Time Management and Focus

By Thomas Young

There is a path that will provide you with success, goal fulfillment and many other rewards. It is your challenge, as a sales professional, to find the right path and set a clear direction. The key is proper time-management. How you spend your time determines your rewards in sales. Choosing correctly is difficult and may be your greatest challenge, however the rewards can be tremendous. Here are a few tips on keeping the proper focus and putting your time into activities that will lead to success.

Personal Mission Statement

A personal mission defines success for you. Your mission defines the service you will provide to others, and is not limited to selling, but all aspects of your life. The rewards you receive are in direct proportion to the amount of value you bring to your customers. This value is defined in your personal mission statement. It is your starting point and a reference for identifying the proper use of your time and setting goals.

Priorities

Everyday we are faced with choices. They may come at us from many directions and seem overwhelming at times. We choose how we will respond to this stimulus and from them establish our priorities. For the most effective use of your time, focus on the priorities that you create and not your reactive responses to life’s situations. This requires you to realize that you pull your own strings and control your destiny. Most people can succeed in a variety of endeavors, yet fear usually drives us into a set pattern. Fear becomes the driving force behind setting priorities and the greatest limitation to success. Avoid this trap and realize you can make it happen; your only limitations are the laws of nature and time.

Reflection

Monitor your use of time on a daily basis. Are you doing the things that will lead to success in your life? Are you living your mission statement? Reflection is the process of staying on track and maintaining focus. Intelligence can be defined as awareness. Reflection on time usage is a part of self-awareness and critical to proper time management. Are you making decisions based on fear or on what is in tune with your personal mission statement?

Find a Mentor

Find someone that you can talk to about your goals and focus. A good mentor will not tell you what to do, but rather help you decide the proper direction or focus. Mentors see the world from an outside perspective and can help you with the reflection process by asking skillful questions. They also help you recognize limiting fears and help you find ways to move beyond irrational, un-focused thinking and towards what is really important to you.

Make use of Technology

Technology is a tool that helps us accomplish more in less time. Make use of technology to help you organize and accomplish priorities, as well as, improve your efficiency. Technology is especially good at accomplishing many simple tasks quickly. This should give you more time to focus on important priorities. In sales, technology can become a competitive advantage. If you are not on top of technology, your competition will be.

Review your Focus

Re-set goals and know when to change directions. There are times when your focus must change. This generally happens because of a change in your market place. Keeping abreast of changes in the market is a very smart thing to do. Predicting the future of the market place is genius. We are capable of doing this if we focus on how we can better help people. This is the magic of your personal mission statement and your ability to change with the times.

Keep Balance in Your Life

Maintain a sense of balance in your life to help you better handle stress. This is done by constant, weekly attention to four critical areas of your self-development. Spend time developing your mental, physical, emotional and spiritual parts of who you are. This is done both on a social level or alone during introspective time.