believe, trust and commit to the process - keep moving forward
believe, trust and commit to the process
"The journey is long, but the goal is in each step."
— Sri Sri Ravi Shanker
It's February. According to experts, over 75% of New Year's resolutions have already been given up. You couldn't find a treadmill on January 10th but you have your pick of them now! You couldn't get a seat in your place of prayer on January 9th, but all kinds of them are available now. Why is that?
I believe there are several reasons. A big reason is that we want to experience change immediately, and we focus too much on the result instead of the process of getting there. We want to lose 20 lbs, and after two weeks of exercising, we don't see the scale go from 180 to 160; it's only at 179.
What do we do? We give up.
In my opinion, focusing on a process, a habit, a routine that will get you to your goal, and then consistently taking small steps, is the most effective way to accomplish that goal. I love what Olena Mytruk says: "My goal is not a result of some process; my goal is the process."
If any of you are worried about the continued success of IMA and all our partners, don't be. I was blown away after a recent sales team meeting. We have amazingly talented people (and not just talented – good-hearted people like all of you) who will keep bringing quality clients to our organization. What I loved is that every one of the meeting attendees knew it was you (the team), not just them, who makes success happen.
In my last Dream Coach Tip, I told you all to "get great at where you are." We have a lot of producers getting great at where they are. Most are great because they have a process of making calls, getting in front of prospects, and building relationships. When I was a producer, that is what I did, and I did not have a fraction of these men and women's talents or smarts. Most of them could sell an abacus to a CPA (I am not even sure what an abacus is). I had to create a process to keep building relationships to succeed at all.
I never looked at my goal when trying to achieve my goal. I worked the process. To reach the goals you want, create a process, a habit. That is what will get you where you want to be. Did it work for me? Yes. By believing in working the process, it allowed me to have enough success to be in our IMA Sales Hall of Fame (thank you for all those that are the actual Hall of Famers who I worked alongside all those years - you know who you are).
I don't say that to boast. I say that because if a guy like me, who doesn't have a ton of talent or a whole lot of smarts, can do it, you can. If you create a process that you consistently adhere to, work hard at, and take small steps to improve each day, you can do anything. It is in the small things that no one sees us do that bring big results. Small, wise habits compound.
Make a daily resolution: each day get better.
What can you do consistently to achieve whatever you are trying to change or improve in your life? For the last 13 years, I have picked one word to live by each year. A word that can help me in all areas of my life. My relationships, my career, my spiritual life, my finances, my hobbies, my family, and my self-development. This year it is "Make Time" (I know it's two words - but it works for me).
One area I feel I have not been where I want to be is my role as a father. I see my kids often, but I don't get to find out what is happening. We are usually all together and have other things going on. So my process is to regularly make time (make time because we never find time) with each of them, one-on-one, to really catch up and see where they are in their lives and to understand what they now want for their lives, not what I want for them.
I plan on continuing that for a long time. You cannot improve a relationship by simply meeting once or twice. The same goes for our jobs or whatever else we are trying to achieve. You have to consistently keep at it to improve and get where you want to be. I love how Ken Coleman puts it: "You must stay in the day job to get to the dream job."
Create that process. Take a 15-minute walk each day to start exercising, read 10 pages each night to start learning something new, reach out to someone each week to build a relationship, pray 5 minutes each morning to get in touch with your spirituality, schedule think time each day or week to create ideas, make 50 calls a week to reach your sales goal, attack that highest priority item first thing in the morning, listen to a new self-development podcast each week, sit down with your significant other for 10 minutes after dinner, or spend 20 minutes with your kids before bedtime.
I love this picture that was posted by a board I sit on:
Whatever it is you want to achieve, start small, create some type of process that makes it easy to do and easy to remember, commit to the process, and know why you really want to achieve the goal in the first place.
"Hold the vision...drop the excuses...remember your why...swerve around obstacles...trust the process. Happiness and success will find you."
— Karen Salmansohn
Employee Benefits Specialist | People First Leader | Client Advocate | Health Rosetta Advisor | Doing Hard Things | Special Needs Mom | WWE Fan | kkwasniak@brightlinedealer.com
2yEnjoy the journey, the process, for sure Brad. My one word for 2022 is #perspective. A simple reset on how you look at things can make a ton of difference (preaching to myself).