When it comes to creating and maintaining forward momentum in your career or in your business, there is one factor that rises above all the others: your why, your reason for doing things, the motivation behind your motivation.  It’s been said that you can accomplish any what, so long as you have a big enough why.  I’m a firm believer in the truth of that statement.

Have a look around, and you’ll see that those who get what they want out of life are driven to succeed by their why for doing it.  In other words, their reason for succeeding is bigger than any defeat they may experience along the way.  These may sound like empty platitudes, but look a little deeper and you’ll see what I mean.

Think of a time when you were close to achieving some particular goal but stopped just short of getting there because of some obstacle that came up.  Most likely, like the fox in Aesop’s fable, you made a declaration of “sour grapes”, justifying to yourself that not attaining the goal was probably for the best anyways.  Dig beneath the surface, though, and I’ll bet you’ll realize that, no matter how important attaining that goal may have seemed to you at the time, somewhere along the way you lost your zeal for it: you no longer had a big enough why.

Now think of a time when you did achieve some goal you’d set for yourself, in spite of any roadblocks that may have come up.  No matter what the setback, you got up, dusted yourself off, and kept right on going, pushing ahead until you got what you wanted.  What kept you going in this case?  Examine your motivation, and I’m sure you’ll find that in this case, you had a really significant reason for achieving that particular goal.  In this case, your why was big enough to accomplish the what.

Now think of your plans for the upcoming year.  This is the time when many of us will be examining ourselves and setting our goals for next year, hopefully challenging ourselves to reach greater heights than we have in the past.  While you’re working though that process, here’s a little something to consider: a goal, no matter how specific and measurable it might be, is useless without knowing why you want to reach it.  You have to examine your reason for the desired outcome.  Once you have a strong enough why, nothing will stand in your way, no matter how big the goal is.

If you’d like some help in delving into your motivation, click the link at the end of this post to download a free 10-minute excerpt from the “Motivation 101″ audio program.  It’s step one of the program, “Ask Why”, in it’s entirety.  In it, you’ll get a better understanding of the importance of having a clear purpose, a why big enough to keep you on track.  You’ll also learn the steps for creating a powerful why statement for each of your goals for the coming year.

I hope you’ll enjoy this gift.  And don’t worry: you won’t have to provide any information to receive it (not even your name or email address).  This is my gift to you to help you prepare for massive success in 2010 and beyond.  Just click on the link below, and enjoy!

In case you haven’t noticed, I’m a big believer in the power of positive thinking.  I know there’s no better way to get what you want than to believe that you can; I also know that optimism is essential to success.  The big question everyone always asks, though, is “How do I do it? How do I become a positive thinker when my life/business/career is so crappy?”

That’s a great question with a really simple answer: you need to have a little chat with yourself.  I’m serious!  One of the biggest saboteurs to success is that nagging little voice in your head that says things like “Yeah, but…”, “I can’t do that!”, “That’ll never really happen!” and all the countless other negative phrases we say to ourselves when we have a great idea or try to take some kind positive action.  The voice might be that of a parent, a teacher, a sibling, an old boss…all those folks who, whether they meant to or not, planted seeds of negativity in our brains that we’ve never quite been able to shake.

Well, it’s time to strangle that little voice and replace it with a new, more supportive one, and it’s going to be easier than you think.  I’m going to encourage you to do something that’s going to feel a little weird, possibly even a little uncomfortable (imagine that!), but that will pay huge dividends in your personal development.  I’m going to encourage you to start doing…*gulp*…affirmations.

Now before you write me off as a new-age wacko in salesperson’s clothes, let me remind you that the Great Ones (Zig Ziglar, Jim Rohn, Brian Tracy, etc.) all encourage affirmations in one form or another.  And I agree with them all: positive self-talk is good for the soul.  More importantly, though, positive self-talk is GREAT for activity, which leads to results, which reinforces beliefs, which opens your eyes to greater potential, which spurs even greater activity…and so on.

But I’ve always had a problem with actually doing affirmations.  Why?  Well, because I felt a little silly.  Standing in front of my bathroom mirror and shouting positive phrases at myself while my wife was trying to sleep was always a little uncomfortable for me, so I never really got in the habit.  That is, until I found a nifty little shortcut that made doing affirmations and creating positive self-talk (and a more positive self-image) easy to do.

