Its the End of the Month...Don't "Try" to Grab the Feather!

The end of the month makes me feel like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day. It feels the same every month. Or maybe it just sounds the same every month, because our sales managers always give us that end of the month push so we can hit our numbers. I was usually sandbagging (holding on to a couple

of deals for the next month) by this point so I wasn't usually "under pressure" (queue Queen), but there were many a coworker that were subject to this artificial stress cycle.

Don't get me wrong, the numbers provided us by our revenue leaders are important, shoot without them how would you know how you could hit your goal? On the macro level, these numbers help the company stay in the black and ensure everybody stays employed. So on the micro level it is important for the sales members to hit their numbers.

But there is a great mystery to hitting the goal: the harder you try to hit the numbers, the less you hit the numbers. In baseball I think they refer to this as "gripping". Where the harder you try to hit home runs the more you strike out. We need to hit the goal, but without trying. That doesn't make sense, but there is a remedy: apply a little Jeet Kwon Do to this whole process.

Okay, consider for a moment that Olympic Sprinters burn epic amounts of energy in the attempt to cross the tape in their best time. I mean seriously they are running at speeds of 14-15 MPH and within 11 seconds the 100M race is over, and yet I can't recall ever seeing a pained face on anyone. Can you? They always look relaxed. Why?

Because the sprint is what the sprint is. There is a start, a middle and an end. Their focus is on their steps, their breathing, and their technique. How does that apply to the Revenue Game?

Don't stress about the tape, if you run the race you will cross the line. Focus on your steps (what you can control). Focus on your breathing (RELAX). Focus on your energy (don't spend 100% of your energy at all times because you will burn out).

Start the race (month) knowing how many steps it takes for you to finish. Break down your ultimate goal into daily goals. Focus on achieving or exceeding those. Do that everyday. If you are exceeding your goals everyday, at the end of the month....you'll exceed your goal. So in that last week of the month when the manager comes around asking you to grab the brass ring/feather/or whatever, you will already have it in your back pocket working on what you need for the next month.

If it makes sense...it'll make money.