A friend of mine and I were talking the other day about the decisions we make.  It started with an argument on whether life happens to you or you make it happen. In the end we determined it a was a bit of both and the key was in how we choose to respond to what happens to us. The conversation then led to a thought about what it is we want; in life, relationships, sales, work, and family.  We started thinking about objective.

Objective, as we define it, is the the end state or goal one ultimately wants to achieve.  On the surface it seems like a rather simple concept, but as we explored it further it’s actually not that simple.  We have a tendency to lose track of our objectives in life and therefore make decisions that take us further from our goals rather than closer.  A good example of this is America’s obsession with consumption. We buy things we think will make us happy, but in the end, they only make us more unhappy as we have to work harder at jobs we don’t like.  We lose sight of our overall objective of being happy.  After hours of discussion, massaging and evaluating the idea of purposeful objectives, we came to the conclusion that the goal in life should be to start with an understanding of what your objectives are; little or big, long-term or short-term, we kneed to know what we want to accomplish.  We need to be purposeful in creating them and committing to them.  Once we know what it is we are trying to accomplish we can ask ourselves; “will this choice get me closer to what I really want?”  If the answer is yes, then great go. If the answer is no, stop.

I think this philosophy works in sales. Too often we get stuck in the crap doing things that don’t get us any closer to our objectives. We don’t ask ourselves exactly what it is we are trying to accomplish or what our objectives are.  We spend time keeping busy and doing busy work. The best sales people know what their objective is by hour, by day, by week, by month, by quarter and by year. The best sales people prune the behaviors that aren’t aligned with their objectives. They are fanatically efficient. They aren’t robots, they are tremendously aware of their purpose and objectives.

I think there is more to this idea and it requires some additional thought. But, there is clearly something here. In sales or life, we far too often make choices and decision without a clear understanding of what it is we are trying to accomplish. Too often we buy that shiny new expensive watch or car to feel good in front of our friends, when all we wanted was to be happy and feel accepted and buying a watch or new car AIN’T gonna make that happen.

Be purposeful in your objectives, know what you really want, not what you think you want, then act.  It could change everything.