WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.240 --> 00:00:04.240 It really does make sense that we should spend those hours of week in areas 2 00:00:04.240 --> 00:00:13.240 of aspiration and mastery instead of drudgery. You're listening to the Audible Ready Podcast, 3 00:00:13.480 --> 00:00:17.800 the show that helps you and your teams sell more faster. We'll feature 4 00:00:17.839 --> 00:00:21.480 sales leaders sharing their best insights on how to create a sales engine that helps 5 00:00:21.519 --> 00:00:26.039 you fuel repeatable revenue growth, presented by the team at Force Management, a 6 00:00:26.120 --> 00:00:31.879 leader in B to B sales effectiveness. Let's get started. Hello, welcome 7 00:00:31.960 --> 00:00:35.840 to the Audible Ready Sales Podcast. I'm Rachel Klatt Miller. Today, as 8 00:00:35.880 --> 00:00:41.000 we start another year, we are going to talk about looking back, assessing 9 00:00:41.039 --> 00:00:45.439 your years so you can excel in twenty twenty four in the way that you 10 00:00:46.079 --> 00:00:50.640 want to. Jim Poolyapolis we call him Polly, is joining me for this 11 00:00:50.679 --> 00:00:54.600 conversation. Polly has been on our show before. I hope you've listened to 12 00:00:54.600 --> 00:00:59.159 his other episodes, but he's really an expert in finding your motivation, what 13 00:00:59.240 --> 00:01:03.240 makes you happy, excelling in your career, and it's all with an angle 14 00:01:03.280 --> 00:01:07.760 for people who do sales for a living. Fully welcome, it's so great 15 00:01:07.799 --> 00:01:10.519 to be here, Rachel. Thanks for having me on again. Yeah, 16 00:01:10.680 --> 00:01:12.519 yeah, ge me coming back. I love doing these well, we love 17 00:01:12.599 --> 00:01:18.799 having you, and this time of year aligns really well with your expertise, 18 00:01:18.840 --> 00:01:23.640 and I know the topic you are most passionate about. We're going to tackle 19 00:01:23.719 --> 00:01:27.359 several areas in this podcast today and ways for you to get your mind around 20 00:01:27.400 --> 00:01:33.719 what you want to do, who you want to be in twenty twenty four. 21 00:01:33.959 --> 00:01:38.439 And you've done some work executive coaching on this very topic, and this 22 00:01:38.519 --> 00:01:42.480 whole idea of like looking back to move forward is one theme that we're going 23 00:01:42.519 --> 00:01:47.319 to tackle. Yeah. Absolutely so to that point, I actually spent a 24 00:01:47.400 --> 00:01:51.319 number of years as an executive coach, and I worked with technology leaders that 25 00:01:51.400 --> 00:01:55.959 work with business owners. And one of the things that always kind of came 26 00:01:56.000 --> 00:01:59.840 back to me as a theme when I was coaching these individuals was that we 27 00:02:00.120 --> 00:02:05.400 might be sort of focused on trying to help them solve a specific career related 28 00:02:05.480 --> 00:02:08.919 problem or some challenge they were facing in their organization, just trying to get 29 00:02:08.919 --> 00:02:13.479 them to kind of move forward with the business at hand. One of the 30 00:02:13.479 --> 00:02:15.560 things that I learned early on was that I had to coach the whole person. 31 00:02:16.039 --> 00:02:19.400 By that, what I mean is I always had to kind of ask 32 00:02:19.439 --> 00:02:23.680 them to step back a little bit from just what personal or professional challenge you 33 00:02:23.759 --> 00:02:27.639 were facing and talk a little bit about what else is going on in their 34 00:02:27.639 --> 00:02:31.280 lives, you know, family, personal goals, personal issues, relationships, 35 00:02:31.840 --> 00:02:37.120 intellectual pursuits, hobbies, you know, just the whole bucket of things that 36 00:02:37.199 --> 00:02:40.400 every human has, getting them to step back a little bit and seeing how 37 00:02:40.479 --> 00:02:45.639 all of that fit together and did it align well enough so that they could 38 00:02:45.680 --> 00:02:50.560 actually be productive and efficient at work and at the same time maintain, you 39 00:02:50.599 --> 00:02:54.280 know, a little bit of balance between work and personal lives. And I 40 00:02:54.319 --> 00:02:59.719 saw a lot of this really change during COVID because we were, in many 41 00:02:59.759 --> 00:03:05.680 ways is forced to merge and meld our personal lives and our work lives into 42 00:03:05.919 --> 00:03:09.120 one life because suddenly people were working from home and we were dealing with family 43 00:03:09.159 --> 00:03:12.360 at home, or we were trying to do our work from home, we 44 00:03:12.360 --> 00:03:15.319 weren't going into the office. So many things changed. And now we're sort 45 00:03:15.319 --> 00:03:20.759 of trying to re extract those two lives and you know, sort of decombine 46 00:03:20.800 --> 00:03:23.400 them again as we kind of move forward beyond what we had a few years 47 00:03:23.400 --> 00:03:28.080 ago. So it's a really interesting time to kind of do this exercise of 48 00:03:28.120 --> 00:03:30.759 looking back and then planning on what we want to do going forward. So 49 00:03:31.319 --> 00:03:35.800 that's kind of the lens that I bring to us. Yeah, and I 50 00:03:35.800 --> 00:03:42.000 think too often we compartmentalize when we're goal setting or when we're looking ahead. 