Goals: Choosing and Visualizing Them

Posted on August 10, 2012 by Sean Moore | | Leave a comment

Chadwick and goalsDuring a recent training presentation for new hires, the speaker asked the sales reps how much they believed they would sell of a particular new product, and he also challenged each one of them to write down the figure he or she had in mind. As I scanned the room to see who would actually write down a number, I was amazed to see that not one person did.

Why do so many of us want success, and yet most of us do not take a fraction of a moment to write down our end goals? Direction and goals are crucially important—if we do not know where we want to go, the chances are high that we will either not get there at all, or we will end up where we do not want to be.

I recently learned about the famous American female swimmer from the 1950s, Florence Chadwick, and her pursuit of multiple world records. I want to share her story to help you understand the importance of setting visible goals.

Chadwick’s biggest contribution to swimming occurred at age 32. On August 8, 1950, she crossed the English Channel in just over 13 hours, a victory which broke the current world record. One year later, Chadwick crossed the English Channel again, this time going in the opposite direction—from England to France. She completed this feat in slightly more than 16 hours, setting yet another record by becoming the first woman to swim the English Channel in both directions.

Having tasted success, Chadwick made another record-breaking attempt in July of 1952. She intended to become the first woman to swim the 26-mile channel from Catalina Island to the California coast.

Chadwick trained for the waves, the bone chilling waters, and even the sharks; she was ready and determined to cross after all her planning and training. However, one thing missing from her preparation was a plan of action for foggy weather.

On this particular day, the fog was so thick that she only had a few feet of visibility. After 15 hours, the conditions of the frigid water took their toll, and her muscles screamed in pain as they began to cramp.

Her support crew in the nearby boat kept telling her that the shoreline was close.  They encouraged her and pleaded with her to keep going, yet she could no longer continue and gave up as the crew brought her aboard. She later realized that she had completed 25 of the 26 miles and was only one mile from the shore when she quit swimming.

Later she said, “I’m not excusing myself, but if I could have seen the land I might have made it. I lost sight of my goal. I’m not sure I ever had it firmly in mind.”1

It was not the cold, fear, or exhaustion that caused Florence Chadwick to fail—it was the fog. Even though her crew was telling her that the shoreline was just ahead, she just could not see it.

Chadwick learned a very important lesson, which she put into play two months later when she tried the same swim again, and this time the outcome was different. The same thick fog rolled in, but she made it to the shore, reporting that she kept a mental image of the shoreline in her mind as she swam.

There are two things we can learn from Chadwick’s experience: first, you must set your goals, work your goals, visualize your goals by putting them on paper, and relentlessly pursue your goals.

Second, even if you have tasted success, do not stop visualizing your goals—keep them in front of you, because you never know when fog (a challenge or hurdle) might come your way! If you keep those goals at the forefront of your mind, you will then have a far, far better chance of reaching them.

 

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Rumble in the Jungle!

Posted on August 3, 2012 by Sean Moore | | 3 Comments

The “Rumble in the Jungle” was a historic boxing event that took place on October 30, 1974. It pitted then world Heavyweight Champion George Foreman against former World Champion and challenger Muhammad Ali. Ali was famed for his speed and technical skills, while Foreman’s raw power was his greatest strength. During the fight Ali frequently began to lean on the ropes and cover up, letting Foreman punch him on the arms and body (a strategy Ali later dubbed the rope-a-dope). As a result, Foreman spent and sapped his energy throwing punches that either did not hit Ali or were deflected in a way that made it difficult for Foreman to hit Ali’s head. This loss of energy was key to Ali’s “rope-a-dope” tactic. Ali continued to taunt him by saying “They told me you could punch, George!” According to Foreman, near the end of the fight, he slammed Ali with a thundering body blow, and Ali whispered to him “Is that all you got, George?” to which Foreman thought “Yep…that’s about it.” After that, Ali began to dominate Foreman. By the eighth round, Foreman’s punching and defense became ineffective as the strain of throwing so many punches earlier in the fight finally took a toll. Foreman tried to pin Ali to the ropes, which resulted in Ali’s 5-punch combination culminating in a left hook and a final hard right hook straight to the face that caused Foreman to stumble to the canvas. Foreman did get up, but not before being counted out by the referee.

I don’t know about you but the thought of letting someone like Foreman hit me repeatedly is pretty frightening. I mean Ali was quicker and more allusive; he could have easy held his own with Foreman. But Ali knew that if he was to win he had to tire Foreman and stick to his strategy. Ali maintained his strategy and it paid off in the eighth round when Foreman was worn out, and Ali stung him with a final left and massive right hook!

There are times in life we get hit repeatedly with obstacles or challenges as we pursue our goals, just like Ali did in his fight with Foreman, but we have to persevere and keep pressing to our ultimate goal and vision.

