Personal and professional growth require us to be uncomfortable (since we have to stretch ourselves). At least that’s what my friend tells me…and he’s decided he doesn’t like being uncomfortable anymore.
Let me help you get to know my friend a bit better. He’s over 50 and has been in sales and sales management for 30 years. He says he’s just downright tired of being uncomfortable.
He’s sold landscaping services, vacuum cleaners (yep, you read that right), Christmas trees (door-to-door, believe it or not), high-pressure steam irons, mortgages (not for very long though), private coaching, houses, condos and townhomes. He’s even leased a few rental properties. He feels like he’s been talking people into spending money on products or services for so long that it might be causing him brain damage. He feels like he’s earned the right to be comfortable, but he has one itty-bitty problem…there’s still way more he wants to accomplish.
What’s wrong with him? Why does he still want to accomplish more? Can’t he just relax a bit and coast along for a while?
Nope. He can’t because there are more people to help, especially new people in real estate who just need to learn how to sell. He doesn’t know why, but he believes he was put here on earth to help others by either selling them a product or service or by teaching others to do the same. Even as I write this, it sounds like baloney to me, but it’s totally true.
“Whatcha gonna do about it?” I asked him recently, and here’s what he said. He’s going to:
1. Set higher goals than he set in the past—so high that he might not actually want to tell anyone, but he said he’ll tell people anyway.
2. Plan the strategy for achieving these goals. He’ll figure out exactly what’s necessary to achieve these goals, how each goal breaks down, what he needs to do each week and what activities are required.
3. Outline, in advance, the obstacles he expects to encounter while trying to achieve the goals he’s outlined—the impediments, if you will. Additionally, he’ll have a plan for removing or overcoming each of the impediments. (Now that’s a novel idea, isn’t it? Decide in advance why a goal won’t be achieved and figure out how to achieve it anyway.)
Are there many others out there who feel just like my friend? Like they’ve paid their dues and deserve to coast for a while? I’d be willing to bet there are, but there’s probably more for them to do, too. More people who need their help. More ways for them to change the world—even if it’s in seemingly small ways.
If you’re tired of being uncomfortable, but you know you still have much more to do, then shoot me a quick email at Cleve@WorkmanSuccessSystems.com and I’ll send you a copy of the goal achievement system I’m using to try to stay comfortable in my personal discomfort.
Cleve Gaddis is a Master Coach with Workman Success Systems and a team leader with Gaddis Partners, RE/MAX Center in Atlanta. He learned sales the hard way, selling vacuum cleaners door-to-door, and now puts those skills to use in helping his team close $60 million annually. He loves to share his systems and strategies to help others succeed. He hosts the Call Cleve Atlanta Real Estate Show, heard weekly on NewsTalk 1160 WCFO. For more information, please visit www.workmansuccesssystems.com.
