Hi Kira Leskew of the Eagle Institute. You want it so badly you can taste it,
but paradoxically, you can't concentrate because you are focused on the wrong thing.
I will tell you about this in about 6 minutes, so stay tuned.
Hm.. I wonder what they're going to think, will they like this? Hmm.
I wonder what my customer's going to think.
I was talking the other morning to my trainer about his life. He was a bit dissatisfied
with the results that he was getting, and he was complaining to me, about his lack of focus
He was going on and on about results, results,
results.
He is a very accomplished football player, having played varsity, and tried out as a
pro. So I asked him the following question: When did you play best, when you thought about winning the game, or
when you thought about playing the play right?
He gave me a funny look, and said, "when I focused on the play."
Exactly! I said.
Whether it is football, some other sport, a hobby, a business meeting, writing an
important report for a client, we always get the best results when we focus on the process
while we are doing that thingand we don't think about the result.
This is called being in the present moment, or Mindfulness in Action.
We absolutely have to initiate our actions from our visions, and I highly recommend that
you picture your desired outcome before you start, but once you start, you need to let
that outcome go, and be in the present moment with the process.
That is why it is a paradox. Although having a clear vision is absolutely vital, you need to let the
vision go, and give your full attention to the process
of getting the thing that you want, for the result that you need.
For example, early on in my last business, I really wanted to achieve a certain sales
goal, for financial reasons, but also because it would have been the highest sales month
that our business had ever done, and that seemed like a lot of fun. Every day, I would start off the day
checking the stats; where were we, are we on track, were we going to get this deal,
Were we going to close that sale. This example looks like I am focusing on the goal,
which I was, and that's the problem!
It's the same as focusing on the result. We weren't getting where we wanted to, we were always
a bit behind on making that goal, because I was actually focused on the wrong thing. And since I was
the leader, I was getting my sales team to focus on the wrong thing as well.
Luckily, in this example, I realized what I was doing with about 10 days left in this
crucial month. I quickly changed my focus with myself and my sales team to the process.
In this case, really listening to the customers' needs. Were we really getting
our quotes back quickly? Were we really having fun and treating our customers like it was enjoyable to
do business together, without being needy.
I changed my own focus, and that of my teams to be on the process of excellent sales,
instead of achieving a sales goal.
Guess what happened? Stress went down, everybody was more relaxed, and we over-exceeded
our sales goal.
In the first example, my trainer was thinking about the result, and in my example with my
sales team, I was also thinking about the result, which is actually not in the present
moment, and is actually something that we cannot control, and it's counter-productive.
But by focusing on the process, in both examples, we were focusing on what we could control,
and we did have the power over which was the process, and that is in the present moment.
That is mindfulness in action.
This can seem like a subtle difference, but once you practice it, the difference becomes
obvious, and it really works. That's why once you have developed your capacity to focus
and concentrate, you still need the skills to apply it correctly.
If you want to learn more about applying Mindfulness in Action to improving your business,
and your life results by applying specific processes, check out our website.
The link is in the cards for this video, during the bloopers at the end of the video,
during the bloopers at the end,
and in the notes below.
And thank you so much for all your questions,
your comments, your thumbs up and your shares.