The first step on the ladder of change is dissatisfaction, which I wrote about in my last post. Now, let’s take the next step toward achieving a positive outcome.

The second factor is Discipline. Here’s where wishful thinking becomes purposeful action. Discipline drives you to do what you must and when you must, whether you feel like it or not. Discipline gets you to the gym on a rainy Sunday afternoon. It’s what forces you to pick up the phone and call prospects every day. Discipline is that little drill sergeant in your head that says, "Drop and give me 20" when you’re ready to cave in and devour that slice of cheesecake or say "yes" when you really mean "no".

And it’s not a new concept. Over a century ago, Albert Hubbard defined discipline as, "The ability to make yourself do the things you should do, when you should do them, whether you feel like it or not."

Discipline, combined with dissatisfaction, is the free will to choose your pain. Stay at a job that is frustrating and unfulfilling or make the effort to find new opportunities and endure the rejection involved in finding the right match.
The decision to change happens in an instant. What follows is a process that requires the discipline to see it through to the end. Discipline is the difference between "quitting" for a month (which is a pause, not a change) and quitting for good!

You will spend your life in one of two pain zones: The Pain of Discipline or the Pain of Regret. If you choose discipline, recognize that the pain can go on for a while but there will be a positive outcome on the other side. Then ask yourself how long you will experience regret if you don’t change.
Put them on the scale. Discipline weighs ounces. Regret weighs a ton!

Posted In: New Home Sales Management Training, New Home Sales Training, New home sales marketing

Do you want to know a guaranteed way to kill your creativity? Tell other people about how you plan to make a daring change by establishing and achieving personal goals. It’s amazing how the small thinkers of the world will succinctly explain to you how your ideas and plans will not work just at the crucial time when you need encouragement to go forward from your "comfort zone" and into the unknown.

Here are 25 of the most common responses from friends, relatives, and office workers who are envious because you are on your way to becoming something they can only imagine. When you hear them, remember this proverb: A man who wants to lead the orchestra must first turn his back on the crowd.

1. Great Idea! Let’s form a committee to go to work on it.
2. Let’s think about it for a while.
3. Don’t get your hopes up too high.
4. Let’s discuss it some other time.
5. It will never work. / What if it doesn’t work?
6. Why not leave well enough alone?
7. That’s not in our job description.
8. That’s not how we do things around here.
9. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
10. We tried it a while back and it didn’t work.
11. It will create more work for everyone.
12. If we do it, they may wonder why we didn’t tackle it
sooner.
13. The competition does it that way.
14. The competition doesn’t do it that way.
15. Let the competition try it first and see if it works.
16. That’s not my job.
17. The boss will never go for it.
18. Hold on. We’ve got to run it by legal.
19. What! Where did you come up with that idea?
20. It’s too late to fix it now.
21. That’s the kind of idea that could cost you your job.
22. It’s not in our budget.
23. Who will we get to do it?
24. It will take a long time to get it off the ground.
25. Why do we have to push things? Let’s not rock the
boat.

Posted In: New Home Sales, New Home Sales Training

A friend of mine recently gave me The Top-Ten Strategies For Dealing With A Dead Horse. I first thought it was hilarious, and then realized it was a commentary on change.

According to the book, here are your options for dealing with a dead horse.

1. Buy a strong whip.
2. Change riders.
3. Appoint a committee to study the horse.
4. Appoint a team to revive the horse.
5. Send out a memo or email that the horse isn’t really dead.
6. Put someone in charge to find "the real problem."
7. Harness several other dead horses together for increased speed and efficiency.
8. Rewrite the standard definition of a live horse.
9. Declare the dead horse as the "way it’s always been done."
10. Promote the dead horse to a supervisory position.

Honestly, haven’t we all seen every one of these solutions enacted at our workplaces and our personal lives? In reality, of course, there’s only one way to deal with the problem of a dead horse and that is to dismount.

There is boiled-down wisdom in the proverb, "There’s no use beating a dead horse." It’s not going to go anywhere. You can’t revive it. It’s only going to get worse. All you can do is to walk away and let it rest.

Often, we have a hard time doing that because our dead horse is familiar to us. We’ve been riding it for a while and grown accustomed to it. To leave it behind would mean to go in another direction — to make a change in life — to abandon something we’re comfortable with and venture into the unknown.

No one said you have to love change to be successful, but you do need to accept it. Change is the substance for growth. Sometimes you must tear something down to be able to rebuild or leave something behind to be able to move ahead.

Change offers you the opportunity to redirect your outcome — and your income.

Keep selling,
Myers
Myers Barnes Associates, Inc.

Posted In: New Home Sales, New Home Sales Training