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Have you ever had that day that just gets away from you? Maybe you were frustrated by not doing something. The results? The outcome? Maybe, just maybe, you have gotten to the point where you just “don’t have time” to do something.

I remember when I came to Southwestern there was one thing I told myself over and over again— I just didn’t have time.  I let it consume me.  It was not a great cycle to be in. The thing is, I didn’t know I had the ability to change that cycle.

However,YOU have the ability to change that. Only you. Everything you say YES to, you say NO to something else

Now, we have all heard we all have the same amount of time in the day. Ask yourself, are you doing everything you can to maximize that time? What does that even mean?

Really, let’s take a good hard look at this. Where are you wasting time? Be honest with yourself.

Whether it be in life, or it be in business, there are 3 things we can control each and every day. This is part of looking at your day and telling yourself, “I’m going to pack as much stuff into my day as humanly possible.”  When we walk out at the end of the day, we don’t have to say…”that one got away from me.”

So what are these things?

Activity

We have the ability to control how hard we work. This can be at work. This can be a workout. This can be with the family. Whatever it is for you. We control that. At work, it could be phone calls, meetings, that project. Anything actively driving business. For kids, how much activity are we putting in with them? What are we doing? Allowing electronics to do the job or is it puzzles, sledding, coloring, going to games? Whatever it is in your family. You create that. We have the ability to create how hard we work.

A wise man once said, “You always get paid for how hard you work, sometimes now, often times later, but always eventually.”  This can come in so many different forms.

Attitude

What’s the first thing you say to yourself when you wake up in the morning?  For me, the phrase is, “It’s going to be a great day”. If you are the person that’s saying, here we go again, just another day, ugh, I don’t want to go to work, I HAVE to, or any variation of those, I hate to break this to you. This is on you.  How do I know that? I used to do the same thing. We, and only we, have the ability to change that. No one else controls our happiness. No one else dictates how we feel. They can throw you off for a bit for sure, absolutely. But, what we say to ourselves, and how we say it, that’s in our control.

Put your attitude into your effort, your activity. Not your results. When you have the right attitude around it, you will go out and do it.  The results will come. I promise you that.

Schedule

Contrary to popular belief, we are the only people that can control our schedule.  If we say yes to something, we say yes. If we say no, we say no. It can really be that simple. Just because you say no doesn’t make you a bad person. It means that you are choosing to do something else with that time. Something that might be a higher priority.  If you are staying late at work because you are trying to do too much, maybe you have kids at home you are saying no to.

We all have priorities in our life, every single one of us. No one is an exception to this rule. We all know what’s important to US. And that’s the key word, just because something is important to me doesn’t mean it’s important to you. If it’s on your calendar, you will do it. If it is not, you won’t. Don’t overthink this, don’t question it. Put it on your calendar and do it.  If it’s not a priority, don’t do it.

If you need to say “No”, be okay with it. Control your schedule, your calendar, and you will start controlling your life as well. This is a habit you can create.

In some moments, these things aren’t always easy, but you can create this environment. You truly can. I only know because I speak from experience struggling with each and every one of these. It’s on us to decide to change it or make it happen. YOU have that ability.

IT’s a new year. Make the decision to stop running on the hamster wheel. If you aren’t where you want to be, YOU and only YOU can change that.

 

Brent Widman
Sales Coach
Southwestern Consulting

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Why can’t you be the best at what you do?

Are you that sales person that is always pretty good? You do the activity at work. You get the dials in. You make sure you are doing enough to keep your leader or director off your back.  You know you are pretty good at what you do.

Maybe, just maybe, you aren’t as happy as you should be though?  You aren’t making the money you want to. You don’t get to spend enough time with your family.  You find yourself in debt, and you are struggling to stay afloat.

You decide it’s the job, your situation, your leader, bad luck or things that are happening around you.  You continue to struggle. You are doing okay.  Doing just enough to make good money; still in debt but do have a little more time.

Then you start to realize something, it is me, not the job.

