DISCIPLINE: A KEY TO YOUR SUCCESS!

Just the other day, I was reading up on the profiles of Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III, the expected top two selections in the 2012 NFL Draft. I have always been fascinated by people regardless of professions or backgrounds. I love to see how a person connected the dots in their lives or what motivated them to achieve the success that they've uncovered?

During this time spent reading, I also came across a comment from Tim Tebow, the Denver Broncos much talked about signal caller, who's inspirational performances from the 2011 NFL season - like it or not - captivated the entire sports world and beyond! Regardless of his playing statistics, you can tell that Tebow is a believer from the piece I read. A strong willed individual. In my estimation, this young man is far beyond his years and has a certain calling waiting for him and it's not going to be about tossing a football (I still say he should have a position in the WHITE HOUSE as our nation's new "Youth Program Leader!")

Back to my story ... Tebow's comment that caught my eye came from his college playing days at the University of Florida where he spoke about discipline and how it helped their team focus and achieve so much success on the field. He said: "if you were just 'one second late' for a workout, you were wearing a 30-pound vest all day. And when we ran in groups, everybody's got to make a certain time, not just the leaders". It was a way of promoting teamwork no doubt.

Tebow said that much of his inspiration back during his college playing days came from a movie ANY GIVEN SUNDAY that plays up the importance of a "few inches". Tebow said: "Six inches too far or too short, that's the difference at those crucial times on the field."

It's pretty amazing when you think of this individual's mindset and the fact that he was just a student in college and not some business CEO making this type of statement. So that you know, there are many business executives that when they hire managers to lead their sales team or to even run a furniture store, they'll look to hire someone with leadership from an athletic environment. That is a true statement!!

Most will also tell you that it's not always about the talent in one's self, their experience or the person's size when discussing athletics or business. Those that are successful all have common threads that work in sports, in business and in life. That is the DRIVE WITHIN YOU... the DISCIPLINE... your DETERMINATION to get back up when times get tough.

In terms of "discipline", for example, ask yourself how many minutes in a day do you waste at your job? Challenge yourself to find out. Use a stopwatch. How many minutes did you spend last week in front of a customer face-to-face? Don't count driving, waiting in the lobby or filling out call reports. The latter should be done at the end of your day. Every day in the sales world, if you are disciplined, you will RECRUIT new prospects... PROGRESS current prospects and CLOSE out the existing ones. In between all that, if you are disciplined, you will ask for referrals.

I am a big believer that between the times of 9:15-11:45 AM and 1:15-4:00 PM, they should be your focused revenue opportunity times to make something happen. Your bread & butter minutes so to speak! We all have administrative responsibilities assigned to us. Tackle these tasks in the hours not mentioned above. Same for meetings. An example of mine would be a media station contacting me for a possible ad buy. Interviewing a potential intern candidate. Schedule those times in the 4 PM hour during the week so that you can stay on plan.

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Jim Loria, Career Planning Expert for Sports ProfessionalsEmail address: loria@sfstampede.com