Two years ago, financial services agent Karen became a "Top 10" representative at her firm. Out of the several hundred agents at her firm, Karen was awarded a certificate, a $15,000 bonus and a great deal of positive attention. But last year, she barely made it into the top 30.
In January, Karen called me for help. "I didn't do anything differently this past year than I did the year before," she told me. "Maybe it's the economy, because it just seems like fewer and fewer people are saying 'yes' to me."
"When you made the 'Top 10' two years ago, were you consciously pursuing it?" I asked her. No, she told me, she had been taken by surprise by it.
"What were you focused on?" I asked.
"I guess, my total focus was on helping as many people as I could in as many ways as I could," she explained.
"Well, did your focus change this past year?"
After careful consideration, Karen responded, "I wanted to make it to the 'Top 10' again, and I guess my focus was on that and not really on helping anyone. But would that really have made a difference? I was helping people, either way!"
