I never have been able to understand why people can only see as far as the need of the day in which they are operating. It astounds me even more how these same people can be motivated at all. On a day-to-day basis, the job of running a business, selling, and hanging on to your clients can be tough.
When I talk to these nearsighted people, I find them wallowing in their everyday problems like the economic downturn. When I ask them why they continue to operate this way, they give me a strange look, as though there were no alternatives.
Knowing what you are trying to accomplish by doing the day-to-day "grunt" work supplies the motivation to continue striving for your goals. What difference does it make on a daily basis what you have to do, if each day gets you closer and closer to the end result? What difference does it make if you are turned down or turned out by a closed-minded prospect? What sense is there in spending today "pouting" over what happened yesterday; or even worse, what might happen tomorrow?
There is an easy way to stay motivated. There is an easy way to guarantee your success. It is by building a goals programme. Goals keep you motivated through the dark days when you feel like you're slipping and they provide you with the peak experiences on those days when you hit your target. They give you the reason to move through obstacles, and not around them. They answer the question, "Why?" Goals do not have to be glamorous or earthshaking. They do not have to reach far into the future. They just have to be yours. Little goals. Goals that take you through tomorrow, into next week, next month, and as far into the future as you dare to dream.
But… they must exist if you are to be motivated to achieve. You can't find them in a "Goals Store." You can't borrow them from your neighbours. You can't send away for them from a catalogue. Where are they? They are locked in your mind. And how do you break them free? By ignoring the chains you were given, by letting your mind's eye to soar, and catching, on small bits of paper, the picture you see, even if only for an instant.
And then, once captured, allowing these small scratches on a pad to grow into the masterpiece which is to be your future.
You can do it-if you dare to look
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Excerpted from Sandler's No Guts, No Gain!® training program. © 2002 Sandler Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.
S Sandler Sales Institute 180° From Traditional Sales Training (with design) is a registered service mark of Sandler Systems, Inc.
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