In an industry that is so active and requires physical action on a daily basis, the psychology of success can often be overlooked. That’s a critical error. To achieve goals, there must first be goals in place. Unfortunately, long-term aspirations don’t always make themselves abundantly clear in the form of tangible targets or specific numbers. To endure the ups and downs that come along the journey to achieving inexact goals, the proper attitude and perspective is a must. For many reading this, the dream is attainable, making this discussion more than just cheerleading. It’s important and should be continually reinforced, especially in the dog-eat-dog world of small business.
In order for you and your company to become the means of providing everyone involved in it the lifestyle they desire, you must, “Dream It, Perceive It, Believe It and Conceive It.” What does that even mean? We may know the dictionary definitions, but how does it apply to a contractor?
Dream It
If you’ve been in business for years or are just starting out, it’s never too early or too late to dream. In fact, regardless of where you are in your career, as an SGI member, you have a head start because of the support. It’s also clear that you have the desire to be better.
Do you know specifically what being better and succeeding means to you? So that you never have to rely on anyone else for motivation, you need to establish it. Envision what it is you’re looking to build through your business. In other words, you have to know what the company is going to look like before you get to the point of success. So, first things first, you must dream it.
Perceive It
Now you have to start to see it clearly in your mind’s eye. What does your shop look like? What does your training facility look like? How much business are you going to do? How dominant are you going to be? What’s it going to provide for you and your family? All of these things you start to make concrete.
Someone once told us a story about how they took a Dale Carnegie class many years ago, and one of the suggestions to the class was to actually put together a binder of the things they envisioned life to look like in the future. Another guy in the class had done the exercise ten years earlier and he shared his binder with the class. At the time he made the binder, he was single, but he had a picture from a catalog of a guy with a woman and two children. Lo and behold, ten years later he was married with two kids.
There was also a picture of a house. And boy, did the house that he lived in ever look like the picture that he put into a book ten years ago. Next in the binder were pictures of the cars he dreamed of owning. Surprise, he was driving the cars that he had back in that picture.
The point is, the clearer your vision, the more likely you are to succeed at what you are attempting to do.
Sit back some day, this day, tonight, tomorrow, this weekend, turn everything off and just dream a little bit and then start to make it very, very clear.
Believe It
You’ve got to believe you can do what you dream and perceive. You’ve got to believe it can be accomplished. This is your attitude; this is the thing that you have to be able to control. You have to be able to say, I know I can do this. Then, start down the path.
Don’t be mistaken however, it’s not going to be an easy path just because you dreamt it and have a clear perception of it. You’re going to have to work to make those dreams become reality. Some people might get very lucky and be born with the right name and inherit a great deal of wealth. Somebody else might get lucky and get a lottery ticket that’s going to pay off. But for those who succeed and get what they dream of in life, they work hard to be able to accomplish it. When you do that, you’re going to find out how quickly you can achieve it.
Conceive It
So now you see it in your mind’s eye. You know you can, but before you get to achieving, you have to conceive it. Now is the time to put it on paper.
You have to make a plan and say, “Here’s how I’m going to get it done. This is what I’m going to do to get this dream to become my reality.” Get it down so that you can share it with your support structure and tell them, “This is what we’re going to do. This is how exciting this is going to be.”
This is the step where the work begins. You’re going to begin executing your plan and make certain that you achieve what it is that you’re after.