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Having the right mindset is key to hitting your personal goals. You’ll probably still end up failing a few times, but the right mindset can keep you going and growing.
For those that are very ambitious, they usually have a long list of goals that they want to hit both personally and professionally. How do you make sure you’re staying on track with your goals?
If you start to lose motivation and energy, how do you make sure you don’t miss those goals?
We’ll dive into mastering your mindset with Larry Long Jr., an entrepreneur who has seen failure a few times before becoming a successful speaker and coach for sales organizations.
Larry learned early that not everything is given to you. Sometimes you have to take things that you want. Even if you’re scared or nervous of doing something, you have to take those risks to grow sometimes.
“I was so scared to knock on doors to start my lawn mowing business as a kid. My mom said, ‘I pitied the fool. Get out there.’ I said, ‘No’. She said, ‘What are you scared of? What's the worst thing they can say?’ And I said, ‘No'. She said, ‘Is it really that bad?’ I said, ‘Yes, I don't like hearing that.’
But once I got over that obstacle of being fearful and knocked on some doors, I had some conversations and picked up some clients. It was amazing! I was playing summer baseball and to be able to mow lawns around my baseball schedule and make a little bit of money. It was unbelievable!”
It’s important to follow your passion. Sometimes following your passion will come with risks. You might fail but you’ll learn lessons along the way that will ultimately help you grow.
“I said, ‘Let me go ahead and follow my dreams. Follow my passion.’ I moved to North Carolina to open an indoor baseball and softball academy teaching youngsters the fundamentals of the game, as well as the fundamentals of life.
Well, after a year and a half, the numbers that we knew — batting averages, stolen bases, home runs, RBIs. Those aren't the numbers that you need to run a successful business. That's your income statement? Your balance sheet. Whoa, whoa. And your statement of cash flows. Whoa, Lordy. We had no idea what those numbers meant.
So I had to brush my shoulders off and go out there back to the working world. I found a job where I was making 150 cold calls CPA firms.”
If you want to be successful, you need to play to your strengths especially in sales. Larry remembers a time back when he was cold calling when he struggled a lot.
The thing that helped him find success? Being able to relate with clients through some of the struggles he faced himself.
“My boss said, find that happy medium with my personality and our customer’s personality and speak to people like they're people. And you're gonna have a lot of success. Lo and behold, he was right. I was just having conversations, sharing my story of being a failed business owner.
And all of a sudden I'm making connections. I'm getting demos, I'm getting promoted.”
If you want to succeed, you have to believe in yourself. That means telling yourself that you deserve your success and that you can do it. If you tell yourself you can’t, you probably won’t be able to accomplish it.
“What story are you telling yourself and believing, because it's so powerful?
If you tell the story like I used to, ‘I'm not smart enough, I'm not good enough. I'm not worthy of rocking the mic as my full time career.’ Then guess what? You're gonna step into that. Whereas, if you uplift yourself and say, ‘You know what, Larry, you deserve this, keep working hard and great things are gonna happen.’
It now changes that narrative. And it's amazing.”
The best thing to do when layoffs happen is to stay positive. Larry reminds us that we’ll all make it through and that mindset is a big part of surviving. Also, this is a great time to seek out mentors and support!
“I can tell you this, you are going to make it, you are going to be okay.
And I encourage you to believe that you will thrive through it all through the chaos, through the turbulence, through the choppy waters. Just realize you are gonna be okay. And, and if you need someone to talk to, you know where to find them. You know where to find me, I'm here to help. And there's a lot of other people that are here to support you.
The community that we live in.”
If you want to have a side hustle or start as an entrepreneur, you need to have a strong support system. Especially if you’ve failed before. You still might fail, but having that support system can help you get up and find success.
“I was scared beyond belief. Can I do it?
I think they call it FUD, not Elmer FUD, but fear, uncertainty, and doubt was walking all around my head. Can I do it or am I gonna strike out like my baseball academy? And, thankfully I had so many supporters.”
Larry says that commitment is everything when it comes to hitting goals. Either you, a coach, family, or friends have to help keep you on track. You need to know what your to-dos are to hit your goals. Keep them organized and keep them documented somewhere so you can make progress.
“It comes down to being committed. So with my coach, we use a platform called Asana.
We document all of my commitments, all of my goals, my BHAGs — big, hairy, audacious goals, because we're trying to accomplish some things that I never would've imagined. And that's the life that I'm creating now in the short term, as well as building in the long term.”
Everyone goes through low motivation and low energy periods. The trick is knowing how to overcome it. You need to find triggers for yourself that can change your mood and motivation. It’s going to be something different for everyone but you need to find out what works for you.
“Here’s something that I do because I go through spells where I'm just not feeling the best. I go to YouTube and, and I guess they call it the algorithm. If you watch Eric Thomas Denzel Washington, Will Smith, Max Beck, Tony Robbins. I mean, if you watch some of the uplifting, powerful messages, the algorithm, it sends you down a rabbit hole.
And for me, it's a good rabbit hole of positive messages. So for me, I watch one. And then next thing I know, 30 minutes later, I'm fired up. So it's one of those things of ‘What are you consuming?’”
