Don’t Quit

Giving up is easy.

Whenever the pursuit of our goals becomes challenging, we tend to sink back into our comfort zone.

We quit.  We seek comfort.  We don’t grow.

Quitting is not the path for Serge Guenette, whom I had the honour of interviewing for our Hallmark Driven podcast.

Last year he completed 50 real estate transactions.  This year he has already topped that.

The thing about Serge is that he’s only been in the business for four years.

Oh, and he’s also a pilot.  He’s had his pilot’s license for 15 years.  He also surfs.  Skiis.  Kite surfs.  Skateboards.  Travels the world and goes on adventures.

He is passionate about life.

And he doesn’t quit.

His relentless pursuit of success in real estate consists of a consistent, arduous routine of daily activities that allow him to build and grow his business.

And he admits that, at times, the easiest option when difficulty came was to just quit.

But he knew better.  And he wasn’t built for quitting.

How do you keep going instead of quitting?

It’s quite simple, actually.  And anybody can do it.

Now, simple doesn’t mean easy.  You have to work.  Get out of your comfort zone.  And passionately pursue your goals.

Here are three things you should do to keep you going.

1. Know your ‘why’

This may sound like cliche motivational stuff, but nothing is truer than success built on a true purpose.

I meet a lot of real estate brokers, sales reps, entrepreneurs, business owners, athletes — and one thing is common about those who are successful.

They know their purpose.  They know the reason why they are relentlessly pursuing their goals.

It makes sense.  If you’re award of your purpose, and you have a well defined reason why you’re pursuing your goals, you won’t quit.

How could you possibly give up if you’ve got a big enough reason why you want to pursue your goals?

2. Eliminate distractions

Quitting is made easier and more convenient when you’ve got a reason to be taken off the path of your pursuit.  A lot of the times, these are distractions.

Day-to-day tasks that need to be taken care of.  The needs of family and friends that come up.  Or even other activities that you feel you’d rather do because it makes you feel busy and accomplished.

Successful people who don’t quit are aware of the distractions that prevent them from achieving their goals.

They are particular about how they spend their time, every day, and know that distractions will take them off the path they need to take.

It’s a simple concept to eliminate distractions.  It’s not easy to do.

Eliminating distractions requires a well defined ‘why’ combined with an awareness of what things do not feed the accomplishment of your goals.

And it requires you to say no to a lot of things.

Start by becoming aware of what you do, every single day, and then ask yourself — by doing this, am I getting closer to achieving my goals?

If the answer is no, eliminate it.

3. Define and execute

Those who quit don’t have a well defined plan.  Nor do they execute one.

Quitting is easy when the pursuit of your goals leads you to a point where you’ve got to decide what to do next, and you have no idea what to do because you haven’t planned it out.

To aggressively pursue your goals and accomplish them, you’ve got to define a plan to get you to where you want to be.

Again, this sounds like a simple thing to do.  But many people don’t do it.

Once you have a goal in mind, you’ve got a big reason why you want to do it, and you’ve identified distractions that you will eliminate, you have to work on a plan.

Break down your goal into specific strategies you need to execute on.

Then break down those strategies into specific plans you need to fulfill.

When you have a goal broken down into strategies and tasks, there’s no way you couldn’t execute on it.

You’ll passionately pursue it.

You won’t have a reason to quit.