Using the sound recorder on my computer, I started recording positive phrases, things like “I’m a talented and intelligent business person” and “I’m always on time with customer proposals” and “I always make the time to read positive books”…really, anything I wanted to change my beliefs about was fair game.  Next, I transfered the file to my MP3 player (alternatively, you can burn the file to a CD), and I made a habit of listening to it for 10 minutes when I wake up in the morning and 10 minutes before I go to bed at night.

Presto!  I was doing affirmations!  And did it make a difference?  You bet it did!  Within just a few weeks, I was noticing a difference in my self-talk throughout the day, which very quickly made a difference in my behavior and level of activity.  I was surprised hat ow quickly this was having a positive impact on me.

So, set your doubts and cynicism aside and give this technique a try. Record some positive self-talk to replace the little voice in your head, then listen to it every day.  Believe me: the little chat you have with yourself every morning and evening will bring  you a new kind of power, the power of positive thinking!

I just finished recording a couple of segments about  the Motivation 101 process with Keith Keller of Career Success Radio.  For details on that chat, you can check out this blog post over at their Ning site.  Our conversation got me thinking, though: job seekers and salespeople have a lot in common, and they could learn a lot from each other.

One similarity in particular stood out: the need to avoid desperation and anxiety by asking “Why?”, engaging in the process and detaching yourself from specific outcomes.  Sound a little esoteric?  It’s really not.  Let me explain what I mean.

As I’m fond of saying, asking “Why?” is critical to your success because it unlocks the subconscious mind to act in your behalf in achieving your goals.  This is because it helps  identify the positive emotion behind a specific goal or outcome you’re looking for, and identifying this positive intent gives your subconscious something to move toward on a continuous basis. 

For example, let’s say you’ve got your sights set on a particular account and you’re closing in on the end of the process.  You’re pretty confident that you’re going to win the sale and, in fact, you’ve set an intention and written a specific goal about doing so successfully.  Then you find out that the prospect decided to go with a different provider.   That can be pretty devestating, especially if you’d been counting on the commission check, right?  In fact, for a lot of salespeople this kind of event is the beginning of the downward slide into the slump.  It can create a feeling of desperation to “close” the next deal at any cost, and prospects can smell that despeation 10 miles away.

How would asking “Why?” help you avoid this situation, though?  Simple.  If your goal is to win a particular sale, ask yourself why that outcome is important to you.  Your answer might be something to do with the fat commission you’ll earn as a result of the sale.  Again, ask yourself why that matters to you.  This time, the answer might be that you’ll be able to spend the extra money on that new TV you’ve had your eye on.  And again, why is that important?  As you progressively answer the “Why?” question, eventually you’re going to come to an answer that begins with “Because it would make me feel…” and ends with a positive emotion like joy, happiness, contentment, etc..  Bingo!  You’ve just foud the key to detaching from a specific outcome and avoiding desperation.  How so?

Giving your subconscious mind a positive emotion to pursue allows you blow right past the negative feelings associated with losing any one particular sale and right on to the next sale in your pursuit of, not a specific outcome, but the specific feeling behind that desired outcome.  Your subconscious knows millions of ways for you to have that specific positive emotional state, and it will drive you to get engaged in the process that it knows will eventually lead to an outcome, any outcome,  that will provide that emotional state.  This is the power of asking “Why?”! 

Knowing the “Why?” behind your specific goals lets your subconscious get really creative, and it allows you to stay focused on all the good sales habits that so often become the casualties of desperation.  Keep this in mind the next time you’re writing out your goals, and remember to include the specific desired emotional state behind the goal so you can stay engaged in the process and detached from the outcome!

 Until next time, happy sales to you!

Jerry

P.S.  I love the comments, so keep ‘em coming!  I’d love to hear your thoughts on this post.  Thanks again for reading!

As the name of this blog indicates, I believe that proper motivation is one of the fundamental building blocks of a successful life.  In sales (a category which includes all you entrepreneurs and small business owners, whether you like to admit it or not), motivation is the key distinction between success and failure.  It’s a simple formula: having the right motivation keeps you moving and in action.  Without it, you stop.  Over the past several days, I’ve shared five techniques that will help you stay motivated, no matter what is going on in the world around you.  Let’s do a quick recap.

The first step was to start asking yourself the power question: “Why?”  Why do you want to acheive a particular goal, a certain level of income or anything else?  Asking “Why?” helps you identify the emotional component of your goals, which in turn engages your unconscious mind to help move you closer to their accomplishment.  So stop asking yourself “How am I going to do that?” and start asking yourself “Why do I want to?”  You’ll find the results much more satisfying.

