It’s another very full and crazy year – are you feeling the same? For the past several years, I have committed to completing a half marathon each year. It would have been easy to say, “I’m too busy to do something for me.”
Do you think the same way?
Even though I know it’s hard work and takes weekly discipline, I know I mentally and physically always feel better when I run and train for an upcoming race.
This year, to help improve my productivity and discipline, I used more technology features on my watch. I was able to set my watch to ten minutes of running and one minute of walking. Many avid runners and many of the running magazines will state that you will have a faster run with a better race time when you follow the 10:1 principle. It’s great to have my watch beep at these exact times to keep me on track, and I stuck to it.
Even during my longest training run of 20km and I was running on my own, technology became my accountability buddy! When I wasn’t using the walk/run function, it was too easy to walk when I got tired or felt like it…or walk longer than a minute.
I’ll admit when I work in sales, I rarely take breaks and eat lunch at my desk – pushing full throttle all day and even into the evening. The Sales Race can be long and exhausting, with lots of twists, turns, and hills – yet exhilarating when you cross the finish line of your fiscal sale year by slam dunking your sales goal. Share on X
I wonder if I would work more productively if I applied this principle. Perhaps, working one hour then taking a five-minute break.
Technology allowed me to have a plan and work the plan.
Technology would not allow my self-talk to get in the way. It motivated me to stay the course and work the plan. I looked forward to the beeps of what to do next. Technology allowed me to enjoy the run more, as I had to think less and allow my mind to enjoy the scenery.
This year, we decided to commit to a destination run to make it more fun. We chose the Rock’ n Roll run in Montreal. There were bands and music throughout the run route to entertain and motivate us throughout the beautiful run along the river and downtown Montreal core.
It was an incredible run…the weather was perfect for running, the strong voices of the Montreal city cheered us on throughout the race, and my brother and his family were at the last corner of the race to cheer us on with their signs to cross the finish line!
The Sales Race can be long and exhausting, with lots of twists, turns, and hills – yet exhilarating when you cross the finish line of your fiscal sale year by slam dunking your sales goal. How will you use technology, accountability buddies and a different destination or route to make it more fun, gain a different perspective and add a stronger pace to your sales plan?
My next goal is to complete ten half-marathons – and I have one more to go!
I’ll have to start researching where my next sales race will take me in 2019.
What will you do for yourself? Stop making excuses and do something for you!
Lisa is driven by the mantra – Be Strategic. Be Pro-active. Be Brave. – and has been successfully training and coaching sales leaders and their teams to do the same for over 15 years. As the President of Teneo Results since 2003, she has trained thousands of sales professionals at more than 250 companies across North America. She transitions salespeople away from the standard “product & price” approach to having purposeful business conversations with their customers that drive results.