“If you want something you’ve never had, you’ll have to do something you’ve never done.” – JD Houston

Sales & Jiu Jitsu have alot in common.

Both are humbling.

Each take decades to master.

Both have consequences when you underperform:

Make a mistake in SALES, you lose a customer.
Make a mistake in JIU JITSU, you lose consciousness.

The best practitioners in both fields feel a constant TENSION.

It’s a tension created by the GAP between where their SKILLS currently are and who they want to become.

Crossing this GAP takes time and a ton of work.

Early in my SALES career my skills were pretty awful.

My phone skills were so poor that prospects would actually offer me free coaching advice before they hung up.

Me: “Mr Prospect – Blah…Blah…Blah…”

Prospect: “Hey buddy – You need to relax & slow down, or no one is going to buy anything from you. Click.”

At least he did not leave me hanging.

There comes a time when we have to decide if we are going to remain just another face in the crowd or make an IMPACT.

We have to decide if we are going to CROSS THE GAP.

HOW TO CROSS THE GAP:

OPEN YOUR MIND

The best in any field are constantly EVOLVING.

They keep experimenting.

They actively search out NEW IDEAS.

Ray Dalio wrote, “We have to be radically open minded to see what’s missing.”

ASK FOR FEEDBACK

Don’t wait for your performance review.

Make feedback a constant force in your life.

Feedback may bruise your EGO but will open your eyes.

It will keep you in touch with REALITY.

Elon Musk said, “It’s important to have a feedback loop, where you’re constantly thinking about what you’ve done and how you could be doing it better.”

Feedback is a gift.

Embrace it.

PRIORITIZE & EXECUTE

Jocko Willink wrote, “Stop spinning. Prioritize and Execute. Pick the highest impact idea and do it.”

MAKE IT ROUTINE

Put your top priority into your schedule.

Work on it 30 minutes each day.

You will be amazed how much progress you make in a month.

JOIN THE COMMUNITY

We become our peer group.

Want to get better at Jiu Jitsu? Join an academy.

Want to get better at SALES? Attend a sales conference.

Proximity is power.

DO THE WORK

Inspiration is for amateurs.

Professionals DO THE WORK.

How do you get rid of writer’s block? Start writing.
How do you get out of a sales slump? Make a sale.
How do you get better at Jiu Jitsu? Train.

Hard work creates luck.

DECIDE

Where are the GAPS in your life?

What part of your life is AVERAGE that you know could be REMARKABLE?

It may be time to LEAP.

#CrossTheGap

-Joe Ciccarone

http://www.SalesVibe.net

“There is nothing more fatiguing than the projects we never get to.” – William James

One of my weekly goals is to write a blog post.

Write it.

Ship it out.

Move on.

But it’s never that easy.

Each week is a battle.

Something as simple as writing takes all of my willpower.

My brain hits me with a 1,000 reasons why I should be doing something else.

Author Steven Pressfield calls this force “The Resistance”.

Pressfield writes, “The Resistance is the universal force that acts against human creativity. The Resistance’s sole mission is to sabotage aspirations.”

The resistance is POWERFUL.

The resistance will tell you anything to keep you from making progress:

No one’s going to read it.
It’s too early.
You should clean up your email.
When’s the last time you called your college roommate?
Did you just get a text!

It’s so easy to put things off until tomorrow.

The problem is that tomorrow never comes.

The ability to take action separates the AMATEURS from the PROFESSIONALS.

A professional doesn’t negotiate with their mind.

Professionals create routines, not decisions.

An amateur has a million plans and they all start tomorrow.

Professionals slay the Resistance.

3 Ways to Slay The Resistance:

Use the 5 Second Rule:

When you get an impulse to act on a goal, physically act within 5 seconds.
Countdown from 5 and take action when you say 0.
If you don’t act, your brain will soon kill the idea.
This technique has helped me to get up earlier and write consistently.
Here’s a link to a fantastic TedX talk on the 5 Second Rule.

Practice the Daily Dose:

Create 20 minute blocks in your schedule.
Shut off your phone.
Do your important work.
Rinse & Repeat.

Think 5 Years Out

Where do you want to be in 5 years?
What work do you need to do to make this a reality?
Take 1 step in that direction right now.

Humans have been battling the “The Resistance” since time began.

2,000 years ago the Roman philosopher Seneca wrote, “Today – this day – will achieve what no tomorrow will fail to speak about. I will lay siege to the gods and shake up the world.”

Your best work is trying to get out.

Do The Work and share it with the world.

What have you been putting off?

It’s time to punch the resistance in the mouth.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1…

#TakeAction