Jeff Spencer

Archives for January 2017

Strength of Conviction

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One of my closest friends is a brilliant entrepreneur. He generates more great business ideas before his first cup of coffee every morning than most people do in their lifetime. He’s also skilled at weeding out the ideas he knows will work from the ones that won’t. But in his own words, it’s more about figuring out what the public—and more importantly, potential investors—are ready for than whether his idea is good or not.

Because he knows his ideas are good. All of them. It’s just a matter of pitching them to the right people at the right time in the right way. That’s why I was surprised when he come to me with a confession: he felt like he was losing his mojo.

I was more than surprised. Here’s a guy who can sell sand at the beach. Sky high confidence, always upbeat. This time was different. He was rattled. He’d been pitching an idea for months with no success. He was accustomed to blowing people away with his presentations, but this time he was getting nowhere. Everyone loved his idea, recognized its value, and praised it on its merits—but no one was willing to take a risk and go first.

Zero traction.

Played by The Room

I realized he’d fallen into a common trap: instead of playing the room, the room was playing him. He was toning down his language, tempering his enthusiasm, and leaving out his best attributes: his confidence the strength of his convictions. Remember, this is a guy who can sell needles to a porcupine and snowshoes to a camel.

He forgot that.

His presentations got lukewarm, so the responses he got were lukewarm.

Instead of infusing the room with belief and energy, he pulled back. Rather than being proactive and educating potential partners about the tremendous upside of his prospect, he went reactive. He played defense. He let the presentations fall into a negative feedback loop, and half the time never got to his best material or his sure-fire closing lines.

I told him to regroup and remember who he was at his core. To speak from his highest self. To walk into those rooms with the full belief he’d walk out with a yes. To put all his cards on the table every time, treat every pitch as if it was his last, and give the potential partner every opportunity to go all-in on his idea.

I saw the lightbulb click on over his head, and I knew that was exactly what he needed to hear.

He got his mojo back—and his idea got the traction it deserved.

How to DIY Success

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To DIY or Not DIY

I love it when coaching clients arrive loaded with self-belief, confidence, and determination. I sense it right away by the way they carry themselves and the way they talk. They meet life head-on, relish new challenges, take responsibility for managing their time and energy, and hold themselves accountable for their actions.

When I meet a truly scrappy, Do-It-Yourself type, I know half my job is done. I get to skip the basics—attitude, positive self-talk, productive daily habits—and get straight to fine-tuning. It’s like the difference between teaching an entry level-college class and a graduate seminar. The foundational knowledge and skills are there. My job is to take them to the next level.

There’s only one problem: they think they can do anything. They hate asking for help. Success in one thing makes them expect success at everything. When they try something new and things don’t go right, they think the problem is them—so they work harder. They put pressure on themselves to conquer any challenge they face.

Typically, this is an attitude I praise. With some people, though, it backfires: their greatest strength becomes their greatest weakness.

Available Means, Resources, Self-Awareness

No one can possibly know everything or predict what skills they’ll need to handle the curveballs life throws their way. Belief and talent only go so far. Specific knowledge takes care of the rest. Confident people often end up spending way too much time fighting battles they can’t win. Through no fault of their own: they simply don’t have the wiring, experience, or ability to do it all.

If I just described you, take my advice: know thyself. Know when to ask for help.

I once had a client who was very successful in her field. She wanted to share her knowledge with the world, so she decided to create an online tutorial. But she had no experience creating online teaching programs. That didn’t bother her, because she’s a self-starter. She showed me what she had—and it was a train wreck. I knew if she didn’t get professional help, at least three bad things would happen:

  1. Her customers wouldn’t get the help she wanted to give.
  2. She’d look unprofessional.
  3. She’d lose business.

Instead of the win-win she was after, she set herself up for a lose-lose.

I connected her to a colleague with high-level expertise designing online educational programs. They put their heads together and created an amazing tutorial. I got an email from her the other day—beta testing was complete, the course was wildly successful, and I was thrilled for her.

Always get expert help before you need it—otherwise, your dream might become a nightmare.

You Never Know Who’s Watching (and someone is always watching)

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In athletic competition, there are days everything comes together: perfect weather, perfect rest, perfect nutrition, perfect venue, and perfect preparation synergize to create a perfect day—and you win.

Then there are days when everything goes wrong: terrible weather, a restless night, a funky stomach, a so-so venue, and a poor training session or two conspire to create a bad day—and you miss the podium or DNF.

Either way, on either day, you give it your all. You give one hundred percent and let the chips fall where they may.

Or do you?

Maybe you expect the sun, moon, and stars to align and serve up a victory on a silver platter. You hold out for ideal circumstances. You wait until success is virtually guaranteed before you commit.

Lots of people do this. They give themselves an out by generating a litany of excuses. They find a reason not to try their hardest. They allow external factors to determine the quality of their effort.

That’s a big mistake.

The Conditional Conquistador

The perfect day I described above almost never happens. Neither does the terrible day. Most competition days—like most days in life—fall somewhere in between. You don’t determine the circumstances. That’s why people who wait around for the perfect time to give their full effort undermine their chance at success.

Here’s what happens when you’re conditional:

  1. While you look for a perfect moment, you miss the good ones that can lead to great results.
  2. You become slow to respond, and you respond slowly—in all conditions.
  3. People notice your effort depends on everything going right, which makes them reluctant to offer you an opportunity.

I advise everyone—whether they’re in athletics or business—to give their maximum effort all the time, no matter what the conditions are.

I recently worked with an athlete who was in a tough position: he had the raw physical goods to succeed against world-class competition, but didn’t have the means to get the best equipment. At his level, this made a real difference. It meant he had no chance of winning.

I told him if he showed the same effort when he had zero chance of winning as when he had every chance of winning, his chance would come. I convinced him people invest top dollar in athletes they trust to lay it all on the line. On good days, bad days, and all the days in between.

He took my advice and went full gas that year. It paid off. He got noticed. A team with the best equipment gave him a spot. He seized the moment, won championships for two consecutive seasons, and earned an income he never thought possible.

He put himself out there every day. You should, too.

Because you never know who’s watching—and someone is always watching.