On the surface, most sellers I know have pretty good lives. 

They make great money and have independence in their jobs. 

Yet very few of them are happy and fulfilled in their sales careers. 

In fact, they are struggling more than ever. 

Why exactly is this? 

Despite making great money and having freedom and flexibility, most sellers are stressed out, overwhelmed, and struggling with mental health challenges including burnout, anxiety, addiction, depression, and imposter syndrome. 

According to the latest State of Mental Health in Sales Report, a whopping 71% of sellers rank their mental health as “fair” or “poor,” up from 43% in 2020. 

Is there something going on in sales right now, or does this just come with the territory? 

Is the ongoing pressure to perform year after year, and constant comparison to others in a leaderboard driven culture too much to handle? 

Or is there something bigger which is contributing to the increasing stress and anxiety which sellers are feeling?

I believe that there’s something much bigger happening. 

My friend Brandon Fluharty just did a survey last week on LinkedIn where he asked “What’s the #1 thing missing in your sales game right now?” 

50% of the sellers who responded said “passion.” 

This tracks closely with what I’m seeing with clients who I coach. 

Here’s the #1 reason why sellers are struggling more than ever: 

They are focused on extrinsic motivators. 

And extrinsic motivators never deliver the feeling you want. 

Extrinsic motivators are external to you, and include things like money, recognition, achievement, and approval from others.

Sellers believe that happiness will follow success, and so they put their happiness on hold waiting until they’ve “earned it.” 

This is one of the worst mistakes you can make, and I did this most of my career. 

If you want to learn the shortfalls of thinking this way, watch my Keynote “You are not your number.” 

The truth is that success follows happiness, not the other way around. 

Happy people emit an energy that drives clients to like them and want to work with them. 

Positive, passionate people attract success. 

Especially when they are passionate about helping their clients! 

And happiness cannot be faked. 

So is it possible to be happy, even when your results aren’t where you want them to be? 

Absolutely, but it takes focusing on Intrinsic Motivators. 

Intrinsic motivators are internal, and directly correlate to happiness and fulfillment. 

These include the following four focus areas: 

1. Living With Integrity – this means living your values every single day. An integrity gap exists which your values and identity don’t match your actions and behaviors.

2. Growth – this means having specific goals that you are working towards which require you to get better to achieve them. It’s getting stronger and sharper in pursuit of these goals. We are either growing or we’re dying

3. Connection – this means nurturing and spending time on the relationships that matter most in your life 

4. Contribution – knowing that the work we do every day is meaningful and serving others. 

When you shift from focusing on extrinsic goals to intrinsic goals, everything in your life will improve. 

Including the results which you so desperately desire. 

In this week’s training video, I share how to make this shift, and why it’s so important to your long term happiness, fulfillment, and success. 

You can find the full training video here: https://youtu.be/u2sVquyHr14

PS – If you need help making this shift, this is a core part of our coaching program. 

Book a free coaching call here to see if it’s a good fit.