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Complacency leads to mediocrity, which leads to disaster. The challenge is to keep yourself responsive and resourceful

To rekindle your enthusiasm and prevent yourself from becoming worn down by the difficulties and chaos facing you and your industry today, here are seven tactics that can make a difference:

1. Practice self-discipline
Self-indulgence is thinking about how you feel at a given moment, then deciding what action, if any, to take and worrying about the consequences later. Self-discipline is thinking first about the consequences, taking the appropriate action, and feeling great about doing the right thing once it’s done. Self-indulgence tends to build guilt after the fact which, in turn, reduces your enthusiasm for yourself and the work that you’re doing.

2. make a difference
Your industry certainly has unlimited income oppor-tunities and most discussions are about how much money can be made. However, the real measure of your success is the difference that you’re making in people’s lives. By marketing yourself effectively and prospecting consistently, you can reach more people and make a difference in their lives. You must never forget that the great reward of your industry is not just the money that is made, but the difference that is made in their lives.

3. Avoid negative self-talk
It is so easy today to get caught up in negative self-talk and tell yourself all the things you are not doing right and all the things you need to improve on, and all the things that you are not good at. However, there are enough card-carrying members of the cold water committee that you don’t have to throw cold water on every one of your ideas and on yourself as well. Each day focus on and write down three actions you have taken that have had a positive impact on your business and personal relationships.

4. Listen to inspirational stories
In today’s contentious society, it is difficult to continue to be enthusiastic and fervent on a daily basis and stay up. Without recharging yourself, it’s impossible to recharge others. Whether this message comes from your religious affiliation or simply from motivational tapes or messages such as those you receive from industry conventions, etc., it is vital to realise that only by renewing yourself you can renew others.

5. Read books by and for successful people
It is said that the average person only reads one book a year. Of course, that is exactly why they are average. The importance of reading is that it not only develops your logic and understanding, but it also develops your verbal skills and gives you exposure to new ideas that you can use to build your business and your relationships. There are some who spend a few minutes each day reading scripture to have an opportunity to renew their thoughts and mind.

6. Focus on your long-term vision
Roger Crawford (author of How High Can You Bounce) tells us that “People without vision perish.” Clearly that is true. People get bogged down by the short-term happenings as opposed to what they value for the future. When Helen Keller was asked what was the worst thing about being blind she replied, “To have sight, but not to have vision.” Take the time to renew your goals weekly so that you are focused on the long-term and there is not as much impact from the negative things that happen in the short-term.

Ask yourself:
a) How serious a setback to my life goals is this situation?
b) How serious is this situation when compared to what others around me are facing?
c) How disturbed will I be about this situation one month from now?
d) What is the one good thing I can find in all of this?

7. Manage yourself wisely
Recharge or renew yourself and then put in enough effort to get to where you want to be, not just enough to justify where you are now.

By utilising these seven proven, practical tactics to renew and recharge yourself, you will be able to re-engineer your approach to the market, re-think the processes necessary to be effective, and re-energise your clients and prospects.