Send Me A Person Who Dreams During the Day

"Send me a person who dreams during the day, not during the night.  That's the person who's going to change the world."

- Lawrence of Arabia, T. E. Lawrence

"Your mind will answer most questions if you learn to relax and wait for the answer."

- William S. Burroughs

From Steve Chandler:  

    Sometimes a coaching client of mine will claim to not know the answer to something or "not know how to" decide something.

     Often my clients have a lot of opportunity in life but their real problem is choosing.  They think they don't know how to decide what to do, and so they live a totally paralyzed life.

      So, I will tell them to take a long walk by the water, go to the beach and take a long, long walk, just by yourself and don't have any distractions, don't have your earphones on or anything like that. Just walk and listen to the water and live inside the inquiry of what would be the boldest, bravest thing for me to do?

    And they almost always, when they do the assignment, come back with some amazing insight they receive. A strong, new choice that they have made and it's really got a lot of heart in it!

      When you walk, you activate the right brain because you cannot move your left leg without the right brain kicking in and activating. So the left, right, left, right of your walking actually guarantees that you're now in whole brain thinking while you're walking. 

     That's why so many great philosophers from Plato to Emerson to Brenda Ueland, walked and walked and walked.  Colin Wilson, walking... walking along the cliffs of Cornwall with his dogs every day. 

     And because it activates whole brain thinking, it allows the right brain to serve you and help you.  If we're seated and balled up with the  body clenched in the seated position all day in front of a computer screen, the left brain is processing all day but the right brain will just check out.  (Ever seen those rubber band balls? Ever spend your day as a human version of that?) What happens in the the night after that is you have the wildest dreams in the world. Because the right brain is finally being allowed to express itself, but it's in dreams, not in waking hours. 

        Now that occurs when someone is willing to go for a long walk, all alone, by herself, to just see what comes up.  It's a very brave thing to do because there's huge resistance to it.  People don't want to do it.  They'd rather live inside the illusion of busy-ness - frantic false activity all day! - than be brave and go to solitude and silence and walk.  That's why I've always talked about the ultimate seminar being one in which no one speaks.

Live well and prosper,
Steve
  
All the best, 
Rick Wallace

Your Problem is Not Motivation

"Most people (and your own thoughts) are fast to stop you before you get started,  but hesitate to get in the way if you're moving."

- Tim Ferriss

 

"Action is the foundational key to all success."

- Pablo Picasso

Your Problem Isn't Motivation

By Peter Bregman 
CEO Advisor
Published January 11, 2013
FOXBusiness 

Watch What Peter Has to Say About Motivation

"Peter," my friend Byron emailed me a few days ago. "I haven't been diligent about working out over the past five years and I'm trying to get back in the gym and get myself into a healthier state. I've found that on my quest for a Mind, Body, Spirit balance, my body has been neglected. I need to fix it, and it's VERY hard for me to get motivated. Any insight?"

It's the kind of question that's on many of our minds in the midst of New Year's resolution season.

Something you should know about Byron: He recently started a business and he's constantly developing his skills through training programs he pays for with his own money. So it's not that Byron is unmotivated in general. It's just that he thinks he's unmotivated to work out.

But Byron is wrong. "I need to fix it," he wrote. He is motivated to work out; otherwise he wouldn't have emailed me. He clearly cares about getting fit and when you care about something, you're motivated.

No, Byron's challenge isn't motivation. It's follow-through.

Which is important to realize because as long as Byron thinks he's solving for a motivation problem, he'll be looking for the wrong solution. He'll try to get himself excited. He'll remind himself that being in shape is really important. Maybe he'll visualize the partners he'll attract if he looks better or the years he'll add to his life if he gets in better shape.

Each attempt to "motivate" himself will only increase his stress and guilt as it widens the gap between his motivation and his follow-through, between how badly he wants to work out and his failure to do so. We have a misconception that if we only cared enough about something, we would do something about it. But that's not true.

Motivation is in the mind; follow-through is in the practice. Motivation is conceptual; follow-through is practical. In fact, the solution to a motivation problem is the exact opposite of the solution to a follow through problem. The mind is essential to motivation. But with follow through, it's the mind that gets in the way.

We've all experienced our mind sabotaging our aspirations. We decide to go to the gym after work but then, when it comes time to go, we think, It's late, I'm tired, maybe I'll skip it today. We decide we need to be more supportive of our employees, but then, when someone makes a mistake, we think, If I don't make a big deal about this, he's going to do it again. We decide we need to speak more in meetings but then, when we're sitting in the meeting, we think, I'm not sure what I'm going to say really adds value.

Here's the key: if you want to follow through on something, stop thinking.

Shut down the conversation that goes on in your head before it starts. Don't take the bait. Stop arguing with yourself.

Make a very specific decision about something you want to do and don't question it. By very specific, I mean things like: I will work out tomorrow at 6 AM or I will only point out the things my employee does right or I will say at least one thing in the next meeting.

Then, when your mind starts to argue with you - and I guarantee it will - ignore it.  

You're smarter than your mind. You can see right through it.

