“Self-command is the main discipline.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

What this quote highlights are the importance of self-control and self-discipline as foundational elements for achieving personal goals and maintaining a balanced life.

It pinpoints mastering oneself as your emotions, impulses, and actions become crucial for overall discipline and success.

By controlling your own behaviors and how you respond to things, you can better navigate challenges, staying focused on your goals and dreams.

You can control the direction of your sales life.

One can control what they can control but you can't control what you can't control.

You have the power to influence the direction of your life through your decisions, actions, and mindset.

Check this out courtesy of the team at Farnam Street:

You don't control where you start, but you can change where you go.

Integrity is a choice.

Kindness is a choice.

Hard work is a choice.

Preparation is a choice.

Consistency is a choice.

Your attitude is a choice.

Your response is your choice.

The people you hang around with is a choice.

Changing your trajectory is a choice.

By being proactive and intentional, you can steer your life in the direction you desire.

Let's think about your sales career for a moment...

Prospecting is a choice.

The relationships you build with your clients is a choice.

The meaningful value you bring to your clients is a choice.

The inspirational experiences you bring to your clients is a choice.

The disciplined habits you bring to grow yourself and your career is a choice.

What choices are you making?

Self-discipline, it's as old as mankind.

The Stoics were big on the three disciplines of Desire, Action and Assent.

• Desire has to do with acceptance of our fate.

• Action has to do with the love of mankind.

• Assent has to do with mindfulness of our judgements.

Think about the Stoics as you reflect and answer the following:

• Where's your desire to succeed or have you accepted your sales fate?

• Where's your love for mankind, your clients?

• Are you being mindful and not casting judgement, especially with your clients?

Stoicism is a tool you can use to become better in your sales craft, better with your friends and better with people.

Please hear me out on this one, no and I mean no personal success, achievement or goal, can be realized without self-discipline. Hands down and singularly this is the most important attribute needed to achieve any type of personal or professional excellence.

Nothing happens overnight. It takes time to build muscle. It also takes time to develop self-discipline. The more you train and build it, the stronger you become.

"No man is free who is not master of himself."

Epictetus

This quote reinforces that self-discipline begins with the mastery of our thoughts.

If you don’t control what you think, you cannot control what you do. Motivation gets you going, discipline keeps you growing. This is why you can’t let externals determine whether something was worth it or not.

The key to your sales success lies within you.

There's no free ride to your sales success. There's no easy button to press. There's no quick tactic, tip or trick. Without disciplined work, dedication, an extreme tolerance for frustration and setbacks you'll struggle to become a sales champion.

Stop the sales suffering. An undisciplined mind is a terrible thing to waste.

If you desire sales success, and let's admit who doesn't, then you must be willing to take massive action. I'm concerned that far too many in sales lack the basic understanding of what’s necessary to become a sales professional.

Self-discipline is your core personal power. It’s the source of all other powers.

To quote, David Eagleman, the author of Incognito – The Secret Lives of the Brain,

"Our behavior is simply the result of the many battles between short-term and long-term desires in our brain. If that is the case, then self-discipline is your ability to choose the part of you that should win the battles that matter."

Exercise this power within your brain, and you strengthen it. You will have gained the fulfillment of knowing you're doing your best. Do this day after day, week over week and month over month, expressing the best there is in you, and you'll live with the calmness of having no regrets.

"Self-discipline is a form of self-regulation, self-control or self-mastery—it is the benevolent exercise of power within yourself. Like a good king/queen leading the country to a happier, desired future."

Giovanni Dienstmann

ADOPT SELF-DISCIPLINE, NOT EXCUSES

One of my favorite quotes is by Craig Groeschel,

"We can make excuses, or we can make progress but we can't make both."

By letting go of excuses, you open the path to progress and success.

Sales professionals combine self-discipline with no excuses to create sales betterment.

Sales professionals hold themselves personally and radically accountable. They hold themselves to a higher degree of standards than sales reps.

