“It can’t be done”

The market is too saturated we don’t have the right features, I wasn’t trained. If you have worked in sales you know all the excuses for failure.

I know. I have managed many sales people. I have heard all the excuses. I have also been a sales person. I have used the excuses.

In the end there were only the jobs I hit my objective and was rewarded and jobs I missed my objective and was dismissed. I have been fired many times. I haven’t to use a baseball teen batted 1.000.

In sports the objective is clearer. You can say the defense was too hard or you didn’t have a good scheme but in the end you still didn’t score or win the game. Emotionally we naturally gravitate to excuses because they relieve the tension.

Even as you are reading this you are thinking he is a hard ass, he is too narrow focused I don’t like this all or nothing attitude. You are going back to the squares and seeing what is easiest to see and accept. And if you do what you have always done you get what you always got.

Don’t look at life as an emotional have and have not. Identify your objective, strive for it, achieve it or not then set the next objective. In your career and business life you will be much more focused and stress free.

Break past limitations

A good coach, boss, leader, trainer drill Sargent, etc is someone that pushes you to break past the limitations you believe exist. There is an alchemy that occurs when you are at the point of breaking but choose to go forward instead. You find a gear, a new expanse of existence. Like the example in a previous post, you start to see the circles.

And like the circles you don’t see them at first. Someone tells you to keep looking. You might not know they are there. Then they disappear. Then your mind starts to see them. Being objective focused is the circles. The squares are emotions, ego, politics, games, excuses, accepting and rationalizing not achieving the objective.

Do not be ruled by toys

Staying focused on the objective is a second to second thing. Your mind will wander at any moment and re-prioritize your energy. Oftentimes that re-prioritization feels justified. At work you seek fair treatment. You look for commiseration from peers or validation from bosses. You seek respect, benefit of the doubt, accolades, recognition, awards or prizes. All of those things feel valuable. But they distract from achieving your objective. Do not pull up short of your objective. Do not be ruled by toys.

The Dream Addiction

The dopamine high is one of the biggest traps I fall into. I start to work on my project. I come up with a good idea. Once I feel I am right on the verge of achieving my dreams my body floods with dopamine. I get the best high possible.
I got my fix. So instead of pressing on and achieving my objective I stay in the moment, relishing the feeling of satisfaction without really achieving anything until the high wears off then I go start working on my objective again but pulling up when I get another high. It is the dream addiction.

Rewire your brain

can you see the circles in this picture?

At first it is difficult. You might not even be able to do it. Then you might see them but they disappear quickly. But if you find them and keep looking at the picture your brain will more easily identify them and focus on them longer.

The same is true of focusing on your goal. It is there but difficult to identify. Or it might be fleeting.

After a while you get better at it and can stay focused.

Impenetrable wall

Doubt assails relentlessly. Brick by brick a wall of unshakable confidence is erected. That wall creates a foundation. That foundation sustains forward motion to achieve an objective. Doubt will always be present and rise against. For every inch ceded take two forward the next time. Achieving your objective is methodical not easy or instantaneous.

In Defense of Growing

Yesterday I asked the question am I just futilely spinning my wheels or am I on a journey of growth.
Today I posit that I am growing. In the late 2000’s and early 2010’s I was working on creating representation for unaffiliated religious people. By the time I had put as much effort as possible into it I had put together a compilation book and self-published it on Amazon. The book itself is not very good and I think I only officially sold one copy (maybe two) but the effort was there and I had something to show for it.
The same is true of thirtydayjobcleanse.com. I put the effort fort and felt like I was really close. Again perhaps the material was not good but it was a valiant effort that I believe was on the cusp of producing revenue from my marketing efforts. I just couldn’t quite pull it all together. In fact this blog is morphing into the actual Thirty Day Job Cleanse so I am not even sure it is dead yet.
Whatever the case I believe I am growing and becoming. I need to keep walking even when it seems like it will never end.

The narrative

Looking back on my posts I can see the narrative I am writing (living). How I choose to frame the situation, the observations I am making and how I interpret events.

Am I walking a path of a thousand miles or am I futilely going around in circles?

My pattern of behavior has been consistent for decades. I have been in lows before and and have hit many highs.

I am in a low right now.

And it feels like it will never end.

It is self pity but I wish my consistent pattern was a little more productive. Or stable. Or this low would end.

Purgatory

I am in purgatory. I left jobs that paid my bills because I didn’t want to accept discomfort. I decided I could make more doing something I enjoyed.

Now I deal with the discomfort working a job that doesn’t cover my expenses and no clear path to rectify the situation. In trying to have the best of both worlds I ended up with the worst.

Pattern of behavior

This is what I always do.

I have written hundreds of thousands of words if not over a million since I first started writing around fall of 1995 more likely spring 1996. That is basically when I gave up dreams of being a rock star (that had the same pattern) and focused more on being a writer. I did it through school and now almost 21 years of work.

This is what I do. This is how I write. Will I ever meaningfully share it? Does anyone want to read it? Will I be a coach, a mentor, an author, a thought leader? Or will I just pound out hundreds of words futilely until I die?

How does this tie in to my objective? I always see next step and growth riding on the wave of writing (and sharing) but the two worlds never intersect.