Ask 10 friends if they think they should eat healthier and exercise more, odds are that a majority of them will say “yes”. Those who don’t agree, the annoying ones in our lives who actually do eat incredibly healthy (and I mean for more than one day in a row!) and get plenty of exercise. Though there are a myriad of excuses for why we make the choices and decisions we do, I think we can all agree that although it may be common sense that making healthy eating choices and exercising regularly would benefit us, the actual follow-through… let’s call it common practice is simply not as easy.
This same phenomenon exists in sales too! Ask any sales rep and they will tell you that they know they should prospect more, ask for the business more, and ask for referrals more often. Follow them around for a week and you might be surprised at how infrequently, if at all, they do these 3 critical selling activities.
Why do you think that is? It’s because common practice is tough. Whether we allow other people’s emergencies to get in the way, or we gravitate toward more fun or immediately rewarding tasks is irrelevant. What is common sense is not common practice. This is one of the reasons why personal training is a multi-million dollar enterprise. People need help and support in staying accountable – even to the things they WANT to do, to say nothing of the things they don’t.
So how do you turn common sense into common practice at work? First you have to decide you want to. That’s half the battle. You have to embrace the positive consequences to you if you do. Once you’re committed, follow these three easy steps:
- Make a plan. Determine what you should be doing more of, and less of at work, and then create your action plan. Make it super granular, down to the day if possible. Your plan should include both activity goals and results goals. You need to both to stay focused on the right activities.
- Start now. We are not kidding. Don’t wait until Monday… or “the right time.” If you wait, you may be waiting until eternity. Start now. It won’t be perfect, but you can adjust as you go.
- Track, measure, and analyze. You need to be able to connect your activities to your results. The only way to do this is to track, measure and analyze. Don’t become passionately attached to activities that net you nothing but satisfaction. You need results! If you don’t track, measure and analyze consistently, we recommend you do it at least weekly, you won’t be able to identify trends and capitalize on them. This is a proactive activity, put it on your calendar like a doctor’s appointment or you risk not getting it done.
We can help with all three steps, but the one we most often get hired to do is #3! People will start to work a plan, but forget to ‘weigh in’ to make sure it is working. Once you keep at this for a few months (we suggest at least 90 days) then you are off and running!!
Grow Big or Go Home!