There’s an old quote from Al-anon that says, “fake it ’til you make it.” The mantra is also refered to as the “act as if” way of being and is a common catchphrase that means to imitate confidence so that as the confidence produces success, it will generate real confidence. The purpose is to avoid getting stuck in a self fulfilling prophecy related to one’s fear of failure. I like the premise; I love the results. A mindset like that can only perpetuate positivity!
Think about the stark contrast between wallowing in fear with a lack of confidence and walking in confidence with an abundance of self-assurance…which one do you think will provide the quickest path to success? If I was a betting person, I’d say the latter. But succeeding is a funny thing…without dozens or maybe even hundreds of failures along the way, we wouldn’t have the capacity to shift our mindset to realign our goals. Failure may very well be one of the key to success and faking it until you make it may be the stepping stones to take you there.
Another interesting perspective is from Darren Hardy, publisher of SUCCESS Magazine, where he writes about a race from New York to Los Angeles between a 400 mph Learjet and an 800 mph 747. If you were a betting man, you might choose the 747 over the Lear, but things are not always as they seem. The Learjet flies straight through on its charted course while the 747 stops all along the way, losing precious time at various hubs. And between slowing down, stopping and starting up again, it gets side tracked in cities all over the map. In the end the little Lear that could wins the race because he’s got his flight planned out with precision; no distractions, no layover, no stops. Hardy also refers to his “flights” or seasons being the most powerful when he breaks them into 90 day increments which enable him to stay laser focused. I like his approach!
Let’s break this down into a workable pattern for your life and your seasons. Just as the climate varies and the seasons change so do our cycles of success and even failure. Everything, I mean everything has an “on” and an “off” season/switch. Athletes rest, train hard, take breaks, ramp up and then train hard again. Farmers prepare, plant, harvest then prepare again. It’s a beautiful, natural cycle, but it must be intentional or else we will not reap the benefits of our hard work.
In sales, sometimes the four seasons happen in their timing, not ours, but we must always take the “act as if” stance to get through the drought. As much as I have never really admitted it, my life is a very predictable, endless cycle of preparing, sowing, harvesting, and resting. I always thought that I was spontaneous and gregarious, but the truth is, I’m quite cyclical and predictable. BUT, knowing this about myself helps me to create a 90-day killer plan that I can follow; maybe you can, too:
- clean house/office/mind by knocking out old, lingering to-do’s that prohibit forward movement – take a weekend, week or even both to put the time-wasters behind you
- create your 90-day NO MATTER WHAT list of what you will accomplish
- put it in monetary format (i.e., $75,000 commission,etc.)
- drill down to the micro level on how many calls/meetings/appointments that will take to net the results
- divide that by 12 weeks, then divide again by 5 (days)
- mark out specific time on your calendar to be without distraction (no emails, no facebook, no incoming calls, no small talk)
- stick to it (you can do ANYTHING for 90 short days)
Just so you know, this is my 90 day plan. I’ve got a State Fair that opens in 93 days with three times the sponsorship goal that’s ever been set. I get three whole days to clean up my act, clear my head and clean my slate and then it’s “game on.” I’m ready. And on the days I don’t feel like making outbound sales calls, I’m gonna fake it ’til I make it and make a game out of the stats and the results until my heart catches up with my effort.
Join me in doing something you want to accomplish and let’s celebrate in three months the perpetually positive outcome we created in our lives! And if you encounter failures, use them as tools to realign and adjust your course, but don’t wallow, don’t linger, and don’t give yourself the opportunity to do anything short of creating killer success in your 90 days.
