10 Steps to Become the Greatest Salesperson In the World – Part 9

“I will act now.” - from The Scroll Marked IX, The Greatest Salesman In the World by Og Mandino

I love the way this scroll starts: “My dreams are worthless, my plans are dust, my goals are impossible. All are of no value unless they are followed by action.” There’s a cold shot of reality, eh?

Many in the “law of attraction” crowd would have you believe that dreams, plans and goals (mixed with positive thinking, of course) are all you really need to succeed. I’m reminded of a quote I heard a few years ago: “If all you do is sit on your couch and meditate all day, eventually they’re going to come and take your couch!”

You probably know by now that I’m a firm believer in the power of dreams, plans, goals and a healthy dose of positive thinking; you probably have also discerned that I’m a firm believer in activity. What you have to find is the right mix of inner planning and outward manifestation of that planning. Finding the right mix is essential.

If you’re going to err in favor of one or the other, though, make it in favor of activity. A great plan with no action gets you nowhere; on the other hand, activity without a well-thought out plan will at least get you a result. And results are feedback from the world around you that lets you know whether you took the right course of action or not, feedback that you can use to either take different action to get a different result or more of the same action if you want more of the same result. No plan or goal necessary.

Plans, goals and dreams are meant to help guide your actions. They aren’t an end in and of themselves; they’re a means to the end, the map that you follow to get the result you’re looking for.

Imagine you’re planning a trip to New York. You map out exactly the course you’re going to take. You cut out pictures of your destination and hang them on the wall, staring at them and envisioning yourself there, standing in the shadow of the Empire State building, walking in Central Park, seeing a show on Broadway…whatever. You spend hours every day imagining how it’s going to be and believing that it’s all going to happen.

Question: is all of that planning, goal-setting and positive thinking going to move you one inch closer to New York? Of course not. The only way you’ll ever get there is if you take some kind of action! Get in the car, buy a plane ticket, hop a train, thumb a ride…if you really want to get there, you’ll figure out a way, but planning alone isn’t going to cut it.

“But what if I can’t afford the ticket? What if my car breaks down? What if I get caught jumping the train? What if I get run down by an angry motorist? What if…?” You know the game, right? You probably also know that your “buts” are getting in the way of your success. Where do the “buts” come from, though? From that deep-seated fear of failure, the same fear each of us is cursed with from about age 7 on. How do you conquer the fear? Mandino answers:

“My procrastination which has held me back was born of fear and now I recognize this secret mined from the depths of courageous hearts. Now I know that to conquer fear I must always act without hesitation and the flutters in my heart will vanish. Now I know that action reduces the lion of terror to an ant of equanimity.”

In other words, feel the fear and do it anyway! Easy, right? If that were the case, there wouldn’t be any such thing as procrastination. It’s hard to act in the face of fear, so here’s a little extra help from the scroll:

“I will act now. I will act now. I will act now. Henceforth, I will repeat these words again and again and again, each hour, each day, every day, until the words become as much a habit as my breathing and the actions which follow become as instinctive as the blinking of my eyelids. With these words I can condition my mind to perform every act necessary for my success. With these words I can condition my mind to meet every challenge which the failure avoids.”

Conditioning. That’s what it takes. Procrastination is nothing more than a habit; it can be changed into action by repeated effort. Start today. In fact, start right now. Think of the thing you’ve been avoiding all week: the phone call you need to make, the conversation you need to have that you’ve been putting off…DO IT NOW! You’ll be amazed ath the power that immediate action will unleash in your heart and mind. Activity is the one and only antidote for chronic procrastination.

Whatever you dream of will only become manifest if you take action, any action, toward its achievment.

“This is the time. This is the place. I am the man.”