How Gritty Are You?

Posted on April 12, 2014 by Sean Moore | | Leave a comment

grittyImagine for a moment two salespeople, John and Bob, who are learning to sell a new product. John and Bob are equally talented salespeople, and when they sit down to practice their sales process, they both give the same intense determination to the honing of their craft. Really, the only notable difference between these two salespeople is that Bob is devoted exclusively to the Sandler sales process, while John likes to bounce back and forth between different sales processes. Who do you think will be more successful? I put my money on Bob. He has a characteristic I like to call “grit.” Bob dives deep into his pursuit of Sandler mastery, and such a focused individual is bound to surpass scattered John, whose divided attention relegates him to a life of coming in second.

What is grit? That’s what I want to talk about today.

Grit can be defined as: “perseverance and passion for long-term goals.” Winston Churchill hit the nail on the head regarding grit when he said, “Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.” More and more research is showing that intelligence is no longer the greatest predictor of success in school, work, and life. Success is largely determined by how much grit we have—how strong our ability is to push through adversity, challenges, and setbacks in order to find a new solution or path to success. According to TED speaker Angela Lee Duckworth, grit is the key to success, and I don’t think there are many people out there who’d disagree with her.

Angela Duckworth, a psychology professor at the University of Pennsylvania, describes grit in the following way: “Grit is having stamina. Grit is sticking with your future, day in and day out. Not just for the week, not just for the month, but for years… Grit is having stamina and living life like it’s a marathon—not a sprint.”

Dr. Duckworth also discovered that “Smarter students actually had less grit than their peers who scored lower on an intelligence test. This finding suggests that, among the study participants—all students at an Ivy League school, people who are not as bright as their peers ‘compensate by working harder and with more determination.’ And their effort pays off: the grittiest students—not the smartest ones—had the highest GPAs.”

And, “At the elite United States Military Academy, West Point, a cadet’s grit score was the best predictor of success in the rigorous summer training program known as ‘Beast Barracks.’ Grit mattered more than intelligence, leadership ability, or physical fitness. At the Scripps National Spelling Bee, the grittiest contestants were the most likely to advance to the finals—at least in part because they studied longer, not because they were smarter or were better spellers.”

Grit is the key.

The problem with grit is that it has an ugly side. Grit involves getting up close and personal with failure, over and over and over again. Most of us can only take grit in small doses. Grit is the slow burn over time that nearly annihilates you. But, it’s the best indicator for success. Again, research shows that, in every field, grit is just as important as talent, if not more so.

Grit is something deep within you. It’s the soul of your work that only you can access.

Grit is inspiring. It means standing firm against relentless waves of failure, enduring 1,000 people saying no in order to find that one who says YES!

Grit has taught me that no one will believe in me unless I firmly believe in myself.

I believe grit is possible to develop. Here are five suggestions that can help you develop mental fortitude and tougher-than-nails grit:

1. Develop meaningful long-term goals and share them with people who care about you. People with grit pursue goals with determination.

2. Eliminate negative self-limiting beliefs. Remove “I’ll never be able to do this,” “I can’t,” and other negative self-talk from your internal dialogue.

3. Adopt a growth mindset. The ability to learn should never become dormant. Instead, always look for ways to grow. Never settle for “good enough.”

4. Consider failure a temporary stumbling block. People with grit understand that failure isn’t a permanent state—gritty people learn from their failures and move on.

5. Eliminate negative influences. Negativity is contagious, so surround yourself with people who will encourage and motivate you instead of those with a “can’t do” attitude. Positive influences will keep you going when things get tough.

As stated best by an anonymous Navy SEAL Master Chief, “It takes a little courage, and a little self-control. And some grim determination, if you want to reach the goal. It takes a great deal of striving, and a firm and stern-set chin. No matter what the battle, if you really want to win, there’s no easy path to glory. There is no road to fame. Life, however we may view it, is no simple parlor game; but its prizes call for fighting, for endurance and for grit; for a rugged disposition that will not quit.”

