Why we’re happy being miserable

How do you brighten a room?

For decades I’ve seen people continuously fail to improve at things as varied as golf, keeping weight off, and growing their businesses.

They’ll spend hundreds of dollars on lessons, thousands of dollars on equipment, develop elaborate routines and theories, but when they’re under (self-induced) pressure, they forget what the golf pro taught them, they forget they own the greatest golf technology ever invented, and flub the shot.

In business, I have opened up my “secret vaults” and shown clients exactly what to do in order to meet their stated business goals including:

• how to build websites and landing pages…

• how to create lead magnets and follow-up sequences…

• what to say on the phone and in-person…

• how to price their offerings and handle objections…

• how to over-deliver and ask for testimonials and referrals…

Yet when the pressure is on either because it’s the end of the month or the end of the quarter or they have a cold or they have a self-induced hangover and just don’t “feel like themselves,” they resort to their old ways of either high-pressure tactics (and then begging) and flub the sale.

People fear success more than failure

Excuses last a lifetime while success takes daily effort.

However, we’re all lazy to a greater or lesser degree, and, like water, we’re inclined to seek the path of least resistance, which is why that daily effort thing can be tough, especially if you try to do it alone. (Maybe that’s why Jesus sent His Apostles out in pairs.)

But only through consistent, appropriate, daily effort do we reach and surpass our goals and make big things happen.

But “making big things happen” is what scares you the most.

When you’re making big things happen more people are paying attention to you. That means you have to

• step up your game,

• maybe shave more often,

• maybe drop out of the bowling league,

• maybe stop drinking wine out of the box,

• maybe commit to a schedule,

• maybe become more reliable and accountable.

And since we’re all afraid of change—even changing our boxed wine—we subconsciously sabotage our efforts so we can remain in our comfort zone and get condolences from our bowling partners about

• the valiant effort you made, and

• how it’s the government’s fault you failed, and

• how it’s big business’s fault you failed, and

• how it’s the President’s fault, and…and

• NICE STRIKE! ANOTHER ROUND OF BUD LIGHT AND CHEEZ WHIZ! (“Wow, that reminds me…I may break my high score tonight…if my thumb doesn’t start hurting again…and if I can keep my hand dry…and if that idiot two lanes over stops doing the chicken dance after every spare he picks up…and if they’d play my favorite song, which I’ve requested five times in the last hour, and…and…and…)

People fear failure more than success

“Wait…what? Didn’t you just say the opposite up above?”

Why yes I did, my observant reader.

Zig Ziglar always said that you are at the top when you realize that failure is an event, not a person, that yesterday really did end last night, and that today really is a new day.

But people today are so afraid of failing at any little thing that the biggest reason they fail to succeed is that they fail to start.

I mean, heaven forbid if you schedule a webinar to announce your new course and nobody buys…or worse, nobody even attends your webinar. (Go apply at Starbucks…if they’ll hire a loser like you.)

And what if you bought a booth at a trade show and had a new design created and flew your staff out to man the booth…and you lost money. (Just to work at the Post Office, right?)

Or what if you shipped your new design and it had a flaw that required a recall or a massive update and everyone on Twitter complained about it for, like, ah, 37 minutes? (Maybe you can be a roofer in Phoenix in the summer. Maybe.)

If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing poorly

That’s right. If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing poorly, which is exactly how we do anything new, until we master it and then we do it well.

What is it you want to really, REALLY do?

Are you wanting to do it so badly that you’ll suffer the humiliation of low attendance or slow sales or a few online trolls until you master it and perfect it and hit it out of the park?

When you’re that fanatical and passionate about then you’ll be intrinsically happy and you’ll also experience extrinsic happiness from not only your success in life, but in the joy and success your offering brings others.

That’s how we happy people roll here.

Market like you mean it. Now go sell something.