When we get knocked down and we are struggling, we have to get back up and keep fighting! Stay focused! Remember our greatest victories and new product conversions are still ahead of you. Too often people give up after one set back, or when they get more resistance than they bargained for. If we fail to persevere though those tough times, failure is ultimately inevitable. If you don’t finish something, it won’t be complete, and until it’s complete, it’s not finished. Success is all about our ability to follow up, follow through, and finish what we have started. You’re not beaten by being knocked down; you’re beaten when you stay down. Every day we need to have a plan, get in the OR, work the plan, close for results, and plan to win!

For those interested here are the highlights of that fight.

Rumble in the Jungle fight

And, here is Ali’s post fight interview, a true classic and must see!

Ali Post Fight Interview

 

 

 

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Climbing Mount Everest – Focusing on Lead Measures

Posted on July 27, 2012 by Sean Moore | | Leave a comment

May of 1996, professional climber Neil Beidleman was guiding a handful of adrenaline junkie clients to the summit of Everest. During this particular ascent a storm stranded the group in the “death zone”, claiming the lives of eight people, including Beidleman’s friend and climbing partner Scott Fischer, and leaving the survivors severely to moderately injured in one of the worst mountaineering disasters in history. The climbers all began with the same goals, to reach the summit and to survive to tell the tale; however, when the goal became more survival focused, some headstrong climbers abandoned the team discipline and lost sight their accountability to the group. In such an extremely unforgiving environment, the adventure turned into deadly.

In 2001, another group of climbers attempted to reach the Everest summit; the unique to this group was the presence of member Erik Weihenmayer, a blind man. They would be the first team to guide a blind man to the Everest summit. What allowed this group to be successful versus the group in the 1996 disaster was that every evening Weikenmayer and his group would meet in “tent sessions” to discuss their daily accomplishments and lessons learned. This in turn helped them plan the next day and make adjustments where they deemed necessary. In these nightly tent sessions they shared what they learned and committed to the next day’s strategy. As a result, on summit day they reached their goal, and etched their names in the exclusive history of Mount Everest for not only guiding the first blind man to the summit, but for also having one of the largest teams (18 people) to all make it the top. I can’t emphasize this enough, Weikenmayer’s team had extreme focus on a strategy development via “tent sessions”, which enabled them to commit to the next day’s deliverables and hold everyone accountable. Planning and accountability resulted in what many thought of as impossible.

If you look at companies with new products often the the majority of sales come from the top 20% of sales reps. Why is that? Why aren’t the other territories achieving similar or better revenues? How do we change this trend and move the middle? My belief is we need to have a laser like focus on “Lead Measures.” Lead Measures are measures of activities connected to achieving an end goal (Lag Measures). A “Lag Measures” tell you if you achieved the goal. For example, you can’t control the trait of being prone to cavities, but you can control how often you go to the dentist for routine cleanings and checkups for prevention.

I can understand how it might feel when you think about getting a new product going in your territory – it seems like you’re trying to move a massive boulder . You need leverage to help you move that rock; you need to focus on something you can control. The things you can control are your behaviors and the results of your activities.

In conclusion, every day we need to define our daily measures, commit and execute the actions required to achieve those lead measures. As team members and leaders we must hold ourselves and everyone accountable.  As a result this will drive us to success which we can all celebrate our Lag Measures (aka commissions!). Building new product success is just like climbing Mount Everest and why should this success be limited to a few? Why can’t we all ascend together just like Weihenmayer’s team did? I am sure the view is beautiful at the top, and the feeling must be amazing too to know that you did what everyone thought was impossible.

 

 

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Self Limiting Beliefs Conclusion – Fake It Until You Make It

Posted on July 13, 2012 by Sean Moore | | 1 Comment

In the late 1980s, psychologists at the University of Illinois recruited 92 undergrads to take part in an experiment rating cartoons. The students were divided into two groups; Group A rated cartoons while holding felt tipped markers in their mouths, while Group B simply rated them by hand. Those clever researchers were simply forcing the students in Group A to smile. As it turned out, the cartoons were funnier to students forced into felt-tip smiles in Group A. Based on these results, researchers came to realize the “Facial Feedback Hypothesis,” which states our facial muscles send signals to our brains telling us we’re happy.

To act as if you don’t have negative beliefs or, even better, as if instead you have positive equivalents; in other words, “fake it, until you make it.” Since the subconscious mind is not rational in nature and hence doesn’t judge, it can’t tell the difference between when you pretend and when you act on a “real” belief. Try it right now. Think of something you’ve achieved in life you didn’t think you would; whether it’s something most would consider simple, like finishing college or winning a sales award. Now, what if I were to tell you that you couldn’t do it (even though you already have), you wouldn’t believe me, right? Therefore, if you put your current self-limiting belief under the same spotlight, you can simply flip it into a positive challenge because you control what it is. You are only limited by your own thoughts.