51 00:03:42.120 --> 00:03:47.039 It's like you think about your career separate from your family, but or your 52 00:03:47.080 --> 00:03:51.360 personal life, I should say, but that personal life is going to impact 53 00:03:51.400 --> 00:03:53.919 your career. Your career is going to impact your part. Like you have 54 00:03:53.000 --> 00:04:00.360 to think about that big picture to your point in those areas of folkus. 55 00:04:00.759 --> 00:04:04.400 So as we like kind of assess twenty twenty three, You know, sometimes 56 00:04:04.560 --> 00:04:08.159 as I was thinking about the questions, I was going to ask you, 57 00:04:08.400 --> 00:04:12.000 God, I don't want them to sound so like flowery and like look at 58 00:04:12.039 --> 00:04:15.000 that. But really, when you want to look back at your year so 59 00:04:15.040 --> 00:04:20.000 you can fix what you don't like and keep doing what you do, and 60 00:04:20.199 --> 00:04:24.160 what tips do you have for kind of doing that in a meaningful way? 61 00:04:24.439 --> 00:04:26.839 Yeah, I think there's a couple of things people can do. So one 62 00:04:27.279 --> 00:04:31.720 a number of years ago, I did a TED talk on regrets on how 63 00:04:31.759 --> 00:04:34.519 do we deal with regrets in our lives? And regrets is you know, 64 00:04:34.560 --> 00:04:40.319 one of these emotions. I think that's very misunderstood So one great way to 65 00:04:40.439 --> 00:04:44.519 kind of assess how you did in twenty twenty three is just look back over 66 00:04:44.560 --> 00:04:47.439 the year and kind of think through some of the categories of life that we 67 00:04:47.519 --> 00:04:51.839 fall into. Right our career as a salesperson or sales manager, Right, 68 00:04:53.120 --> 00:04:59.720 that's one bucket career, call that professional lens. Another lenses family and relationships. 69 00:05:00.120 --> 00:05:02.759 Lens might be I mentioned earlier, intellectual in terms of you know, 70 00:05:03.360 --> 00:05:09.199 just working on my own intellectual curiosity, building new skills. It could be 71 00:05:09.199 --> 00:05:12.519 physical, my physical nature. Right, Am I fit? Do I have 72 00:05:12.600 --> 00:05:14.279 energy? Do I need to lose weight? You know, what are some 73 00:05:14.319 --> 00:05:16.319 of the things I need to do physically? Could be spiritual. You know, 74 00:05:16.399 --> 00:05:19.480 a lot of people have a variety of ways of looking at the world 75 00:05:19.759 --> 00:05:23.680 spiritually, religiously, you know, looking back at all these elements, just 76 00:05:23.759 --> 00:05:28.279 kind of list those out and make two columns. One column would be what 77 00:05:28.319 --> 00:05:31.199 regrets do I have in these categories from the past year, Like what things 78 00:05:31.240 --> 00:05:34.920 do I regret? So take one from a family for example, maybe you 79 00:05:35.040 --> 00:05:41.399 canceled a vacation because you had a milestone that you couldn't deliver upon them. 80 00:05:41.439 --> 00:05:44.160 Therefore you had to cancel a family vacation. Just to do some work and 81 00:05:44.240 --> 00:05:48.680 get it done. Another column of successes or places that you feel most proud 82 00:05:48.720 --> 00:05:54.279 of in these areas. Those two columns should give you a really strong lens, 83 00:05:54.439 --> 00:05:57.920 a really strong photo, if you will, an image of what you 84 00:05:58.120 --> 00:06:02.240 value most in life, the things that you regret, like a photographic negative 85 00:06:02.959 --> 00:06:06.240 of the things that you value the most. So if you regret canceling a 86 00:06:06.240 --> 00:06:10.639 family vacation, obviously that means family is very important to you and you're thinking 87 00:06:10.680 --> 00:06:14.519 about it. Right. If you have something in the plus column that you 88 00:06:14.600 --> 00:06:18.000 were able to attend your children's soccer games, You didn't miss a soccer game 89 00:06:18.040 --> 00:06:21.839 for your daughter all season long, and you put that in the plus column, 90 00:06:23.240 --> 00:06:27.519 that means obviously you value time showing up and supporting your children. So 91 00:06:27.800 --> 00:06:30.839 those are some of the things that you kind of assess that And maybe a 92 00:06:30.879 --> 00:06:33.600 third column is to say what does this mean about me? Because that gives 93 00:06:33.600 --> 00:06:36.680 you sort of you know, a lot of organizations and companies all have mission 94 00:06:36.680 --> 00:06:40.759 statements and vision statements. Right, what we're trying to do is kind of 95 00:06:40.800 --> 00:06:45.199 create our own operating statement going forward to say, these are the things that 96 00:06:45.240 --> 00:06:48.240 I am most concerned about, These are the things that I value the most. 97 00:06:48.360 --> 00:06:51.879 These are the values that I hold most dear to myself. I think 98 00:06:51.879 --> 00:06:55.399 you have to start there before you look forward to the new year, to 99 00:06:55.399 --> 00:06:59.079 say, how do I want to align everything that I do around the things 100 00:06:59.079 --> 00:07:02.160 that are most important to me? Because once the year starts, we get 101 00:07:02.160 --> 00:07:06.399 pretty busy being busy, right, we lose track of the things that we 102 00:07:06.480 --> 00:07:11.759 set are important to us. And then another years passed and we realized maybe 103 00:07:11.800 --> 00:07:15.079 we have the same regret. I almost feel like if you have a regret 104 00:07:15.759 --> 00:07:18.240 and you don't learn from it, and you make the same mistake, you 105 00:07:18.360 --> 00:07:21.959 make a decision like that that causes that regret to occur a second time. 106 00:07:23.319 --> 00:07:26.639 It's kind of like that old saying, fool me once, shame on you. 107 00:07:26.720 --> 00:07:29.560 Fool me twice, shame on me. In other words, I have 108 00:07:29.720 --> 00:07:32.519 the regret, I learned from it, and I'm going to work hard not 109 00:07:32.600 --> 00:07:38.439 to allow that regret to happen again. Or I have the regret I didn't 110 00:07:38.480 --> 00:07:41.279 learn from it, and I allow it to happen again. Now it's a 111 00:07:41.279 --> 00:07:43.800 pattern. Right now, it's a pattern that it's a little harder to break. 