Focusing on YOUR game

Last week I promised (threatened) to continue the theme that I started, talking about how I think we can help ourselves out in uncertain times. 

After hearing a couple of stories last week, and facing down the same situation myself, here is Tip #2, which I shared at our internal sales meeting this Tuesday. 

We all have a unique combination of skills and experiences that make up who we are and how we do business. 

My thought for the week was how damaging it is to always be looking over your shoulder and obsessing over what someone else is doing. 

The metaphor becomes really clear if you imagine yourself walking down the road and actually looking over your shoulder watching and worrying about your competition. Or even more relevant…. looking down at your phone and scrolling through your social feeds looking at what someone else is doing. 

Either way you are going to come to a less than ideal scenario. Walking into a lamppost, walking off the curb, or walking into someone else who is likewise more focussed on what others are doing rather than their own situation. 

I once walked into a road work sign ideally placed at forehead height while texting and had a scar on my head for months…. Guilty as charged. 

I am also guilty of losing focus on MY mission and the way I want to operate by falling into the trap of obsessing about what my competition is doing. This particularly applies to me around my challenge of communicating clearly Independent Agent’s mission, and who we are and what we do. 

I am not saying I ignore the competition, nor suggesting that is what you should do. But I am saying I don’t want to worry about their game. I want to focus on my own. Because when I don’t, it puts me in knots and makes me feel inadequate. It creates an attitude of ‘lack’ rather than of ‘plenty’. If I am feeling like I am on catch up mode, I am definitely not fighting my own fight, and not playing my own game. 

Rather than forging ahead with my very own mission that is shaped by my values, my experience, my passion and my vision I am trapped in a compare and contrast nightmare. 

In times of uncertainty, being clear on who you are, what you do, and what you offer, is going to resonate with your clients. I believe we can do this better when we lean into who we are without being distracted by what ‘the others’ are up to.