"People often say that motivation doesn't last. Well, neither does bathing—that's why we recommend it daily." -Zig Ziglar. Salespeople might have the hardest time in any profession finding motivation. However, I think it's easy to maintain once they get motivated. Once our business is moving and we start seeing the payoff of our hard work, we gain the energy needed to keep going and feel like nothing can stop us. Unfortunately, before reaching incredible success, we often feel like nothing can help get us started. We stare at a seemingly endless list of tasks that have not yet produced the results we're hoping for, and we lose motivation. This feeling is especially true when we're up against a challenging market. How are we supposed to keep going when every step seems like an uphill climb?
Motivation Starts with Gratitude
Recently, XINNIX hosted a webinar with our CEO Casey Cunningham and Krish Dhanam—acclaimed author, CEO of Skyline Success, Global Ambassador for the Ziglar Group of Companies, and motivational guru—about this very topic. They talked about Krish's five key principles for staying motivated during difficult times—the ABCs of motivation. I'll cover them all over the next few weeks. Today, I'd like to start with A, an Attitude of Gratitude. Hans Selye, the great stress specialist, once said, "Gratitude is the healthiest of all human emotions." It should be the starting place for nearly everything we do. In sales, we learn that ambition is the most desirable trait a successful person can possess. However, if we want to move forward, we must first acknowledge where we began and where we are now.
Performance Takes Preparation
Everyone wants to get to the top of the mountain. We all want to be the best we can be and achieve our highest potential, whether in our professional or personal life. However, mountain climbers don't scale Mount Everest without putting in time and effort beforehand. Krish Dhanam says, "The food you will eat on the coming mountaintop grows only in the valley. Nothing grows on the mountaintop." Without a doubt, the past few years have been challenging for salespeople in nearly every industry. Many of us have had to completely redefine how we do business. The pandemic forced us to leave behind the practices and habits we spent years of our careers developing. Instead of seeing this time in the valley as an impediment to success, Krish encourages us to see it as a time of preparation. He says, "One of the things I did during the last two years was prepare for the next uncertainty. We will be put back into this position when this happens again." Doing business during a crisis is never easy, whether in the pandemic, an economic downturn, or whatever unforeseen disaster may come our way. But looking back on the past few years, ask yourself a few questions. What have I learned? What skills have I sharpened? How am I better at my job than I was before? If we pay attention, we will see that the difficulties we faced brought out things in us we may have never accessed otherwise. In fact, without these challenging times, we would never experience growth. According to Krish, "If I'm going to be effective in the days ahead, First, I have to become uncomfortable. I'm not going from pillar to post or from peak to peak. Every day, I'm going to reinvent some part of myself. The habits of the heart I'm introducing will be for a future I cannot yet see." The valley might not be your favorite place, but be grateful for your time there; it prepares you for the mountaintop.
Count Your Blessings
Challenging times give us many reasons to be thankful, but they can also be overwhelming. We can easily fall into the trap of feeling like every day is a struggle, like nothing ever comes easy. We compare ourselves to others, perceiving that they have business handed to them, while we constantly fight to make headway. Eventually, we start to think that if everything is so hard, why should we even try?If we are completely honest with ourselves, we know this line of thinking isn't helpful and is not true. Everyone has received blessings, and at some point, we have all been given a leg-up, an opportunity we did not earn. Os Guinness urges us to ask ourselves three questions: What have I received in life that I don't think I deserve? What have I done with the things I have received? If I answered the first two questions honestly, what do I need to be doing going forward? Acknowledging our blessings is vital to maintaining our motivation. When we are aware of life's advantages, it's easy to see we are in a better place to succeed than we initially thought. XINNIX CEO Casey Cunningham puts it this way: "We are all gifted with more than we deserve, from family and careers to health and wealth. We have to be intentional about recognizing these gifts and giving thanks for them in return. Gratitude gets you out of the pity party and stops you from wallowing in your self-doubt. I highly encourage everyone to find someone less fortunate than them. Then, your attitude of gratitude will take off." Check back for the next step in maintaining sales motivation—the Behavior of Belief! Want more from Krish Dhanam and Casey Cunningham about staying motivated in challenging times? Read our recent article, How to Turn Challenges into Opportunities and Improve Sales Performance.