As for Byron, I have a few tricks that can help him shut down his mind and improve his follow-through - some things I've written about in the past:

• Create an environment that supports your workout goals. Have your gym clothes sitting by your bed and put them on first thing when you wake up. In fact, work out first thing, before your mind realizes what you're doing. 
• Use a trainer or commit to work out with a friend. It's harder to argue against your accountability to another person. 
• Decide when and where you're going to work out - literally write it in your calendar - and the likelihood of follow-through will increase dramatically. 
• Commit to a concrete plan that is simple to quantify: 45 minutes of movement a day, cut out sugar, go to the gym six days a week.
• Realize that the follow-through challenge will only last a few seconds. As soon as you put your sneakers on and start heading to the gym, your mind will give up arguing with you.
• Discipline will be useful for the first week as you get back into working out. But after that, momentum will take over and the pleasure of feeling more fit will quiet the internal chatter.
• Finally, think of all the above as a multifaceted campaign. A checklist that you should go through each day to make sure you are stacking the deck in your favor.

I once took a golf lesson with a pro who taught me a certain way to swing the club. After the lesson, he issued a warning. "When you play with others, some people will want to give you advice. Just listen to them politely, thank them for their advice, and then completely ignore it and do exactly what I've just told you to do."

That, Byron, is precisely how you should respond to your mind.

Peter Bregman is a strategic advisor to CEOs and their leadership teams. His latest book is 18 Minutes: Find Your Focus, Master Distraction, and Get the Right Things Done.

All the best, 

Rick Wallace

The Best Salesperson

"It is literally true that you can succeed best and quickest by helping others to succeed."

-- Napoleon Hill, author

 

I know we are always looking for ways to test candidates for sales jobs. Dan Pink has just released a new book, using his usual approach at business issues he has drawn not from long held beliefs that everyone knows is right, but from scientific data that provides statistical and behavioral facts.  I'm halfway through the book but one glaring myth is that great salespeople are always extroverts. Various studies have shown that this is not the case and that the opposite is not true either (i.e. all great salespeople are introverts). The facts show that people in the middle of the spectrum are really the best in today's new world.  

Take a minute and take this assessment, and have your sales people take it and see where they end up.  Several major studies show that Ambiverts (those in the middle) sell, on average, 25% more than either extraverts or introverts. This may be a new tool to add to your arsenal when testing candidates in the future.

All the best, 

Rick Wallace

Commissions Create The Wrong Behavior

"Every result in your life and in your business has a system that is perfect for creating it. If you want to change a result you have to develop a new system."

-Steve Chandler

I know this is heresy to most people but it is true.

I was meeting with a client recently and the subject of sales came up. He has 4 sales people, 2 that have been around and are his "All Star" guys. He has two newer reps.

We were discussing an integrated marketing campaign and how it was going. It involved sending out 15 postcards per week, per territory and the sales guys were supposed to be following up on the mailings with an offer.

He said the younger guys are really "kicking butt". They are having great success, over ½ of the calls are resulting in identifying prospects and maybe ½ of those have accepted the offer and are moving toward a sale. Great news!

Now for the twist. He said to me, "Rick the problem is my All Star guys are not doing it. I am going to have a sales meeting tomorrow and have the younger guys talk about their success and maybe that will get the All Star guys to catch on and start doing it." I suggested that will fail too. I ask what percentage of the guys compensation was commission? He said about 75%. I asked what quota or goal do the All Star guys have for the year? He said to grow 10%.

So we discussed what was going on. Everyone gets to a point where they are making "enough" money.

"Enough" means that other things (time off, not doing things that are uncomfortable, etc.) become more important than money. With that in mind let's look at what is happening here:

1. These guys have been around, built a territory, and are making enough money so that other things are more important. They hang around the office too much, make a route of old customers, spend maybe 2-3 hours of that in conversations with customers and prospects.
2. They have agreed to grow that territory by 10%. Well, prices were raised 5% this year so now all they have to do is keep doing what they feel comfortable doing, seeing all the old customers and they will grow 5% due to price and more as their customers grow organically. They will then follow up on a few leads (once or twice) and breakthrough that 10% quota with ease.
3. There is no compelling reason to do anything else. Since 75% of their comp is commission they are going to make 5-7% or so more than last year. They feel independent - "I can do what I want or not do things the owner wants because it is skin off my back. My decision to not pursue new customers or play golf today cost me money, not the owner."

Think about it - all your other employees get a salary. You have an agreement that for that salary they are accountable for certain results and for doing things "Right". In other words, this is when we start the day's work, here is the process, here are the results we want to achieve, etc.

But salespeople get commissions and that alone creates this feeling of independence. They think like owners, but of their own fiefdom, not of the business.

Switch them to a salary, based on last year's total compensation and get agreement on a 15% growth plan with bonus when they achieve it. Then get agreement to follow the processes and the results you want to see.

Next step, bring in a sales coordinator to take on the tasks like inputting into CRM, owning the follow up and paperwork, setting appointments and driving the activity of these guys. Increase their face time, in conversations and expanding their customer base to 6-7 hours a day. Clients are increasing sales by 2X at 3/4 the costs with this process. 

All the best, 

Rick Wallace