3 Myths that Sabotage Success

3mythsruiningsuccess_np

No matter what business or industry you get into, your goal is to succeed. However, sometimes what we believe is helping us to succeed is actually sabotaging us. Thankfully, Merit Gest, founder Merit-based Sales and Leadership, broke down three top myths that can sabotage your success and how to avoid them. She broke down how you can achieve your dreams of growing more and standing out from your competition, so that you are doing everything you can to be personally and professionally successful.

Who Chiseled That Over the Door?

Gest started by explaining her own personal struggles that she faced in what she had been told about success. For example, she thought she would be too young to be a sales manager in one of her jobs, and her father asked her who chiseled that over the door? After Gest did become the youngest manager in her job, it made her question some of the other stigmas that surround success. “It’s important to question some of the truths and ideas that have been handed down in terms of how to be successful and what success is,” Gest explained.

Myth #1: Stick To It

This is when you set a goal, have a belief or make a decision and you stick to it no matter what. This is not always the best method for achieving actual success. Ask yourself what could it cost you to stick to your goal no matter what? More-so, what happens when you don’t allow new information to come into your action plan? This myth is all about the internal mind and re-deciding what no longer works for you and your business.

Gest broke this down to the spa world by creating a scenario where there is a new spa opening up a couple doors down from you. This spa is offering everything you are offering, but a couple new and different treatments as well. What is it going to cost you to stick to what you’re doing and your original plan no matter what? What business could this cost you? Instead, allow yourself to be open to what is out there, and see if it would be more beneficial for you to also add new techniques or treatments into your spa. This does not mean you have to change everything about your spa, and in some cases, you may even find that it is better to stick to your original plan. Ask yourself these three questions to re-decide what is best for your spa: who chiseled that over the door, what does it cost to stick or shift and should you stick to it or shift your action plan?

Myth #2: Act As If

It’s not always a good idea to act as if you already have the job and the success you want. You may have heard this also broken down as “fake it ‘til you make it” or “dress for success.” However, acting as if you have it all together can be spotted a mile away, and instead of acting like you have the solution all the time, it is more beneficial to ask and make sure you have the best solution for your clients.

“It’s not about acting as if; it’s about asking as if,” – Merit Kahn Gest

This is when clients will really listen to you because you are not trying to push something on them, and they feel like you are really helping them because you are asking and finding out what is going on in their world. “Even when you have been doing something for years and years, it can be better to still have a beginner’s mind,” Gest explained. Don’t act like acting, act as in take the action to getting the results you want.

Myth # 3: It’s Not My Job

When it comes to the spa industry, it can be detrimental to believe that there are certain parts about being a spa professional that don’t fall under the scope of “your job.” For example, sales is a large component that can fall under the umbrella of “not my job,” when in reality this is a mindset that can harm your business. The emotional mind attributes of a top sales pro include someone who has assertiveness, independence, optimism, self-actualization and self-regard. This makes you irreplaceable.

This myth is about the emotional mind. Gest explained how while it may not be your job to empty the full garbage at the front desk, it is a job that can affect everyone in your business if it is not done. This emotion will follow you through the rest of the day every time you walk past the garbage and see that someone has not taken it out, and you begin to feel like “I wish someone would take out that garbage; it’s not my job to do it.” Instead, when you take out that garbage, even if it is not your job to do it, that clears away that problem of the day which makes you feel better. You then carry this feeling into your next treatment with your client.

More in Staff