Dr. Duckworth has developed a test called the “Grit Scale.” Take the short quiz for yourself and see how gritty you are compared with the general public. Also, watch her motivational TED talk below.

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Living the “Don’t Quit” Life

Posted on April 7, 2014 by Sean Moore | | Leave a comment

I found this poem on the Internet while researching this week’s topic. It resonated withdon't quit me, so I thought I’d share it with you.

The Don’t Quit Poem

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you’re trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest, if you must, but don’t you quit.

Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about,
When he might have won had he stuck it out;
Don’t give up though the pace seems slow—
You may succeed with another blow.

Often the goal is nearer than
It seems to a faint and faltering man,
Often the struggler has given up,
When he might have captured the victor’s cup,
And he learned too late when the night slipped down,
How close he was to the golden crown.

Success is failure turned inside out—
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far,
So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit—
It’s when things seem worst that you mustn’t quit.

(Author unknown)

Last week we discussed setting up goals with concrete accountability. Everyone has experienced setting goals in order to achieve a plan or dream, only to find him or herself facing obstacles. This week I would like to look at how we address the obstacles that inevitably will come our way. Obstacles may be discovered early in the process or later in the game, but they will definitely appear at some point. No goal or dream of any value is obtained without some sort of struggle. We must learn to remain motivated during times of difficulty. Challenges, struggles, detours, and delays will not result in failure—but quitting most certainly will!

Those who get ahead in the pursuit of personal and professional goals are those who keep trying. Sometimes life deals an unfortunate blow, and the way you react to the challenge determines whether or not you will be victorious. Very few successful individuals reach their destinations by following a straight road. Instead, these people have learned to adapt and adjust along the way.

The process of setting goals must be upheld by a strong commitment to reach the final goal. Often getting to a goal means our being prepared to encounter obstacles along the way; these obstacles often force us to explore alternative paths along the road to success. As the old saying by Thomas Palmer goes, “If at first you do not succeed, try, try again!” You never know when that final push will be what it takes to break through the obstacle and get you to your final destination.

Napoleon Hill, an early leader of positive thinking, wrote, “Before success comes in any man’s life, he is sure to meet with much temporary defeat, and, perhaps, some failure. When defeat overtakes a man, the easiest and most logical thing to do is to quit. That is exactly what the majority of men do.”

Have you ever quit too soon on a goal or project, only to watch someone else achieve the outcome you were pursuing? Have you ever seen two people begin at the exact same starting point with the same sales, career, or fitness goals, only to see one person reach or surpass the goal while the other person failed? Perhaps you’ve second guessed yourself and haven’t pushed on when faced with a challenge. Or maybe you’ve failed to keep your foot on the gas, becoming complacent along the road to your goal. Do not give up on your goals and dreams! When you fail to press on toward reaching those goals, you give up on yourself.

As legendary football coach Bear Bryant said, “Never quit. It is the easiest cop-out in the world. Set a goal and don’t quit until you attain it. When you do attain it, set another goal, and don’t quit until you reach it. Never quit.”

If you feel like you’re at the end of the road with nowhere to go, realize that this feeling is not based in truth. You’ve imprisoned yourself mentally with self-limiting beliefs and self-defeating stories. Step back and remind yourself of what is true: you can accomplish any goal you set.

Next week I will be writing about a key trait you can develop that will ensure your ability to push through any adversity that comes your way!

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Raise the Stakes

Posted on March 28, 2014 by Sean Moore | | 1 Comment

sharksThis blog comes with a warning: read on only if you are a serious goal setter. If you are passive about setting goals and pursuing them, just stop reading now, because you won’t like what I have to say!

Let’s say you’re going to run a marathon. “I’d better go run today,” you say to yourself. If you’re like me, sometimes you just really don’t feel like it, so you say, “Okay, I can skip just one workout—no big deal.” Tomorrow, the same thing happens, then again, and again, and again. Suddenly, it’s the day of the marathon, and you’re like, “Oh well, maybe next year I’ll do it.”

