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This is the Building Blocks of Success with Glenn Mattson.
Glenn Mattson:
Hey everybody, welcome back to the Building Blocks of Success. Another great season, season seven, episode two. We're digging into the ability to start having a pathway to change. Not necessarily just because of the time of the year, but one of the things that I've noticed over and over and over again is the concern or problem that people have with their inconsistency, their lack of commitment, excuse making when it comes to the daily activities or the things they need to do to get to where they want to go. Everyone turns around and says, I want to do this. I would like to have this. And wouldn't it be nice to have this? And they put down goals and they create all these things. And it's time to actually do the activities that the goals call for. And they find themselves not doing it and being okay with it. And worse yet is they start making excuses on why they're not getting done.
Now, today, I want to jump into just a handful of things that I've noticed 35 years of doing this, but more so in the last 60, 90 days that people are having some concerns with. And I really want to spend some time on understanding and really having you start to understand the difference between a want and a will. And let's jump into it.
Glenn Mattson:
A lot of times when I look at people who put together some goals and they put together some aspirations of what they want to achieve, for many of them, they sit back and say, yeah, wouldn't that be great? Or yeah, man, I would love to have that. Or someone else says, I'm going to shoot for the moon. So they jump on board and try to do what their peers are doing. And I want to kind of pull back the onion a little bit and share with you. And by no means is this all inclusive, right? I'm just sharing with you five things that I've seen that individuals consistently do or don't do that impacts their ability of executing against their plan. And realize everything I'm talking about right now is taking action. It's execution.
We have things that happen in our lives every day of being knocked down, getting a bad email, getting chargebacks, thinking you have a sale that doesn't come through and you get knocked down. That's kind of called life. And that's about resiliency. Today, it's not about resiliency.
Today is about putting together a plan and then not necessarily following through with it. So I want to, again, share with you, and you may have others that you want to add, and that's cool, but I want to share with you ones that really glare out to me and what we can do to solve them.
Glenn Mattson:
The first one I'd like you to write down is, I don't really believe. And what the heck does that mean? When I say I don't really believe, it's the fact that a lot of us put together some aspirations and some goals and things that we would like to accomplish. But deep down inside your belly button, you don't really believe that A, you're worthy of it, or B, that you're going to do what's necessary to get it. Your belief system is more of a, well, it would be nice, but you got to have the capacity to believe in your heart of hearts that you're willing to do whatever it takes to get it.
Your why, and this is where it's interesting. Your why is what's supposed to pull you through the darkest hours of doubt. Your why is what gives clarity when there's no light in the room whatsoever. Your why is what gives you the compass of where to go and what direction to take and why you're taking action when you've literally beaten unconscious because of some roadblocks you've had. So your why must be something that you believe in your core of core that you're going to fight for, that I will do and I will achieve. And the belief system is the fact that if you make a commitment to something, that your body also knows that you're willing to do the hard work to get it. Now, you've heard me say it many times. If you heard me speak or at some of our training programs or either other podcasts, you have to have the capacity to own your word. If you make a commitment to do something, your body must realize that if you say you're going to do it, you're going to get it done.
Take a look at something as easy as people who choose not to wake up when their darn alarm goes off. They hit snooze. That's your first wimp junction of the day. If your body already knows that you’re going to set the alarm for 6:30, but you're not going to get up until quarter or seven, you’re already lying to yourself. You're lying to your brain. You're lying to your psychology. And what starts to happen is your psychologist doesn't start to believe you. So it's a huge undertaking and a massive tidal wave to your psychology. So the one thing I would share with everyone that’s listening in is you got to really make sure that as you start to put your goals down, maybe going to be readjusting what quarter and maybe going to be readjusting what the year-end looks like is you got to have insane believability in what you're trying to achieve. Now, believability is, yeah, you're still gonna be scared out of your pants, right? You're still gonna have anxiety around it.
But the believability is, is that if I make a commitment to do X, I'm going to fight like hell, get up until I'm not even conscious and get back up again to achieve my objective. So the first thing is I find an awful lot of people when they do their goal setting, they don't really have belief. So when they hit adversity, they hit things that are going to challenge them and they hit any resistance, they just bail out. And that's just, again, they don't have the belief.
