Best Advice: You Reap What You Sow

We are all working towards an outcome. Whether at work it is to hit target, at the gym it could be to lose weight, at home it might be to save money. There is always something that we want to achieve, and always things we dream of achieving.

What we sometimes forget is our input to whether or not we achieve them.

At the age of 16, in my very first job as a sales assistant for a DIY store, my manager gave me some amazing advice that has stuck with me to this day:

You Reap What You Sow

It really is that simple, you will achieve what you work for. Depending on what seed you sow will determine what will grow. If you plant a sunflower seed, you will grow a sunflower. If you plant a grass seed, you won't get a sunflower, and that's where a really valuable lesson can be learnt.

Your actions and activities will determine your outcome.

To grow a sunflower you need to plant a sunflower seed.

To succeed, you need to work hard and do what works.

Working in sales, you are generally working towards a monthly target. Whether or not you achieve that target will be determined by your activities and actions during that month.

If you get to the end of the month and you don't achieve your target, look back at what you did and you should be able to find opportunities you missed. Did you achieve your KPI's? Did you try hard enough to get hold of the relevant people? How did you spend your time each day and each week? There will always be so much we could do differently, and like the famous saying goes:

It's the same if you get to the end of the month and you have achieved targets. You've found something that works, and so should repeat that. Look at what actions had a positive outcome, and repeat those. Maybe phoning at a specific time works, or using a certain presentation works well.

Top tips:

• Take accountability for your actions, you are in charge of what you achieve
• Spend some time each day/week/month looking at what you do each day and what is working/not working
• Look at successful people and what they do to succeed
• Follow the KPI's that are set, they are usually based on what people have done before to achieve
• Ask for feedback from your team/manager, and be open minded
• Don't take negative feedback or criticism personally, try and look at it from a different perspective
• Take excitement and motivation from the fact that you are in control of what seeds you plant, and what plants you grow

Do you look at what you sow to understand what you reap? In other words do you look at the work you do to understand what you achieve as an outcome?

Do you think this advice can be applied to everything? Please write your thoughts in the comments box, I'd love to know what you think.

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