I used to be a grade A class worrier. It’s a habit that always worried me. Many years ago, when I stepped into my first sales role, I was panicked about having a sales target over my head. All I could see were those triple zero’s staring me down. Bob, my friend Trish’s print sales rep boyfriend, calmly said these words that I’ve never forgotten:
“Go in, do the right things every day and the numbers will take care of themselves.”
Never truer words were spoken. Whether you’re chasing a sales budget, a promotion, a new job, a raise, delivering a project on time… spending time worrying about the outcome isn’t going to make it happen. The only thing that will get you there is to focus on the tasks and actions that will get you to your goal.
Sometimes the actions we have to take are challenging. Sometimes they’re scary. Sometimes they’re mind numbingly boring. And sometimes, we don’t know what we should do and we need to ask for help. But it’s the ability to take action in the face of worry that will separate successful people from the “also rans”.
For me, reading Eckhart Tolle’s book A New Earth, made me realize that I could CHOOSE not to worry. So, I began to make a conscious decision to do just that. Surprisingly, I find that I actually don’t worry as much as I used to. I’m making progress. But, from time to time, like all of us, I slip back into that bad habits that love to hold me back. When I find my mind whirling unproductively, I stop and ask myself what I need to do to take action. Try it. It might work for you too.
So…what worry are you going act on today!
Happy leading!