Why can’t I set that standard? Instead of being that person that is on the outside looking in when people get recognized. Instead of saying “if I am just here as long as them.” Instead of making the excuses that keep me where I have been for years and years, I decide to make a change.

You start putting in the work. You start doing the activity. Changing it. Talking to people.  Practice your language.  Keeping up on industry knowledge.  Up VERY early every morning.  Start to read, start to develop, start to own your own crap.  Stop making the excuses about why you aren’t succeeding and start doing whatever it takes to succeed. Drive hundreds of miles if you have to. Get on planes.

You decide you want to set the standard.  No more just being okay with being okay.  Something magical starts happening.  You start helping people. You start living in this abundance mentality that you don’t have to “sell” people anymore.  You start loving what you are doing because you are controlling it. You are making it yours.

I tell this story because I coach sales people. I see so many of them go through the same thing, and it’s hard to watch.  It pains me to see the money struggles, the family struggles, to hear the excuses. It pains me to see people not setting the standard because they don’t believe they have it in them.  They make the excuses that hold them back. They don’t get into coaching because they don’t know if they are capable of more, or know if they want to be held accountable to do more.

They make the DECISION to struggle.

You and only you can decide to set the standard every day. I can’t do it for you, your boss can’t, your friends, your family. You can complain about it or you can do something about it.

If you CHOOSE to do something, it WILL change your life.

 

Brent Widman
Partner
Southwestern Consulting

I was at a team training recently sitting around having a conversation.  The conversation turned to discipline, accountability and “just showing up mindset.”

It was intriguing to listen to someone talk about why they can’t show up daily. What has happened in their past that makes them not be able to do just that. What’s holding them back. How their mindset is controlling everything they do. Letting that shadow of doubt come in when it could be blocked.

This victim mindset is where I get passionate.  I’m a true believer, that for the most part, we are all given a ticket.  It’s what we choose to do with that ticket that defines who we are and what we become.

We all have “stuff”. Each and every person that will read this has either been through something in life or is going through something right now. This “stuff” can be the loss of a family member, weight loss, losing a job, maybe it was eliminated, or you were just let go. It can be someone getting sick. Maybe it’s a divorce. There’re so many things that we go through, and yes, they do affect each person differently.

As I listened to this person talk about how their life was different, how their “stuff” was different, I started to wonder why. Terminal Uniqueness. Why are you so much different than everyone else?  Why can’t you make the choice to show up every day?

In business and in life there are things we can control, and things we can’t. The biggest one, you can control your mindset. You CAN control when you show up. You also control if you don’t.  Winning is a habit, unfortunately so is losing.

You have the ability to do your absolute best. There are too many people that don’t reach their potential, not because they don’t want to, but because they are allowing everything in their book to prevent them from it. We all have obstacles. Are you allowing them to dictate who you are?

The trick is… you must recognize it. With this person, I recognized every excuse in the book they were throwing out there. The sad part, they did not. And at times, there was the justification behind it.  There’s no justification for it. I’m sorry if that upsets some people.  There’s no justification for excuses. For not showing up. There is no one that controls not showing up but you.

You have been given a ticket. It’s what you choose to do with it that defines you. What are you going to do with yours? Maybe it’s time to take a good hard look at who you are, what you are, and what you want to be.

Show up.

 

Brent Widman
Partner
Southwestern Consulting

 

Have you ever been displaced? Your internet is down? Your computer isn’t working? Things just aren’t going the way they should?

A while back we had a pretty strong storm. Knocked out power for most of the western part of the Twin Cities, as well as mine. To some people this is a day off, a reason to not do anything. Do I sit around and do nothing, go home? Make excuses? I mean, I don’t have internet right? So many of us have this mentality. We either check out mentally.

