If you are focused on the wrong actions, it will not matter how much time you put in, you simply can’t possibly achieve what you want.

Success in Network Marketing, as in any other pursuit in life, necessitates a clear compelling vision and consistent action. Let me qualify that – consistent effective action. As my friend Kim George describes in her book, Coaching Into Greatness, there is a huge difference between being busy and being effective. If you are focused on the wrong actions, it will not matter how much time you put in, you simply can’t possibly achieve what you want. What do you do when you’re busy and not producing what you want? You get busier. Let’s be realistic: If your actions are not producing anything, why would more shift your result. If you’re producing zero right now and you double your efforts, what do you get? Zero x 2 = Zero!

You are what you repeatedly do.

Your habits and conditioned patterns will influence more of how you spend your time than most anything else. Have you ever set an intention for how you wanted to spend your day, or what you wanted to produce, and then found yourself at the end of the day without having spent anytime on what you intended? Irritating isn’t it? Your habits can put you on autopilot. When you pay attention to how you actually spend your time or what you do, you might be surprised to see the things you do without thinking about them. The more something is ingrained in your habits and subconscious, the more prone you are simply do it without thinking.

So, if it is true that you are what you repeatedly do, and your regular activities are not producing what you want, there is a simple shift for you to make … Change your habits.

It really doesn’t matter how much you know or what you think, if you simply act automatically per your habits. Knowledge itself is not power. Applied knowledge is power. If you are not fully embracing information you are stuffing your brain with, then you are not shifting your habits and you are simply wasting your time, effort and gray matter. Success is an inside job. It is what you truly believe that will influence the success you achieve. I have heard it said that, if you do not have a $10k per month business on the inside, you will not have it on the outside. How powerful would it be to reprogram your habits and automatically do the right, inspired actions that propel you toward your success? So how do you change your habits and shift what you repeatedly do?

Believe it or not, it isn’t as complicated as it may sound. It’s not really about change at all, it’s about making SHIFTS.

If you are in poor physical condition and wanted to get in shape, you would probably agree that your habits are a primary cause and the first opportunity for change. Have you ever tried to change too much too fast? How about those New Year resolutions where you vow to get in shape, leap into massive life changes and daily power exercise, just to find yourself back in the recliner with a bag of chips and a cold one? What happened? Too much, too soon. And, no shifts in the core habits. Isaac Newton says “A body in motion tends to stay in motion. A body at rest tends to stay at rest.” With our fitness example, your actions do constitute motion albeit they are instantly challenged with overcoming the inertia of your lifelong habits. When something occurs that interrupts your new routine, or you have a bad day, your old habits are ready to take over again and get you back into your comfortable routine. When the power surges at your home, your digital clocks all start flashing ’12:00’ until you reset them. That is the factory default setting. When your routine gets interrupted, you will naturally revert to your default setting – your core habits. See the correlation with habits pertinent to your success?

“To have what you have not, you must do what you do not”

What if you could shift your default setting to something that serves you? What if you could shift your habits to those that move you forward to that which you desire? How powerful would it be if your autopilot activities were those consistent, empowered, inspired actions that produce results? Okay, Coach – so, how do I do this? Relax, young Jedi – the answer is a simple one. First off, know that there is nothing wrong with you. If this article is connecting with you, then you are a perfectly normal human being. Do not waste any of your precious time or resources on your past activities, or searching for what needs to be fixed.

Get clear on what it is that you truly want and align yourself with it. Stay connected to your vision and your purpose.

Too many entrepreneurs define their vision, then toss it somewhere and get busy. What difference would it make if you were to connect with your vision when you wake up in the morning? To get into the space and energy of the level of success that you know is yours? See where I’m going? When you get into that zone and that perspective, you are positioning yourself to choose the activities that are compatible with that space. You are not so much changing anything as you are leaving things behind naturally as you move toward that which you desire. In our fitness example, when you are focused on a certain physical condition, you will make choices compatible with that intention, and you will naturally cease making the undesirable choices. Does that sound like work? The truth is that everything in nature is easy and effortless. Who puts the time and effort labels on things? You got it!

Successful people surround themselves with successful people.

You will become the sum of the 5 people that you associate with the most. Are you spending your time with the people who are focused on what you want? Or the people with the old habits you are shifting away from? Your shifts start right now. Will you continue doing what you have always done? (And, getting the same results). Or, will you step back, connect with your vision and choose the next action that will move you forward?

You are what you repeatedly do. Be great.