112 00:07:43.839 --> 00:07:47.360 So regrets and wins, and what does that tell you about yourself from 113 00:07:47.439 --> 00:07:51.959 this past year. I think that's a really helpful exercise to go through. 114 00:07:53.199 --> 00:07:55.720 Yeah, good way to look at that. You know, it's kind of 115 00:07:55.720 --> 00:07:58.399 whir because it's like you might think of a regret as a negative thing, 116 00:07:58.959 --> 00:08:03.639 but framing in that way really tells you what you want to change moving forward. 117 00:08:03.000 --> 00:08:07.879 And I know, Pully you've said this before. We aren't like talking 118 00:08:07.920 --> 00:08:11.920 about a new Year's resolution here, like I am going to do Like, 119 00:08:13.040 --> 00:08:16.720 that's not what you're frame with. This has no no I think new Year's 120 00:08:16.759 --> 00:08:20.199 resolutions, it's one of these things everyone's It's kind of fun for people to 121 00:08:20.240 --> 00:08:22.839 talk about them, right, and it happens every year and we get all 122 00:08:22.879 --> 00:08:26.560 excited about it. I really don't like the concept of a new Year's resolution. 123 00:08:26.680 --> 00:08:31.519 I think we operate on our own sort of basic fiscal year. Right. 124 00:08:31.600 --> 00:08:35.759 The year begins January first, it ends December thirty first, and you 125 00:08:35.799 --> 00:08:37.840 know, we get to the end of the year. There's always this in 126 00:08:37.919 --> 00:08:41.000 sales, of course, there's this huge flurry of activity as we try to 127 00:08:41.000 --> 00:08:43.200 close out the core or close out the year. You know, see where 128 00:08:43.240 --> 00:08:48.039 we end up production wise by the end of the year. But you know, 129 00:08:48.080 --> 00:08:50.519 the whole idea of the resolutions is I feel like resolutions are almost like 130 00:08:50.639 --> 00:08:56.440 statements about I wish I could be like this, right. These are like 131 00:08:56.480 --> 00:09:01.320 the I wish I was better at my job, I wish I was healthier, 132 00:09:01.399 --> 00:09:03.600 I wish I had better relationships. But they're just wishes, right. 133 00:09:05.039 --> 00:09:09.759 So for me, when I think about sort of that annual resolution process or 134 00:09:09.840 --> 00:09:15.120 goal setting process, I think it's kind of a hollow activity unless we step 135 00:09:15.159 --> 00:09:18.320 back from it. Now we get a little more tactical and say, if 136 00:09:18.360 --> 00:09:22.679 I want to achieve something this year, I state that as my resolution or 137 00:09:22.679 --> 00:09:26.240 my goal, that's great. But if I don't understand the actions that are 138 00:09:26.279 --> 00:09:30.480 required on a daily or weekly basis to help me get there, and what's 139 00:09:30.519 --> 00:09:33.480 the point I'm making the resolution of the goal if I know that if I'm 140 00:09:33.480 --> 00:09:37.240 in a BDR role, for example, I know if I make eighty to 141 00:09:37.240 --> 00:09:39.559 one hundred calls a day, I'm probably going to connect with five to ten 142 00:09:39.600 --> 00:09:46.159 people. I may be able to generate one appointment, one lead appointment, 143 00:09:46.200 --> 00:09:48.799 one demo appointment a day, get fired the week. I know that that 144 00:09:48.919 --> 00:09:52.759 leads to some outcome that my employer is looking for. I think we have 145 00:09:52.799 --> 00:09:56.759 to do the same thing with every one of our resolutions, if you will, 146 00:09:56.879 --> 00:10:01.519 or annual goals to say, if I want to lose fifty pounds this 147 00:10:01.639 --> 00:10:05.879 year in twenty twenty four, if I lose a pound a week, I'll 148 00:10:05.879 --> 00:10:09.159 get there. So what does that mean? That means each week I have 149 00:10:09.279 --> 00:10:11.960 to monitor my intake. I have to eat the right kind of food, 150 00:10:13.039 --> 00:10:16.639 I have to do daily exercises. All these things add up to reaching the 151 00:10:16.720 --> 00:10:20.159 goal. But just saying I'm going to lose fifty pounds and that's my resolution 152 00:10:22.279 --> 00:10:26.720 without that underlying action plan, it doesn't work right. You need that action 153 00:10:26.799 --> 00:10:28.879 plan, then you need those daily habits to get there. Yeah, And 154 00:10:28.919 --> 00:10:31.720 it's how we think about sales. I don't know how many times in this 155 00:10:31.799 --> 00:10:35.240 podcast I've talked about you have to understand the how you have to follow the 156 00:10:35.320 --> 00:10:39.559 process. If you want to crush the quota, you need to follow a 157 00:10:39.639 --> 00:10:43.639 series of processes every day in your daily sales motion if you want it, 158 00:10:43.840 --> 00:10:46.759 if you want the deal to close, what's your medic framework? How are 159 00:10:46.759 --> 00:10:50.159 you like? It's all about the steps to get there. And it's the 160 00:10:50.200 --> 00:10:56.120 same thing in our just