I’ve put on weight recently.
Up to my heaviest in years – 88.5 kg, and I’m feeling it.
Sluggish, t-shirts tightening and feeling, well, kinda old (I’m 54 soon).
There are several handy excuses I have for this piling on of the pounds.
Here are three (I have several more in my locker).
- We’ve recently celebrated Easter, so the house has been filled with chocolate.
- My hip replacement operation in November means I can’t exercise as much.
- I always put on weight in the winter because I hate the long nights and grey days.
These aren’t reasons for my weight gain; they are, without doubt, handy excuses I use to make myself feel better.
I’m fascinated by the environments elite sports teams create to avoid the E-word.
Sir Alex Ferguson said that at Manchester United, the players were given every possible advantage from sleep science to recovery areas to top-class food, so that one thing was removed from the players’ vocabularies – excuses. His goal was to create a no-excuse culture around the club. Several teams have since followed this lead.
I remember a friend who runs a land and new homes network telling me a few years ago how many agencies used Christmas as an excuse to pretty much shut down their prospecting tools at the start of November! He also explained to me that this gave agents willing to put in the work during December the chance to win development deals right up until Christmas break really kicked in.
Another top agency owner I know told me how he received a text on the morning of the Brexit referendum vote from a rival down the High Street. ‘We’re all f**ked!!!!’
The recipient of this showed this text to his team that morning with the accompanying words (I’m paraphrasing here) ‘This shows you what their mindset is – Ours is going to be totally different. We’re not going to use Brexit as an excuse for not putting in the work for our clients.” He was proven correct – his rival never recovered its market share post the Brexit vote.
The people in your team who have the lowest level of performance are probably the ones with the highest number of excuses.
The Iran war – economic uncertainty – this government – that government – our CRM is slow – my colleagues, etc., etc, etc.
One thing that excuses hate is being faced with a plan.
My plan to shift the pounds down to 80 kg, which feels like my optimum weight, starts today. Longer walks, cutting down sugar and eating more protein.
What’s your plan when faced with excuses in your agencies?
Thanks for reading.
Jerry
