You wake up at 5:00 a.m. From 5:00 a.m. to 7:00 a.m., you plan your day — every hour. Be in the office by 7:00 a.m., and by 9:00 a.m., get out and prospect and be in the community. At 5:00 p.m., get back to the office to do your follow-up with all your prospective clients. From 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., do your administrative work. After that, get into bed so you're ready for 5:00 a.m. again.
There were about 200 realtors in attendance, many of whom were inspired by his ideas. And my guess is that many of the agents took action after that day because they wanted his results. So they probably started getting up at 5:00 a.m., arriving at the office at 7:00 a.m., and making the cold calls they normally hadn't been making.
But pretty soon, within a few days or weeks, most stopped doing it. Their activity levels went back to normal. Why? Because their productivity rose above their self-image, and their self-image squashed their productivity down within their comfort level — a level consistent with their self-image. They took an afternoon off here and there, maybe they watched Oprah, maybe Jerry Springer; it's hard to say. Their actions had become inconsistent with their self-image.
You Will Always Perform at a Level Equal to Your Self-Image.
Our self-image is the portrait we have of ourselves. It's the picture we've created of ourselves and is commonly based on past experience. So if a new desire for improvement is introduced and it conflicts with our current self-image, it is doomed to fail.
Our actions, our behaviors, and, yes, our discipline are all heavily influenced by our self-image. Even if you force yourself via willpower to do things beyond your self-image, you won't be able to sustain it for very long. You will go back to the old behaviors consistent with your self-image because you still believe in it, and you act from this belief.
What caused the Alis and Jordans of the world to work as hard as they did? What causes the top 1% in selling to consistently sustain their mind-boggling activity levels? The answer to both questions: their self-image.
Major changes occur in terms of income and production for the average salesperson when he or she understands the importance of changing his or her self-image. Salespeople comfortable with average client sizes but nervous and fearful about high-end clients who learn to grow their self-pictures become more confident and succeed in the large-client arena.
As We Raise Our Self-Image, We Raise Our Behaviors and the Discipline We Bring to Our Activities.
Learning to change behavior permanently is one of the most important skills a person can develop in his or her life. Without this skill, any self-improvement intention will result in failure and frustration. All we need to do is change the picture by investing time and energy.
Our self-image is held in our subconscious mind. This is the inside part of our brain where all of our habits and beliefs are stored. Many estimates in the field of psychology suggest we are only utilizing a small part of our brain — generally 5% to 10%. This means that nearly 90% is untapped and waiting to serve us. Our subconscious mind is this under-utilized resource. It's the part of the brain that allows our body to do things naturally and consistently with ease and proficiency that our conscious mind could never match.
Great things that seem impossible become possible when we learn to communicate to our subconscious mind. Here's how:
When a thought and feeling match and are focused on over and over again, it becomes accepted by the subconscious mind. When we add pictures or visualizations that match this thought/feeling combination, we are actually changing our self-image with a new self-belief. Our self-image is only communicated to in pictures — hence the term self-image. When this "pictured thought with feeling" intention is accepted by the subconscious mind, it becomes a belief that executes itself automatically.
Follow these steps to a new level of discipline by changing your self-image:
Step One: Decide Exactly What You Want.
This is critical. Is it a habit change you're after, or how about a new production goal?
Whatever it is, be crystal clear on the outcome you desire.
Step Two: Determine the Activities That Would Lead to This Outcome.
This is an easy step; just determine what you would need to be doing in order for this result to come naturally. It's simple cause and effect. For this step, make sure you choose activities that you can see yourself doing. There are often many ways to an outcome. Avoid the activities that don't fit your personality, but make sure the ones you do choose will ensure that you meet your goal.
Step Three: Invest 20 Minutes a Day in Focused Quiet Time.
Invest 10 minutes in the a.m. and 10 minutes in the p.m. This is where you need to invest the time and energy. In this time, find a quiet place where you will not be interrupted and close your eyes. With your eyes closed, put your attention on the goal. With your thoughts on the goal, see yourself doing these activities with ease day in and day out.
Picture yourself becoming proficient at these activities. Bring more and more clarity to the picture every time you do this. Visualize the time of day and the reactions of those around you — the more detail, the better! And finally, feel the feelings you would feel while engaging in these activities; also, feel the feelings, with intensity, that you would feel after accomplishing this goal. See yourself actually doing the deal!
Driven people produce record results because of their belief in themselves. They grew their self-image by this "pictured thought with feeling" process. Many probably didn't even realize they were doing it. Whether they intended to do this or not doesn't really matter because this is how it works, and it can work for anyone. Apply this process, and remember the importance of vivid pictures and concentrated feeling. Do this, and you'll never again have to be stuck in undesirable patterns from your past. With new information can come new results. Go after it!
About the Author
Steve McCann is the owner of McCann Research Corporation, an organization committed to the discovery and development of human potential. For 16 years, Steve has researched, studied, and trained in the areas of psychology, natural law, and self-image motivation. He has become a published authority on teaching the correlation between self-image and production levels in business. He has discovered his bliss as a speaker and now teaches businesspeople to find their bliss and helps them to incorporate it into the practice of their work. For more information on his speaking programs or consulting, please contact steve@mccannresearchcorp.com.
