The Other 10% of Success
Today I'm publishing an article for the 364th consecutive Sunday. That's seven years.
My wife reminded me last night that this kind of consistency is not something most humans even endeavor, let alone pull off. In a world where daily creation and posting are the norms, it's easy to lose sight of the significance of a feat like this. So I'll take her advice and (gently) pat myself on the back for a second before I get ready to write something else for next week.
90% of success is just showing up
There's a lot of truth to that statement. Combine that with the sentiment from an old sales manager who told me about the "startling amount of mediocrity disguised as success," and if you can show up every day (or every week) and do work you're proud of, then you can make an outsized impact.
I think there's also a hidden danger to that adage. I see people show up every day and sleepwalk through their work. I also see people show up, work really hard, and then not get the results they're looking for. It's really disappointing to see on either front because great outcomes are being left on the table.
Sometimes showing up isn't enough
"Quiet quitting" isn't a new phenomenon. People have been hiding in plain sight at their desks for ages. What bums me out is knowing these people have talents and gifts that they're not exploring because they feel they have to do a certain job or do it a certain way. Life's too short to do less than your best work or to do it somewhere that won't appreciate what only you can bring to the table.
It sounds trite to say this, but the opportunities really are out there. The path to get there isn't always easy or even clear, but as someone who feels like I've found my true calling and am living it, I'm consistently impressed by the prices I'm willing to pay to continue doing it. When you're really aligned with what you do and how you do it, the hard stuff becomes easy.
It's similar to parenting. When your newborn wakes up at 2am because they're hungry, you don't complain about missing 25 minutes of sleep, you just feed them. Before too long, I actually looked forward to those moments (not to mention I scored big-time hero points with my wife).
You deserve to experience the other 10%
Despite most people not showing up consistently and doing mediocre work when they do, you still need to keep tabs on what you're doing. I work with a lot of salespeople who mean well and are willing to do the work, but they still miss the boat. Showing up and working hard will still only take you so far if it's not the right work in the right places.
I've been burned by this myself, and have only recently started recognizing the scars. I started my business at a time when content creation was becoming more widespread. All the advice I got from people I trusted and who were doing well suggested that I create more content and put it in more places. I did that. Many of you responded and told me that the content was good, helpful, and made you better sellers.
All the while, I felt I was missing something. I couldn't tell what it was, but something just wasn't right. "Keep doing what you're doing, Jeff," was the refrain I kept hearing. When I look back, I did a great job of putting a lot of great ideas in a lot of places but missed a unifying theme behind it all. Bingo.
Now that I've found what I'd been missing, I can focus and build on it. The podcast is an example of this, as well as my #SellLikeYou concept and framework, which is hitting sellers and leadership executives square between the eyes.
Pay attention to that voice in the back of your head. When something feels right, trust it and go with it. See where it will take you. When it feels like something is missing, turn over every stone until you find what it is, and take care of it. Refuse to lean on hard work and perfect attendance. If you're unfulfilled in some way, then commit to finding what you're looking for. Life's just too short not to.
I've learned much over the past seven years, and it pales in comparison to what I'll continue to learn over the next seven, 27, or 47. I can say unequivocally that I've never met anyone whose intuition let them down. Yet this is still the thing that almost every one of you reading this right now will routinely talk yourself out of. You'd rather fall back on the tried and true adages of others than trust what you know in your heart to be true. The longer you continue to do that, the longer you'll hold yourself and your best work back. We all suffer when that's the case.
