The 4 Pinnacles of Goal Setting: Health, Wealth, Relationships, and Spirituality.
A practice I have been doing with my team as well as the teams I train is taking each and every salesperson through a goal setting process! I’ll sit down with each and every Sales Professional in the organisation and I’ll work with them through a worksheet. Sometimes this takes hours. Other times, especially if they’ve been through it before, it can take a few minutes.
You see, not every organisation agrees with the practice. I often hear “Why don’t you just take everyone through a “seminar” and get them to fill out the worksheets on their own?”
The answer to this is threefold, the first reason however, is because it allows the Management team and I to REALLY get to know the Salespeople within the organisation, what they want out of life, what they’re looking to achieve, and more importantly, as a management team, they get to know who they are!
The second reason, is because it literally boosts the ever living shit out of the morale amongst the team! It makes the team players feel like they’re being heard, like there is something they can do in order to make a difference both in their personal lives, and ultimately, they gain perspective to the direction of the company as well and how it can work within their lives!
The third, it separates the healthy cells from the cancerous ones. Every organisation has team players and team drainers. An exercise that involves sitting down, talking about their job, their perspectives, what can happen in order to improve the company, what can happen in order to improve themselves, and ultimately their Sales growth often puts people in a bit of an uncomfortable situation when they first begin to think about it. What will happen is those that are willing to play will oftentimes be very open to the progress of the organisation, they will want to join in and ultimately, one-on-one share their input! Those that aren’t will fight you, roll their eyes, sluff them off, and ultimately make the entire meeting very uncomfortable.
For a lot of companies, this is an incredibly fast way to find out who you want to keep on as an asset, and who’s time has come and gone! I’ve seen this a lot even amongst veteran Sales Staff that go out of their way to poison the sales floor or the boiler room, and this style of meeting is a very fast way to find out if it’s their time to reach further heights, or their time to reach for a new company. For a lot of Sales Managers however, this can sometimes be a challenge as they don’t know what to even talk about!
The point of the article is give you a tool as a Business owner, Sales Manager, or aspiring Sales Professional, New or Amateur, to conquer new heights and give you a really killer breakdown as to what is going to take you there. To focus your goal setting efforts and take you in a direction that’s going to help you have the best year you’ve ever had! As I write this article, the New Year has come and gone for most of us in North America, however, I should note, that the only thing you really need to set tremendous goals and have a great year, is a slow Monday! I’ve come up with pointers on why the Classic “S.M.A.R.T. System” no longer work here and what you can do about it if you want a fresh perspective, but this article is going to channel in on what is really important in your life, showing you that the rest of the daily dialogue in your head really doesn’t matter!
Health — Taking Care of you:
The old adage of taking care of yourself is one of those things we all “know about” but pretend to do. Especially if you’re in Sales, sometimes it can be hard amongst the long grind to really get out and exercise… and no, twirling your pen on your finger doesn’t actually count. Neither does walking to the local coffee shop… I’m on to you bastard.
If the health train falls of the track, so does everything else! Without a functioning body, there isn’t much you can do to have anything successfully function! Setting goals around your health including working out every second day, focusing on portion control through a new set of plates, eliminating pop and chips from your diet, these can all be measured and tracked in terms of your success! You need to focus on a healthy you!
I’ve even found that focusing on exercising a few times a week, even if your diet isn’t in the best shape, is still going to do wonders to keep you sharp, focused, and doing what it is you do best, crushing deals! Taking the time to set a schedule that involves some level of cardiovascular, and strength based activity is going to set the rest of the week right, you’re going to feel stronger, and you’re going to be able to pursue your quest for wealth, the betterment of your relationships, as well as your spiritual being (if that’s your thing.)