overall well being and when we're setting those goals for 161 00:10:56.240 --> 00:10:58.559 it let's talk about sales goals. Right. Let's say you look back and 162 00:10:58.559 --> 00:11:01.360 you look forward to twenty twenty four, and you want to really crush your 163 00:11:01.399 --> 00:11:05.399 goal. Right. In many cases, you're given your revenue goal, right, 164 00:11:05.440 --> 00:11:07.240 your quota. You know what that's going to be. You want to 165 00:11:07.360 --> 00:11:09.440 exceed it, perhaps, right, I want to exceed it by ten to 166 00:11:09.519 --> 00:11:15.480 twenty percent. Well to your point, you know what got you to achieve 167 00:11:15.519 --> 00:11:18.679 the goal this year? What were the activities and the things that you had 168 00:11:18.679 --> 00:11:24.000 to do to get there. So create a tracking system for yourself to track 169 00:11:24.039 --> 00:11:26.879 those activities on a daily, a weekly basis. One of the most famous, 170 00:11:28.039 --> 00:11:33.960 sort of simplest and most famous examples is Jerry Seinfeld, ridiculously successful comedian. 171 00:11:33.559 --> 00:11:39.480 He talks about how when he was really getting started, he just decided 172 00:11:39.519 --> 00:11:46.440 that he would set a goal for himself of writing one joke a day. 173 00:11:46.159 --> 00:11:48.720 And he said, I didn't set a goal of writing one good joke a 174 00:11:48.799 --> 00:11:54.480 day. I just would write one joke a day so that I kept the 175 00:11:54.600 --> 00:11:58.559 creative juices flowing. And he had a big calendar on his wall and he 176 00:11:58.600 --> 00:12:01.360 would take a red marker and put an X on every day that he wrote 177 00:12:01.399 --> 00:12:05.759 a joke. Good or bad, and he said, my whole goal was 178 00:12:05.799 --> 00:12:09.480 not to break the chain, just to keep the chain going, so that 179 00:12:09.559 --> 00:12:13.919 he had that built in accountability. I think for a lot of salespeople, 180 00:12:13.320 --> 00:12:16.919 they have some built in accountability. Obviously, they've got managers they have to 181 00:12:16.960 --> 00:12:20.799 report to, they've got CRM and tracking system that are showing their progress. 182 00:12:22.240 --> 00:12:26.120 But I think if you really want to do something unique and go beyond what's 183 00:12:26.159 --> 00:12:30.919 expected now, you have to create a tracking system for those things that you 184 00:12:31.039 --> 00:12:35.480 know are going to get you to that other level and maybe found someone who 185 00:12:35.519 --> 00:12:37.080 can, you know, kind of help you with that accountability, maybe someone 186 00:12:37.120 --> 00:12:41.240 that you can on a daily basis kind of confer with and say, right, 187 00:12:41.279 --> 00:12:45.919 I made my hundred calls today, or I reached out to ten people 188 00:12:46.000 --> 00:12:50.480 via email or whatever happens to be, and I added two extras at the 189 00:12:50.559 --> 00:12:52.080 end of the day, right, And I know by tracking those things, 190 00:12:52.080 --> 00:12:56.840 I'm going to exceed my goal long term. I think the reason people regret 191 00:12:56.919 --> 00:12:58.840 things, you know, there are these sort of foundational regrets, which are 192 00:13:00.639 --> 00:13:01.679 you get to a certain point in life and you look back and say, 193 00:13:01.679 --> 00:13:05.039 oh my gosh, I didn't save enough money, or oh my gosh, 194 00:13:05.159 --> 00:13:09.279 I didn't adequately take care of my physical health. Right, those are some 195 00:13:09.279 --> 00:13:13.320 of the more common regrets. Those are because we didn't track those things. 196 00:13:13.519 --> 00:13:16.200 We just didn't keep track of them on a daily, weekly basis. So 197 00:13:16.679 --> 00:13:18.480 I guess what I'm saying is, what's the chain that you want to create 198 00:13:18.519 --> 00:13:22.360 for twenty twenty four? What are the chain of activities? And then literally 199 00:13:22.399 --> 00:13:26.039 just track it on a piece of paper or online someplace, but make it 200 00:13:26.120 --> 00:13:30.600 visual, make it so that it reminds you of a daily basis the things 201 00:13:30.600 --> 00:13:33.080 you said you wanted to achieve at the beginning of the year. Yeah, 202 00:13:33.200 --> 00:13:37.279 you know this time of the year, there's many of you listening out there 203 00:13:37.279 --> 00:13:43.799 who I know are preparing to attend your company's annual SKO, which is like 204 00:13:43.879 --> 00:13:46.559 this kickoff to the year and what we're going to do, and those are 205 00:13:46.679 --> 00:13:52.799 often a great rallying cry for the year. But also you know, you 206 00:13:52.840 --> 00:13:56.480 can use that like benchmark to think like, hey, am I where I 207 00:13:56.519 --> 00:14:00.759 want to be in my career? Yeah? What do I want for this 208 00:14:00.840 --> 00:14:03.639 year? I mean in the right place? And what are my specific goals? 