Second, we talked about shutting off the news to create your own National News Free Week.  This step will help you avoid distraction and stay focused on doing the activities that are in harmony with your purpose.  While news overload can create anxiety, worry and despair, living a news-free life is liberating.  You are far less susceptible to negativity and far more open to possibility and gratitude.

The third topic centered around the need for passion, enthsiasm and excitement for your work.  Instead of being among the 87% of Americans who hate their jobs, finding passion for what you do puts you in the happy minority of people who actually enjoy thir work, even considering it to be a form of play.  And if you can’t find passion for what you are doing now, remember: you are always free to pursue something that you are passionate and enthusiastic about.

The fourth post discussed the need to win the battle between your ears by choosing optimism.  Despite what many people think, optimism is a choice.  In fact, it’s a choice you have to make every minute of every day for the rest of your life.  Let’s face it: sometimes life throws you a curveball; chossing optimism allows you to keep swinging.

The fifth and final step was to get moving.  While a success mindset and positive mental attitude are critical to your success, without the action to support them they are nothing more than pleasant thoughts that will eventually lead you to frustration.  Action is the final step in the chain that brings all your energy together in support of your dreams.

As you might have figured out by now, I have a real passion for helping people find and keep their motivation in order to help them unlock their true potential.  I discuss each of the preceding five steps in greater detail in my new audio program, so feel free to check it out if you like.  

Know this, though: whatever you want to acheive, you have the power and ability to do it.  In fact, you have more power than you give yourself credit for.  I want you and every other person on the planet to use that power for your higher good.  That is the mission of this blog: to be a source of information to help you stay motivated and inspired.  I hope you enjoy what you read here, and I hope you’ll engage in discussions about the content through your comments here and in your interactions with others throughout the day.  

It’s like my teacher James Ray always says: “Energy flows where attention goes!”  Place your attention and focus on finding and keeping your motivation, and watch what the inspirational energy you tap into will do for you.  Thanks for reading!

Question: What have you done this week to move yourself closer to your goals? Do you have a clearly defined, written plan to get you where you want to be? If not, what are you waiting for?!

We’ve all heard that what gets written down gets done, yet the majority of us don’t do it. It really amazes me how many salespeople I talk to who have no idea what they need to accomplish on a daily, weekly, monthly and annual basis to help them achieve their goals; in fact, I still encounter many people who have no idea what their goals are! I only have one question: if you don’t know where you’re going, how will you know when you’ve arrived? More importantly, how will you even know if you’re on the right course to get there?

Specific written goals are vital to your success. You know that. If you haven’t written out your goals for this year, stop reading and go do it now. Don’t come back until you’re done, because what I’m going to suggest next will require you to have your written goals in front of you. This is a powerful tool that will help you achieve any goal you set, and it is actually very easy to do. Unfortunately, anything that’s easy to do is also easy not to to do, so I want you to make a commitment, here and now, to try this method out for the next seven days. If it doesn’t work for you, you can stop; but you have to try it for at least seven consecutive days before passing judgment. Ready?

Looking at your list of goals, I want you to think of the six most important things you could do tomorrow to move you closer to their accomplishment. Limit your list to only six things, the six most critical. Now, prioritize the list in order of highest impact; in other words, the most impactful thing you could do becomes number one and so on. Now comes the hard part.

Tomorrow morning, start your day with task number one from your list. Don’t do anything else until you have completely finished task number one and can cross it off the list. Next, move on to task number two, again not moving on until it is completely finished and can be crossed off. Do the same for the rest of the tasks on the list. If you get to the end of the day and haven’t completed all the tasks, those left unfinished move to the top of tomorrow’s list. Do this for seven days, and you’ll be amazed at what you’ve accomplished.

How do I know this works? When I first read about this technique in James Arthur Ray’s new book Harmonic Wealth I decided to give it a try. You wouldn’t believe the impact this habit has had on my effectiveness every day since! Knowing what you need to be doing now and what comes next is truly one of the most powerful methods I’ve ever used to get more done.

It’s like my friend Tibor Shanto of Renbor Sales Solutions said in his blog the other day: taking daily action is the key.  If you’re not in action every day, you’ll find your motivation beginning to wane.  You can have grand plans, but without action you’ll also have massive frustration when those plans don’t materialize.  

So, no excuses now! Get out your day planner and make your “Must Do” list for tomorrow; repeat this practice every day for the next seven, then let me know what you think. I look forward to reading all your comments.

