Is It Over Yet?

Earlier this week, I found myself at London’s Olympia Park, scribbling furiously at the the exhibitor’s orientation morning for the Specialty and Fine Food Fair 2018.

The event is UK’s leading event for fine food and drink – putting the seller directly in front of high quality audience, it provides a great platform for buyers to launch their brands and needless to say, I’ll be there with Spicica, my spices.

The orientation session was an opportunity to meet the organisers and ambassadors. Representing some very coveted brands and plenty of skin in the game, they shared plenty of tips and for this weekend, I picked out one for you.

I know that most of you who read my blogs have diverse interests and while a very few of you are in the food business, you will all connect with this one…because it applies with everything from food to football! Let’s see how.

One of the speakers said that often towards the evenings, exhibitors begin to tire of having been on their feet all day and as it approaches closing time, they begin to pack up and start putting things away…even before the show is over.

He suggested that not only is it unpleasant for the customer, as an exhibitor too, it is totally not a sensible thing to do because despite having put in a hard days work, your best buyer might be passing you by while you are busy stacking cartons, facing your back to the buyer or worse, texting dinner plans.

He explained using the example of a bar, that a customer should never be able to tell the time of the day by looking at the quality of your display!

I was thinking about this on my way home.

Be it the day or the year, the person or the display, we often allow ourselves to tire as we approach the scheduled end and worse, we sometimes stop performing before the curtains come down.

In a corporate sense, think of all those multi-year visions, strategies and programmes that begin with a big bang (and budget) only to fizzle out over time or worse, disappear into oblivion.

Or even on a personal level, how often do you find yourself giving up so close to the finish line, that you can almost touch it. And then the pain leaves, but the regret lingers on.

Ever left a party before it’s over…and then found out that you missed the best part? Though if the party always begins after you leave, we need to talk!

Seriously though, beginning on a high is simple, sustaining is the hard part. People often complain that there’s just not enough motivation!

But here’s is the thing. Motivation is like a rocket launcher! It is amazing at getting you started. You have motivation to thank for all the crazy things you have done and never been able to explain what made you do them.

But once you are in orbit, it is the discipline that will keep you growing. In face, you will need discipline even just to keep yourself motivated, because if the goal is worthwhile, you are bound to hit obstacles – not once, repeatedly.

‘Motivation is like rocket launcher! It’s amazing at getting you started! Once you are in orbit, you need discipline to keep  growing. In fact, you need discipline even just to stay motivated.’

Here are some quick tips to reignite that fire:

  1. Anchor Success: Think of all those moments when you have persisted despite running near empty… anchor them and more importantly, their sound, how they felt, looked, smelled, tasted…engage your senses.
  2. Stick to plan…
  3. Have a plan: NEVER underestimate the need for a plan!
  4. Remember why you started
  5. Say hello to your future self: Step away from the discomfort and see yourself two degrees away! For example, it’s nearing 1.00 a.m. as I write this. At one degree, I feel my eyes tiring yet at two degrees, I see you reading this finished article. I want it ready for your weekend, when you choose to read is totally up to you.

Will you miss it if it didn’t exist? Not really, no. But neither will the buyer if my stand was packed up!

Finally, with the world cup on, I couldn’t resist thinking what footballers do as the game nears its end? Going by group stage stats from the 2018 games, late goals (scores in 80 minutes +) are actually quite a thing!

Of the 122 goals in total, 22% (28) were late goals! In fact, 16 of them were actually scored after stoppage time.

So then hey…what’s our excuse?

Let’s keep scoring!

As always, if you need someone to help keep score, contact me on my coaching page!

Have a lovely weekend!

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