True discipline isn't about brute force willpower but is a conscious trade-off. It's the act of sacrificing short-term ease and comfort (what you want now) for a more significant, desired future outcome (what you want most). This reframe is crucial for salespeople who constantly face tedious tasks and rejection.
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Twyla Tharp’s self-talk to combat a lack of motivation is a simple, powerful rule: "If you don't work when you don't want to work, you're not going to be able to work when you do want to work." This frames discipline not as a choice but as a prerequisite for future performance.
Before teaching sales tactics, first understand a new rep's personal motivations. This intrinsic desire for a better future is the only thing strong enough to help them push through the inevitable pain and rejection of prospecting.
Salespeople need specific, tangible goals to pull them through daily rejection. Abstract goals like 'providing for my family' are less effective than concrete objectives like earning a specific commission check or buying a boat, as these provide a more visceral and immediate motivational pull.
At the end of a long day, when exhaustion makes it easy to quit, a well-defined personal goal serves as the ultimate motivator. It provides the 'why' to find the discipline for that 'one more call'—the final push that often separates average performers from top achievers in sales.
The sales profession is defined by rejection, a primary cause of failure. Strong personal goals are not just for achievement but are a critical motivational defense. They provide the compelling "why" needed to persevere through the daily grind and constant stream of "no's" inherent in the job.
Many people mistake consistency in enjoyable activities (like working out) for discipline. Real discipline is the ability to consistently perform necessary but unpleasant tasks, such as sales outreach, which is the muscle that drives actual business growth and requires a high tolerance for frustration.
Motivation is a fleeting emotion, making it a poor foundation for long-term success. True excellence comes from building habits based on discipline and consistency, which are conscious choices that allow for progress even when motivation is absent.
Even top performers struggle with the discipline for repetitive sales tasks. The problem isn't the difficulty of the work, but the absence of a clear, compelling reason to do it. Discipline requires sacrificing present ease for a future goal; if that goal is fuzzy or already achieved, motivation collapses.
The word "discipline" often has negative connotations. Instead of viewing it as a restriction, redefine it as the specific set of inputs required to achieve a result you genuinely desire. If you don't want the result, the problem is your vision, not your discipline.
To overcome the fear of tasks like cold calling, you need a powerful long-term goal (the 'big pull') that you desire more than the immediate comfort of avoidance. This goal provides the motivation to sacrifice what you want now (ease) for what you want most, making discipline a choice rather than a chore.
