Are
You Aiming At A Moving Target?
I love
playing golf. I get to be outside in the clean
air and smell the freshly cut grass. I also get
to beat out all my frustrations on a little
white ball until I get it in the cup 18 times.
What fun!
And
what’s even better is that the target I’m aiming
at on each hole never moves. There’s a flag
stick showing me exactly where to aim, and
regardless of where I might hit my shot – the
target doesn’t change. My angle, distance and
perspective change often, but not the actual
target.
Plus,
the ball only moves when I hit it, so I would
seemingly have complete control over the game.
(except for the occasional act of God, I guess –
gusts of wind, driving rain, earthquakes…you get
the idea).
What
I’m getting at is that my goal never moves –
whether it’s the ball that I’m hitting, or the
hole I’m aiming for. That’s great, because if
the ball and the hole moved too, golf would be
impossible!
However, when it comes to goal setting, so many
people continue to aim at moving targets. On
the surface, it might make logical sense to do
so, but let me explain why it’s not the best
approach because of the way our brains work.
Changing your focus on your goals all the time
is a HUGE mistake because your brain is like a
heat seeking missile. If you feed it a clear
picture of what you want to experience, it will
work night and day figuring out a way to get you
there.
But if
you keep changing that picture, you can confuse
your unconscious mind and cause it to lose
interest. I really suggest you don’t do that
since it’s the most powerful goal getting asset
you have. Let me share a few examples…
Have
you ever wanted and tried to lose weight? If
you’re like most people, your goal sounded
something like, “I want to lose 25 pounds.”
Sounds good, right? Problem is, after you lose
a couple pounds, your goal changes to “I want to
lose 23 pounds”, and then “I want to lose 20
pounds”, etc.
Three
bad things can happen. First, if the target
keeps changing every day, your unconscious mind
can get confused. Logically, I know that
doesn’t make sense. But your unconscious mind
does not operate on logic. Remember, it only
understands images and action words that create
emotion.
Second,
you lose any momentum you’ve built up when you
change the target. Imagine that same heat
seeking missile is locked on to a target, and
then the target is changed. Now it has to
redirect its focus, find the new target, and
redirect its energy. Your mind is the same
way.
It’s
much better to focus on the end result (and more
importantly, the emotions that this end result
will bring you) so your mind can focus ALL of
its energy and resources in finding a way to
make it happen. And yes, even small focus
changes can make a huge difference over the long
run.
Third,
if you use ‘count-down’ motivation, such as
“only 10 more pounds, only 5 more pounds, only 3
more pounds…” you’re operating on what I call
survival motivation. You’re telling yourself
you want to just barely reach your goal, and
that’s it.
This
‘count-down’ motivation inherently feels like
once you get the goal, you’re done. But once
you lose those last 2 pounds, are you finished?
I hope not. If you don’t focus on maintaining a
healthy lifestyle, you’ll be right back where
you were in no time flat. That’s why most
people have experienced the yo-yo dieting
phenomenon. It’s all a focus issue!
So, a
better plan would be to focus on what your
target weight is, and how it will make you
feel. Then your mind will do whatever it can to
get you there, and KEEP you there when you’ve
attained it. What a concept!!!
Now,
let’s look at how that relates to your Mary Kay
business. Think of DIQ for instance.
Let’s
face it, for most consultants, DIQ is
stressful. And most Directors I’ve talked to
took more than once to get through it. I’m not
saying that making this particular goal setting
mistake is THE reason women don’t make it, but I
can guarantee it adds to the stress level.
Most
women in DIQ are thinking, “I just need 22 more
qualified recruits.” And “Just 20 more” and
“Just 15 more”…you get the picture. Again, let
me remind you of the 3 problems this can create.
1 –
Your unconscious mind doesn’t understand the
qualifications for Directorship, or the
compensation plan, or any of that stuff. It
only understands the emotions attached to your
goal. And again, if the goal’s changing all the
time, there’s not clarity at the emotional
level.
(Plus,
if you’re stressed out in DIQ, your unconscious
mind will often create an anchor associating
success in Mary Kay with negative emotions! If
that happens, you’ll manufacture a fear of
success that has the ability to stop you cold.
This is a whole ‘nother article, but I wanted to
throw that in here for you to notice too!)
2 –
This one isn’t a major issue in the early stages
of DIQ, but when you start getting down to the
wire, and you only need a few more recruits,
most women I’ve talked to end up in desperation
mode. Obviously, that’s not the right mindset
to recruit from.
3 –
This is a HUGE problem. So many women believe
all you have to do to be successful is get
through DIQ, hit directorship, and all their
problems will be solved. Money will be flowing
like crazy, there won’t be any issues, life will
be easy.
Wrong.
I’m not here to burst any bubbles, but you must
have a healthy business to make any money as a
director. Just because you’ve hit the
qualifications doesn’t guarantee that any of
your team members will actually WANT to run with
you, or that repeat orders will start
knocking you down.
What I
see happen way too often is women who are
focused so much on getting warm bodies in their
business to get the magic number of 30,
leave a lot of carnage in their path. Meaning,
a lot of the new recruits don’t get properly
trained because the DIQ is so focused on
recruiting anybody with a pulse.
I’m
making a bit of fun about the situation, but it
really can be devastating. And don’t get me
wrong, this is not a problem with the company
itself, it’s an individual focus problem that can be solved.
Instead
of focusing so intensely on counting down the
numbers to get you through DIQ (at which point,
you’ll have to reset your target and restart
your engines to keep moving forward), focus on
what becoming a director will mean to you on an
emotional level.
Will
you be proud of yourself for accomplishing what
you set out to accomplish? Will your husband or
children brag about you? Will you be able to
take your family out for that special
celebration dinner?
This
goes for any position in Mary Kay, or any other
goal you have in your life. What is it,
emotionally, that your unconscious mind REALLY
wants to experience? Focus on that, and you’ll
have all the motivation you’ll ever need to get
it.
Plus,
you’ll enjoy the journey more because setting
and reaching goals don’t matter anyway. The
real reason achieving goals is important is for
who you become in the process.
I hope
this helps you grab some more of your goals.
Create a great week!
Sean
Smith
