I have recently found myself dealing with health issues. Suddenly, like a car that wasn’t maintained well, my “warning lamp” has started to glow and I’ve had to “pull over”. For some time now tenacity has been my instrument towards achieving personal and career goals regardless of aches and pains. It seems that’s simply not enough any longer. I need to increase sales and my health is definitely in the way now. How did I get to this point?
I currently sell into an industry that has been hard hit with Covid-19 pandemic challenges. Everything is on “hold” with a focused mindset on safety, employee retention and market decline. My guess is this is a familiar tune in most of your markets as well.
A week doesn’t go by that I don’t get questioned on how I fit all I do and keep it together. “There’s not enough time, Chris! How do you do it?” Just thinking about that question makes me tired and yet I do my daily, weekly, monthly and annual tasks with consistency. I have a 1.5 to 2 hour commute each way, work at least 9 hours a day, design and maintain our company website and my three sites, write articles, perform church leadership responsibilities and most importantly be an attentive father and husband. I network, socialize and demand “my time” even though some days I just feel rotten. I do more than I ever had before because I have developed a mindset to do so. I stopped feeling guilty.
If you’ve been in any kind of sales position, a business owner, and/or manager for any length of time you’ve most likely experienced sales burnout. I always know I’m “in a bad place” when after winning a deal it’s a pain to fill out the contract. One of my sales people tell me about a deal they won and while I show excitement I’m not. These should always be good things, right? What happened to the passion? The “I can’t wait to go to work” attitude?