“If you conquer yourself, then you conquer the world” ― Paulo Coelho, Aleph
In the 1970’s, Yale did a study on self-control. In the study, researchers observed children and a plate of marshmallows.
The children were told that they could either eat a marshmallow now, or they could wait and receive two marshmallows later. After communicating the instructions to the children, the adult left the room for a scheduled period of time.
All that was left in the room was the child, the marshmallows, and the child’s thoughts. As you would expect, a majority of children ate the marshmallow. After the experiment, the researchers followed the children’s progression into adulthood.
Here are the findings from their research:
The ones who exhibited self-control were
- Rated by their parents as academically and socially competent, verbally fluent, attentive, and rational when they were older
- Better able to deal with frustration and stress as adolescents
- More likely to have higher SAT scores as adolescents
- Less likely to be overweight 30 years later
Self-control is a key ingredient in success.
Motivation is great. It is the emotion that charges us and helps us move in the right direction. However, motivation by itself is not reliable.
Why is that? It is because success doesn’t happen on the days that you are motivated.
If that were true, then everybody would be successful. Success happens when you are not motivated. Self-control takes control of the wheel when motivation falls asleep.
Self-control is the number one factor in navigating decisions. Without self-control decisions are made based on mood and emotions.
Have you ever gone grocery shopping when you were hungry? Did you notice how full your cart was afterwards, or how much money you spent? You may have noticed that you spent more than usual when you were shopping hungry.
The reason you spent more is because you were shopping based on how you were feeling at the moment. The same is true about your business.
People decide if they are going to show up for work based on their emotions., and the fastest way to fail in business is to make decisions based on your emotions.
One thing that I communicate to our agents is that success begins in the mind.
If you have goals, a desire to achieve your goals, and the self-control to take daily action, then you will have success. It is that simple.
If you would like to know where you measure up when it comes to self-control, then take a look at your habits. Your habits are a series of decisions that you make everyday. If your habits are inconsistent with your desire to be successful, then you lack the self-control to be successful. Again, it is that simple.
You get to decide what your life is going to be like. You get to decide your goals, but to avoid disappointment, you have to delay today’s gratification in order to have something even better tomorrow.
It’s just like the kids in the room with the marshmallows. Will you give up today’s marshmallow for something better? That something better could be a million dollar business. It is really that simple.
If you have any questions about your sales or your business we would love to hear from you. To us, there is simply no such thing as a dumb question. We may have the answer for you but if we do not we will find it with you. You can reach us on any of our social media channels or you can reach us at [email protected].