209 00:14:03.639 --> 00:14:07.799 And really questioning that can be healthy because it gets you on that plan 210 00:14:07.879 --> 00:14:11.279 to what you're speaking about Yeah. So you know, in addition to working 211 00:14:11.279 --> 00:14:13.879 for forced management, I teach at a university, right, I teach at 212 00:14:13.879 --> 00:14:16.440 Bentley University, and I have a lot of seniors come to me who are 213 00:14:16.480 --> 00:14:18.879 panicking about graduation, like where am I going to work? What am I 214 00:14:18.879 --> 00:14:22.639 going to do? And I tell them there are a few things you always 215 00:14:22.679 --> 00:14:26.399 have to think about. And this doesn't just apply to graduating seniors from college 216 00:14:26.399 --> 00:14:28.080 you. It applies to all of us. But we kind of get so 217 00:14:28.440 --> 00:14:33.639 wrapped into our careers we forget to do this. So I think there are 218 00:14:33.679 --> 00:14:39.759 two elements that generate career satisfaction for an individual. Number one, what do 219 00:14:39.799 --> 00:14:41.360 you do well? Right? That's a basic one, and that's one that 220 00:14:41.399 --> 00:14:46.639 a lot of people understand. Right all through middle school, high school, 221 00:14:46.759 --> 00:14:50.120 college, early years of your profession, people are telling you what you do 222 00:14:50.200 --> 00:14:52.000 well. Oooh, you're great with mathe and science. You should do that. 223 00:14:52.120 --> 00:14:56.320 Yeah, that's a good thing, You're good at these things. The 224 00:14:56.360 --> 00:15:00.799 real important second question is what do you enjoy doing well? Because you can 225 00:15:00.919 --> 00:15:03.840 do something really well but not necessarily enjoy doing it well, it doesn't bring 226 00:15:03.879 --> 00:15:07.919 you any satisfaction. In my case as a recovering engineer, as I like 227 00:15:07.960 --> 00:15:11.120 to joke about I've got two engineering degrees, and I started working as an 228 00:15:11.159 --> 00:15:16.320 engineer. Got my master's degree while I was working because everyone told me, 229 00:15:16.360 --> 00:15:18.000 as I said earlier, I was good at math and science. You'd be 230 00:15:18.039 --> 00:15:20.840 a great engineer, natural engineer. You're so good in this stuff. You're 231 00:15:20.879 --> 00:15:24.519 so smart with math and science. I got into that career and I realized 232 00:15:24.639 --> 00:15:26.480 I could do it. I could do it pretty well, but I don't 233 00:15:26.519 --> 00:15:31.120 really enjoy doing it well. It wasn't It didn't bring me satisfaction right, 234 00:15:31.360 --> 00:15:35.000 and it took me a long time to figure out a better path. So 235 00:15:35.279 --> 00:15:39.799 I think what every professional should do. Every sales professional should do the following. 236 00:15:39.840 --> 00:15:43.879 Every six months, ask yourself, what do I do well? What 237 00:15:43.879 --> 00:15:46.440 do I enjoy doing well? And you almost create like a two by two 238 00:15:46.480 --> 00:15:50.440 matrix, right, because if you do it well but don't enjoy doing it 239 00:15:50.480 --> 00:15:54.360 well, that's drudgery. Right. I do it well, but I don't 240 00:15:54.360 --> 00:15:56.080 really enjoy doing it well. People keep coming to me asking me to do 241 00:15:56.120 --> 00:16:00.639 these kind of tasks, but it's drudgery, right. Eventually, drudgery will 242 00:16:00.720 --> 00:16:03.960 lead to a point where not only do you not enjoy doing it well, 243 00:16:04.039 --> 00:16:07.440 you just don't do it well because you start to kind of mail it in 244 00:16:07.440 --> 00:16:11.039 in terms of your performance. Right, So your drudgery is sort of a 245 00:16:11.080 --> 00:16:15.000 burnout into failure mode. What you really want is to be doing tasks that 246 00:16:15.080 --> 00:16:18.919 you do well or even below average in the beginning, things that you do 247 00:16:19.360 --> 00:16:25.639 but that you enjoy getting better at. That's like an aspirational mode and that 248 00:16:25.679 --> 00:16:29.879 can then lead to a period of growth where you do it really well and 249 00:16:29.960 --> 00:16:33.360 you enjoy doing it well. And that's sort of the mastery that you want 250 00:16:33.399 --> 00:16:37.320 to get to. And there's always going to be some drudgery with all jobs, 251 00:16:37.559 --> 00:16:38.919 right, there's always going to be you know, ten twenty percent of 252 00:16:38.960 --> 00:16:42.320 every job is going to be stuff you just don't enjoy doing. But if 253 00:16:42.320 --> 00:16:45.840 you can get to a point where eighty percent of what you do are things 254 00:16:45.840 --> 00:16:49.879 that you do well and enjoy doing well, that's a pretty good recipe for 255 00:16:49.960 --> 00:16:55.799 long term satisfaction. And what happens then is it builds upon yourself. You 256 00:16:55.879 --> 00:17:00.559 begin to become known for the things that you do well. You just seem 257 00:17:00.600 --> 00:17:04.519 to do effortlessly that other people can't do as well as you. So when 258 00:17:04.599 --> 00:17:07.240 you do that kind of every six months or every year, when you look 259 00:17:07.279 --> 00:17:11.319 back on your previous period of time and say, what are the things that 260 00:17:11.359 --> 00:17:15.359 I enjoy doing well? How can I do more of those? In many 261 00:17:15.400 --> 00:17:18.400 ways you can do those. You could probably find ways to do more of 262 00:17:18.440 --> 00:17:22.039 that in your current role. But honestly, if you're in a role that 263 00:17:22.200 --> 00:17:26.799 is kind of impacting you negatively from a mental health point of view, sometimes 264 00:17:26.799 --> 00:17:32.240 it's because you're doing things that you just don't enjoy doing well. But you 265 00:17:32.319 --> 00:17:33.960 do them well, right, so people keep coming back. So maybe it's 266 00:17:34.000 --> 00:17:37.519 time to make a change. And it's okay to think like that, you 267 00:17:37.559 --> 00:17:40.599 know, honestly, it's okay to think like that. I know that a 268 00:17:40.599 --> 00:17:44.359 lot of people say, well, what about loyalty and what about sticking with 269 00:17:44.400 --> 00:17:48.000 it? I think you have loyalty, and loyalty is a two way street. 