HABITS…Charles Duhigg has written an amazing book with a boring title…"The Power of Habit". It is an entertaining read and full of some terrific stories. The experts have concluded that 99% of what we do daily is decided by the habits we have developed over the years. A habit is something that you do automatically as a result of repetition. You don't have to think about it, it just happens. The way we brush our teeth, the way we interact with others, the way we handle stress, everything! Like everyone else, Salespeople are creatures of habit. Salespeople do the same things over and over in the same situations. Here are some interesting insights into habits:
1. It takes 21 days to create a habit.
2. You do not change a habit… you REPLACE a habit. (Example: a habit of eating too much dessert, too much sugar. The replacement habit is to eat only fruit for dessert thereby ingesting healthy sugar.)
3. You can only comfortably work on one habit at a time. Working on a group of habits together results in giving up before the 21 days are complete.
Here is your ACTION STEP… "if you want things in your life to change, you have to change things in your life". If you want your Sales results to change, you must replace some of the bad habits you have accumulated. Think about the things that control what you do in your life on a day-to-day basis. Here's two very good questions that are designed to help you change your results in your Sales Business:
1. What habits have you been repeating that you should eliminate?
2. What replacement habits should you introduce?
(Example: a habit of getting to the office at 9:15 AM and starting your prospecting around 10 AM. The replacement habit would be making sure you go to bed every night by 10:30 PM so that you can get up early and get to the office by 8 AM)
We also know that successful people have more good habits than bad habits. Unsuccessful people have more bad habits than good habits. It is simply a case of replacing bad habits with good habits. Make a decision to do so, invest 21 days and it becomes automatic. You won't have to think about it, it just happens. Pick just one and get started right now. Replace it and you'll enjoy the benefits in 3 short weeks. NO Excuses.