If you read my previous post, you know that today I’m offering a tip on where to explore for help with end of the business year stress…
Lack of proper planning.
Duh. But wait, there’s more. Every year at Seminar, thousands and thousands of women swear on the children’s lives that they will hit the next level of the company, or get into their Pink Cadillac, or quit their jobs. And when asked to put a date on this goal (one of the 7 Deadliest Goal Setting Mistakes), they’ll generally, out of a lethal combination of ego, blind ambition, desperation, disappointment and peer pressure, blurt out some ridiculously fast time frame, not even for a second considering what that means.
Now, it might sound like I’m being negative and cynical, but I’m not. It most definitely is possible for you to go from application to director in the next 4 months, or zero to Pink Caddie in your first 6 months, or from Future Executive to National in the next 2 years.
But you must take into consideration your unique circumstances, what you truly want to accomplish with this business (as opposed to what others tell you that you should want), what you’re willing and not willing to do, and your desired time frame.
It blows me away how many people are blinding following an action plan that sounds good, or they borrowed from someone else, but they don’t realize that even if they follow this plan to the letter, it doesn’t have the capability to produce the stated goal. So what’s the only possible outcome? Frustration, doubt and disappointment.
At the end of the year, you’ll be in danger of making one of the deadliest decisions you can ever make… “It must be me.” I must not be cut out for this business. I’ll never succeed. Even when I follow the plan, I don’t reach my goals.
Sometimes, you can do everything perfectly according to your game plan, but it just wasn’t the right plan, and you feel disappointed because you missed your goal. (First of all, you should never focus on results anyway, but that’s a different article…) Usually, the time frame doesn’t match with the activities, and the activities don’t match with your comfort zone.
That’s a recipe for disaster, and it usually leads to a limiting belief that sounds something like, “I’m not good enough to succeed” or “I don’t deserve the best life has to offer.” Limiting beliefs like those will always derail your dreams because you cannot outperform your beliefs.
Listen, there’s nothing wrong with scaling back your goals to match your circumstances, as long as it’s not a copout or a defense mechanism. I would rather see you push back your Director date two years and achieve it, if it means you’ll enjoy the journey, instead of seeing you race toward that position, lose friendships and strain family relationships, not to mention losing your passion for the business along the way, eventually causing you to give up later and resent the company or your mentors for pushing you.
Might sound crazy, but we both know plenty of women that followed that path, don’t we?
Check back in tomorrow for another helpful hint!
