by Teresa Romain

One of the most disempowering scarcity patterns I see direct sellers practice is the equivalent of driving a car down a busy highway blindfolded, i.e., not LOOKING. They do not have clarity about where they’re at – which makes it difficult to get where they want to go. Without clarity, they’re doomed for scarcity.

For example, I have met thousands of direct sellers who rarely tracked their actions and results – especially financially. Only a handful create and review a monthly Profit/Loss Statement. Some don’t even record their income and expenses. They “don’t want to know”. In fact, I’d be rich if I had a nickel for every direct seller I’ve met who has told me “Teresa, I can’t wait until I’m making enough money so that I never have to think about money again”.

The problem is that if you don’t like or want to think about/look at your money now, the likelihood you’ll make a lot of money in the future is small.

If you, too, “don’t want to know”, you might have a negative judgment about where you’re at that has you avoid looking, i.e. that it’s bad or you shouldn’t be there. Let that judgment go – and begin to see it simply as “what is so”.

Perhaps you’ve fallen prey to the scarcity belief that all you have to do is make MORE money to be financially prosperous. This is an illusion. Making money without paying attention to how much money you’re spending will result in financial SCARCITY – not abundance.

Having clarity will ALWAYS empower you – NO EXCEPTIONS. You may not always LIKE what you see when your first start paying attention and getting clarity, but having that clarity will ALWAYS empower you.

Consider the example of tracking your income and expenses each month. To not do so could be compared to a quarterback on a football team not paying attention to the scoreboard. He won’t know by how much his team was ahead or behind – nor how much time is left in the game. As a result, he can’t choose the plays that give his team the best chance to win.

For example, unless he looked at the scoreboard, he wouldn’t know that his team is down six points with only two minutes left. Without this clarity, he might then run a series of short yardage plays that take too long. They run out of time before they reach the end zone. Because he didn’t look at the scoreboard, he couldn’t adjust his game plan and choose plays that could have resulted in victory.

To empower yourself in your business, you must BOTH keep and continue to pay attention to your “score” – so that you, too, can adjust your “game plan” accordingly.

Tracking your income and expenses is one way to do so. So is generating a simple Profit/Loss statement each month. Without it, you may unknowingly and needlessly operate your business at a loss. Even if your commission check gets bigger, that doesn’t automatically mean that you are “winning the game” financially.

Furthermore, without the clarity that comes from paying attention to your “financial scoreboard” – you may keep doing the same thing you’ve always done in your business, thinking it is and/or will make you successful. You will not challenge yourself to discover new and better ways of operating your business, generating income, reducing expenses or any combination of the above that will support you to win “the game”.

Again, having clarity will ALWAYS empower you and support your abundance.

But having CLARITY and “keeping score” applies to more than just your financial results. Keep in mind that what you focus on is where your energy will go and is what will show up and grow. Said another way, what you pay attention to is what will continue to expand.

Animal trainers understand this – as I learned from one of the dolphin trainers at a zoo I once visited. Quite simply, the trainers PAY ATTENTION to the dolphin (by rewarding it with a treat) every time the dolphin performs a desired behavior. They completely IGNORE the times the dolphin does not behave as desired.

That’s why paying attention to and tracking your actions and progress is as important as keeping your “financial score”. Instead of focusing on all the calls that you are NOT making or should be making – start tracking (and CELEBRATING) the ones you ARE. Paying attention to and tracking your actions (and rewarding yourself for taking them) will support you to continue to take those actions.

Better yet, use clarity and tracking to support you to become more CONSISTENT in your actions and results. Set a “consistency goal” for yourself. Start out small so you don’t sabotage your progress by falling into the “All or Nothing” pattern.

If you’re currently having three prospecting conversations a week, set a goal of having five or more each week for ten consecutive weeks. Tally your five or more conversations each week. Really challenge yourself to be CONSISTENT by starting over (i.e., counting for ten consecutive weeks) if you don’t have five conversations in a week.

(FYI – this is the Jell-O Salad approach to your business I introduced on the DSL Expert Call a few weeks ago.)

By tracking your actions, you are focusing on and celebrating them – which will motivate you to continue to act. You will also be able to visually and tangibly see your progress. By tracking your results – including income and expenses – you can adjust or improve your actions, as needed, to produce the results you desire.

It’s all about CLARITY. Being clear about where you’re at and where you want to go – then paying attention to the steps you are taking and the progress you are making along the way.

Clarity will ALWAYS empower you – in ways you will not fully understand until you practice and experience it yourself.

How will start practicing clarity today?

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Teresa Romain is the President & Founder of www.AccessAbundance.com and has trained and coached thousands of individuals around the world access and experience greater freedom, fulfillment, well-being and abundance in their businesses and their lives. Unique in her approach and dynamic and passionate in her style, Teresa is known for making the transformational process of accessing abundance challenging, fun and powerful in its results.