Here’s a story for you that I read from one of my favorite authors, Brian Tracy:

A frozen fish processor had trouble selling a new line of fish because they tasted flat. The company tried everything to keep the fish fresh, including holding them in tanks until just before processing, but with no luck. Someone suggested that putting a predator in the same tank would keep the fish fresh. The idea worked! The fish kept moving and retained their vitality.

This analogy applies to us as well: when a person has something big at stake—like survival, money, or reputation—a natural byproduct is increased motivation.

Think of one goal, either career or personal, you’ve been putting off. Now imagine that you’ve made a bet with an impartial and fair observer. If you don’t complete your goal or your sub goals (i.e., the number of sales calls per day or a specific workout schedule for a given week), this impartial observer would be allowed to burn your entire life’s savings, your house, and your car. Anything of value would be gone. How much would that motivate you? It sure would motivate me.

While setting up a situation such as the one described above is not a good idea, the basic premise has validity: we must raise the stakes if we are to increase our motivation.

If you’re not motivated to do something, you’re simply not going to do it. Motivation is a crucial factor in absolutely everything we do. In my opinion, around 25 – 50% of motivation must come naturally, but that other 50 – 75% we need to create or manufacture for ourselves. Once you’ve discovered this reality, you can apply it anywhere in your life. Basically, you want to create situations in which you will be ultra motivated.

You should raise the stakes for your goals. Keep in mind that anything that sounds really easy is never as simple as we think it is. I think most people “raise the stakes” just by telling themselves they have to do something by a certain time. For example, here are some basic goals:

“I will win President’s Club in 2014!”

“I am going to lose 50 pounds this year!”

“I am going to complete an Ironman Triathlon this summer!”

What would these goals and others look like if you added some higher stakes to them?

Think about the times you have gotten something done because the stakes were high. What was at stake? Losing your job? Getting a bad grade? Letting down a friend? Losing money? Not finishing the race when all your friends and family were watching?

When you have something significant at stake:

1. Your attention is focused on your goal. Achieving your goal matters.

2.  You will work harder, simply because you have a vested interest in the outcome.

3. You won’t give up easily. You will fight until the bitter end.

Despite having no intrinsic value, money is one of the most motivating forces in the world. So if you want to raise the stakes on your goals, put your money on the line.

Tell a friend or family member what your goal is and then tell them what you’re putting on the line. This is just like having an accountability partner—except, this time, there’s money on the line. You’ll want an impartial observer: someone who’ll ask you for proof of completion and won’t buy any excuses.

I use stickK.com to help me raise the stakes on my goals. At stickK.com, you can enter your credit card information, and the monetary amount you designate (your high stakes!) will be donated by a referee (someone you designate as an accountability partner) to a charity if you don’t hit your goal. But here’s the catch—if your money gets taken away, it might go to a charity you support, or it might go to one you don’t support at all. 

I can’t think of anyone who wants to give money to a charity that goes against his or her values, can you? So guess what you’ve just done? You’ve raised the stakes.

Food for thought: if you’re not willing to put money on the line, maybe your goal isn’t as important to you as you thought it was.

If you want to accomplish big goals, you’ve got to have skin in the game. You don’t have to pledge your house, but you need to have something significant at stake, and the more concrete you can make it, the better.

Go ahead. Raise the stakes today.

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Powerful Moments Lead to Success

Posted on March 20, 2014 by Sean Moore | | Leave a comment

dominoesLong-term success in sales (or in our careers in general) stems from our ability to string together powerful moments one after another. In other words, what you do today in any given moment determines what you will experience next.

Not too long ago, MSN ran a very interesting video asking a number of regular people whether they would rather have one million dollars now or take a penny now and double the amount for 30 days. As expected, 90% of people chose to immediately take the one million dollars. This was the poorer choice, for those who chose the immediate payoff shortchanged themselves by over four million dollars! The simple act of doubling your previous day’s investment can rapidly reap huge rewards thanks to the powerful concept known as compounding.

