I Love Fishing

To anyone who knows me, this is no secret. A few days ago I was out in my little John boat, drifting and casting. It was a warm day…well some would call it hot…but I like it hot so for me it was just warm! Anyway, the sun was shining bright, there was a bit of a ripple on the water as the wind kissed it from time to time and caused just enough breeze so the sweat rolling down my chest served to cool me off.

The gulls were singing their song on the dock nearby and the fish were letting me know they were in the area by splashing as they chased the baitfish around me. I drifted around casting, re-positioning the boat, and casting some more. I had worked for several hours earlier in the day and just decided to pop out into the water for a few hours.

After a few hours and not a single fish in the boat, with a smile on my face, I put my oars in the water and paddled back to our beach, where I pulled the boat out, and then put away my gear.

I had a great time even though I didn’t catch a fish.

So What’s This Got To Do With Success in Your Business?

Everything. You see catching a fish is completely about the process. If you spend enough time doing the steps that lead to a fish ending up on your line, you eventually CATCH a fish. But they don’t call it CATCHING. They call it FISHING.

If the only joy I received from the act of fishing was when I was in the act of catching…fishing would not be very fun. Even on a good day of fishing, where I land several fish, I spend more of my time without a fish on my line than WITH a fish on the line.

Many days I catch nothing, but I still enjoy the fishing. I still experience the time in the present. This is the Secret to Success in Business.

Do You Want More Clients? Sales? Contracts? Whatever it is That Equates to the Outcome Which Provides You Revenue?

Then you have to enjoy, and focus on, the process of the work. You cannot just have joy when you “catch” a client.

If you only enjoy the work when you are successfully converting activity to revenue, you are going to be pretty miserable. Even the best salespeople don’t do much better than 20% of their prospects saying yes. If they only got joy from the 2 times they get a yes, they aren’t going to last long, because 80% of the time they will be unhappy. In fact, if you are tying your happiness in the work to conversion, you won’t be a top producer.

You will be so attached to the outcome of getting the sale, that you will be stressed, have a tendency to be applying pressure, and not be in the moment. You will be focused on what YOU want.

This will be evident to your prospects. They will feel it. They will know you aren’t really listening or focusing on THEIR best interest.

You have been on the other side of this situation before, and I’m guessing you didn’t like it very much. Don’t misunderstand me, you should definitely be working at improving your ability to convert. I am constantly learning new things to make me a better fisherman.

You should be developing your core competencies with people. Your listening skills, your question asking skills, your knowledge of what you have to offer, your time utilization skills, etc. But, the true key to success in any business is finding and experiencing the joy in the process, and then simply trusting the process.

Focus on the process, treat people with kindness and respect, and diligently work with no attachment to the outcome, and you will catch plenty of the right clients, and they will happily tell others about you.

In this video I go much deeper into the perils of attachment and the impact of focusing and trusting the process. Take a few minutes and watch it, and then do it!

I hope you found this helpful. Please share with others if you believe they would benefit.

Here is a recent video on How to Design an Awesome Life

If you need some coaching reach out to me.

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Many Blessings, Todd

P.S. The health journey is challenging for many people as they struggle with motivation to do the things they need to. Here is a short video where I talk about the “Pink Fuel,” a product that helps with reducing hunger and boosting energy, focus, and mood, naturally. It is one of the best “gateway” products for moving into a healthier lifestyle I have seen in 31 years. Let me know if you would like a link to order and try at wholesale, or if you would like more information. This is helping a lot of people.

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