For years, I sang for a heavy metal band. Most of the 80's and 90's found me onstage, in rehearsal, or in the studio. My life in those days consisted of little more than rock and roll. When I wasn't playing or writing, I dreamt of rock stardom. Unfortunately, I never made it out of that dream stage. Sure, my fellow musicians and I talked about how things would be different when we "made it," but nobody seemed to know how we would get there. We just imagined one day we'd wake up and everybody would know who we were. We'd play sold-out arenas before adoring fans. We'd be Led Zeppelin and AC/DC, all rolled into one. We dreamed that a big-time record exec would wander into a club we were playing (they do that all the time in Southeastern Ohio ), fall in love with our vision, and sign us to a lucrative contract on the spot. Finally, we'd be rock stars. As ridiculous as this sounds, we had an excuse: We were young and had very little life experience. Today, however, I see many people who should know better making the same mistakes. They view success as a random occurrence. If I hear the phrase, "When I win the lottery" one more time I'll be sick. So many people, it seems, are just waiting for success to drop from the sky. It doesn't work that way. Success follows a progression. To be a successful, you first need to define what success means to you. Is it a big house, nice car, or just earning a decent living doing something you don't despise? Everyone, it seems, views happiness and success in a different light. How will you know when you're successful? I call this the dream stage. Unfortunately, most network marketers never progress beyond it. What's worse, is that many network marketing companies teach that it's all you need, and if your "why" is great enough, you can overcome any obstacle. That's OK, as far as it goes. Dreaming is certainly the beginning, and no great thing has ever been accomplished without it, but there needs to be more. You can dream about being a rock star all day, but until you at least learn to play an instrument, you're not going very far. Dreaming won't get you past obstacles any more than buying a shiny, new Porsche will get you home. You've got to drive. Sure, thinking about what you want can set you on the path to achieving. In fact, one sure way to fail is not to dream at all. Dreaming alone, however, won't do the work for you. You must break your dream into smaller, more manageable chunks, or goals. Goals help keep you focused on what's really important. For instance, a goal of recruiting 3 new people every month stands a better chance of motivating you than enjoying a large beach house in the Bahamas. Not to say that you should give up on, or even stop thinking about the Bahamas . Remember, your dreams are important, and can propel you into action. They are not, however, action themselves. But by recruiting 3 new people every month, you can insure that your Caribbean dream is only a matter of time. In addition to focus, goals also create energy. Performing several smaller acts somehow motivates you to accomplishing larger, more significant goals. Your confidence builds, and suddenly the dream comes more and more into focus. Almost tangible. In order for goals to be met, however, a certain discipline must be achieved, and priorities set. If you can't bring yourself to miss your favorite TV program when you need to prospect, you might be in trouble. Worse yet, you may be too comfortable. Almost all changes we make in our lives stem from the pain/pleasure principle. This means that, at a base level, only two factors motivate us: Pain and pleasure. If you want something really bad, and if you associate enough pleasure to achieving that, then you may generate enough enthusiasm and motivation to make that happen. Focusing on the pleasure of your goals can pull you toward their achievement like a paperclip to a magnet. Pain, on the other hand, can be an even stronger motivator. For one, you can only imagine the pleasure of some future situation. The pain of your current situation, by contrast, is quite real. If this situation is painful enough, you'll do almost anything to get away from it. You will change. If your situation is only mildly uncomfortable, you may then have to use some imagination to make it unbearable. The more pain you associate with the present, the stronger your motivation to change. Contentment kills dreams. Think of it this way: Your dreams are a balloon. Goals, priorities, and discipline are the air that fills it. Without those, your dreams are empty and lifeless. Sufficiently fill your balloon, and watch it soar beyond the clouds.
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