Economists have long known that people prefer big rewards over small ones, yet we have a concurrent tendency to have a stronger preference for present rewards over future ones, even if the future reward is much bigger. This type of behavior is referred to “hyperbolic discounting,” in which the farther out the reward is, the smaller the motivation to achieve it.

Extraordinary results require us to start with small steps! As Zig Ziglar said, “You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.” One step at a time may sound cliché and corny, but it’s so true. No matter what your objective is, the journey to any goal starts with one single step.

I want you to try something. Close your eyes and think of some BHAG (big, hairy, audacious goal), you have—I mean, really big. Listen to me and believe me when I say this: whatever you can visualize, you can accomplish! Extraordinary is simple; dream it, visualize it, and take that first step. The hardest part about the journey to success is not the initial dream or goal—it’s taking that very first step.

Extraordinary results require you to not only think big, but then to also take the necessary steps to get to your goals. A big goal requires you to focus small and work backward, as this method crystallizes what you need to do to achieve your goal.

Think of it this way: action builds on action. Habits build on habits. Success builds on success. One domino knocks down another and then another. You can’t just skip to the end.

We need to look for initial action that will create the domino run for us. The most successful people I know ride the powerful wave of reactions. For example, many top salespeople are not only the top reps in one product category but are also at the top of the rankings in many product categories. Momentum will keep us motivated to do the right small things every day, every week, every month, and every year, launching us down the road to extraordinary success!

Extraordinary success just doesn’t happen, and no one can make it happen for us. More often than not, fear is the one thing that stops us in our tracks and keeps us from taking that first step.

In my recent training for the Leadville 100-mile mountain bike race, my coach, Sydney Cornell (click to see her coaching credentials), insisted that if I am going to finish this race and finish well, I need a balanced approach to my training. She recommended that I utilize a training program with multiple facets. The two new disciplines she encouraged me to start were swimming and CrossFit. Sydney said that CrossFit would improve my leg strength, enabling me to propel my bike up the daunting hill climbs during the race. In addition, CrossFit will improve my core strength so I can spend 11 hours in the saddle on race day. Swimming, she explained, would help me train my lungs and body to use oxygen more efficiently—an imperative capability as I climb to12,000 feet, where oxygen is at a premium.

I have never been big into strength training or participated in competitive swimming, and showing up for the first time to both classes was extremely intimidating. To be honest, I was fearful. Many different things ran through my mind—would I look like a complete fool? Would I injure myself? Would I be accepted by the groups? Would I just plain fail? However, my sights are on finishing Leadville, and I am not going to allow my fears to deter me away from what I need to do today to reach my long-term goal of finishing one of the most difficult long distance mountain bike races in the world. The hardest part was that first time. However, once I got going, all fears subsided. I got over my fears by taking that first step, and I kept on stepping!

We must not feed our fears; instead, we must allow our fears to fuel the fire within and drive us forward. Listen to this story of a Cherokee grandfather speaking to his grandson about the battle raging within us all: “My son, the battle is between two wolves inside us. One is Fear. It carries anxiety, concerns, uncertainty, hesitancy, indecision, and inaction. The other is Faith. It brings calm, conviction, confidence, enthusiasm, decisiveness, excitement, and action,” said the Cherokee. The grandson thought for a moment and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf wins?” The old and wise Cherokee replied, “The one you feed.”

Life is too short to pile up the “should haves,” “could haves,” and “would haves.”

What is stopping you from getting to President’s Club this year? Or from achieving some other personal goal you may have? “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

Formulate a big audacious goal, work backward breaking it down, and commit to take one step after another until you reach your goal. Don’t let your fears get in the way—embrace them by taking that first step and let them fuel your fire, driving you to victory.

