The Process
Last month, one of my sales agents asked me, “How do you keep a reserved attitude when you have high goals for the week?”
As I began to answer his question, I thought of the two outcomes of any given day in our profession: everything in the world could go wrong or everything in the world could go right.
In sales, no one can control the outcome. In reality, all we can control is our effort and our attitude throughout the process. In our industry, “the process” amounts to the number of hours, number of sales presentations, and the substance we feed to our minds throughout the day. These are the the three habits that will help an agent to reach their professional goals!
True growth comes by choosing to enjoy the process—it’s in cleaning that you learn how to handle a messy situation. The habit of embracing the process was engrained in me when I trained for the New York City Marathon in 2016. This race was a lot of work, but once I built the habits in my running, I can now apply those same habits in all parts of my life.
Number of hours I spent running:
When I committed to train for the marathon, I quickly began to realize the amount of time I spent actively running and the total amount of hours I put in to the sport would directly relate to my success. There were multiple days where I ran 4 to 6 miles to increase my endurance. Throughout the fall, before the race, there were multiple times I ran 8 to 10 miles. (These ‘long’ runs would take anywhere from an hour and a half to two hours). The ability to commit the hours needed for the training process was important because it prepared me to slowly get better through repetition over time.
Number of times I went running:
No matter how horrible or badly you may feel during a race—it will pass. The preparation was not easy and the benchmarks were hard to achieve; however, the action of giving my all is all that mattered when the race was over. When I consistently made the choice to leave the comfort of my home to run on a continuous basis, this created discipline. To consistently do something (no matter how you feel) creates the habit, and that habit makes us successful at whatever we do.
What I listened to and told myself as I ran:
The third habit that I learned was how to fuel my body with things that would impact me in a positive manner (both mentally and physically). I enjoyed listening to podcasts on my runs because (just like water) they would hydrate my mind with positive messages and aid me in sustaining a positive mental attitude. During the marathon, I chose to enjoy the scenery, the podcast, or the simple fact my body could run. I developed a stronger positive mental attitude and the ability to self-talk my way through physical and mental challenges.
These three principles also apply to a work week. To be and feel successful, we must choose to enjoy working through the process. I keep a reserved attitude during a week by falling in love with every step of the journey, the good and the bad.
You cannot have the victory without the suck. You can either choose to sulk in the mess or embrace the victory! I encourage you to choose the latter.
