T Harv Eker has this saying: “how you do something is how you do everything” - which is a direct reflection of our behaviors not only in one aspect of our lives but in general. But from a practical standpoint, how do we get to achieve anything or get anything done? Simply by taking one step at a time.
At first glance, taking one step at a time and therefore making progress, looks like a straightforward, natural concept but, it turns out that is not that easy to apply in reality for many. Far too often we try to reach our goals in one big leap, which results in stress, frustration and ultimately failure, that could easily be avoided if we would just take it one step at a time. Think of a baby who starts exploring the world around him. The baby first crawls on small areas, then it starts crawling further and faster, then it tries to lift himself up on its feet, takes a step, wiggles and falls, gets up again takes another step, and another, then falls again, gets back up and easy-easy through a progression gets to the actual walking. This is a natural progression of things. Just like when we walk down the street, we put one foot in front of the other to propel us forward instead of just taking huge jumps, hoping that we're going to get to our destination faster or we’re going to waste less energy on it.
Just like that, we can’t reach our business, sales or our personal goals in one day just as we can't do all the prospecting for the month in one day either and having the ambition to do so, may play well for some people wired that way, for short periods of time, but it’s not sustainable in the long run. Getting from point A to point Z must happen one step at the time, as it is usually not only the natural way of things, but also the most efficient and long lasting way as well.
However even if this theory makes perfect sense to all of us and we understand the progression of things, all of us, absolutely everybody has procrastinated at least once in their life, with most people procrastinating daily on almost all activities they have to do, especially those activities they don't truly enjoy and they're not looking forward to do. Salespeople are no exception. Many put prospecting off, always with the promise to themselves, or to others, that they'll get around to it tomorrow or later this week, or Monday or whatever.
The prevailing excuse is they believe that they can prospect once or twice a week, and it will be OK, to get it out of the way, by making a few calls and sending a few emails, saying to themselves that they will get the remaining bulk done, all at once at a later time.
However, that rarely happens due to Procrastination. Procrastination is simply the action of delaying or postponing something, and if you think you don’t ever do it, you’re wrong. We all procrastinate at times.
My friend Mike, one year in December bought himself a book called “How to stop procrastinating” planning on reading it until the end of the year so he starts January with this new year resolution of 0 procrastination. Not one, not two, but three years that book stayed untouched on his nightstand, and every time he will see it he will think: “I'll get to it tomorrow”, until finally he decided to go ahead and donate it to his local library, because maybe somebody can actually find it useful, as he figured he will never get to it. How many people you know have a similar story with something they kept postponing again and again? What is your story about that?
Bottom line: every major thing we didn't get to achieve in life has probably been a direct result of lack of self-discipline, which can be seen not only in big achievements but also in the small things that we need to do every day.
It's said that it's in our nature as humans to procrastinate because it's easy. It's easy to say;” I'm tired I'll skip gym today”, or “I'll start my diet next month”, or “I'll stop drinking soda after I finished this pack because I already bought it”. So it’s natural to convince ourselves with these promises, however it's also disappointing us when we realize that there is no reward for procrastination, au contraire, when we fail to do the little things we are supposed to do every day, we actually set a negative tone for our bigger efforts to achieve bigger goals.
Just like in anything, from studying in school to relationships, if you want to become successful in any business, you have to be successful at prospecting, at communicating, at showing empathy, at listening, and all these require that you develop the self-discipline to take the right steps every single day in order to get there. You cannot afford to wait until the end of the year, the end of the month or the end of the week to do something. You cannot wait until the end of the day, or the end of the week to prospect. You must prospect every single day for success if you want the great results.
Why wait until you hit rock bottom to learn the lesson? Why learn it the hard way, either by looking at your revenue streams when they equal 0, or looking at your pipeline which stands there empty, or hearing from others telling you that you failed, when instead you can plan time every day dedicated to prospecting, set away all possible distractions, and start making those phone calls, sending the emails and text messages, and set up those appointments. Build your pipeline like your life depends on it, today. Because, if you are an entrepreneur, our freedom and your legacy depend on it if not today, in the future for sure.
Comments