What Are You Practicing?

The definition of practice is to perform an activity repeatedly in order to improve or maintain one’s proficiency.

You may not realize it, but every day, you practice.

You practice procrastination or discipline. You practice maintaining a positive, empowering attitude or a glum, Eeyore energy toward everyone and everything. You practice moods like anger or gratitude. You practice productivity, measuring and noticing progress, or you practice sloth, waking up and reacting to whatever shows up.

Question: What are you deliberately, intentionally and consciously practicing in your life every single day? Second question: Are you practicing things that will help, or hinder?

This past Friday, I was on a call with our Client Coaches to go over a prospecting challenge we set forth for our MSP Launch Academy members. The goal was to initiate a warm outreach and prospecting sequence we have, starting with only 5 prospects per week and building up to 50 per week. A VERY doable campaign that is the cheapest, easiest way to generate leads that I have.

Yet here are some of the “reasons” I heard for not doing it:

1. “I don’t know how.” (This is B.S. given we’ve mapped out exactly what to do and provided a coach, and access to support from me, personally, if they get stuck, have a question, etc.).
   
2. “I can’t afford it.” (Also B.S. since this campaign uses only the phone, e-mail and a free social media account, so unless they can’t afford their cell phone bill and Outlook, this is a very lame excuse.)
   
3. “I’m ‘working on’ the script and process BEFORE I launch it.” (Complete B.S. since we’ve given them 2 weeks in the process to prep, which is MORE than enough, given the simplicity of the campaign. Also, we’ve given them the exact script, e-mails and messages to send, so there’s nothing to “work on.” Finally, you refine the process by DOING the process, not thinking about it.)
   
4. “I’m too busy working 9 to 5 to do this.” (Another B.S. excuse that doesn’t even make sense. They signed up for the program because they said they needed more clients. If they are “too busy” doing the work, then why enroll? Also, you’re never going to be “less busy” than you are now; if you wait until you’re “not busy,” you’ll wait an eternity. Further…if they are that busy, they should also be making sufficient profits to hire someone to help them, freeing up their time to work on getting more clients in the door. Let me also add that NOBODY gets a business off the ground working 9 to 5. Get yer ass outta bed at 5 a.m. and work until 8 a.m., then start prospecting for the 2 hours the program requires. If you can’t find 2 hours a day to get this done, kiss your growth goals goodbye.)

Here’s the TRUTH: Too many people practice procrastination and excuse-making vs. determination, grit and problem solving. Remember, there’s NO MONEY in finding reasons why something won’t work. It takes no genius to point out the obstacles, problems and flaws. ALL of the money is in figuring out HOW to get something DONE despite all of that. So why would you practice fault finding and excuse making?

So many people complain about being busy, but are they profitable and progressing? Are you?

A good exercise I’d recommend is sitting yourself down and accounting for the past 365 days. Were you mostly on autopilot or did you stretch and grow and throw a grenade at anything not excellent, not profitable, not contributing to your personal goals? DID YOU GROW ASSETS? Implement things to make your business more sustainable, more organized and efficient? What new initiatives did you launch? What aspects of your services or products did you improve in a meaningful, significant way? What new marketing oil wells did you get producing, locked in and pumping daily? What key metrics did you improve? Do you even HAVE goals? If not, it’s never too late. Stop reading right now and grab a pen and a piece of paper. Write ’em down. Make a list. Oh, is that SO simplistic and stupid you won’t do it? Hmph.

Too many people practice autopilot mode. You wake up about the same time every day, then click into your routine. Check your phone. Shower, coffee, check e-mail. Maybe in reverse order. You show up at work and react to whatever is in your inbox. No plan for the day, no goals, no productivity measurements. No hard deadlines set, everything allowed to roll over to tomorrow, next week, next month, never. Rinse, repeat. That routine repeats itself for 10, 20, 30 years, until you look in the mirror one day and realize you’re OLD but still unaccomplished. My question to you: What ARE you going to DO about that? Right now. This minute. Are you going to WAIT for inspiration? For a checklist? For tomorrow morning or next week, when you have less to do? Something else?

Careful…what you do right now after reading this reveals a lot about who you are and why you’re where you are today, good or bad.

As we get closer to wrapping this year up, assess everything you do on a day-to-day basis and consider what you’re actually PRACTICING.

Stop practicing excuses and start planning for success in 2025. Join us for a full-day AI workshop on December 19th where you’ll get done-for-you content, proven strategies, and tools to start 2025 ahead of the competition. Don’t wait—register now!