Passion vs Quota

Remember that feeling when you first began your dream job? It was an explosion of excitement that probably couldn’t be contained. It came from within and made you wonder how you got so lucky. You often awoke feeling so appreciative of the job that the pay felt like a bonus. Maybe you even said, I can’t believe they are paying me for this!At the sound of the alarm you rushed into the shower, felt excited to see where the day would lead, and anxious to meet people and create more business. Staff meetings felt like stomping grounds for refueling the tank. Monthly numbers seemed more a way of keeping score. This was more than a job…this was your life!Yet after several years, that excitement began to wane and the passion became less prevalent. Quotas that once motivated you, now felt like unattainable goals set to make you fail.So what happened? How did the light switch of passion and motivation transform into pressure and disappointment? Did the job actually change, or did you change? If neither has changed, then how could the same event look suddenly so much different?Take a close look at your career so far and answer these questions:

• What made you excited about the job when you began?
• How successful were you when you began?
• What was the focus of your selling techniques when you were most successful?
• What did you do when you weren’t as successful?
• When were you most successful?

Most likely you were most successful when you first began because the numbers were not the focus. What made you most excited? Was it meeting new people? Telling your boss about the sales you’d made? Or maybe it was just that as you began to taste success, suddenly the stakes would be raised.But why do higher quotas seem to squelch your motivation? Maybe they don’t. Maybe it is simply fear that you won’t be able to reach the goals?Fear will keep you small. And a new perspective can be a game-changer.Without fear, you can lean in and see that selling is merely a game. It is a matter of a goal being set (by you or someone else) and you creating a way to get there. What if those higher quotas were a form of praise and an increased opportunity for success?If your boss said, “Since your numbers were so high last quarter, we want to give you a raise,” you would pat your own back, feel acknowledged and work even harder next month. But only with a new mindset. If you could see an increased quota as an actual raise (I mean, if you hit the goal you WILL make more money!) then suddenly you may be motivated by the challenge, rather than depleted.Yeah, but…what if I can’t meet those numbers? The truth is that your success so far is directly related to the belief that you can hit the numbers! And the only thing keeping you from making your monthly numbers now, is the worry that you can’t.Change your words, change your mind.When your focus was passion and commitment, (not quota and failure) you were successful. So look at the numbers like money in your wallet and then chase that quota down! After all, you do deserve a raise…