Monthly Archives: March 2014

After 20 years in business, I started young, there are still a lot of sales based things I find difficult to do. Cold calling for example. It’s nerve wracking and there are a multitude of excuses to put it off. For example:

• We’re busy and can’t fit in any more clients
• It’s Monday they will be getting their head around what they’re doing this week
• It’s Tuesday and I’ve got meetings to prepare for
• It’s Friday. Who wants a sales call on a Friday
• People call me when they’re ready – yeah right.

Terrible excuses really and ones that potentially hold your business back

I’ve even hired people to do it for me. Problem is they’re not me and there is a huge amount of knowledge in my head that always has the answer.

The stakes are higher now my business is more mature. I call well further up the chain if I can. To the top most of the time because they’re the ones making the decisions that affect whether or not we can help. Big companies too hence the nerves.

Last week I couldn’t put it off any longer and started making calls. And you what it wasn’t that bad. I just needed to do it. Made some appointments even. Choice!

This week when you come up with an excuse not to do something, and you will, don’t think, act. That pushing outwards of your confidence and the sustained effort you put into practicing that will make you grow. And once you’ve grown your confidence and skills they never shrink back.

That’s really how you grow. Seems simple when I read this but I know from experience it’s not. Keeping on doing it though will add a depth to your life not everyone has. That makes you useful, for ever.

I was thinking about a meeting I had recently and how fired up I got about ideas, systems and processes. I love that stuff. Thinking about how things work together to form a kick arse whole.

Then the work.

That’s where it all goes pear shaped for me. That’s the boring stuff. The stuff that takes ages to do – when I don’t want to do it that is – but it’s the vital stuff. It’s the stuff that gets things moving. It’s the stuff people sign off on that gives them a clear idea of what they are paying for and taking responsibility for.

These days I have a great team to do a lot of that for me. But there is still a lot of stuff I have to do myself. That stuff can be a downer for me. I want the big hit of the ideas and the energy that comes from them. Maybe not every day. But several times a week.

So, ideas are my drug of choice. What’s yours?

James Clear recently wrote, “Professionals set a schedule and stick to it. Amateurs wait until they feel inspired or motivated.”

That’s a big difference. Schedules and plans are the sign you’re on a mission and will get the job done or reach your goal. Hoping and wishing will get you nowhere.

There is a big idea out there that visualising the life you want will mean the Universe aligns itself to your command and things will start to happen that mean you get what you want. However there is a big caveat to that. You probably missed the part where it says you will get what you want but it might not be in the form you wished for. Hmmmm. That doesn’t sound like you are guaranteed to get what you wanted.

The part that is missing that will guarantee you get what you wanted is practice, work, focus and observation. Professionals know this and they take the steps that need to be taken.

In my experience when I want something bad enough, that I’m thinking about it all the time, I start to notice things that align with that thing. People, actions and discussions open up opportunities I didn’t know, or hadn’t noticed, were there before. But it takes work. I have to stick to it and want it long enough for the momentum to build to a point where I can’t help but get it. In the case of my Lamborghini Gallardo that is going be be some time yet. But it will happen and there are other projects to do in the meantime.

Are you a professional in the job you turned up to or the thing you are passionate about? Are you really? Are you doing the work that is the difference between a professional and a dreamer? Making the step up to professional might not mean your Lydia Ko. But it might mean you do more and get more than you than your dreams could ever provide.

Have a great week.

The Monday Blues. I don’t like Mondays. Oh no! It’s Monday. The list of why Monday is the worst day of the week goes on and on and on.

Why is it that Monday gets such a bad rap? Your first thought as you read that is going to be, “Because it’s Monday and I have to go back to work.”

And?

What is so bad about going to work? Why is the weekend that much more enjoyable than the what you do during the week?

Work is not a swear word. Work is just a name for the actions we take to complete a job or service for someone. The reason we can take those actions is because we have made decisions in our lives that have lead us to a point of competence.

That’s right we have made decisions to learn things that lead us to learn other things that lead us to compete for jobs where we could do more of those things and so increase our competence.

So why does it suck so much to go and to those things each week? It shouldn’t right? Because at one stage we really wanted to learn those things.

If it’s killing you to turn up each week, to do the things you wanted you do in the first place, you need to stop and have a think why.

Once you’ve found the why and taken the steps to fix it you will once again be fired up to go to work on a Monday. Monday is the best day of the week. It’s a new beginning. That’s exciting.

Have a great week.