Commitments, Choices & Consequences

Success is a choice. A person can choose to be successful. They just have to commit to the actions that will create that success.

The act of choosing to be successful is the easy part. Committing to doing the actions to be successful is a bit challenging. Actually doing all of the things needed to be successful is more challenging still.

Developing good habits helps in seeing commitments through. That and a well planned calendar. (We will save calendars for another edition). So, let’s talk habits.

Commitments > Goals.

Make commitments not goals. Goals are a destination. A place you want to end up. Commitments are the journey along the way.

Goals are easy to make when the motivation is there. Motivation is fickle. Commitments will always be there once they are created. Breakdown the commitments needed to reach the objective.

Develop an action plan around the commitments. For example, I have a goal. To improve my health and the health of my dogs. So, I made a commitment. I work out every day and after every workout I take the dogs on a long walk.

Commitments focus on the process rather than the outcome. Since there is typically no shortcut to reaching goals, the process is what is important. Put commitments in place to accomplish the things you want in life.

It didn’t just happen. It was a choice.

This is a hard sales coaching talk. But it needs to be said. Most outcomes are the result of choices, not circumstance.

Meaning, an outcome didn’t just happen, there were choices involved.

Let’s look at a common example. Let’s say a seller wants to book five meetings with decision makers. The same seller commits to setting one appointment a day for five days.

On the first day, they do not set an appointment. It was a choice to end that day without an appointment. It was not circumstance.

An opposite choice to not end the day until an appointment was set could also have been made. It is easy to deflect control on to the universe or happenstance. It is necessary to be accountable to the commitments we make.

Without accountability, the commitment is meaningless. The seller that owns the choices will tend to close more sales. They will stay accountable to the commitments that will help them find success.

Outcomes & Consequences.

Choices will always have a consequence. Whether that consequence is positive or negative depends on the choices being made.

Let’s go back to the example of the seller wanting to set an appointment a day. While this commitment seems simple, the disciple required to do this consistently week after week will be challenging. Mostly, because the appointments that are being set, are going to need to be ran.

Running the appointments takes additional time. Time that will be taken away from prospecting. Furthermore, some of these appointments are going to close.

Now there are extra distractions in the way. (Yes, I just called sales distractions). All of these extra requirements the seller has to take care of will stress the commitment of setting one appointment a day.

Now the commitment that started with the purest of intentions is being bombarded by all the other requirements of the job. But the seller was correct in focusing the commitment where they did.

Failing to build the pipeline threatens far greater consequences than slowing down the sales cycle or whatever outcome happens when the sale is not the primary focus of activity. Closing deals is fun, exciting and profitable.

Filling the pipeline is what creates those opportunities. A pipeline is a cruel mistress. Ignore your pipeline and it will give away all of your leads when you are not paying attention.

Focus on the things that create the opportunity to sell. That will provide the positive outcomes you are looking for.

Take Aways.

Commitments move us along the path of goals. Without commitments, it will be hard to achieve the things we want in life. Once we have commitments established, it is a choice to uphold those commitments. Our ability to stand by our commitments determines the quality of the outcomes we see in life.