Astonishing Ways to Easily Stay Focused
ASTONISHING WAYS TO EASILY STAY FOCUSED
If you’re like us and most other people at this time of year, you’re having a hard time staying focused so you can finish the year strong. The holidays and the end of the year are traditionally time to unwind, to relax, to gather with friends and family and eat and be merry. Unfortunately, that can be self-sabotaging for business owners who need to achieve goals and milestones before the New Year begins. Here are some astonishing ways to easily stay focused that we shared with one of our clients recently to help him make the most of the last days of the year.
Q: I know it’s the holiday season and everyone is tired after a long year of hard work. I’m afraid we’re leaving a lot of money on the table because it’s also become “goof off” time. How do I keep everyone focused on the prize so we can finish the year with a bang instead of a fizzle?
A: Wow, I think them there’s fightin’ words! But you’re right to be concerned; it’s become par for the course for everyone to slip into autopilot right after Thanksgiving and just coast through the end of the year. As you pointed out, though, when we do that we leave a lot of money on the table. But man, it’s hard even for us to keep it together!
Here are 4 astonishing ways to easily stay focused that we use through the last month of the year.
I’m going to start with the 2 that may seem counter-intuitive first. It might take a few minutes to wrap your head around the concepts:
SUGGESTION 1
Our good friend and mentor, Tory Johnson, shared her thoughts on the Power of the Pause which gets right to the heart of the matter. She says, “Do yourself a favor. Don’t let a day—-let alone a week—-go by without pausing if only for a moment to reflect on how you spent your time and what you learned.Make your moments count, instead of allowing the days to fly by.”
As a NY Times Best Selling author and Good Morning America contributor to the weekly Steals & Deals segment, Tory knows what it means to be crazy busy and overwhelmed.
Her advice to ‘take a minute to reflect on what we’ve been able to accomplish already’ is spot on. Doing so actually motivates us to keep pushing and reaching for more. This can be a great team exercise. And it kinda ties in with doing performance reviews, don’t you think?
SUGGESTION 2
Two other amazing people, Marie Forleo and Danielle LaPorte, shared this advice: Don’t chase the goal, chase the feeling. Wow, that sounds like an easy way to cop-out of stretching to close that big deal. But, the true message is this; think about how closing that deal will make you feel—freakin’ awesome I’d venture to say!
So, chase that feeling—and the results will be that you will reach that goal. Because we all know that when you’re closing a deal, you’re providing a solution and addressing an emotional need—it’s the same thing for the person on this end of the line—YOU.
OK, so Marie and Danielle’s message really goes much deeper….but you get the idea. This really is an astonishing way to easily stay focused that we really love to use.
These next 2 suggestions make a lot of sense.
SUGGESTION 3
Make things fun and change the scenery. Many of us hold contests throughout the year and set goals for bonuses or higher commissions, etc. This is the time of year that it pays off to have a new, easy to understand contest instead of the same old thing. Get everyone on the team involved in some way and make some of the prizes different.
Maybe have a loser prize— whoever loses the contest in last place must clean out the refrigerator in the break room next week. Make it a little painful, but not something they have to spend money on.
Maybe the winner gets to take off for a couple hours to go do their holiday shopping, or based on the timing of the contest, they get to leave early one day in January for a mental holiday—what a load of stress that would take off someone’s shoulders, eh?
SUGGESTION 4
Add some community benefit to the goals. It’s a proven fact time and again that our customers love to be included in charitable giving. So, designate a % of sales made each day to go to a local non-profit or take a team vote to choose a favorite cause.
That way, every sales call can include the message of giving—it’s just one more factor that makes it easier for customers to commit to making purchases with you as opposed to the competition.
And it makes it easier for you and your team to stay focused on the outcome.
May you and your team finish the year strong – in a conventional or unconventional way.
We’d love to hear from you. Which of these astonishing ways to easily stay focused works best for your company? Do you have another method for staying focused that you can share?
If you have questions you’d like us to address, let us know! We can be reached at [email protected]. Visit our website to sign up for our FREE 5-part Powerful Interview Psychology Tricks series to learn how to make the best hiring decisions when selecting a Bad @$$ new employee.