Mental health is a game of pro-activity instead of reactivity. It’s no secret that sales is a stressful game, the long days, the extra hours, the “never really being done” what it is you’re set out to do, not to mention the financial roller coaster that come along with it, the stress of family and support in leaner months (especially if you’re just starting out), and everything else that is on the plate of everyday people. It’s important that you take some you time at the very least! Taking some time to set yourself aside and work on what is important to you is going to have a tremendous positive effect on your results overall, you’re going to feel far more refreshed and have something to truly look forward to at the end of your day! And no… I’m not talking about the twice a day activity Leonardo DiCaprio was talking about in the wolf of wall street…
Wealth — “Life is a game, money is how you keep score”:
I’m not going to get into the whole Tony Robbins “Wealth is how you define it” speech. I’m here to talk about money, I’m here to talk about real wealth! Let’s face it, if you don’t take care of your money, your money isn’t going to take care of you! End of story! Money is Karmic, if you abuse it, we’ve all been there, it’s going to take you behind a dumpster and treat you like the arrogant punk you are!
Of course we all have goals surrounding wealth, life is a game of wealth. How do we get it, who do we get it from, I often ask myself “who has my money today?” and find ways to go out and get it! Focusing on doing something with your wealth, paying off debt, saving for investment purposes, or just wanting to make sure you have an emergency fund in the bank account are all foundations toward goal setting! (Don’t actually make those your goals, take some time to read this if you want to find out how.)
But taking the time to write down what you want out of your life financially is going to steer you in the right direction instead of floating amidst the giant machine of consumerism that designed to literally break your wallet and everything in your bank accounts! Sit down and write down some goals of what you actually want to do with your money, and keep in mind that saving is not a goal, making a certain income per year is not a goal. They are merely measurements, or a scorecard of how you are doing!
Writing down things like, “I have 50 properties in my investment portfolio, they’re all multi family, and it was complete in the year 2020.” Is a goal, it gives your money direction! Writing down something like “I would like to pay off all of my credit card debt and take my family on a vacation to celebrate with our savings.” Is a goal! It’s something you can strive for, something you can achieve!
But you have to create a conscious effort to give yourself a direction to go in! If you write something down on paper, and make it count, make sure that you can feel the pleasure that’s coming from the achievement, then your subconscious actions are going to tell you “NO!” when you’re looking at that new Television you’ve been eyeing up for a WHOLE 5 MINUTES and the Salesperson is taking a slug at you with their best closing material!
Write it it down, make it real, stop being a punk with your money, avoid money beating the crap out of you behind a trash can!
Relationships — Audit your circle, and pursue what matters most to you:
Relationships can be difficult to manage, especially if you’re doing something big like trying to start a company (for a second I was preaching to myself… whatever…); in all honesty however, it’s not easy managing a partner, raising kids, making sure you’re spending enough time with family, friends, co-workers, keeping your mother-in-law from killing you (the secret is not letting her out of the basement), and all of the other weirdos that randomly talk to you and ask you for change and cigarettes.
It’s a challenge, which is why you need to do an audit! I’ve heard over-and-over again that “if you look at the 5 people around you, then that is where you’re headed.” I don’t necessarily agree with that all of the time, because I realise that some people are just never going to keep up with some people’s work ethic, their tenacity for exercise, their hobbies, etc. everyone has something that they strive for, something that they want to achieve, something that they are pushing for on all fronts! All boundaries! Then there are some people that are just flat out lazy sons of bitches that can’t keep a job let alone do much of anything other than crush the next target on their xbox or re-run another series on Netflix.
The point though, is that at some point, you are going to have to look at the takers and the breakers! Those that contribute to you life, and those that are just going to bring you down! If you’re a Manager, it’s the same thing with the employees, you have to find a way to break them out of your Business if you feel like you’ve truly done everything you can for them and it’s really just a bad fit for them and the company. The relationships that you sever, the ones that are draining you, are ultimately going to be better off without you, and you are going to be MUCH better off without them!
Once you’ve finished your audit, it’s time for you to take the remaining relationships and really set aside some time for them! I’m going to get hard on you about this, your family NEEDS to come first and foremost above all else! It was a lesson even I had to learn the hard way and thankfully figured out before my daughter was old enough to remember that workaholic ass hole that was never home! P.S. I’m writing this at 12 PM while my little one is asleep after a long days work, this is taking a mental break and hustling at the same time — I spent the previous 4 hours of my evening playing with her, cuddling, and watching a movie.
