Why do some people achieve so much more than others? Why do some people seem to have all of the time in the world to get things done whilst others constantly seem to be frazzled? How can some people win new clients every month, service existing clients amazingly, manage sales teams, become industry go-to resources, deliver awesome lectures, write books, climb mountains, run marathons, have fabulous social activities? And live the life of their dreams as well?
And yet others struggle to remove themselves from firefighting, admin and dealing with challenges and spend their mornings, noons and evenings glued to their email?
It’s an important question. It might be one of the most important. Ultimately, you will be defined by what you do and by what you achieve not by how busy you are!
Being busy is not the same as being successful. Working hard is not the same as working smart. Putting the hours in is pointless if you’re working on the wrong activities.
When I work with businesses I see busy people, energetic sales teams and frantic business leaders. I see many, many people working hard to “get things done”…
But “getting things done” is sometimes not the same as achieving your objectives!
My lifelong passion is all about understanding what differentiates top performers and then helping others to achieve it too. What makes one person a sales superstar and another a sales wannabe? What empowers one person to be a rock star presenter and another a washout? What is it that enables one leader to lead their team to “victory” whilst another couldn’t lead theirs to the pub?
And one of the key differences is that top performers spend more time working on activities that lead to results.
Simple truth…
If two people of equal ability, passion and knowledge work the same market in the same way but one spends 50% of their time on activities that lead to results and the other only spends 25% then the first one will outperform the second one. Every time.
This is simple and obvious and yet it is not something which drives many peoples’ behaviours. Over time, most people fall into habits…
We do things because “we should”, we do things because “we always have”, we do things because “that’s the way others do it”, we do things because “we were told to”…
But we ought to be doing things because they get us the results that we want.
Here are 3 simple steps to get you more of the results that you want in your sales, in your business and in your life…
Step 1: Take stock.
Ask yourself what results you want and then work out what activities directly lead to those results. Map how you spend your time… How much time do you spend on these results based activities versus how much time do you spend doing other things?
Step 2: Take charge.
Commit time to results based activities. Protect this time. Make it sacrosanct. Do not be distracted. Drop “time-wasting” activities, stop acts of procrastination and learn to say “No” (to yourself and others).
Know that everybody has the same amount of time in a day and how you spend yours is down to you.
Step 3: Take action.
Make it happen. Change happens in an instant. How you spend your time will determine your results so take action now to get on the road to the results that you want.
And finally, be your own coach, assessing how you do, refining your approach and holding yourself accountable.
And here’s the magical thing. This is a never-ending process because the more successful you are, the more you have to work on this process and the greater the opportunities are to improve.
Let me know how you get on…
Related posts:
- On Fast Food, Sales Training & Getting The Winning Edge
- The Sales Apprentice 2009: Sales Training Tips From The Hit TV Show, Week 12, The Final
- What Would You Achieve If You Knew You Couldn’t Fail?
- Sales Training Tips From A Golf Pro… Tony Westwood Speaks With Motivational Speaker Gavin Ingham
- Talking Sales Success Summit
About Gavin Ingham
This is so true! I see so many recruiters think they will never achieve the success they want because they don’t feel they have enough time. So much of success comes down to time management and prioritisation. All the things that are so easy to put off that are important and not urgent come back to haunt you when the deadline is suddenly looming. The more time someone spends on true proactive activities that are linked to genuine outcomes the higher the probability of success.
Indeed Jeremy. Requires clarity, focus, commitment and the ability to say, “No.” Have a good evening!
It was good to read this article and it rang so many bells for me, yet it also reminded me that I can improve on that which I do. I think of myself as someone that focuses on the right activities to reach my goals. However, reading this made me think about it and revisit that which I do and upon reflection I relies I could be doing even better. Which is always true. I’m off to do something more productive right now….
So true Darren. This is certainly one of those things that the more aware of it you become and the more you focus on it, the more opportunity you see to fine tune what you’re focusing on and improve the results that you’re getting.
Have fun
.
Great article as always Gavin. Curiously I was reading Think and Grow Rich on the train last night as it’s on my iPad and I was thinking how pertinent it is, either still or just for today’s climate. What Hill writes about though is as you state, it’s about the doing and doing the right amount.
Have fun
Rosie
Rosie
It is interesting how pertinent many of the good old “oldies” are… and yes action is key to success. To quote Batman, “It’s not who I am underneath, but what I do that defines me.” How we spend our time defines how people see us, the results that we get and ultimately our lives.
Cheers
Gavin
p.s. I just re-read Maxwell Maltz’s Psycho-Cybernetics which was written in 1960. For the most part, it could have been written yesterday.