This Achievement Guide is dedicated to serious-minded WATKINS Career Associates who are in the Process of Building a High Performance Business. Of course, some of the ideas stated here have application to anyone building a business. Everybody is welcome.
Momentum is a critical dynamic in growing your WATKINS Business! Momentum is defined in the dictionary as a:
• “Strength or force that continuously grows –
• a campaign that gains power and grows ever larger –
• a highly productive forward motion –
• expansion of an idea or movement –
• a dynamic self-feeding building process – progress.”
Momentum is Developed and Sustained by Three Key Elements: (1) Consistent High Performance, (2) Right Direction and (3) The Creation of Leverage.
Consistent High Performance: – It takes dedicated, consistent effort to overcome inertia and get your business moving forward with momentum. It takes intellectual power, spiritual energy and physical effort to push your business from a “stand-still” position to that of a rolling, dynamic and ever growing enterprise. You have to reach down into the core of your being and call upon a serious emotional strength to muscle your way to success.
This is not a some-time, or now-and-then effort. This is a continuous and consistent process even if it is part-time. Momentum requires high performance and the need to do the right things right all of the time every time.
You must affirm each and every day that you have the staying power to excel. You must build a faith and belief in what you are doing and proclaim that nothing is going to stand in the way of your achievement. Passionately build your momentum. Be consistent. Never take your eyes off your goal. Perform. Persist.
Right Direction: If you are not careful you can build a head of steam but it may be driving you in the wrong direction. You feel like you are building momentum when in reality you are going to miss achieving your goal.
Early in our WATKINS Business Fran and I spent a full six months introducing Non-Profit Organizations to the WATKINS Fund Raiser Program. We did this at the exclusion of all other business-building activities. We really believed that we were building significant momentum when in fact we were going in a totally less-than-productive direction. Pursuing the Fund Raiser Program proved to be a ghastly and costly misadventure for Fran and me. It cost big dollars and wasted six months of time. We tried to build momentum going in a wrong direction. You can never reach the summit by walking down hill. Frequently test to make certain your momentum is taking where you want to go.
It reminds us of the story about a Navy Pilot in World War II. He was on a mission and lost from his aircraft carrier. He sent a radio message and said… “My gyro-compass is broken – I am hopelessly lost – the sky and sea are a single gray mass –I am about to run out of fuel – (there was a pause) – but I am making great time at 250 knots.”
Making time at 250 knots is great. But you had better know where you are going. The pilot was never heard from again.
The Creation of Leverage: To build momentum you must leverage yourself. Leveraging is harnessing and organizing the power of large numbers of people. To Leverage your time means that you set into motion actions and people who will multiply your value and worth. Even when you are doing something else, the Watkins Associates you enroll will be using and marketing products that will add to your volume and provide you with income. That’s leveraging!
The duplication of effort that leveraging provides can generate substantial residual income. Residual Income is money that keeps coming in long after you have done the work. The more you recruit and enroll Associates the more you will leverage your time and grow residual income. Leveraging will fuel the growth of your momentum.
To build leverage requires an upfront investment of time and energy focused primarily on Recruiting and Sponsoring efforts. You identify and enroll people who are interested in Watkins Products and supplemental income. You invest your time in training, counseling and supporting your Associates. In this process you are multiplying (leveraging) yourself many times over. Just a few of these Associates may emerge to be leaders who will multiply your value and worth in dramatic proportions. When that happens you will experience a dramatic surge in momentum.
Overcome The Killers of Momentum:
Many people fail to achieve their goals or reach their dreams because at some critical period in their life or business they lose momentum. They shut down. There are many killers of momentum.
Life has a tendency to get in the way of momentum. An illness, family misfortune or some other distraction can slow your momentum. Sometimes we get distracted with the heaps and piles of life’s triviality. As we major in minors we can lose sight of our goals and get bogged down. We waste our energy and drain our resources. We may spend far too much time trying to help Associates who are not really committed to success. Our wheels are spinning and nothing is happening. The result can be a devastating loss of momentum.
Probably the greatest contributor to loss of momentum is discouragement. Things are not always going to go as planned. Goals can be illusive and seemingly out of reach. Progress can plateau. You can actually experience a time of regression when your business seems to be declining instead growing. During times like these it can be very discouraging. Discouragement can be a painfully effective momentum killer.
Misuse of our discretionary time can be a killer of momentum. I am a football fan who enjoys watching any National Football League team play. I used to watch three games on Sunday and of course Monday Night Football. That is roughly 12 hours of professional football per week. Since I have rededicated my effort to becoming a WATKINS Executive I now only watch one game on Sunday and I watch only the last half of Monday Night Football. I have converted 12 hours of idle time into four hours of idle time. In the process I have picked up eight hours of productive time that I now devote to momentum building activities for my WATKINS Business. That is a far better way to spend my discretionary time. Instead of spending many hours watching young athlete millionaires play football I now spend my time becoming a millionaire.
Even positive things or projects can slow your momentum. About three years ago I lost significant momentum in the growth and development of my WATKINS Business. I was offered a contract to write a book for another businessman. I accepted the project. It turned out to be a rewarding and worthwhile experience. But it consumed more time than I projected. Also, it took a heavy psychic energy to face that blank page everyday. Two years and 350 pages later I completed the project. Although the experience had many rewards it put a large dent in my WATKINS momentum. Losing your momentum stinks!
The Momentum killers are always present. Fear, doubt, anxiety, worry and discouragement haunt us every day. But we must have the personal fortitude to bust our way through these negative thoughts and emotions and convert them into drivers of positive action. This is “gut check” time. Never say die. Never quit. If you do you will surely lose momentum.
Whenever I get discouraged I follow the ten-second rule. Watkins Gold Executive Steve Bretzke (founder of the Summit Group) taught me the ten-second rule. In a phone conversation with Steve I was moaning and whining about something and Steve quietly but with authority said, “I will give you ten seconds to get over it!” Wow! That really brought me up short but his ten-second rule has really stuck with me.
When a situation presents itself that discourages me, makes me angry or puts me in some less-than-productive mood I think about the ten-second rule. For ten seconds I think about whatever is causing me angst and then I tell myself “GET OVER IT DUMMY!” Then I go back to work. Thanks Steve!
Over my WATKINS work station I have a large sign that simply says, “MOMENTUM.” As I am engrossed in my WATKINS activities, I frequently ask myself, “Am I building MOMENTUM?” If the answer is ‘NO” then I redirect my priorities. I have promised to never lose my WATKINS MOMENTUM again!
Remember – Momentum is Developed and Sustained by Three Key Elements:
(1) Consistent High Performance,
(2) Right Direction and
(3) The Creation of Leverage.
Questions to ponder –
WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO BUILD MOMENTUM IN YOUR WATKINS BUSINESS?
HOW DO YOU MEASURE YOUR MOMENTUM?
ARE YOU WORKING CONSISTENTLY, IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION AND CREATING LEVERAGE?
