Technology TransactionsTake Action Or Accept The Results
In all areas of life, taking action is the key to success. Most people,
who fail to achieve what they want, fail for lack of action. The ability
to take action is the skill that ultimately separates the winners from the
losers in the game of life. There are a number of truths that I have come
across in my business and while coaching clients, these truths are to be
reviewed and lived by to produce the abundance in life that you desire.
Truth #1: It’s more essential to success to be consistent than to be
precise.
The power of consistency is one of the most significant forces in the
world. It far outstrips the power of exactness. If you are consistently
doing enough things right, you will reap a huge reward. If you are
waiting until you have it down to perfection you are not going to take any
action.
In sales more than any other profession, consistency of your actions pays
big dividends, while infrequent action even when right, pays very little.
The daily consistency of prospecting and lead follow-up is the gateway to
sales success and high profitability. Again, it’s more essential to
success to be consistent than to be precise.
Truth #2: A step toward your goal is a step in the right direction, even
if the step is a misstep.
To often we fail to act due to fear of failure. We can become paralyzed
by the need to be right or correct in all our actions. My friend Jim Rohn
says to achieve your goal you need “measurable progress in reasonable
time.” That doesn’t mean all the progress we make will be going in the
right direction every time.
Earl Nightingale said “that success is the progressive realization of a
worthy goal or ideal.” To achieve a worthy goal we have to progress
toward it through the trials. We must proceed with consistent action. It
also says there are times when we will be heading in the wrong direction
and have to adjust our course of action.
In the end, success is a poor teacher. The real teacher in life is
adversity and short-term failure. You will always learn more from your
defeats than your victories. In sales you will learn more from the sale
lost than the sale made. Most salespeople think when they make the sale
they did everything right. What happens if that assumption is not true?
What if you did just enough right to beat out the other guy but he wasn’t
any good? What will happen when the competition gets tougher or the
marketplace gets tougher? Will you have the skills you need to dominate
then?
To often we fail to face reality, this comes back to us in unfulfilled
potential. Unfulfilled potential eventually manifests itself into regret.
We have to be fixated on taking steps to obtain our goals daily, even if
they are the wrong steps. It’s better to make a decision and find out it
was wrong, than avoiding making a decision at all. At least you know what
you should not do the next time.
Truth #3: Even when you choose not to decide, you have still made a
choice.
For too many of us we just hope things get better. We hope to become
healthier, thinner or we hope we earn more. We have wishes and dreams but
no commitment or definitiveness to change what we are doing to ensure the
desired result. We fail to take action on what we know we need to do now.
Many of us can vacillate over a decision for days, weeks, months or even
years. We must realize that by not making a decision we have essentially
made a choice. We end up making decisions by default that because we did
not decide and act, the decision was made for us.
As salespeople, by not preparing for a changing marketplace or changing
economy, our choice is solidified. We have chosen by default to not do as
well or earn as much when the marketplace change occurs. Would it be
reasonable to assume that our marketplace will always remain the same or
improve? Would we be protecting our families and assets if we assume that
we don’t need to improve our skills and abilities in sales? Our decision
to not act in truth means we still have made a choice.
Take ten minutes to evaluate these truths. Are you embracing these truths
in how you run your business and life? Are there changes that need to be
made? When do you need to make the changes? Here’s a hint…NOW!
Don’t get paralyzed by inactivity or perfection. Turn action into your
asset.