What you need to do to change your life in a year!
by Daniel Wood, General Manager
This year… I will... (insert dream here!). It’s fairly easy to skip over words on a page so think about it again: this year… I will. It’s just a sentence, just words on a page but, if you complete the sentence—say it and mean it—it could be one of the most important things you say in your life. In fact, if you say it and really mean it, you might look back, years from now and recognise it as the exact moment your life changed. I think that many people, probably most people, are not living their perfect life. If you are reading this message, it’s likely you think that Melaleuca could help change your life or at least once-upon-a-time you did. The truth is that there are many ways to succeed in life but very few people reach the level of success they desire. From what I’ve experienced, I think this is due to two main reasons. The first is fear. What are the they, or more importantly you, scared of? Embarrassment? We are, after all, social beings so we care about what other people think and say about us. Embarrassment’s close relative is rejection, and when people say no to us, it can hurt our feelings. Then there is the fear of failure. Putting your all into something which fails can be daunting, especially if you’ve failed before. Fear can be debilitating, even though the fears I’ve mentioned are all imaginary and are yet to happen—if they ever do! The second is old-fashioned hard work. People do their jobs every day and work hard… for somebody else. Over years of observation at Melaleuca I would say that most people will work hard building their business for 30 days. Over this time period some people don’t reach their 30 day goal,
overwhelmingly, this is because they don’t put in enough work. Many however do succeed. It doesn’t matter if they are new people or if they are restarting after a few years. When they work very hard for a month, they get a great result. Then, for many different reasons they reduce their level of work or stop. The excuses start and within a matter of a few weeks, they’ve convinced themselves that Melaleuca doesn’t work. They resume their usual position on the sofa and catch up on their favourite TV shows. Life goes back to normal. In subsequent pages of this edition of Leadership in Action you’ll read about Carole Sellar. Many of you know that Carole made her living cleaning other people’s houses. She was single and she didn’t join Melaleuca until she was in her mid-fifties. Many of you would have overlooked her has a potential business builder—what a mistake! A few weeks ago, I had the privilege of awarding Carole the highest accolade Melaleuca offers in this market: Marketing Executive of the Year 2016. So why did this underdog, this “little guy” succeed where many fail? Well, she had the courage to face her fears head on. People doubted her, people mocked her for giving it a go. She was rejected and she failed time and again but she picked herself up and never stopped believing she would succeed. And, she worked hard. Not for 30 days, not for 60 or 90 days, she worked hard indefinitely, day in and day out. This year, she’ll do the same, she’ll likely advance to at least Executive Director and earn several hundred thousand dollars—decent income for a “Little guy.” She deserves it, she believed it and she earned it—so could you!
There is one other fear which keeps people safe, so safe they never succeed: the fear of commitment. When you say, “This year… I will” and mean it, you are making a commitment to work hard for a year. This unsettles people; they don’t want to say it just in case it doesn’t happen; they want to protect themselves. This may be the safe route but it is also the route to failure. ONLY, when you make a real commitment (one that you will follow through on no matter what) and openly share it with your team, your family, your friends, your potential customers etc. are you setting yourself up for success. This is not safe, it’s not easy, but each time you share it your commitment grows and with it, so do your chances of success. Carole made a commitment and shared it with everyone: “I’m going to do this no matter what, I’m going to get to Senior Director by helping people” and she succeeded. You can too. Start now. The best way to begin is to think about what you really want in life. Then complete the sentence and really, really mean it, “This year … I will.” One year from now, you’ll have enhanced your life. Perhaps you’ll be a Senior Director, with time freedom, a great income, a new car and making this commitment will be one of the best decisions you’ve ever made. What are you waiting for? Say it now: “This year… I will.”
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MARCH 2017 | MELALEUCA.COM
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