Glenn Mattson:
The second one I want to share with you, and you may say, hey, that's kind of similar to the first one. And I say that maybe, but it's not. It's the willingness to fight for it. And the believability is one piece, but your willingness to fight for it is incredible. Your willingness to fight for something means that you do believe, but it's also incredibly important to you. And the willing to fight for it means that you may have to leave certain anxiety, certain fears, certain uncomfortabilities. Honestly, certain scripts in the back of your head that have been with you for your entire life. And now those same scripts are holding you back. So why the hell would you put down a goal that you're not willing to fight for tooth and nail? The first time you hit adversity, you bail out. That's not willing to fight for it.
When I ask it and even talk to people about when they do their goals and I don't even look at the numbers, I just say, hey, look me square in the eyes. Are you sure about this? Is this something you really want? Is this something that you're willing to fight tooth and nail for? Is this something that you're willing to go to cuffs for to make sure you can achieve it? So you got to ask yourself as you're driving or listening to this, are you willing to fight for your why? And let me tell you what it means if you don't. If you're not willing to fight for it, then you have what I consider reasons to convince yourself that it was okay not to fight for it. And those reasons are things like blaming time. Oh, I didn't have time in the day. That's the biggest crock of BS that's in the world right now. Everyone has 24 hours in the day. It's not time management. I hate that word. It's not time management. It's self-management. Self-management is making the right decisions on where you spend your time. Never ever blame time for the reason that you don't get stuff done. It's poor self-management.
Again, that goes back to you willing to fight for it. Now, time is just one of them. Another one that I hear quite a bit is, is what we consider pay time and no pay time. And I've done a whole podcast just on those two things. But for today, your pay time are things that generate revenues, about six of them. Your no pay time are all the things you need to do to fulfill your pay time. So for instance, as an easy example, getting together a proposal is no pay time. Sitting down with the client, reviewing it and closing them is pay time. So one of the things I find people doing is that they will use their no pay time activities: preparing for a meeting, preparing a presentation, going on LinkedIn and getting some data of a client, doing your pre-call prep plan, practicing on the Sandler AI coach, all those things as activities, but they're not generating what you should be doing.
So are you really willing to fight for it? Because all that other stuff is always there. It's never going to go away. And honestly, if you give it 24 hours a day, it will eat up 24 hours of your day. So you have to prioritize. Prioritize is putting the things in place that need to be done versus the things that would be nice to get done. And your pay time always supersedes your no pay time. So my question to you for number two is, are you willing to fight for whatever your why is? And I mean, fight for it.
Glenn Mattson:
The third thing I find an awful lot of people when it comes to goal setting that gets wobbly, you know, it's like seeing a car or someone's bike tire that someone takes, you know, the screws off and it starts to wobble and it gets wobbly, gets worse wobbly. Next thing, the darn thing falls off and it's a, it's a, it's a car crash.
The third one is that they’re honestly saying yes to is the results. They're saying yes to the goal. They're saying yes to the end part of it but they're not sure of what they need to do to get there. What I mean by that is they really don't have clarity in what their plan is. They don't understand what they need to do on a quarterly or monthly or even a weekly basis, nevermind a daily basis. Most people I ask, I said, well, what's your daily checklist from the time that your feet go off the bed to hit the floor, from the time that the feet go from the floor back onto the bed, that's as many hours as you’re going to work that day. So it could be 10, 12, 15, 20, whatever it is. But do you actually have a report card? Do you have a report card of the things that you're supposed to do and the things that you need to do to get to where you're going to be? So I find an awful lot of people will say, yeah, man, I really want to get to X, but there's no activity plan. There's no clarity in what needs to be done to get there. So it's like a pipe dream, right?