They have a no-excuse mentality. They don't point fingers when they fail to hit their sales plan. They simply do the things that sales reps find excuses not to do.

You see, excuses stunt sales growth. Excuses stunt relational growth. They're invented reasons you create to defend your behavior, to postpone taking action, or simply as a means of neglecting responsibility.

There are numerous reasons why salespeople make excuses.

Let's look at a few...

• Fear of failure

• Fear of success

• Fear of change

• Fear of uncertainty

• Fear of what others may have to say

Excuses are mainly a means of placing the blame of an internal problem on an external condition.

The roadmap to your success is based upon disciplined work, personal ownership, and practice.

Napoleon Hill went onto say,

"You need to acquire the habit of work and demonstrate personal initiative to get ahead in life. There is no benefit to procrastinating or performing mediocre work. Ideas are the beginning points of all fortunes, but it takes action to keep them alive."

Back in 1908, in a conversation between then Napoleon Hill and Andrew Carnegie, Hill went onto say, "I deduce that self-discipline is largely a matter of constructive habits. Is that the idea?".

Upon which Carnegie replied, "What a person is and what a person accomplishes both in failure and success is the result of that person's habits. Gaining control of these habits goes a long way toward the attainment of self-discipline."

My sales friends, that conversation took place well over 100 years ago and it's 100% applicable today.

The question now becomes what will you do about it? And when will you start?

SELF-DISCIPLINE REQUIRES A SHIFT IN MINDSET

“A disciplined mind leads to happiness, and an undisciplined mind leads to suffering.”

Dalai Lama

Sales professionals are business athletes.

What separates elite salespeople from the rest? I believe elite salespeople have a next level mindset.

Elite salespeople constantly challenge themselves. Are you?

Elite salespeople push themselves to practice. They pay attention to the little things on a consistent basis and continually focus on positive work habits. Can this be said about you?

Elite salespeople invest in their own growth by attending workshops, reading industry-related books, and seeking mentorship.

Elite salespeople regularly review their performance, identifying areas for improvement and implementing new strategies to enhance their skills.

Elite salespeople have the ability to connect on a deeper level which helps to build trust and rapport, as they make their clients feel more comfortable and open to working with them.

Could you become more consistent in sales if you changed your mindset?

I believe changing your mindset can drastically improve your consistency in sales.

Here are a few mindset shifts to think about:

1. Growth Mindset: Embrace challenges and view failures as opportunities to learn and grow rather than setbacks.

2. Positive Thinking: Focus on positive outcomes and possibilities rather than dwelling on negative aspects or potential failures.

3. Client-Centric Approach: Prioritize understanding and meeting the needs of your clients, which can lead to better relationships and more consistent sales.

4. Continuous Learning: Stay open minded to learning new techniques, improving your skills, and adapting to changes in the market.

What would happen to your sales results with an improvement in your preparation, practice, and how you mentally prepared for sales day?

STOP LIVING A SALES LIE, DEVELOP DISCIPLINE

“Self-discipline is when your conscience tells you to do something and you don’t talk back.”

W. K. Hope

I'm throwing a stake in the ground on this one... There are salespeople out there who would rather get by with subpar work ethics, minimal levels of practice, coupled with entertaining themselves on social media, then wondering why their results continually have them in the sales management doghouse.

These salespeople consistently struggle to put in the extra effort to become more focused or more self-disciplined.

Folks, the secret to success is mental. The secret to success lies in your hands, and your actions, not in your mouth.

Do you have what it takes to take your sales career to the next level? Can you honestly put your actions where your mouth is? Are you willing to walk the walk?

Napoleon Hill said it the best,

"Self-discipline begins with the mastery of your thoughts. If you don’t control what you think, you can’t control what you do. Simply, self-discipline enables you to think first and act afterward."

The secret to sales success is quite simple to understand yet so difficult to consistently put into action.

Personal accountability becomes the glue that ties commitment to results.

Originally published on Larry Levine's LinkedIn.