What do you do when you get to work? What’s the first thing you do when you get there? Check e-mails, voicemails? Return those e-mails and voicemails? Maybe get up and tell someone about those e-mails and voicemails? Go the bathroom, get your water, your coffee, because the day can’t start without our coffee! By that time it’s 9:30 or 10 in the morning, you know you have that doctor appointment for your daughter/son at 11:30. We don’t want to start too much because we don’t want to be in the middle of something, so we just start pushing some papers around, looking online, talking to people etc. You go to your appointment, takes longer than you thought it would due to traffic and the doctor being backed up. We don’t get back until between 1:30 and 2. What do we do again? We check e-mails and voicemails, by that time it’s 2-2:30 in the afternoon and what have we accomplished? Nothing. Not a thing. But we’ve been really busy haven’t we…..

Feel like I’m following you around a bit?

It’s time to change that mentality. Set your processes in place. Be smart enough, to be dumb enough not to have to think about it.

1. Do your admin work before your “day” starts. E-mails, voicemails, getting back to people and planning your day.
2. When YOUR bell rings, it’s time to get after it. You can take breaks, but be focused, know what you need to do.
3. Set a time to check e-mail. The sky won’t fall, I promise you that.
4. Have prospecting/phoning time. You may not like it, but it will drive your business. Everyday. Stop making excuses NOT to do it.
5. Know what your reason is. You can call it your Why, Focus, Motivation whatever you want. Have a reason each and every day to make it happen. Let it PULL you.
6. Always look for more. Don’t settle. This is sales, there’s always more you can do. That’s up to you.
7. No excuses. Start recognizing when you say I can’t, wish I could, or should, or want to. It’s their fault, they didn’t do this and that. It’s on you, you control yourself, no one else does. Don’t be a SHOULD HEAD.
8. Attitude. Have a positive one.
9. Show up. Don’t half a$$ it. Go after it. It’s worth it.
10. Enjoy it when you do these things. You will crush it. Go change your life. No one can do it for you. It’s a choice.

If you need help, want to talk or just want advice on how to do many of these things, feel free to reach out. Whether it’s e-mail or phone. When you do these things your business starts to become something. Not just a job you show up for.

Brent Widman
Partner
Southwestern Consulting
bwidman@southwesternconsulting.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/brentwidman/

 

With business comes the belief barrier.

 

What does this mean?

We’ve always done what we’ve always done. Our whole life. The norm becomes the norm. That barrier can be a great habit that motivates and drives you. It can also be the bad habit that ultimately holds you back from accomplishing the success you so covet.

We either make a habit, or break a habit. Up to you.

 

That’s the barrier.

 

Maybe this is the way you grew up. You saw your parents grind. Paycheck to paycheck. Saw them go to work at 8 and come home at 5. Never getting ahead. Not knowing you could change it. This is just the life you knew, so this is the life you know. This is the life your kids will know. Who breaks the cycle? Not saying they, or you for the most part aren’t happy. You have to ask yourself right now, as you are reading this: are you as happy as you could be?

 

What’s the barrier standing in your way and how do YOU break that cycle?

 

There is a belief. The belief that you can do more. No matter where you are right now. You can do more, be better, accomplish those things YOU want to accomplish. You may want to start a business but don’t know how. Ask for help. You may want a new job that pays you more. Lay out the plan to get there. You may want to make more money. What do YOU need to do to make that happen?

 

Time to start breaking down the wall.

 

If you don’t know how to do it, find someone that does. Ask them. Find someone that can help you. Don’t be afraid, don’t be ashamed. Doesn’t have to be a friend. It can be someone you find online. A coach, a 3^rd party, a mentor. Someone that you can talk to that will help you break down those belief barriers.

This can be anything. Doesn’t just have to be business. A job. It can be loving someone, being more patient, having a goal, challenging yourself. Whatever it is, you can make it happen when you just start putting one foot in front of the other.

The only thing holding you back is you. The best part about that… You also have the opportunity to change it.

We all have this opportunity. We all have this ability; if we put our mind to it, we work hard for it and we put our all into it, good things will happen. That’s what one day at a time means. It’s not going to happen overnight. You won’t get there by hoping, wishing and wanting. You are only going to get there by doing. You have to start the doing.

 

That’s when the barrier falls.

 

If you need help, don’t hesitate to call or e-mail.

