Change Agents: The Other Side of Fear is Success

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The Players:

Sandler Trainers: Suzie Andrews and Jim Stephens http://www.starkassociates.sandler.com/
Behind The Business: Todd and Elaine Damschen http://www.866411zapp.com/
Entrepreneur Radio: Don Reiman http://www.echelongroup.com/ http://www.donreimancfp.com/

~Summary~

Suzie Andrews from St. Louis is a well-known change agent in the Sandler Network. Suzie talks us through the process of getting out of your comfort zone.

What experience in our lives has created a feeling of comfort by feeling that we have achieved finality?

On the other side of fear is success and a comfort zone is a disguise for fear.

How do we wake ourselves to self-awareness once we realize we’re in a comfort zone?

Resources, coaches, people around you who can recognize and help you work through the specific issues that you need to challenge.

Personal, motivating goals to challenge the fear and break out of the comfort zone. If we plateau we may not want to rock the goal, but goals help us move past contentment with the status quo.

Fourteen years ago, Suzie joined Ken Stark at Sandler and was motivated and aligned with the vision of that franchise. She built a cookbook, but felt very uncomfortable getting in front of groups. She hoped to rely on Ken to get in front of groups and he pushed back asking, “how can you rely on me when your success is hinged on you speaking in front of groups?”

It helped Suzie realize that to breakdown those comfort zones you need to take one step at a time to break it down. Her stretch goals expanded as she became more and more comfortable with small groups and moved to train groups larger than 1200. Practice creates a different outcome in results and our belief system drives everything. We create a mental toughness through Sandler that makes it hard not to be successful.

The choice at the crossroads is do you power through or hit wimp junction and stop. We are driven by alignment to our personal mission and vision and if we come into contact with discomfort about realizing our ambitions then we need to develop a resistance to that situation. If you have an absolute commitment to your own personal development, self-worth, and goals then you will find success.

But, a lot of people don’t have the guts to get past their fear, they don’t trust it, and they don’t challenge it which pushes them back to being okay where they are. If that’s the reality then it has to be okay.

Any president and CEO needs to examine themselves and look at how much work they are doing to put themselves out of their own comfort zone in order to set that sort of example for the people they are leading and their team. If you are vulnerable enough to share and own your weaknesses and your comfort zones and then engage with transparency then it allows for a space for the individual to engage their team and look for their own personal goals and measurements of success in order to understand people’s goals and line yourself up to helping them be successful.

We learn by observing others. If we look at ourselves and see who we’re most drawn to: those that don’t have armor on and face things head on as a challenge and a process for their own development.

The key to take action to get outside of your comfort zone is to get very specific about what actions. What are you trying, when are you trying it, and how are you going to measure what you are going to try. Generally the approach to change is I’ll give it a try and then wonder whether change took place or not.

This world of at-leaster mentality is the core of living in the comfort zone. The at-leaster, for the most part, lack confidence and self-worth. They create a perpetuating mindset of “at least I’m where I am,” “at least I’m not a failure,” or “at least I’m accomplishing this” they’re always validating and reinforcing the idea that it’s okay to be this okay. It sums up to I don’t want to fail so I don’t risk failure and I can’t handle success so I don’t want to get over my head.

Suzie’s original goal when joining the business with Ken Stark was to someday own it. When the rubber hit the road and Ken was ready to sell the business, Suzie faced a lot of fear over what she was going to do and why she was going to do it. She had to confront those issues that she was facing in order to weigh the other side of the outcome against the terror of change.

She used that fear as a motivator. Where am I? What do I want? What’s the worst that can happen? Is the value of the outcome worth the risks?

Part of the walk to get out of your comfort zone is just belief. The key to success is believing in yourself and the things that you know were part of the formula for success. Have a plan, work a plan, never give up on your plan.

Working on your attitude and your competencies allows you to shift through comfort zones and is scary, but is enough of a shift that it allows for fulfillment of those goals. By breaking down goals we create realistic pursuits and can bring down fear by building up the reality of execution.

Suzie’s always believed in being a product of the product and purchasing the business made it her pursuit. Since purchase over the last two years she’s grown 30% both years. That growth requires changes in the future because the company changes with increased value and requires more employees and a growing atmosphere.

Her five-year and ten-year plan move toward a succession plan and an increased value and pay-out. That picture of the future forces Suzie to become a strategist for her own life experience and plan. This vision and dream helps her take advantage of what she’s created.

Suzie’s been able to quantify her mistakes and the reason she knew what mistakes she has made is that she’s followed the process and the Sandler material. By knowing where the gaps were and how to plug them it enabled her to consistently make changes and look for the gaps in the process. You will get better if you follow a process that allows you to measure where effectiveness can improve.

We sell the hardest or most difficult thing to sell which means the initial approach to doing things is much different. I see where I need to go and I’m hell-bent on keeping myself uncomfortable. This mindset helps me lead my time out of their comfort and develop their own breakthroughs.

Sometimes when we coach we can help people recognize their beliefs that reinforce their comfort zones. Other people need a complete belief system reset, and a reinforced mental strength, in order to find breakthroughs in removing comfort zones.

I have a positive impact on people’s lives and business results which is my primary vision. I know my plan, I work my plan.