Some sales trainers will tell you that the location of your sales presentations is of critical importance in making the sale; unfortunately, they don’t all agree what that location should be. Some say that sales presentations should be made in the prospect’s office, others in your office and still others in a neutral zone such as a restaurant. I’m going to break with these folks and say that the only place where truly successful selling takes place is right between the your ears.

The most important playing field in sales is and always has been your mind. Look at any sales superstar and you’ll see this is true. The truly great ones in any field succeed because they have developed the mindset for success. For some, this mindset has developed naturally because of good genes and a nurturing environment. For most of us, though, developing the right mindset takes a significant amount of work and a constant vigilance to guard any progress we make.

The reason for this is that we are under a constant barrage of negative messages from the world around us. We take in so much negative information on a daily basis, it can be a real challenge to keep our success mindset intact. What are some steps we can take that will help? Try these:

First, limit the amount of negative information you voluntarily take in on a daily basis and replace the negative with something positive. I talked about this a couple of days ago, but the point is this: be proactive with your mental intake.  Don’t just soak it all up like Sponge Bob…choose what you allow into your mind.  Your conscious mind is the filter for your unconscious, so use the filter wisely to sift out negative thoughts.  Do like Tom Hopkins says: whenever a negative thought starts to creep in, throw your hand out in front of you and shout “BAD SEED!”  You’ll be amazed at how effective this technique is for banishing negative thoughts…and the people who would spread them.

Second, and perhaps even more important, I want you to start consciously choosing to be optimistic. Focus on the good things, the things you are grateful for. Remember that no matter how bad things might seem right now, there is almost always someone who is in a worse plight than yours. Optimism is a choice. You get to choose in each moment how you are going to react to what the world is offering you. The more often you choose to react with gratitude and optimism, the more you will see the world around you respond with things to be grateful for.

“For every sale you miss because you’re too enthusiastic, you will miss a hundred because you’re not enthusiastic enough.” – Zig Ziglar 

The last two posts on this blog discussed steps you can take to accelerate your motivation in tough economic times.  The first suggested that you get clarity and focus on your goals by asking “Why?”  The second mentioned the need to stay focused, primarily by avoiding the distraction of the “Bad News Blues”.  

What else, though, can you do to get motivated and moving in the direction of your dreams?  The quote above from Zig Ziglar nails it: you must get passionate about what you do in order to stay motivated and moving forward.  Why?

To answer that question, I’d like you to think about an activity you really enjoy.  Let’s say, for example, that you love to golf.  Here’s the question: what does a golf lover do in order to play the game?  The answer: whatever it takes to get on the course!  In fact, people who are passionate about golf have been motivated to call in sick to work, cancel all other activities and golf in the rain in order to play at a favorite course.  Now that’s passion!

Think for a moment, though, about something you hate to do.  For me, it’s yard work.  For some reason, no matter how she tries, my wife just cannot convince me that spending time pulling weeds and trimming hedges is good for me.  So, here’s another question: what will I do to get out of doing yard work?  The answer: whatever it takes!  I’ve even been know to occassionally fake injury and/or illness to avoid spending the afternoon on this loathsome chore.

Now take these same principles, and apply them to the average salesperson or entrpreneur.  Did you know that as many as 87% of respondents in surveys say they dislike their jobs?  Keep in mind, that number includes people who are self-employed!  Can you imagine hiring yourself to do a job you hate?  Why would anyone do that?

The point is this: if you hate what you do or what you sell, it’s going to come through loud and clear to the people you serve and they are going to be less likely to buy from you.  After all, if you don’t believe in the product or service enough to be excited about it, why should they buy it?

Your passion and enthusiasm for the products and/or services you sell is critical to your success.  If you don’t feel particularly passionate about what you sell, though, all is not lost.  It’s possible you just need to shift your perspective.  What does your product offer to the people or businesses you serve?  Better value?  Some kind of competitive advantage?  Is there anything about it that gets you excited?  

If you can find that spark of excitement, latch on to it and go sell that enthusiasm and belief.  If you can’t, though, it might be time to consider a change.  After all, trying to motivate yourself to do a job you hate is like trying to get a geek to do yard work: it annoys the geek and frustrates his wife.  Trust me; I’ve got the weeds to prove it!

Are you as tired as I am of all the bad news being offered up by the national media? If so, please join me in a special campaign this week. I’m officially designating it National News Free Week.

This is the critical second step in staying motivated to accomplish your goals: the ability to stay focused and avoid distraction!  So I’m issuing a challenge to as many people as I can reach to turn off the news for one solid week. That’s right: no TV, radio or internet news for seven full days.

