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Good morning!
I am having a moment.
It’s a beautiful and sunny day here, south of Boston. Before my workday began, I was outside doing a little cleanup. As any homeowner will tell you, there is a massive amount of work to do around the yard. The enormity of it caught up with me this morning: spread more lime, and fertilizer. Re-stack the firewood. Paint the deck. Sealcoat the driveway.
And on and on.
Fortunately, I was able to stop myself before the title wave of tasks hit me head on. I found an Adirondack chair in the sun and sat down. I looked over at a Wisteria bush in full bloom and simply appreciated the moment.
Everything.
When my dad and mom moved from their house to an apartment, he told me, “I miss the puttering.” It’s hard to imagine I’ll miss this mountain of work.
The biggest mistake I made as a new sales rep was to worry. I was afraid of failure. I suffered from imposter syndrome. I felt unorganized, poorly managed, and often lost.
And I worried all day and all night.
If I could go back, I would tell a young Bill Farquharson to appreciate every moment; every challenge. I’d remind myself to focus on the moment and the day and nothing else.
How I wish I had understood that getting to your goals is the fun part. The struggles and the worries and the angst and the uncertainty and the fear, they are all part of it. They are necessary. They make you better. Achieving your goals provides a temporary high, but is accompanied by a lack of motivation that can derail every part of your life.
Before you launch your summer sales activities, stop and have a conversation with yourself:
- “Don’t allow worry. It’s a waste of energy.”
- “Focus on the fundamentals of sales.”
- “Always do your best.”
- “Define ‘Doing your job’ as achieving the day’s priorities.”
- Ask yourself, “What is the best use of my time right now?” and then go do it.
And appreciate the challenges along with the successes. When you reach the top of that mountain, you will look at those challenges differently.
Sales is hard.
“It’s supposed to be hard. If it was easy, everyone would do it. The Hard is what makes it great.”
—Tom Hanks, A League of Their Own
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