I have no mechanical ability whatsoever. I don’t really understand why, but for some reason I am unable to perform even the simplest of automotive tasks. Anything that requires me to raise the hood on a vehicle makes my pulse rate quicken just little bit. I am, simply put, an automotive idiot. This fact, however, hasn’t kept me from trying to fix our cars when they have a problem which usually results in even more damage and costing even more money when I finally give up and take it to a mechanic.Several years ago when my wife still had the car I sold her while we were dating, I noticed that it wasn’t running right. The car seemed like it had lost some of its power, like it wasn’t running on all cylinders (whatever that means) and, finally, one day, when I got home, the car wouldn’t even start. She asked me to take it to the repair shop and see if they could figure out what the problem was. Instead of doing that, I asked a few people at work, the guy with the Napa hat on who was ahead of me in line at the grocery store and the lady at the gas station and anybody else I came across that looked like they might know something about cars.

The consensus opinion from my pool of experts was that one of my spark plugs or spark plug wires wasn’t working properly. My experts all informed me that fixing that problem was one of the easiest and most basic tasks … Car Repair 101 if you will. In those days, we didn’t have a whole lot of extra cash laying around, so I decided I would go home, perform some routine automotive maintenance, make my wife proud of me for fixing something myself and generally be a hero. After all, what could possibly go wrong?

I wanted to drive her car to the auto parts store so that they could help me get the right spark plugs and spark plug wires. I thought if they could look at them, it would increase my chances of getting the right stuff. However, her car wouldn’t start, so I first needed to jump start her car. I borrowed a set of jumper cables from my neighbor and I hooked them up … nothing. I let my truck run for a few minutes and revved the engine a little and still … nothing.

Right about this time, I got one of those feelings like I had just really screwed something up. I’m sure you all know this feeling. You know, like when you were a kid and you had just accidentally released all of your dad’s duck decoys into Spadra Creek (they looked really cool as they floated away – I obviously underestimated the swiftness of both the river’s current and my dad’s belt).

After a little careful investigation, I realized that I had hooked up the jumper cables incorrectly which caused a breaker to blow up or whatever they do. So I drove my truck to the auto parts store, bought a new breaker to replace the one that I had just destroyed and while I was trying to replace it, I dropped my socket down into the engine compartment somewhere. No problem, I could see it but I couldn’t reach it, so I got out the jack and jacked up the car so I could climb underneath it and reach my socket that I may or may not have needed.

When I jacked up the car, evidently I didn’t do it correctly because while I’m under the car, I notice it start to FALL OFF THE JACK! As quickly as I could, I tried to get out from underneath the car, but down it came. I managed to escape with only an embarrassing scrape mark along the side of my neck, but at least I was still alive. I’m not sure how many people have ever died while replacing spark plug wires, but I’m pretty sure I would’ve been in one of those dumbest people in the world e-mails. I didn’t give up though, and four ridiculously long days later, the spark plugs and wires had been changed – by me – and the car had regained its spark and was firing on all cylinders once again.

Lately, it seems like a lot of people have lost their spark. The doldrums of the economy seem to make people weary, depressed and looking for their own personal motivation. I talk to salespeople all the time who badly need sales, yet are too depressed to go looking for them.

I see business leaders who are so busy pointing out the problems in their company that they forget that they are supposed to come up with the solutions. According to Hall of Fame football coach Lou Holtz, the difference between winners and losers is that winners are able to stay focused longer than losers. He is implying that everybody will lose their focus (or spark) at some point. Have you lost your spark? Do you need to change your wiring? Getting it back is no big deal. It’s Motivation 101, but I recommend asking for help.