“But Jerry!” you ask, “How will I know what’s going on in the world?”

Good question, and the answer may shock you. Listen closely: it doesn’t matter! Yes, you read that right…it just doesn’t matter what’s happening in the world around you. The only thing that truly matters is what’s happening in the world inside of you.

I wonder how many people realize that by obsessing about which corporations are filing for bankruptcy this week and what the Dow is doing this minute, they are actually giving up the only power they have: the power to direct their own thoughts and actions. They are allowing the circumstances of the world around them to dictate their actions. What an incredibly dangerous way to live!

And yet, that’s how the vast majority of people structure their lives. They decide how they’ll act and what they’ll think based on what they see and hear going on around them instead of listening to the voice inside of them that tells them what they should be doing.

What does this have to do with sales and motivation? Just this: if you have been sucked into all the drama, I can almost guarantee that it’s had a negative impact on your sales activity. It has de-motivated you. Honestly, how motivated do you feel to get up early and stay out late when the news is convincing you that no one has any money to spend anyways?

So this is a call to action! Starting at 12:01 am on the day you read this, turn off the news and don’t turn it back on until 11:59 pm seven days later (the really adventurous might want to make it all TV, but that’s up to you). In place of the news, read a good book or listen to an audio program or sales podcast that will motivate you to get into activity mode. If something really important happens in the world, I promise that you’ll hear about it.

This one act is going to help you take your power back. Instead of feeling like a victim of the economic crisis, you’ll begin to realize that you have the privilege, as a small business owner, entrepreneur or salesperson, of being a part of the solution to said crisis! You’ve heard that nothing happens until something gets sold, and that’s never been more true than it is now. We need to restore the confidence of the average consumer to resume consuming. If we don’t, who will?

Do I mean to say that you should be out selling things to people that they don’t need or can’t afford? Absolutely not! That kind of behavior has been one of the big causes of the current situation. At the same time, you need to be working hard to match up your products and services to your customers’ needs and help them to realize that it’s okay to buy!

Are you with me? If so, pass this challenge along to everyone in your network and let’s make this week the most productive one so far this year.

I look forward to hearing your feedback and, hopefully, your success stories as well. Leave a comment and until next time, happy sales to you!

If you’re like most selling professionals, you’ve probably got a list of written goals…somewhere.  Some of you have them tacked to the wall in from of your desk, some carry them in your day planner or PDA, some of you have them filed away in the bottom of a drawer and would have trouble finding them if asked.  Regardless of where you have your list of goals, though, you’ve already accomplished something major: you’ve engaged a powerful ally in your success by writing them down.

What ally?  The simple act of writing something down plants the seed of action in your unconscious mind, letting it know that this goal is something it should be working to achieve for you.  The unconscious mind is such an incredibly powerful machine, it will work twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, to accomplish the intention you’ve set for it.  Once engaged, it knows no limitations.  

Oftentimes, though, the next thing we do in our goal-setting process disables this ally: we start to ask “How?”, as in “How am I going to do it?”  This question, while it seems logical, can be one of the most disempowering questions you can ask yourself.  Why?  Well, instead of focusing on the accomplishment of your goal, now you are focused on the details of getting it done.  If it’s a BHAG (Big, Hairy, Audacious Goal) we’re talking about, the “How?” can seem overwhelming.  You don’t know where to start and, as a result, you don’t start.

So what’s the answer?  Ask a better question.  Instead of asking “How?”, ask “Why?”, as in “Why do I want to accomplish this particular thing?”  ”Why?” is a much more powerful question for engaging the power of your unconcious mind because it has the power to create an emotional connection to the goal.  How does this work?

It’s simple, really.  Just sit down with your list of goals and pick the most compelling one, the one that gets you the most excited, then start asking yourself “Why do I want to acclomplish this goal?”  Write down whatever answer comes to your mind.  Next, continue to ask yourslef “Why?” until you get to an answer that starts with the phrase “…because it would make me feel…”

Next, rewrite your goal in the present tense and include your new “Why?” statement.  Spend some time every morning and every evening reviewing your newly written goals.  This addition of a compelling emotional component to your goals will engage the power of your unconscious mind to an incredible degree.  Once on board, this part of your mind will work non-stop, even while you’re sleeping, to move you closer to the accomplishment of your goals.

Asking “Why?” is only the first step in the process, though.  A future post will discuss the second staep, the need to stay focused in order to succeed.