Taking Aim Requires Focus
I bet you think this is going be about gun control or what President Obama is doing about taking guns out of the hands of innocent law abiding citizens but it’s not. This is a new year and if we want to have a successful sales career, we need to take aim early on doing the things we know we need to do to reach our goals. I hope you took my advice back in November and began working on your 2013 Business Plan. If you did, you know exactly how much income you produced, what your expenses were, where your business came from, and exactly what you need to do on a daily bases to achieve the goals you have set for the coming year.
I love this time of the year because it offers a time of beginning. It’s almost like saying, “well I know I screwed up last year and I didn’t do the things I knew to do, but I will do better this year.” Isn’t looking at our life retrospectively much easier than looking into the future? There are so many things in my life that I would do differently if only I could. Unfortunately we can’t go back and relive anything that has already past. What we can do, is to learn from our past mistakes and exert every effort not to make those mistakes again. Yesterday is gone forever. Today is the first day of the rest of our lives. It is our new beginning.
I am a staunch advocate of business plans which incorporate goal setting. I believe that goals should never be singular. We need career goals but family goals are even more important. We may have religious goals, personal achievement goals, health goals, and who knows what other goals you may set. If it is important to you that you achieve a certain thing, then it should be set as a goal, and time should be allotted for accomplishing that goal. Goals are not meant to be made and then placed in a file or notebook to be reviewed at the end of the year. If you wish to attain your goals they must remain before you at all times. Let me give you a personal example. Back in the 70’s I wanted a bass boat so bad but I really couldn’t afford it. I cut pictures out of magazines of a beautiful Ranger bass boat. I placed one picture on the mirror of my vanity so I would see it the first thing every day. I had one picture taped on my sun visor in the car. I had one picture on my desk in my office. I also carried a picture in my shirt pocket and I looked at it often. I had pictures everywhere so I would have a constant reminder of what I was working for. Oh I was working to support my family, but my real motivator was to produce enough extra sales, above and beyond my normal production, to be able to afford the boat. Not only did I eventually get my boat but I got invited to fish the professional BassMaster tournament trail. Genmar Corporation, the builder of Ranger boats, sponsored me and provided me a new free boat every year. This would have never happened had my goal not been a top priority.
What is your top priority for the coming year? What is that one big accomplishment you want this year? The key to achieving it, is to make it your top priority. Keep it in the forefront day and night. Take aim at that goal as if you were entered in some shooting competition. Your focus would be so tightly fixed upon the sights and your target that you wouldn’t let anything or anyone interfere or cause you to loose focus. Now, let’s say you were shooting in this competition and people kept causing you lose focus so you decide to just close your eyes and shoot. At least you’ll have 50% chance of hitting the target. However, in reality, there’s a 50% chance you won’t hit the target. Upon closing of this competition you keep thinking, “If only I had remained focus, and not let other people influence me?” The problem is, this competition was yesterday. It is now over forever. However, there will be shooting competitions in the future that will allow for your redemption.
This is exactly what happens in businesses all over the world every day. People leave home for work with great intentions of accomplishing certain goals during the day. But their goals aren’t really their top priority, so they allow other people to interrupt and cause them to lose their focus. My friends I am a very friendly sort of guy but there is a time and place for camaraderie with other people at the office. They may have more money in their savings account than I do. They may have time to kill but I have goals to meet that are very important to me so I don’t have the luxury of wasting time. One can’t successfully chase two rabbits at the same time. You must focus on catching one of the rabbits and then you can focus on catching the second rabbit.
Whatever goals you set in life, keep them before you at all times. Stay focused on doing the things necessary to attain that goal. Have you ever noticed blinders on the bridle of a mule or race horse? The purpose of the blinders is to keep the animal from seeing things that are on the sideline. To keep them focused only on what’s in front of them. Maybe we should consider wearing some blinders our self so we can focus on doing the things that are productive and not let anyone or anything hinder us. Remember the 80/20 Rule? We spend 80% of time earning 20% of our income. This means that we are wasting 80% of our time. Remain focused and reap the rewards for your achievements.
Should you have specific questions concerning various issues, please let me know and I’ll research the answer for you. I also want to encourage you to subscribe to our “News & Updates” weekly report so you can stay abreast of issues that might affect you when buying or selling real estate. If you haven’t visited my website, please go to www.AlabamaRealEstateInstitute.com and view previous articles.