The Mindset for Success: Tips from High Performing Athletes
This expert perspective is brought to you by:
Freestyle BMX Athlete & Network Marketer
Hello everyone! This is Nathan ‘Lanky’ Philps here today. As a bit of background on myself, I’ve been a freestyle BMX rider for 19 years and was pro for 5 of those. I’m now a coach and mentor for BMX and I’ve been involved in that space for 11 years.
Success is success regardless of what area it’s in and all successes have similar traits which I believe will be of great value to you. As a former BMX pro and now coach, I’ve noticed some things successful athletes do that really impact upon their performance. As a network marketer myself, I realised I was applying these same tactics to how I run my business. And so, today, I wanted to share my insights with you on how to help get yourself into the right mind frame for success based on the tools used by high-performing athletes. These aren’t in any particular order, so take them as they apply and best of luck!
The war is won before the battle begins
When a rider is preparing for a new trick they’ve never tried or a pro athlete is getting ready to drop in for his contest run, you may think that the actual attempt is where all the mental effort is focused. This in fact is not the case.
Before they even drop in, before they even try their trick, they’ve visualised in their mind what it is they’re going to do, how they’ll do it, the steps they’ll take to accomplish it and what is required to win.
This needs to be your attitude with Network Marketing. The battle is won and lost in your head before you even send 1 message or make 1 phone call.
If you’re in a bad place before you send anything off, you’re already setting yourself up for failure. Spend time visualising what it will take to win. What are the steps you need to do? What are the things you need to say? What are the objections you may have to overcome? How do you walk someone down the pipeline successfully?
You want to have that end goal in mind before making that call.
Now, this IS NOT about having everything perfect before you make that call. You think every single person who ever tried learning backflips landed them first try? Not a chance. But the IMAGE OF A SUCCESSFUL ATTEMPT was in their mind from the beginning! They knew what it would look like. Then, they went out and more than likely crashed and failed. Undeterred, this was the building blocks they then used to PLAN-DO-REVIEW. What happened? Why didn’t it work? What was right? What was wrong? How do you fix it for next time?
You can do the same thing as you make your calls. See in your mind the perfect call, it going smoothly from beginning to end and you signing up a new rep! Then, when you more than likely bomb, don’t beat yourself up. Learn from it. Identify the area of weakness, fortify the process and try again. Eventually you’ll ‘land that trick’ so to speak and conversations will no longer be a challenge, but a joy to look forward to.
How to capitalise on the task at hand
It is quite easy to get overwhelmed with the monumental task of trying to build a network marketing business. Heaven knows I’ve struggled with that burden. It can feel like an insurmountable mountain to climb, so this is where there’s wisdom in the words ‘One step at a time’.
Win the day. And if the day is too much to comprehend, win the moment. Just focus on the next task and get it done. Don’t let yourself be distracted. This is what I’m doing even now writing this. I’m staying focused on the task at hand until it’s completed.
But what if it’s TOO big? What if I can’t complete it all?
That’s where the 3 step process comes into play. My part time job is as an aftermarket car salesman. It is an incredibly high pressure position where I have maybe 15 minutes to build value, build rapport, then, sell multiple thousand dollars’ worth of products (I absolutely believe in the products so building value is easy as it should be for you if you believe in your products. If you don’t, either find a product you do enjoy or maybe even look for another company). It is hard, so this is what I’ve come up with which has proven incredibly successful for me.
3 Step Process
1. I’m going to do the best I can
In every situation you will find different puzzles to undo, different knots to untie and so on. Some of these tasks are incredibly complex and sometimes you’re almost guaranteed to fail. Sometimes, I’m walking down to a customer who I’ve been told has absolutely no interest in me or my products, but as part of my job position I still need to go and see them. It’s hard walking into something like this because you’re being set up for failure. In this case, when you’re coming in as the underdog, this means you have literally nothing to lose. If that’s how it’s going to go, then just give it your all and if it all falls apart then that’s fine because that’s what you were expecting. Sometimes though, you and everyone gets a surprise and through you giving it your best, you end up succeeding even when it wasn’t expected and that is a very good feeling indeed.
2. With what’s in front of me
Situations are never the same. Some are easy and open, clearly visible and the task at hand a simple one. Others are not. They’re dark and closed off and very hard to gauge. People are colourful creatures as far as their emotions go. You get angry, sad, indifferent, depressed, tired and so on, all sorts of people come through the car yard and you must serve them regardless of how they’re acting. To that end, I try to match whatever is in front of me with the complimentary action and/or emotion. If they’re happy, I’m happy. If they’re sad, I’m sympathetic. If they’re tired, I’m gentle. If they’re confused, I slow down. You got to be able to assess the situation before you and work out what’s the best way to approach the task at hand. Take a moment to pause whatever you’re doing before you get started to think this one over.
3. In the time given
This one is pretty self-explanatory. Sometimes you have all the time you need to work on something. Other times, you’ve had it dropped on you and you’ve got 5 seconds to make it work. When you’ve got plenty of time to plan it out, do so. If you’ve got no time at all, run off your experience and if possible, ask for help. Either way, make sure you’re doing all that you can with the time space before you.
Don’t be afraid to hold your time and mental energy in a high regard
Your mental energy and focus can be sapped by others unwittingly. Kids playing in the background. A spouse who’s demanding you cook dinner or clean the floor. Pets who won’t get out from under your feet.
This all takes brain power and draws your attention away from the task at hand. If you’re putting even 5% mental energy into these distractions, that will never leave you your full 100% focus to commit to the task.
So be bold enough to say no. Hold others accountable by telling them to be quiet, play elsewhere or in the case of pets, lock them outside until you’re done. (I don’t recommend this last option too much with the family but it could work!)
Say no. Stay focused. Remove brain sapping distractions. Then, do the task. You’ll get it done faster, with a higher quality and efficiency than with everything running around you.
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Break pattern/circle thinking
Pattern thinking is a rotten state of mind to fall into. Most of the time, you don’t even realise you’ve dropped into it until after you’ve removed yourself from the situation. This is where a task seems to grow and grow until you sit there overwhelmed by the immensity of it, but still sit there staring at it trying to find a way around it. You’ll waste hours just looking at a screen trying to write a letter or call that person, anything like that where you get stuck thinking, “How on earth do I do this? It’s too big, but I shouldn’t waste time, I NEED to finish this!” and then you never do.
In fact, wasting time is EXACTLY what you need to do now. Stand up and GO. Get away, leave. Go for a walk. Take 5 minutes. Take 10. Get away from the stimulant and refresh your brain. In my training, backflips are a particularly daunting trick for obvious reasons. Some kids get absolutely bound up over it to the point where they are bawling tears and can’t even drop in to try the trick, yet will not do anything but stare at the jump.
When this happens I have to break that pattern. I shout, clap, do something odd to distract them, then tell them to go away. Go ride and do something they enjoy for a few minutes then we’ll come back to it later.
If this is you, do that. Break the cycle and go do something you enjoy for 5 minutes. Read a book. Sing. Meditate. Anything to break out of that cycle. Once you’re free of it you’ll find a whole plethora of alternative answers sitting there just waiting for you to come back to.
Well that’s everything from me! I really hope you enjoyed this short read and I sincerely hope you will be able to put this into practice with your Network Marketing Company and use it to blast through your tasks. Best of luck everyone and let me know how it goes! You can find me at any of my social media accounts. - Nathan ‘Lanky’ Philips
**The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not
necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Penny.
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