Last week we
discussed feeling “stuck” in our lives and our careers. In my role as a coach
and manager I often see how people quickly discover the level of performance
those around them will tolerate… and then they gravitate to that level. Imagine if your spouse would tolerate you
going out for a beer every day after work with your buds and coming home late
with a buzz on... then you would naturally gravitate to the fun and easy… maybe not
really considering how it may be affecting your relationship long term.
The same is
true in business. If your manager will allow you to miss sales
meetings, slough off training/ coaching sessions, and close only a few transaction a year…
then you too will gravitate to the easy... not fully realizing how it will negatively affect your career and your income.
Then as your
performance at home and work decelerates, those around you will begin to assume
this low level of performance is all you are capable of achieving and will eventually stop
challenging you to do better. So in reality… you, and those around you, unconsciously reinforce low performance and it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy of sorts.
Many times
in our profession I hear the word “plateau” used to describe someone in the
above described dimension….
How does Webster define plateau?
Pla-teau (noun) 1. An area of relatively high ground
2. A state of
little or no change following a period of activity or progress.
Look at the 1st
definition… when you are in a low production state I would not define it as
“relatively high ground”… and for the 2nd … some low production
agents may have never seen a period of activity or progress… so use of the term
plateau is often misused. The reality is...you are stuck in your own beliefs and the
beliefs of those who surround you.
Consider it this way...If you believe,
think, and feel something… it becomes who you are. We all form mental
boundaries which limit our performance... and these boundaries control everything we
do… and what we achieve is always consistent with our own inner
belief systems.
Your performance
cannot expand beyond the limits we unconsciously place on ourselves. Based on
our own perceptions, and the perceptions others have of us, we mentally draw a
boundary circle around us we fully believe we cannot pass through. We make hundreds
of these unconscious decisions about ourselves, our lives, and our capabilities
every day... and with each decision we silently strengthen our boundary circles.
The only way
growth can occur is to push back the inner walls of your circle… and we
usually can only do this in small incremental expansions of your belief
paradigm. If you are willing to undergo the hard work and stress of changing
your inner most personal beliefs new positive thoughts and
better performance will fill the expanded space within your circle.
Most old-school motivational efforts fail because they focus on changing actions and performance
without first changing the base cause of a poor belief system.
If you want to
change your performance first you must change your beliefs… (More to come).
Next Blog Topic:
Changing your inner beliefs systems
Eddie Brown ©2016
