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Are YOU in it to Win it? How do you go after success? Do you quit when the going gets too tough or do you get up bruised and battered and go at it again? (via the fabulous KAREN PHELPS-read her blog here: www.karenphelps.net)
As a child I never really learned how to succeed, in fact the truth is, I was a quitter! I hated to embarrass myself in front of others so rather than try again, I would usually just sit and sulk on the sidelines (go figure, the motivator needed motivation.) LOL, I think the first thing I really went after and didn’t give up on was getting my man and I’m pleased to say, I’m glad I didn’t quit as we’ve been married over 40 years!
Anyway, I really think too many people quit while they are down (or down in the dumps) and they don’t even realize that success could be right around the corner! I thought I’d share a few of the simple steps I take to get myself back in the game and on track for the success I want in my life and my business!
1. Set clear, precise goals with strict deadlines. What exactly do you want? When do you want it by? How are you going to get it? What are the steps you need to take in order to make it happen? Brian Tracy says, “Take your goal and work backwards, figuring out each step that you need to take in order to make it happen.” If you have a Sales goal of $50,000 for the year divide it by 12 months or better yet break it down by weeks. You will need $4,166.67 per month or $961.54 per week.
Tip: Give yourself a break and set your weekly goal a little higher, so you will have completed your goals with 2-4 weeks to spare. If you sell $1,000 per week you will have accomplished your goal in 50 weeks (you can take the holidays off!) If you sell $1,100 per week you will have accomplished your goal in 46 weeks. Whatever your goal, I always suggest you give yourself a little breathing room, so you’re not stressed at the end of the month/contest period/sales year.
2. Know and Understand the Facts. It’s much easier for us to jump to conclusions when we’re not on target to reach our goals, than it is to analyze what’s really happening in our business & our life. You should be TRACKING everything you can track so you know where you can improve! It’s crazy to set a goal to improve in a certain area when you don’t have a starting point. Let’s say you want to weigh 20 pounds less by December 31′st. You have to have a starting point in order to know if you have reached your goal. In business many people say they want to improve but they don’t know by how much. To be successful in any endeavor it’s important to become a facts and figures person. Always be in a constant state of re-evaluation. I re-evaluated and adjusted what I needed to do to reach my goals at the end of every week for some short term contests and at the end of every month for long term contests.
If you have a couple bad weeks or a bad month it’s easier to get back on track right away when you have re-adjusted the amount that needs to be done. Let’s use the $50,000 yearly sales example again and say you had a less than stellar January and February and your total sales for the 2 months was $3000 which means you are $5,333.34 shy of the pace you need for the year. You have to take the balance you need $47,000 and divide it by the remaining 10 months and you now need $4,700 each month!
Repeat after me, “To achieve my goals I need to track and re-adjust every month.”
3. Realize that most situations are temporary. Often a slump is self-induced (most of mine are) and they are brought on when we quit doing the RIGHT things that worked in the past. It’s very easy to get the “shiny object syndrome” and start trying lots of new stuff which distracts us and takes us away from a previously successful system! YIKES, I know it’s hard to blame ourselves and much easier to blame the lousy economy or other outside factors but the truth is more often than not it’s US! It is what it is, “put your Big Girl Panties On” (or Big Boy Boxers” and deal with it and then move on!
Always keep working on your goal! Don’t stop or you’ll get sucked in just like the millions of others who had good intentions but poor work ethics! It’s easier to gain momentum if you don’t quit moving. Making sales and customer service calls, sending thank you notes, asking for referrals are just a couple of the things you can do to keep the momentum going. You never know when your next boost will come but I guarantee it will come alot faster when you are heading in a upward direction instead of a downward spiral! “ONWARD & UPWARD!”
4. Reward Yourself and Stay Motivated. The hardest part of reaching any worthwhile goal is maintaining the same action steps you used in the beginning through the entire time you’re working on reaching your goal. We get bored, we get antsy, we get frustrated and we often lack the motivation to keep at anything for a long period of time and so we quit! It’s hard to keep making phone calls when you get voice mail after voice mail, or you hear no again and again. It’s hard to stay motivated when you lose 4 pounds your first week and week 5 you only lose a half a pound.
You MUST STAY MOTIVATED! You can listen to motivational material over and over again. You can say mantras out loud each and every day. You can also make sure you reward yourself when you reach milestones along the way. Let’s say the $50,000 yearly sales goal is what you need to earn a free trip. Have built in rewards for yourself each time you hit a $10,000 increment. Your first $10,000 might be a new piece of luggage, the second thousand might be a new outfit to wear on the trip, you get the point. The rewards you give yourself motivate YOU to keep going to the next mile-marker! It’s important you reward yourself immediately and don’t save them up and do it all at one time. Motivation is key when you want to stay on track for success but the rewards don’t have to come from an outside source, they can just as easily come from you!
5. Reach One Goal and Set Another. I’ve watched so many people go up and down in their business and their life because goal setting doesn’t become a HABIT with them! Many people reach a goal and then hit the skids, just the same as putting on the brakes in a car. The reason is simple, they failed to plan for their next accomplishment. The time to begin planning your next goal is BEFORE you complete the one you are currently working on. Failure to plan in advance will cause you to wander aimlessly in pursuit of nothing. You won’t know what to do because you won’t have a clear and precise picture of what you want to accomplish. (via the fabulous KAREN PHELPS-read her blog here: www.karenphelps.net)
That’s it, I’m stopping right now to write down a few goals of my own! HERE ARE MY 2013 GOALS:
To continue to offer our amazing opportunity to women. This will be our best year yet!
To promote 6 new leaders on my first line.
To promote 25 new leaders on my sales organization.
To earn the trip to Puerta Vallarta for my family! (we are going to Bahamas, next month, with stella & dot!
To take my husband to Germany & train my team and tour his homeland!!!
Let’s Sparkle & Shine!
elise