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Turning Mistakes into Victories

Posted on March 7, 2014 by Sean Moore | | Leave a comment

mistakes“Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.” – Bill Gates

You made a mistake. I mean, you really messed up. Something’s gone horribly wrong, and you have to pay the piper.

Ever been there? Perhaps you lost a big account, forgot to do a critical part of that big project, or weren’t there for people when they needed you. Regardless of the details, someone trusted you to do a job—and you failed.

When we fail, our instinctive first reaction is to find someone or something else to blame. We want to justify our shortcomings, and we try to “duck and cover” to protect our rear ends from incoming blame. Depending on how badly we screwed up, we start envisioning the end of our jobs, careers, relationships, or reputations.

The problem with dodging the proverbial bullet is that the bullet is still flying and still needs to be dealt with. If you happen to dodge the bullet of blame, it has probably hit someone else, thus putting your relationships and reputation at risk. In addition, you may have deflected enough attention from the mistake itself that the problem doesn’t get addressed and fixed at all, leaving you vulnerable to making the exact same error again.

Conversely, admitting your mistakes puts you closer to dealing with them and can often be the first step toward a successful turnaround and an eventual positive outcome. Most important, you will show yourself to be someone who possesses integrity and emotional fortitude, doing the right thing even in the face of potential disastrous consequences. Owning up to our mistakes allows us to take responsibility for our lives and avoid becoming victims of circumstances.

So how can we use mistakes to strengthen our character on the road to success?  Here are five tips for turning mistakes into victories:

1. Own our mistakes.

We need to take responsibility, owning our problems and the corresponding solutions. Do not try to find someone or something to blame. Even if your failure came about because someone let you down, own the fact that you are ultimately the person responsible for the project or business—the buck stops with you.

Accept the consequences of the mistake—this can be hard, but sometimes we have to bite the bullet and be prepared to embrace whatever befalls us as a result of the mistakes we’ve made. In the long run, we’ll be more respected by those around us for our willingness to take responsibility.

2. Always be sincere when admitting our mistakes.

When delivering an apology, don’t act fake or pretend to feel sympathy. The person or people receiving the apology will be looking for signs that you mean what you’re saying. The first step in being sincere is putting yourself in the other person’s position in order see how things look from his or her vantage point. For example, if you’ve made a promise and failed to keep it, how would you feel? What would your response be if you were the other person? And what action would satisfy you? Recognizing the pain you’ve caused shows that you realize your mistakes affect more people than just you.

3. Show what we’ve learned.

A good apology explains what happened and why without passing blame. It’s always best to start out with why you made your original decision and the logic leading to that selection. Once you’ve explained your rationale, discuss what you learned about what happened, why your decision did not work, and how that new information will guide you as you move forward in the future. With any mistake, no matter how small, there is always a way to prevent it from happening again.

4. Make proactive changes.

Talk is cheap. Taking responsibility means being prepared to clean up the mess. People need to see that we will actually follow through on our commitments to fix our mistakes. We should have a clear idea of what went wrong and a clear plan about how to fix it. When you outline your plan for change, make sure to mention any steps you have already taken to fix the mistake and prevent it from happening again in the future.

5. End on a positive.

When you talk about a mistake, acknowledge anyone who might have been harmed in the process and apologize. Often a simple “I’m sorry” allows all parties to move forward and can help neutralize hard feelings. Always bring the conversation back to what you’ve learned and how you plan to use the experience as an opportunity to grow.

In conclusion, none of these tips will prevent the worst from happening—but, by taking full responsibility for your mistakes and acting appropriately, you’ll have set yourself on a path to failing successfully. We all make mistakes, and we need to learn from those mistakes and take note so that we don’t repeat them. Mistakes can be great learning experiences—though they are painful, they are also extremely valuable.

You can’t change what’s been done; you can’t go back in time. All you can do is learn from your mistakes and become a better person. Admitting your mistakes is not a sign of weakness; rather, it shows deep courage and strength.

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