Confidence & Satisfaction

Yesterday I was on a 100-person Zoom call with Dan Sullivan and some of his team at Strategic Coach. Dan is well regarded as an incredible thinker and considered the world's foremost expert on entrepreneurship in action. He practically invented coaching for entrepreneurs in 1974. 

On this call, Dan was walking us all through an exercise, and then we were broken into groups of three, with someone from Strategic Coach moderating us. The coaching gods were shining down on me because somehow I got put in a room with Dan and two other participants. If you are not familiar with Dan, he has worked with countless numbers of successful entrepreneurs, including Jack Canfield and Chris Voss. He has also authored many books - some of his most recent best-sellers are Who Not How, 10x Is Easier Than 2x, and The Gap and The Gain.

Back to the exercise: Dan had us write down our successes over the last year, zooming out and then zooming back up to the past week. In fact, at Strategic Coach they don’t begin any session without acknowledging past successes. I had been taught this ‘tactic’ several years ago by another mentor, but this day I learned something new about why this exercise can be so powerful.

Dan is turning 80 today (yesterday he made a joke that this was the last live workshop he will teach at 79 years old). He has been coaching in business for over 50 years. In our small group, Dan shared with us that he has accomplished more in the last 10 years than he has in the previous 40. Further, he is more optimistic about the next 10 years than the last 10 years, and he was stone-cold serious. That is a bananas statement!

When you and I look back at our past, and specifically look for our successes, if we are being honest, we will see...success! Did we accomplish everything we may have outlined? No, and usually the problem is we focus on where we failed! However, when we look for successes, what we see is that we have taken ground in many areas, seeing more wins than we were originally present to. That gives us...confidence. Confidence to do what’s next. Confidence to create a powerful and fulfilling future...and then go do it. Like Dan’s next decade.

Conversely, this week I was in Seattle and Los Angeles speaking to groups of agents. While some agents were doing just fine, many were sharing how bad things are. In fact, several agents came up to me afterward and told me how long it’s been since they sold their last home. 

But all of them have sold homes. All of them have had good years. So they know they can do it. But they are focused on what’s not happening. 

Sure, the market dynamics are probably not as favorable as they were over the previous 10 years. We have no control over when people buy and sell. We do have control over what we think and what we do. People will continue to buy and sell homes. You could be helping more people than you think.

The past can serve us, but also does not limit us.

We are always living into a future.

Do you want a fulfilling and satisfying future?

The last 6 letters in satisfaction are action.

Take action.