Published Articles
(Published - Successful Salesmanship June 1998)
Some days you feel like you are standing on top of the world. It is a beautiful view, life spread out beyond the horizon, the air is clean and every object is clearly defined. And then some days life is just a fog, even “just now” seems uncertain, yesterday’s vision seems like a kid’s dream.
Outside smiling people get on with their lives, wishing all and sundry a “good morning!” Who gave them the right to declare it a “good morning” surely that is something that you should decide for yourself? Well maybe now is a good time to consider focus. If Hagar can focus on food and Garfield can focus on cynicism then maybe you too can focus on “good morning.” Because that’s when focus starts, right here, right now not on some distant point in the future. Or does it???
Not everybody has a great need to be focussed; some people are content to live in the mist. They are happy in their comfort zones and are not aware of any great vacuum in their lives. These are the people that are content to live today for what today has to offer, “tomorrow will take care of itself,” they say. They are the maintainers in life, society often brands them as them as losers, plodders and “Justas”, although this is not entirely fair because not everyone feels the need to stand on the top of the world.
However, for those of us who do feel constantly driven to challenge the status quo, it is more often than not a lack of focus that leaves us feeling stressed rather than stretched. Focus has a lot to do with goal setting, belief, passion, perseverance and needs. Effective goal setting and planning provides an opportunity to bring the future to the present and deal with it today.
If you asked most people about their greatest learning experience in life it is unlikely that they will tell you about their degrees or other qualifications. More than likely they will tell you about some traumatic occasion in their past that drastically changed their lives. Similarly if we are able to create a future mental scenario that has potential to cause us great trauma or bring us great reward we will be motivated to achieving or avoiding that state. In doing so we will have created a need within ourselves. Focus is driven by need, the greater the need to control the future, the greater the need to be focussed.
To be focussed is to be futuristic; we need to place our selves at the point of arrival. It is said that “whatever man can dream and man can believe, man can achieve.” By standing at the point of arrival and looking back along the pathway, it is easier to see the steps that still need to be taken. This is perhaps best explained in the words of Dr David Cormack -:
A goal is a dream with a deadline. When you keep a vision in your mind, it is not really a goal; it remains nothing more than a dream. First, the vision must be written down. There is power in putting that dream down on paper. When you commit something to writing, commitment to achievement naturally follows. You can’t start a fire with paper alone, but writing something down on paper can start a fire inside of you.Without vision there is no direction,
Without direction, there is no purpose,
Without purpose there are no targets,
Without targets, there are no priorities,
Without priorities, there is no plan, and
Without a plan there is no hope............
We need to begin with the end in mind. These are the critical process questions that need to be answered:
The question “What do I want to achieve?” – clearly demands that we are specific in our demands of the future. All too often I have heard sales people wanting “recognition” or some equally abstract reward. In trying to remain focussed we need to guard ourselves against the use of compound words when defining the ideal future state. It is all too easy to be wishy washy about what we really want, that way we can always deny that we failed. The real problem is that we will never be able to measure exactly how well we succeeded.• What do I want to achieve?
• Who and Where am I now?
• When do I want to achieve it?
• How do I intend achieving it?
• What are my reasons for wanting it?
By honestly answering the questions “Who and What am I now,” we are more readily able to identify the gap between what we have and what we want. “If you aim at nothing you will hit it every time” and “if you do what you always did you will get what you always got.” The gap analysis represents for us the true issues upon which we need to focus; in essence we now have something to aim at.
The questions of “when” and “how” are now simply translated into a time and action plan. Action should be specifically categorised into short (today, tomorrow, this month), medium (this year) and long term goals (3 - 5 years, plus). The mistake most sales people make when putting the plan together, is that they are inclined to be “realistic”. Beyond realistic lies fear and beyond fear lies achievement. History creates sensitivities to certain issues, being realistic is an expression of these sensitivities. Realistic is a comfort zone, whereas focus is about stretching towards the future.
“What are my reasons for wanting it” challenges you to re examine your passion towards the future state. Never ask “why” you want it, “Why” is the trigger to assumptions and incorrect conclusions. “Why” brings you back to realistic and subjective thinking, it removes focus and creativity. Creativity only takes place when you know the reasons for wanting it. If you do something that is necessary, your environment will soon discover that you are making a contribution and they will reward you accordingly.
Remember you are a wonderfully unique, 24 Hour a day person! What you have is all you’ve got and what you have is all you will ever need. Part of what you have is a values system. Simply put, I need a million Rand. It seems the easiest way to get a million Rand is to do the popular thing, and make an unauthorised loan from the state or some other large corporate institution. The only problem is that such an action is in conflict with my values. In remaining focused it is important that your goals are at least compatible with the following 5 major life areas:
Having now gone through the process of systematically analysing our dreams and converting them into clearly defined and measurable goals that are stretchingly achievable, all that remains is to walk the talk. “Easier said than done” say some. Relax trust the process, if you really want what you think you want and if you were able to answer the process questions mentioned above, then the only barriers that remain are ones that you create for yourself. The reason most people fail is not because they fear failure but because they fear success. Failure like success is not permanent so even if you do fail, Its OK, amend your action plan not your goal. People create their own blockages, based on their past knowledge or their knowledge of the past, both of these are absolute when it comes to dealing with the future.Hear are some single ideas to help
you maintain your focus:
Stay with the process questions.
You lead life; life does not lead you.
Go to the library and find out exactly how many times Thomas Edison failed.
Intent and effort are more important than direction.
Make a personal list of twenty things that you are really proud of to remind
yourself that you are really an achiever.
Stand on top of the world every morning and see your future.
To finally succeed your attitude and
mindset must be right, next month we look at the POWER that drives you
and the road to self-actualisation.