Not being polite again, if you can’t put the people that are guaranteed to be around your casket when you die first above all else, you don’t deserve to have a family! Block some time away for them! Make sure that your spending more time with them than you are at your day job! The statistics are horrifying, the average adult only spends about 3 hours of quality time PER MONTH with their child, really focusing on their needs and developing them! That’s INSANITY! Even less with their spouses or significant others!
After that, do yourself a favour and call that relative that you haven’t called in a while, go and visit the ones that you said you were going to visit “when you had a moment”, everyone is there to love and support you unconditionally, but only if you make time for that love to happen!
Making goals like, “I want to teach my child how to swim, I’m going to do that by taking them 2 times per week until the goal is achieved.” Is a great way to make sure that happens! Or, “I’m going to make sure that I spend 2 hours of quality time with my wife between the hours of 8PM and 10PM to make sure we’re communicating on a regular basis!”
These are good places to start, make sure it’s not some bullshit set up like “I want to spend more time with my kids.” That’s not a goal, that’s a wish, and it’s going to get you in the same shit as not setting a goal or not spending time with them at all! If you need to make the phone call right now to set up that time with your grandparent you haven’t talked to in a couple of years, GO DO IT NOW, it’s ok, seriously, I’ll wait, go get it done!
Spirituality — Time in reflection for your beliefs:
Now, with all of my cursing and crude remarks and humour, this might actually come as a shock to you, I’m a spiritual person, a believer in a higher power! I tend to reside on the side of “If I believe and I’m wrong, I lose nothing. If I don’t believe and I’m wrong, I lose everything.” Truth is, the afterlife scares me a little bit! So I make sure that part of my goal setting is also spiritual!
I personally don’t care what you believe in, it bothers me none, but if there is something there that you do believe in, make sure that you are making time for that as well! Your spiritual being, tends to centre you a little bit, it takes the weight of the world completely off your shoulders and lets you reside in the fact that there is peace outside of the everyday grind! There is something that can calm you down internally, and something you can fall back on when times get really tough and you feel like you’ve lost control. I focus myself on my spiritual being because it allows me to focus on the things that matter most, it gives me a peace I cannot explain.
Even if you’re not a believer in some kind of higher power, take some time to meditate, once a week, sit in silence and relax, enjoy the peace that being with your own thoughts from time to time can bring! It’s going to have significant impact on your overall well being, and assist in developing your mental fortitude for those times when the tough gets going, a little anxiety sets in, and you feel like your slipping! Some of the strongest entrepreneurs and salespeople I’ve met take time out of their weeks to allow their subconscious to settle all of the little things so that they can regain focus on what’s really important!
The reality of the four pillars:
The simple reality, you’re going to have to take care of all four pillars. Sometimes you slip, but as long as you do not let one slip too far then you’re going to be alright! It’s ok to allow yourself a day of failure, but never two days!
If your health fails you, you no longer have the physical ability to focus on your wealth, as a result, your relationships are strained, and your spirituality becomes the only pillar you have to rest on.
If your wealth fails you, you no longer have the funds to take care of yourself and again, your relationships are strained.
If your relationships fail you, your slip into a downward spiral that effects your mental health and as a result, your wealth.
If your spirituality falls flat or you haven’t taken enough you time, anxiety builds an you mental well being goes with it, along with the wealth factors, as well as the relationships you’ve built!
Taking time to focus on all four key areas throughout your week is of tremendous importance! Make time for all of it! You can be 100% at everything, it just takes constant and never ending practice! Juggling multiple plates can be challenging, but the more you do it, the better off you’re going to be! Eventually, you’ll see yourself to heights you’ve never seen before and become more than you ever thought possible, just make sure your focusing yourself on ALL accounts!
Be patient. Be Humble. Be Ruthless.
Check out our FREE E-Book “30 Sales and Marketing Mindset Hacks” on the home page of www.salestraininc.com for more great tips on how to maximize your sales, and crush your competition!
Matthew Gourley is the Owner of Salestraininc and has been teaching Salespeople & Business Owners how to dominate their marketplace, grow their incomes, and crush their competition! Contact his office at 403–331–5229 to do the same!
