Let’s talk about selling smarter!

Over the course of your lifetime, you’ll be faced with situations that’ll test your will, challenge your determination, define your character. There will be days when you feel beat down, fed up, ready to call it in and shut it down. Adversity is a constant. But resilience? That’s a choice. And it’s a choice we get to make every day of our lives: Quit….or grit.

Grit isn’t just about pushing through tough times or shrugging off the setbacks. It’s about summoning the passion and persistence to achieve long-term goals.

For years, researchers have studied high performers to determine what drives success. It’s not a high IQ. Not talent or superior genes. It’s not the ZIP code you were born in, the schools you went to – not even the degrees you earned.

It’s grit.

And the thing about grit is that anyone, anywhere can possess it.

There is no other quality that determines our reach and our results.

So how do we start to unlock our passion and perseverance?

#1 - Manage your distractions.
We all have things in our life that pull us away from what really matters. Whether it’s social media, television, our bad habits, or an unhealthy relationship, they all offer us early rewards without lasting value. Discover what most commonly distracts you, determine what small reward it’s offering you, and in your moments of temptation, remind yourself of the greater reward that you are trying to achieve in realizing your ultimate goal.

#2 - Eradicate your “fixed mindset.”
Your skills and talents are not fixed. They are fluid. By shifting to a growth mindset, you’ll see setbacks as starting points and failure as a first step in learning. Gritty people don’t think everything is perfect all the time. They believe that things can be made more perfect with time.

#3 – Get big results with small rewards.
When there’s a task that feels really big, it’s easy to get discouraged. But if you break it down into smaller pieces and reward yourself along the way, you’ll be more aware of your progress and more likely to stick with the task. Sales is like a marathon, not a sprint. Pace yourself, prime yourself and pride yourself for the good work you do, and you’ll sustain the passion and perseverance to keep moving forward.

Strive for progress, not perfection. Fail a little, but learn a lot. And remember, you may not choose what life throws at you, but you always get to throw it back.