You just sit there and say, well, I would like to have this, but there's no plan to get there. It's awful. It's ridiculous. Nothing’s ever going to be achieved without having a plan. So execution without a plan is just hopes and dreams. So you got to make sure you have a plan. So, so far we've talked about, you don't have belief or are you really willing to fight for it? Or do you even know how to get to the end result? Do you even know what the activities are that you need to do? And those of you who are coaching clients or do training with us, you know, that's called a cookbook, right? What is the activity you need to do on a daily, weekly basis with whom, frequency with success ratios to get to where you want to go? The last one you may say is very close to number one, two, and it is, but it's not. is the fact that, and I mentioned it when you don't believe, it's the magic question. And it's one of the most important things I think that people lack. You may have desire to reach something, but the question is commitment is, are you willing to do what it takes on a daily basis to get there legally, morally, and ethically?
Glenn Mattson:
So if you look at your goals, your objectives, the things you want to accomplish, and I flat out asked you, are you fully committed to this? Fully committed. Everyone will turn around and stare at me and go, absolutely. They just did it last week when it's in front of 180 people. Yeah, I'm fully committed to this. They turn around and say, yeah, are you willing to do whatever it takes legally, morally, and ethically, of course, to get there? And all of a sudden, half the people change their ideas.
So when you're looking at goals, goals are not an easy track to run on by any means. My God, if that was the case, everyone would be having goals and enriching them. The pathway to goals is created with ups and downs and turmoil and adversity. I mean, that's how it is. That's why if you look at those that increase your self-esteem, increasing your self-esteem is not by achieving the end goal. Achieving the end goal is the win. You want to increase your self-esteem, your self-concept, your perception, get some swagger. That all comes from the journey that you take. It just never comes from the results of what you did. So your journey is the one that creates your confidence. The journey is the one that creates your ability to believe that you can perform and do more things than the average bear.
So when I say you don't buy into it, ask yourself, are you willing to do whatever it takes? Are you willing to get uncomfortable? Are you willing to get outside your comfort zone to achieve those objectives? Because if you're truly committed to it, it's not a “I am only if.” There is no only if when it comes to real goals. It's I'm going to do it or not, period.
So those are four things that I find that for most they're struggling with. And let me share with you some of the things I think that are really important that when you do want to uncover your why. It's really black and white.
Glenn Mattson:
The first thing is there's a difference between objectives, goals, and dreams. Dreams are things that are fleeting. They come in your brain, they go out of your brain. You're driving down the street, you see a car go by and you're like, man, wouldn't that be nice? And that's the next thing you know, you picture yourself driving that car. That's not a goal. What happens is with dreams, dreams are emotional for sure. And a lot of goals are emotional, but the goals process turns emotions into action. It turns your vision into behaviors.
So one of the things I would have you take a look at is that you got to make sure that your objectives, your things that you're trying to accomplish aren’t dreams. Dreams are things that we would like to have. Goals are things that we will have big difference. So when you use hopes and wouldn't it be nice to, wouldn't it be awesome if I had, you got to really listen to the words you use. The words you use are what we call wishy-washy words. Wishy-washy words are hope, anticipate, be nice, only if. All these things are creating grayness inside of your commitment. And the more gray you have in commitment, the easier it is to slip out of it.
So as you start to look at your goals, you got to be very specific in what your goal is. You also have to have the ability to make sure that you don't use any wishy-washy words. Really important two pieces. Now, the other thing I want to share with you, how to make sure this actually sticks.
Besides the words, can't use hope, dream, would be nice, could be nice. We also want to have the capacity to understand the difference between a hope and a goal - due dates. So on your notes, due dates are incredibly important. When do you see yourself moving forward? When do you see yourself getting it done? What's step one, step two, step three? Due dates will hold you accountable to the activities that need to be done in between those fence posts.
So a plan, a real good plan has due dates, but it also gives you the availability of tracking. Tracking what you did that worked, tracking what you did that didn't work, tracking what you did that needs to improve on, tracking what you did that needs to be different. So more times than not, we kind of mess up the ability to think big pictures because we think we have to do everything. And if you have the ability to understand where you want to go and when you want to get there, it helps you mentally prepared for, I can do the right stuff, right? So when you look at it, make sure that you have a plan. But with that, you got to have due dates. Due dates are incredibly important. Could be a year, could be a month in a year.