Brent Widman

Sales Coaching

bwidman@southwesternconsulting.com

507-382-7641

Are you doing everything you can?

With personal development, you can always do more. Reason being, it’s life changing. It doesn’t just affect you, it also affects those around us. Your friends, your family, your work environment. All those people you come into contact with daily. There’s this ripple effect that happens.

Ask yourself in this very moment, are you doing everything you can to become the best version of you? When was the last time you read a book? Listened to a book? Found a seminar? Speaker? Mentor? Took a class? Learned a language? Invested in yourself? There’s time, you just have to find and make the time to do it. If it’s important, you will find a way.

There’s Podcasts, Video Series, trainings… just to name a few. Let it in. Instead of pushing it away. Open that door. Not just a crack, open that door and watch the flood gates open.

This will change your mindset, it will begin to build the person you want to be. There’s a funny thing that starts happening.

You start to believe that you can. You do the work, you get better, and if you get better, you believe more, and if you believe more, you are more convicted, and if you are more convicted, you are more confident, and if you are more confident you want to keep going.

That’s why this isn’t just a resolution. It’s not something you just start and stop. When you begin to develop yourself, you start striving for more. You yearn to want to learn. To read that next book, to listen to that next internal training. That next podcast. You start to want it. What happens then? You guessed it…. Life starts to change for the better. You no longer go backwards or become stagnant. You begin to achieve because you know you can.

Take a good hard look and ask yourself. What can you do to make yourself better? Yea, it might be hard to start, but isn’t anything that’s worth it? How can you start developing yourself? Do you have things that you want to accomplish that you haven’t done?

There are so many people out there that want to help you. You start to realize this when you look for it. Give yourself 10 minutes, 15 minutes even a half hour to start. Create the discipline it takes to make it happen.

You have the time. We all do.

Who you are today doesn’t have to be who you are tomorrow. Don’t look back next year and say I wish I would have started. You have the ability to control that. It’s in all of us.

If you need help, we can set up a Business Action Plan. Don’t hesitate to e-mail or call me.

 

Brent Widman, Sales Coach

Southwesternconsulting.com

Brentwidman.com

Discipline

This is a big one.

Discipline is what drives us. This is what keeps us doing the things that are going to make us successful.  We don’t overthink it, we just do. This is the thing that gets us out of bed. We go for it every day, even if there’s times we don’t want to. This is what sets us apart from those around us.

There’s no one person that’s better than the next. The question is, what the disciplined people do that sets us apart from the rest?

1. We have a plan

We know what our day is going to look like. We know that we may not feel like it. We know the power of positive self-talk. We know the power of activity. We know the control it takes to get in the right state of mind.

2. We just do

Don’t overthink things. There’s 2 types of people. The one’s that you tell to run through the wall.  We do it. We figure it out later.  Then there’s the one’s that will think about how tall that wall is. What is that wall made of. What’s behind that wall? What’s on top of that wall? Will the wall fall? What will happen to the wall?  Which one are you?

3. We have patterns and habits

It’s not monotonous, it’s what gets us there. What time do we get up, shower, eat, brush our teeth, take the kids to school/daycare, do our admin work, sit down to work, plan our day, hour by hour, work out, work on files, do meetings… and the list just keeps going. We have habits that we do, habits that we don’t have to think, we just know exactly what we need to do and we do it

4. We enjoy it

We are convicted, TRULY convicted in what we do. We know we are leaving people better off even if they say no. We know we are adding value.  We make them better. We love what we do. We have built it with our bare hands.  We know how hard we work.

5. We work

We don’t do laundry, watch TV, surf the internet, hanging out at lunch for 3 hours, or talking in someone’s office for 45 minutes. Friday afternoon is no different than Monday morning. We have a start time and an end time. We know how the day is going to go and we get after it. We do the things many others don’t like to do, which is why they are wasting time.

Discipline is an art form. It can be taught. It must be something that you practice every day. Something that we continuously work on and make better. Discipline is what keeps driving us.

Commitment is doing what you said you would, long after the mood you said it in has left.