270 00:17:48.160 --> 00:17:52.640 So if you feel that there are things you want to experiment and try, 271 00:17:52.519 --> 00:17:56.400 your employer should allow you to try some of those things, because from 272 00:17:56.440 --> 00:18:00.680 a long term retention point of view, you want to be feeding things they 273 00:18:00.720 --> 00:18:03.119 do well and they enjoy doing well. If I'm an employer, right, 274 00:18:03.440 --> 00:18:07.920 otherwise people leave. But people leave all the time, and that's okay too. 275 00:18:07.279 --> 00:18:11.599 So those two questions I think are the core of what leads to career 276 00:18:11.640 --> 00:18:15.799 satisfaction. What do I do well? What do I enjoy doing well? 277 00:18:15.039 --> 00:18:19.759 And that is another way to look back over twenty twenty three and almost kind 278 00:18:19.759 --> 00:18:23.240 of create a matrix and say, these are things that I put in this 279 00:18:23.599 --> 00:18:26.160 box. These are the things that I've put in this box. Man, 280 00:18:26.200 --> 00:18:29.559 I did a lot of things that would drudgery this year. I've got to 281 00:18:29.799 --> 00:18:34.440 slowly begin to move away from those, move more into some aspirational tasks that 282 00:18:33.880 --> 00:18:37.559 I that can really grow into. And I think that's a good way to 283 00:18:37.599 --> 00:18:42.039 look at it. Yeah, I love that word drudgery. Or the other 284 00:18:42.119 --> 00:18:47.799 thing that comes into play here fully is your salary and money. And yes, 285 00:18:47.920 --> 00:18:51.440 how many times have you heard from somebody but we all want to earn 286 00:18:51.480 --> 00:18:52.880 a great living, But like, how many times have you heard like, 287 00:18:53.079 --> 00:18:56.039 oh, I don't really like what I'm doing, but I get paid. 288 00:18:56.039 --> 00:19:02.759 Well, Yes, I did this for decades myself. Right. So you 289 00:19:02.799 --> 00:19:04.759 know there's an old saying, right, the best time to plant the tree 290 00:19:04.799 --> 00:19:08.240 was twenty years ago. The second best time to plant the tree is today. 291 00:19:08.559 --> 00:19:12.200 Okay, So what it means is when it comes to like your career, 292 00:19:12.839 --> 00:19:18.799 the best time to have really thought out what I do well and what 293 00:19:18.839 --> 00:19:21.839 I enjoy doing well. Is the moment you start your career, right, 294 00:19:21.960 --> 00:19:26.319 But most people don't. Most people shoot out of college, go into some 295 00:19:26.480 --> 00:19:32.079 job, eventually start to make some good money. And what in many cases 296 00:19:32.160 --> 00:19:37.839 happens is they're wrapping their career around their lifestyle. Right. I want a 297 00:19:37.880 --> 00:19:41.680 new car, I want to live in an expensive city. I want to 298 00:19:41.720 --> 00:19:44.119 go out every night. I want to go to Starbucks every day and buy 299 00:19:44.119 --> 00:19:48.680 coffee. Right. So that requires a certain level of income, and you've 300 00:19:48.720 --> 00:19:52.119 got a job, especially in sales, that can generate that kind of income. 301 00:19:52.559 --> 00:19:56.720 So you're wrapping your career around your lifestyle. In other words, I 302 00:19:56.799 --> 00:20:00.240 have to make this much money in order to for the lifestyle I have. 303 00:20:02.559 --> 00:20:06.720 So if you started down this path earlier in life and said I'm going to 304 00:20:06.799 --> 00:20:11.279 wrap my career around my lifestyle, you can get stuck in that rut. 305 00:20:11.440 --> 00:20:15.240 Right now. If you step back and say I'm going to wrap my lifestyle 306 00:20:15.279 --> 00:20:19.839 around I want to pick the career in other ways to wall right, and 307 00:20:19.880 --> 00:20:23.519 then I decide what my lifestyle can be. So again, in sales, 308 00:20:23.559 --> 00:20:30.200 we have this beautiful opportunity to make as much as we want. But if 309 00:20:30.240 --> 00:20:32.799 we just start off by saying I do these things, well, this is 310 00:20:32.799 --> 00:20:36.279 the kind of work I want to do, and then figuring out what our 311 00:20:36.319 --> 00:20:41.319 budget is to live right, so the money doesn't necessarily drive our career choices 312 00:20:41.680 --> 00:20:45.079 throughout the course of our life. I think that's a little bit easier, 313 00:20:45.599 --> 00:20:48.680 longer term to do. And that's why I said the best time to plant 314 00:20:48.720 --> 00:20:51.240 the tree was twenty years ago. The second best time is today. The 315 00:20:51.240 --> 00:20:55.440 second best time to kind of reassess where you are in your career and what 316 00:20:55.440 --> 00:20:57.920 it costs you to live and where you live and your lifestyle and your spending 317 00:20:59.039 --> 00:21:00.160 is today, right. This nothing you can do about the past, but 318 00:21:00.240 --> 00:21:04.000 you can look and say, are there changes I can make in my lifestyle 319 00:21:04.880 --> 00:21:10.160 that gives me a little bit more flexibility in my career? Right? Another 320 00:21:10.160 --> 00:21:15.200 way to look at this is I think there's a Ven diagram of analyzing your 321 00:21:15.240 --> 00:21:18.960 career in terms of moving forward, and the Ven diagram has three bubbles. 