Bad Habits Hold You Back

A habit is defined as a pattern of behavior that is followed regularly until it becomes automatic. Failure is simply the cumulative impact and manifestation of our bad habits.

It’s a brutal reality. Salespeople fail. Maybe even you. Sadly, thousands of salespeople are fired or quit each day because they failed to attain quota.

When you ask these salespeople what went wrong, most are quick to point out that their failure was due to some external factor, which prevented them from achieving their goal.

Poor territories, bad managers, difficult environments, lack of training, and defective products are fodder for these conversations.

However, when studying successful sales professionals in those same organizations, we find that when faced with identical difficulties, they still managed to succeed.

Why did some salespeople succeed where others didn’t?

The answer is simple. The successful salespeople have developed the habit of looking inward for inspiration, motivation, and accountability when things get difficult.

They have developed the disciplined habit of finding solutions to problems, while the less successful people have developed the habit of finding excuses for failure.

I’m sure for some this seems a bit harsh, but the truth is the truth. Success or failure has a lot more to do with our thoughts and actions than the difficulties we face.

Bad Habits are Hard to Break

A habit is defined as a pattern of behavior that is followed regularly until it becomes automatic. In other words, we do things we are comfortable with and we keep doing them.

When we do the same thing over and over again, an amazing thing happens: We get the same result over and over again!

Unfortunately, many people become so comfortable with their habits that they will continue the behavior even if that habit is causing them to fail.

Stepping out of a comfort zone is difficult. Anyone who has worked to quit smoking, lose weight, or even correct a poor golf swing will attest that bad habits die hard.

Failure is simply the cumulative impact and manifestation of our bad habits.

One of the core reasons so many salespeople find themselves moving from company to company is that they are failing time and time again.

Despite the training each new company provides, despite the coaching, despite the mentoring from successful sales professionals, eventually these salespeople revert back to their old habits and ultimately fail.

The good news is that, though it may be difficult, it is possible to break this cycle of failure. But to change your bad habits, you must first change your thoughts and actions.

And who has control of your thoughts and actions? You.

Four Steps to Positive Change

1. Identify Your Bad Habits: The first step to creating new, winning habits is identifying your bad habits and examining and understanding your behavior. In this process, you must be honest with yourself. You must place the responsibility for your failure where it lies.
2. Harness Your Desire: The next step is mentally making the status quo untenable. As long as you are more comfortable with where you are than where you want to be, it will be difficult to change. To make positive changes you must harness your desire. That means defining what you want, writing it down, and becoming laser focused on that goal. A burning desire to achieve a defined goal unlocks the door to the formation of powerful new habits.
3. Invest in Your Mind: Just because you want to change, need to change, and desire to change doesn’t mean that you have the skills to change. You must take steps to invest in yourself through reading, audio books, podcasts, seminars, and online courses.
4. Get a Coach: A powerful step towards positive change in your life is getting a coach. Whether its your managers, a mentor, or someone you hire to coach you, as long as you are coachable, a great coach will help you break through your self-imposed barriers and will illuminate the path that will lead you straight to the success you deserve.

Our Essentials of Goal Planning course takes you step by step through breaking bad habits and building winning goals.