We’ve recently had an expert sales consultant and long-time friend of Castaway visit our workplace to complete an internal sales health check for us. In the process of reviewing and improving our practices and methodology, he reinforced that results are produced where effort, focus and actions are applied consistently. My brain (which was on its second cup of coffee) absorbed that thought and regurgitated it to this piece of sage life nugget: we need to utilise fear as a success driver.
Focus +
Effort +
Action =
Results
When the human body experiences fear, our minds automatically switched to ‘Fight or Flight’ mode. It alerts us that we’re headed in a direction that’s outside of our comfort zone and contrary to our primal instinct, this can be a good sign! Where we become uncomfortable is where we grow, and we shouldn’t let fear hold us back from realising our potential.
SO, how do we use FEAR to propel us to success?
Focus
Focus is getting yourself in the right headspace to tackle a task. Focus is minimising distractions so that your mind stays on top of the problem you’re trying to solve, and therefore making efficient use of your time. This sounds simple, but it can be a struggle to gather your attention, especially when you’re working in an open-space environment. We’ve written another article on how we handle this within our business, which can be found HERE.
Effort
Consistent effort is the crux of any project or process – keyword being consistent. It’s one thing to apply effort when it’s convenient for you, and another to maintain that effort throughout your journey. Think about it – you don’t just take your foot off the pedal as you pass a milestone on the drive to success. Nah mate, you either keep your foot on or increase the pressure.
Action
Action Changes Things – ACT! (Can you tell my affinity for acronyms?) Action is the fuel that drives any change within our lives or business. It’s not enough to just plan a strategy and have a meeting about it – we need to act on our intentions too. As Newton’s first law of motion states, “Every object will remain at rest or in uniform motion in a straight line unless compelled to change its state by the action of an external force”. So be that external force and observe its ripple effect!
Results
And finally, if we’re doing everything right, we should see positive results that drive the success of the business. Where the results fall short of our expectations, we need to review and reflect on the above. Have we done what we said we’d do? Were our efforts directed toward an activity that was not as efficient? These are the things we need to assess continuously as we strive toward progress.
So, there you have it! Success driven by fear is the way to go. While there are many other components to this equation, focus, effort and action are Castaway’s Golden 3.
What are yours?