322 00:21:19.000 --> 00:21:22.559 The first one is what role do I play? Like? What role do 323 00:21:22.640 --> 00:21:26.039 I have? Am I an account executive? Am I an se AM? 324 00:21:26.079 --> 00:21:29.920 I doing tech sit? You know? Am I doing face to face selling? 325 00:21:29.960 --> 00:21:32.359 Am I selling over the phone, you know, what's the role, 326 00:21:32.400 --> 00:21:34.359 what's the nature of the role. The second bubble, I think is the 327 00:21:34.400 --> 00:21:38.000 industry, the industry or the type of product or service that you sell. 328 00:21:38.519 --> 00:21:41.519 So there's an intersection there between the role I have in the industry or the 329 00:21:41.519 --> 00:21:45.799 product and services that I like to sell. And I think the third piece 330 00:21:45.839 --> 00:21:51.839 is location in quotes. Location is literally where I do the work or is 331 00:21:51.880 --> 00:21:55.519 it sort of a hybrid role work from home, work remote work in person. 332 00:21:56.200 --> 00:21:59.359 Those three bubbles together kind of create the ven diagram I think of what 333 00:21:59.400 --> 00:22:03.920 a person's is. I do this job in this industry, and this is 334 00:22:03.960 --> 00:22:07.839 where I work. I think you can pick two of those bubbles. The 335 00:22:07.880 --> 00:22:11.559 third one is the one you have to accept and take what the universe gives 336 00:22:11.559 --> 00:22:14.079 you. Let's say, so if I say I want to be an AE 337 00:22:14.279 --> 00:22:17.920 and I want to work in the sports industry, I want to be an 338 00:22:17.960 --> 00:22:23.519 account executive or a salesperson in sports, right, then the location quote unquote 339 00:22:23.839 --> 00:22:26.119 where I have to go to do that job is what I'm going to have 340 00:22:26.119 --> 00:22:29.960 to be variable about. You know, I might have to move to the 341 00:22:29.960 --> 00:22:33.039 Midwest, I might have to move to a different state, different country perhaps 342 00:22:33.039 --> 00:22:37.039 to do the job. But if I say that I want to be based 343 00:22:37.079 --> 00:22:41.799 in Boston and I want my role to be account executive, then I think 344 00:22:42.160 --> 00:22:47.359 the selection of the industry will be driven by what's available in Boston as an 345 00:22:47.359 --> 00:22:51.240 account executive. So I don't have as much choice over the third bubble. 346 00:22:51.720 --> 00:22:53.240 And I think that's kind of one of the things that a lot of times 347 00:22:53.200 --> 00:22:56.960 will get overwhelmed with, how do I make this decision? I think you 348 00:22:57.000 --> 00:23:02.200 pick two of those bubbles, you let the third one be dictated in some 349 00:23:02.240 --> 00:23:06.000 ways to you. So again, looking back over the year, this is 350 00:23:06.039 --> 00:23:08.000 a great time to ask yourself, how happy am I in this role, 351 00:23:08.720 --> 00:23:14.799 in this industry and in this location, And if one of those is out 352 00:23:14.799 --> 00:23:18.319 of whack or doesn't align with what you care about, now's a good time 353 00:23:18.359 --> 00:23:22.519 to start thinking about making a change. And again, you you might be 354 00:23:22.519 --> 00:23:25.559 able to do it internal to your organization or you might have to go external, 355 00:23:25.759 --> 00:23:29.039 but that's a personal choice. And one of the other things that I 356 00:23:29.119 --> 00:23:32.279 do that I've done for a number of years now is I know this is 357 00:23:32.279 --> 00:23:34.759 an audible podcast, right, but if people could see me in my office 358 00:23:34.799 --> 00:23:40.039 right now, over my left shoulder, there is a there's a poster which 359 00:23:40.079 --> 00:23:42.960 is a tool that I use. It's a Momento Mory calendar, and basically 360 00:23:44.000 --> 00:23:48.720 it's got fifty two boxes in each row, and there are eighty rows, 361 00:23:48.799 --> 00:23:52.880 so it represents the average lifespan of a human eighty years, and each box 362 00:23:52.920 --> 00:23:56.119 represents one week of your life. And at the end of each week, 363 00:23:56.160 --> 00:24:00.720 so on a Sunday night, I always color in another box. And over 364 00:24:00.799 --> 00:24:04.119 time, you know those roads that to fill up right with little black dots, 365 00:24:04.440 --> 00:24:08.440 which means you know the weeks have passed. I do that intentionally because 366 00:24:08.920 --> 00:24:12.839 the term of mental MOORI means remember you will die, which is a very 367 00:24:12.920 --> 00:24:19.400 dark sort of phrase, but what it means is we have finite time on 368 00:24:19.440 --> 00:24:26.359 this planet. And so each week you should step back and assess, am 369 00:24:26.400 --> 00:24:30.119 I still happy doing the work I'm doing? Am I still productive? Do 370 00:24:30.200 --> 00:24:33.519 I still feel a sense of impact on people? Am I building a sense 371 00:24:33.559 --> 00:24:37.319 of mastery? Am I getting better at things that I like doing well? 372 00:24:37.640 --> 00:24:40.000 Do I have autonomy in the work that I do? Do I know enough 373 00:24:40.039 --> 00:24:42.400 and have the skills to do the work I can do without being micromanaged or 374 00:24:42.880 --> 00:24:47.839 without having someone step in and help me do the work. So every week 375 00:24:47.920 --> 00:24:49.559 I do that and I think back on the previous week, and I ask 376 00:24:49.640 --> 00:24:53.039 myself, am I still happy doing that? Now? I haven't done this 377 00:24:53.119 --> 00:24:57.599 my whole life, and I wish I had started earlier because it would have 378 00:24:57.599 --> 00:25:02.119 helped me make some different career decisions years ago when I probably should have. 379 00:25:02.519 --> 00:25:04.519 But I think once you stop being more aware of that, you start to 380 00:25:04.519 --> 00:25:07.759 really put a premium on the number of hours that you can work each week. 381 00:25:08.559 --> 00:25:11.880 And it really does make sense that we should spend those hours of week 382 00:25:12.400 --> 00:25:18.279 in areas of aspiration and mastery instead of drudgery and eventual failure. Right. 