“Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.” – Carl Jung
On 24 January, 2018, Jack Ma, founder, Alibaba Group, that employs 65,000 staff, was hosted as guest during ‘‘Meet the Leader Session’’ at World Economic Forum held at Davos, Switzerland, from 23 to 26 January. I listened as the e-commerce business guru unleashed his thoughts on business from a position of authority. He told the story of how he started from humble beginnings and how he had to prepare himself to compete in future because he didn’t have the resources to compete at that time.
During the thought-provoking interview, Ma admonished that people should look more inside than they look outside. The inside determines a lot about what will happen outside. I believe that once you conquer within, you will conquer your environment.
The truth of the matter
I have not seen any real success story without hurdles, challenges or tough situations. The year 2020 has been an amazing year! It is a year filled with happenings that we hadn’t planned for – from the COVID-19 pandemic, to the lockdown, to the EndSARS protest and the curfews that followed in some states. But in all this, we still have to be happy for the gift of life. We need to celebrate life and thank God for preserving us this year.
Don’t count your losses. This is the time to look inwards and count your lessons. I tell my team that this amazing year is a year of soul searching. This is a time to ‘‘get into yourself’’ and think through from January to December. When you think through, you will see that life is a gift. We need to be alive first before talking about the targets we met or the ones we didn’t.
Staying alive is a big target met
As a training consultant who prepares a lot of salespeople and other professionals, I talk a lot about meeting or exceeding sales target. In fact, I have developed models that help sales professionals to exceed their targets. I motivate professionals to go the extra mile for top performance. We help professionals to build capabilities; this is our job.
However, in looking inside, more than we look outside, you will agree with me that there is a time to attack and a time to retreat. This is a smart military strategy. There’s a time you stay in business to just maintain the status quo. At such a time, your target is to ensure you maintain normal business routines without necessarily thinking about growth or expansion. This year 2020 is one of such times in many businesses and families.
Look around you as you read this piece. I am being very intentional this moment. This is the last month of the year and we are taking personal stock; we are looking inwards. Have you looked around you? Okay, please go close to a mirror. Have you done that? Look at the mirror and see yourself; see how you are glowing! See that you are hale and hearty; see that you are alive and well, even in the midst of all the challenges. If you can see yourself in that mirror, it means you won. It means you have exceeded your target this year!
A time to revisit the drawing board
Our businesses must move on profitably. We must think progressively in the midst of tough situations. It is a good strategy to retreat sometimes in order to attack strongly later. But you can’t do a lot when you don’t evaluate yourself periodically. You need to slow down sometimes to appraise your performance. This is why I recommend that we look inside this period; this is the time to get to the drawing board and think up smart strategies for next year.
Look inwards to ascertain the best ways to achieve your goals next year. What is deposited within you is greater than the challenges in your environment. As a business-owner or professional, how are you planning for year 2021?
I believe that when disruption becomes evident, disruptive innovation becomes inevitable. No amount of challenges can withstand consolidated assaults coming from the mind-power of a focused and determined individual. Wear your thinking cap and get to the drawing board. Look more inside in order to conquer the outside. This is the right time to build the right capabilities in your team by training and retaining them. This is the time to plan. This year presented a lot of challenges which must be surmounted by sustained assaults of competence and know how.
See you in Productive 2021!
God bless.
George O. Emetuche is a Brian Tracy endorsed bestselling author, accredited training consultant, life coach, sales and marketing consultant. Please reach us today for cutting-edge training of your team. Order a set of our seven bestselling books and one audio book @ normal Total Price of N16, 500 only and get free delivery anywhere in Nigeria! Please call, 08186083133, 07060559429 or visit, www.thesellingchampionconsulting.com.
Buy Books by George O. Emetuche from bookshops or malls near you. They are:
1. The Selling Champion. 2. The Art of Selling. 3. The 25 Unbreakable Laws of Sales. 4. The 11 Irrefutable Principles of Success. 5. Everything is Possible. 6. Be Inspired. 7. Succeeding With Your Spouse.
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