How (One) Great Salesperson Starts Their Day – And What You Can Take From It - Paul Petrone - Breaking through the noise with relevant, insights-based content.

When the U.S. economy crashed in 2008, Hal Elrod crashed with it. He lost over half his coaching clients, his house, and even his gym membership.

Today, Elrod is one of the highest-rated keynote speakers in America. He attributes his success to something he learned when he was at his lowest back in 2008 – something he writes about in his bestselling book, The Miracle Morning.

According to Elrod, the biggest thing he did to get his life back on track was actually a combination of six very small things — a series of six steps to a “miracle” morning which he calls SAVERS, and which he committed to performing every single morning.

In the LinkedIn Learning course, “The Six Morning Habits of High Performers,” Elrod walked Pete Mockaitis through how professionals can apply SAVERS to their morning routines. For those in a relentlessly performance-driven field like sales, the tips can be especially valuable.

Here’s how you can apply each step of the “Miracle Morning” to your pre-work routine to improve your outlook, focus on your goals, and achieve more every day.

Silence: Meditate in silence to establish your daily mindset.

Elrod puts a slightly different spin on the power of silence and meditation compared to traditional approaches. He explained:

“I use meditation as a way to set the mindset for the day. I’ll look at my schedule and say ‘OK, what do I need to accomplish today?’”

At the very beginning of your morning, take 10 minutes to just sit with your thoughts. You don’t have to try “not thinking.” If you want, you can even focus on your daily checklist.

Elrod only has one rule for this meditation practice: no self-judgment. “The only way you can fail is if you judge yourself for any part of your experience,” he said. Instead, just take the time to let your thoughts come and go naturally.

Affirmations: Focus on the concrete — what do you want and how will you get it.

Affirmations get a bad rap, but according to Elrod, that’s because they’ve been misappropriated. Affirmations are NOT

1. Statements you can use to trick yourself into believing something that isn’t true

2. Flowery, passive statements that don’t prompt any real action

Properly understood, affirmations are statements for prompting focused action. Answer these questions in order to create yours:

1. What is the goal you are committed to?

2. Why are you committed to it?

3. What are you committed to doing to accomplish it?

4. When are you going to start doing what you need to do to accomplish it?

Answering these questions will define what you want to do and how you’re going to do it all day.

Visualization: Visualize the activity AND the result.

If people get something “wrong” about visualization, it’s often because they only visualize the success itself, instead of visualizing the actual steps that will get them there, Elrod said.

Imagine yourself making that big phone call. How are you going to open? How will they respond? What kinds of questions will they ask, and how will you answer them?

Success is what you want, but the process is how you’re going to get it. So practice the process through visualization every morning before work. Then go make it happen for real.

Exercise: Every morning, even if only for 60 seconds.

Don’t have any energy? Stand up and do 60 seconds of jumping jacks. It will get your blood flowing, oxygenate your cells, and make you feel 10 times more awake afterward.

Exercise when you wake up, right before work, and whenever you’re feeling run down. Your body and brain will thank you all day long.

Read: Even if only a few pages every day.

Reading does for your mind what exercising does for your body, and with an added benefit: if you read every morning, you’ll have read a book in no time.

Even if you only read five pages a day, that’s 150 pages per month. That could be one self-help book a month, or one book on learning a new skill. In a year, you could be a different person. All for 20 minutes at the top of your morning.

Scribing: Clarify your priorities in writing.

You’ve already defined your mindset for what you want to accomplish today and defined your affirmation. Now you can focus even more specifically.

What are the THREE most important goals you want to work on today, and why? Define them and physically write them down,

Elrod said:-  Remind yourself why these are the ones you’re going to focus on and commit to them with your affirmation.

Keep track of the goals you write down day over day to chart and monitor your progress.

Not only will this help you feel accomplished, but it will also make it easier to keep coming up with the next step.

Let's connect for more info at Infonium Technology