Total Success: How to Achieve Your Personal Best Every DayBill "The Coach" Sparkmanmotivation, organization, success, Sparkman, Bill Sparkman, The Coach
Is there a secret to success? Does one idea, concept, belief, or
strategy enable you, if mastered, to achieve fulfillment and
improve your skills and abilities leading to Total Success
in your life and the mortgage business?
I believe there is really no secret formula to a successful life or
career, but there are concrete steps that can be taken, and if
practiced and perfected with the right attitude, can lead to
continued improvement and sustained success. Winners in the
mortgage business, and in life, are constantly trying to improve on
their best performance. Each day, they raise the bar to achieve a
new personal best.
Most people want things to be different, but few are willing to do
the work required to produce breakthrough results. The fact of the
matter is that most people dont want to work; they just want to be
better. They arent looking to do what is required to get in good
physical shape; they just want to look and feel better. They want
to win the lottery, but arent buying a ticket.
To achieve better results, you must be willing to do everything
that is required to become a champion. There are no shortcuts, and
you have to be ready to pay the price for measurable change. The
first step is identifying the areas of your career and life that
must be improved upon so that not only measurable but lasting
change can occur. Ive highlighted seven of these areas that need to
be practiced and perfected daily.
Preparation
It begins with clarity. You must have a clear picture of what you
want and when you want it. Less than 20 percent of all mortgage
originators have a written plan or strategy that is directing their
actions on a daily basis. They are reactionary in their daily
efforts, and chaos seems to be the theme of their business.
Most people think that goal-setting and planning are wonderful
things, yet they spend more time planning a two-week vacation than
they do creating their own successful mortgage business. They talk
about being in business for themselves, but dont have a business
plan clearly written. If you are not experiencing the results you
desire, it may be time to revisit your business plan and make the
adjustments necessary to be successful. If you dont currently have
a written plan, now is the perfect time to create one.
Confidence
When you set high goals, you will face challenges along the way.
How you respond to those challenges will ultimately determine the
level of your success. Two of the challenges you will face on a
daily basis are fear and confidence. Your business will be driven
from one or the other. Confidence moves you forward, while fear
keeps you stuck. Confidence comes from the greatest gift you can
give yourself, the gift of believing in yourself. Self-confidence
is a required step in all great undertakings and achievement.
Vince Lombardi said, Lifes battles dont always go to the stronger
or faster man, but sooner or later, the man who wins is the man who
thinks he can.
Confidence is truly a choice. If you dont know how to be confident,
or think you need more experience before you can be confident,
start by pretending. Often acting as if you have confidence will
bring on the real thing. Go for it and take the plunge into the
pool of self-confidence. You cant get wet by standing on the edge.
Strike with confidence today.
Positive Action
A positive mental attitude is simply not enough to effect changes.
Positive action, sustained over time, is what will produce the
results you are seeking. The world is filled with positive thinking
and positive talking underachievers. The common denominator of all
greatness is finding purposeful meaning in your career and in life,
and having the energy required for keeping yourself in action long
enough to get to the finish line.
In The Art of Worldly Wisdom, it tells us that mediocre
people who apply themselves with a white hot burning desire go
further than people with superior talent who dont apply themselves.
It takes no talent or extra ability to hustle. Do it now!
Concentration
What you focus on, you bring on. Underachievers find it simple to
get distracted from their goal. To achieve what you say you want,
you must stay focused on the goal and the work at hand. Great
mortgage originators are not easily sidetracked, and when
sidetracked, they get back on track quickly.
Look at your business and your life, and get rid of all your
current distractions as soon as you can. They may be in the form of
people, unfinished projects, a messy desk, or even the latest
technology. Keep your eye on the ball.
Passion
Truly loving what you do can attract more customers to you than
anything else. Most people want to be around positive, powerful,
high energy individuals. You become a magnet for people of those
traits when you live your life passionately and enjoy what you do.
If you cant be passionate about the loan business, you may be in
the wrong business. You can do, be, or achieve anything you want
with enough enthusiasm, fortitude, and passion.
Endurance
All significant achievement in life comes from sustained
commitment. Being committed once in a while, or selective
commitment, isnt sufficient enough to maintain career-best
performances or the results you desire in any area you truly care
about. Life and the loan business is a marathon, not a sprint. You
gain on your competition by out-lasting them. Most people give up
on their dream too soon. Success is often inconvenient. Winners
have the ability to tolerate the obstacles to success that striving
for a worthwhile goal provide. It is their stubborn persistence
that separates them from the pack. Dont give up!
Celebration
You must take time along the road to success to celebrate your
wins, no matter how small they may seem. You must become your own
best cheerleader, it isnt anyone elses job. Dont become so attached
to obtaining your goal that you miss out on living life along the
way. Stress, burnout, and anxiety stem from not creating balance in
your business and your life. Your capacity to enjoy the mortgage
business and life is in direct proportion to your ability to create
and maintain balance along the way. To excel in the mortgage
business, you must be in great shape mentally, spiritually,
physically, and emotionally. Celebrate life daily. Slow down and
enjoy.
Total Success in the mortgage business and life comes
from total commitment. Achieving your personal best takes work.
Real change begins by matching insight with action. The first step
is to identify the areas of your business and life that you could
improve upon and get better. The second step is to make the
necessary adjustments in your behavior as quickly as possible to
ensure new results. Do more of what is working and change what isnt
working. Dont hesitate. If not now, when? Having a career-best year
begins with having a career-best day. A career-best day comes from
giving the best effort you have to give, again, again, and
again.
Bill "The Coach" Sparkman is a mortgage industry Sales
Trainer, Consultant, Speaker and Seminar Leader. To receive product
and seminar information, call (888) 600-1114.
