Too often I meet with people who tell me that they haven’t achieved much or they don’t have a history that positions them for success. One of the first actions I take with new people I work with (by the way, I have 2 spare slots for monthly mentoring which have just become available and so if you are interested, reply back and let’s have a chat) is to get them to focus on their own history and what they have achieved.
2 of the key tasks that I ask them to complete are to write down the following.
- What are the top 10 achievements in their life?
- What are their biggest failures and biggest successes
Understanding our own history and the story that has brought us to where we are today is vital.
The quote above from Carl Sagan is so true and some of the best success stories in business are people who have failed but used that failure as fuel to drive their future success. Take Max Levchin. He had 4 previous business failures but when you consider his 5th was Paypal then you wouldn’t mind being a step behind him.
I have had lots of failures both in business and sales. I had a failure a few weeks ago when I lost an opportunity that I should have won as I didn’t react to something in the right way. But what I don’t do is ignore that history or try and blame the past for where I am now.
History is a great teacher and can be an inspiration for us. If you have not achieved what you wanted to or think that you have failed then take a step back and look at what it did give you. What could you learn from it? What would you do differently the next time?
Review the list of achievements and identify what made you get that success. What did you have to do at that time to get the result you wanted?
Whatever your history and story are, own it. Don’t hide away from it. Don’t try to cover it up. It is in the past and you can’t change it. Providing that you have a clear path ahead that works to help and serve others (and you show this each day) then others will respect your honesty and it will help them build trust with you. And as we all know, Trust is gold when it comes to selling.
So just as I am doing in Athens (and the Athenians are very proud of their story) be proud of your own history and use it to motivate you and to drive you onto better things.
I use my failures to make me better and inspire me to achieve more and I also celebrate and look back at my best times to know I can achieve anything. Own your history and story and if you want to share it with me, I would love to see it so that I can continue to help you achieve whatever you want to in business and life.
We all sometimes need help and support to achieve the goals and dreams we have. Everyone has down days and times and when this happens, we sometimes need that pick me up or boost to get us back on track!
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