there's nothing to count, you're out of business.