383 00:25:18.319 --> 00:25:21.519 So I think this is a perfect time of year to do it. Most 384 00:25:21.559 --> 00:25:25.000 people have a little bit of time off, take a piece of paper or 385 00:25:25.000 --> 00:25:26.400 get your laptop, go sit and have a couple of coffee and just run 386 00:25:26.440 --> 00:25:30.240 through some of these concepts and to see what comes out, right, Just 387 00:25:30.240 --> 00:25:34.680 see what comes out? Yeah, just doing the awareness is a great first 388 00:25:34.880 --> 00:25:38.880 step. Polly. I just love your insight on this topic. And I 389 00:25:38.960 --> 00:25:42.440 mentioned I think I did. You mentioned you wrote a book on this topic. 390 00:25:42.480 --> 00:25:45.880 Go ahead and plug it because I'm a show notes. If people want 391 00:25:47.279 --> 00:25:49.359 more of Polly's insight on how to be a well being, right, will 392 00:25:49.400 --> 00:25:52.200 be a wellbeing. The title of the book Rachel well done. Yeah. 393 00:25:52.200 --> 00:25:55.319 The title of the book is How to Be a Well Being. I co 394 00:25:55.400 --> 00:25:59.680 authored it with Andy Cope and son Jeev Sandhu to other well being experts. 395 00:26:00.279 --> 00:26:03.279 There are twenty two rules in the book and basically it's the unofficial rules to 396 00:26:03.480 --> 00:26:07.759 live a better life. And in the book, one of the chapters I 397 00:26:07.759 --> 00:26:11.519 wrote is about regrets, like how do we view regrets? How do we 398 00:26:11.640 --> 00:26:15.440 use them for positive change? Another chapter I wrote is about career satisfaction, 399 00:26:15.480 --> 00:26:21.680 where that matrix that I just discussed is actually laid out there. And one 400 00:26:21.680 --> 00:26:26.839 of my favorite chapters is the one about abundance abundance thinking in other words, 401 00:26:27.519 --> 00:26:33.440 thinking about what you actually have as opposed to what you want. And when 402 00:26:33.480 --> 00:26:37.759 you switch your thinking like that, it really does generate a different kind of 403 00:26:37.960 --> 00:26:41.000 positivity in your professional life. And I know in the beginning we said, 404 00:26:41.680 --> 00:26:45.960 you know, we don't want this to be fluffy, new agey stuff, 405 00:26:45.039 --> 00:26:51.400 but honestly, it works. And data proves that if you are happier. 406 00:26:51.799 --> 00:26:56.039 Generally speaking, if you are happier, you are more successful at work and 407 00:26:56.240 --> 00:27:00.000 at home. It doesn't go the other way around, like success doesn't necessarily 408 00:27:00.079 --> 00:27:04.359 bring happiness. There's lots of successful quote unquote people that are miserable, but 409 00:27:04.759 --> 00:27:10.279 if you're happier, it is the base from which all good performance can come. 410 00:27:10.440 --> 00:27:14.200 So you just got to figure out two things. One what are you 411 00:27:14.200 --> 00:27:17.359 good at? Two what do you like being good at? Once you figure 412 00:27:17.359 --> 00:27:19.599 those two things out, the rest kind of falls into place, and then 413 00:27:19.920 --> 00:27:25.000 on a daily basis, just thinking about things that you're grateful for and focusing 414 00:27:25.039 --> 00:27:27.880 on abundance. But yeah, it's my mission in life to make a million 415 00:27:27.880 --> 00:27:30.880 people happier. That's what I tell people. I haven't counted yet. I 416 00:27:30.880 --> 00:27:33.599 think I'm pretty far from that number, but I'm getting there. Hopefully this 417 00:27:33.640 --> 00:27:37.839 podcast reaches a few people with at We'll wake a little dead in that. 418 00:27:38.160 --> 00:27:41.160 It's a little dead in universe. That's all we want. Well, thank 419 00:27:41.160 --> 00:27:44.720 you so much, Polly. Check out his book. It's linked in the 420 00:27:44.759 --> 00:27:49.240 show notes. Great little read for your time off this holiday. Appreciate you, 421 00:27:49.279 --> 00:27:53.279 Poolly, Thank you, Rachel anytime. All right, thank you, 422 00:27:53.400 --> 00:27:56.680 and thank you to all of you for listening to the Audible Ready Sales podcast. 423 00:27:57.440 --> 00:28:03.359 At Force Management, we're focused on transforming sales organizations into elite teams. 424 00:28:03.720 --> 00:28:08.880 Our proven methodologies, deliver programs that build company alignment and fuel repeatable revenue growth. 425 00:28:10.279 --> 00:28:14.000 Give your teams the ability to execute the growth strategy at the point of 426 00:28:14.079 --> 00:28:18.799 sale. Our strength is our experience. The proof is in our results. 427 00:28:18.079 --> 00:28:23.119 Let's get started. Visit us at forcemanagement dot com. You've been listening to 428 00:28:23.160 --> 00:28:27.240 the Audible Ready podcast. To not miss an episode, subscribe to the show 429 00:28:27.279 --> 00:28:30.799 in your favorite podcast player until next time.