Brian Tracy describes a technique in his book “Kiss that Frog,” which is mental programming through visualization; you will become what you see. There are four keys to this visualization:

1) Vividness – You must make your goals clear and decide how rapidly you want those behaviors to appear in your life; in other words make a clear mental picture of who you want to be today, what you want to become in the future, and the goals you see yourself achieving.

2) Intensity – The more positive emotion you can attach to the visualization, the greater impact it has on your thought, feelings, and actions.

3) Duration – The longer you can hold your vivid emotional picture in your mind, the more likely the visualization will become a reality.

4) Frequency – The more often you can hold your visualization of your ideal goal, the life you want, and behavior, the faster you will program this desire into your subconscious.

 

This is not about tricking your mind, but about knowing how the mind works. We are all just “acting out” our lives based on a script stored in our subconscious that we did not consciously choose in the first place. Persistently acting “as if” changes the script over time, and when the script changes for the better, so does the movie.

 

 

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Self Limiting Beliefs Part 3: The Unsolvable Math Problem

Posted on July 7, 2012 by Sean Moore | | Leave a comment

In 1939, George B. Dantzig was studying mathematics at UC-Berkley. One day, arriving late to a class, he discovered two problems he assumed were homework on the blackboard. As he attempted to solve the problem set, he noticed it was harder than usual. It also took him longer, causing him to miss the due date, but he decided to submit the homework to the professor anyway. Early one morning, weeks later, Danzig was awakened by his professor banging on his door, papers in hand, excited, and yelling, “They want to publish your paper!” The “homework” problems Danzig solved were in fact two famous and historically unsolvable statistical problems, which had been puzzling the greatest mathematicians for years. Danzig had something called “Positive Thinking” on his side – he was able to freely pursue a goal and be unfretted by self limiting beliefs to accomplish what many tenured mathematicians through history thought of as impossible. To Danzig these were just homework problems; why would they be unsolvable? They had to have an answer!

Not too long ago in my career, as an Area Director I would see this “positive thinking” by observing a new TM hired onto my team. For those of you who have not attended our Emerging Leadership Training, we discuss Situational Leadership (SL) in great detail, and refer to these “newbies” as “Enthusiastic Beginners” (EBs). According to the SLII model, an EB is highly committed, but has a lower competence in the subject at hand. Although their competence starts out low on our products or competitors, I am always amazed at how new TMs are often able to outperform the more seasoned TMs with the launch of a new product or a challenging new corporate objective. Why do we see these phenomena in sales? I believe it’s based on how we use our mindsets to deal with self limiting beliefs. A new hire does not comprehend failure, so they don’t have self limiting beliefs when they start. Also, this mindset allows them to believe in the product completely. “This is the best product available – why wouldn’t I be able to sell it? “

 Recently, I was speaking with an AD about a new hire having tremendous initial success with a new product. After selling $20K within one month of starting, this TM asked their AD, “So why do people think this is so hard?” If you look at the New Product Totem Pole or read the emails about successful TMs, more often than not they spotlight our newer hires. But let’s be realistic, a new TM will eventually hit a roadblock. This is where the fork in the road begins to form, which is solely dependent on the type of mindset the TM possesses. One type of TM is Fixed Mindset Frank, who believes he is who he is and his failures are centered on how smart, talented, and educated he is. With new product sales success, the “newbie” with the fixed mindset (non-learner) will give into self limiting beliefs like: I must have been lucky; I knew I wasn’t good enough; etc. As a result their results fizzle and they will fall into the pack of average. In contrast, Growth Mindset Gina can look beyond her self-limiting beliefs when faced with failure, which she sees as a one-time event to learn from. This pushes Gina to try even harder; the harder Gina fails, the harder she will try! Relating back to new product sales success, the new TM with initial success will inevitably have a setback, but the “newbie” with the growth mindset (learner) will face setbacks with positive affirmations, learn from the situation, and will try harder as a result to convert Altrus setbacks into future successes. So, how do you stay a “newbie selling machine”? It goes back to Danzig again—mindset enables overcoming self limiting beliefs.

 It’s hard sometimes, but we must look at the challenges in each of our paths with the right perspective. By that I mean a growth mindset, where every setback is a learning experience, every challenge can be overcome with effort and determination, and every self-limiting belief is merely a thought that can be changed with positive affirmation. Most importantly, the more effort you put into new product sales (or any goal that you have in your life), your mindset around it, and reprogramming your subconscious to rid yourself of self-limiting beliefs, the further you will go on the road to success.

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