Glenn Mattson:
Next one is reduce afterburn. Let me tell you what I mean by reduce afterburn. Afterburn is when you have two or three goals and they're conflicting. So you may say, I would like to bring in three more cases a month. I would also like to get my designations, but I also want to be home and having dinner four nights a week. Well, a month into your plan, realizing that most of what you're looking for interior designations is between six and nine at night. So your goals actually fight against each other. It's called resignation. And you don't want to have your whole backyard full with resignation, right? So it's not going to make sense. So make sure you reduce what's called afterburn. Afterburn is looking at the goals you have, laying them out, saying, okay, do any of them compete with each other? Does number three compete with number one? Does number six complete with number five? Just figure out if you have any conflicting objectives.
So we have due dates. We have the ability to make sure that you don't have any conflicting reports, no wishy-washy words. Next piece I want to share with you is making sure that you break it down to bite-sized pieces. That's really the cookbook. If you haven't done that, shame, shame. Get on the horn. Give us a call. First name, last initial, glennm@sandler.com com if you need the cookbook exercise.
So, so far, we're looking at things that hold people back. Lack of belief, truly not willing to fight for it, just walk away, not sure of the activity, or they don't buy into the fact that they have to get all the stuff done, lack of commitment. But I find that people who have goals and they're really considered dreams without goals, it's because, again, it's hopes and wants. They use the wrong words and letters. You can listen to it. So let's talk about those that when they are committed, they're not necessarily getting where they want to be. Because you got to realize when you go to fight for your goals, and let's not sugarcoat this. When you go start fighting for your goals and you have things that you want to accomplish in life, you got to realize this stuff's not going to be easy, especially if you're in your stretch zone. When, the farther you get outside your stretch zone, you're going to get knocked down. You're going to have tough days. You're going to have days that you say to yourself, what the hell am I doing this for? And that's where the danger is if why am I doing this doesn't suck you through the mud. Then you're going to start to have doubt. See, fatigue and doubt are bad, bad, bad emotions.
Fatigue is when you're really super tired. When you're really, really super tired and you're not getting the results and you're not doing the behaviors, you start to have doubt in yourself. When you start to have doubt and fatigue, your broken records, which are your belief systems in your ears, they really start to play loud. What are you doing this for? You're doing fine. You don't need the money. It's okay if you don't do that. All of a sudden, your brain, which is geared to provide protection and safety inside and outside of your body, that's all that's happening right now with your goal setting if you don't have the ability to make sure that you can deal with doubt and fatigue. You got to remember, your mind and your body will fight everything it's got to stay comfortable. And your comfort zone is not where growth happens.
So as you start to look at and get some compilation of what you're trying to accomplish with your whys. Remember, make sure that it's personal. It can't be something that someone's given to you. You got to have it everywhere. It's in your armoire, on your office, on your computer screen, in your mirror, your brushing, your teeth and stuff, whatever it may be. You got to see it a lot and often. So you got to make it personal. You got to have the ability to answer the magic question, which is, are you willing to do whatever it takes? Have the ability to take a look at and be personally committed. Don't use wishy-washy words. You got to believe in the end result. You're willing to fight for it and defend it.
Glenn Mattson:
I wanted to give you a few tips on why most don't get out of the gate and sustain themselves when it comes to goals. Again, they don’t believe and not willing to fight for it. They really don't understand the activity they have to do and they don't buy into it. And a lot of them, because of that, when they hit fear, when they hit fatigue or doubt, those mindsets, that belief system all of a sudden takes over. And that's called reinforcing your broken records. But when you do write down your goals, before you start writing them down, put due dates next to them. Could be a year, could be a month and a year. And start to listen to the words you use as you start to visualize what your goals are. What are your due dates? Without due dates, you got nothing. With due dates, got to make sure you're not competing against each other. It's all afterburn, really bad stuff.
So hopefully in the last 15, 20 minutes, you've gotten some real tips on how do I make sure I'm being more consistent? How do I make sure I can overcome some negative beliefs I have? How to make sure I can have the lid on my head pop off? And you can become better than you ever thought you could become on a consistent, predictable basis.
Enjoy yourself the rest of the time. And as always, good sailing with Building Blocks of Success, Glenn Mattson.
This is the Building Blocks of Success with Glenn Mattson.
