Be honest, how often have you wanted to quit your business in the last week? The last month? The last year? You’re not alone.

Most business owners have that thought from time-to-time.

In fact, in our business, one out of every two people will quit in the first year. Isn’t that incredible?

Half of people give up before they can realize their dreams.

Why do people quit?

People quit for a variety of reasons and the specifics may vary by person and situation. However, the reason often falls into one of the three following categories:

Procrastination.

Many folks have the philosophy of why do today what you can put off until tomorrow…or the next day…or in two weeks.

It’s so easy to procrastinate. Sometimes we have a legitimate reason–we’ve spread ourselves so thin that something has to get the ax and, this time around, it’s our business activities.

Other times, we put things off because we don’t really feel like doing them.

How often do you feel like this?

You’re just not in the mood or in the mental headspace to do your business activities now.

Putting things off isn’t a problem if you come back to them and complete them. However, many of us don’t quite get there.

Often, we just keep moving our business activities further and further down the list until we just don’t do them. Sometimes, it gets to a point where we’re too anxious or nervous to do them.

We think, “Ugh, I was supposed to call Carol three weeks ago to check in. It’s too late now.

If you put off everything till you’re sure of it. You never get anything done.

Norman Vincent

She’ll think I’m such a flake.” or “It’s too late to call Shelly now. We were introduced a few weeks ago; she’ll never, ever remember who I am, so why bother?”

Unfortunately, “Why bother?” becomes the oh-so-common refrain when you procrastinate.

“I’ve waited this long, why bother?” or “Welp, they won’t remember me anyway, why bother?” Turn “Why bother?” into “Why not get this done now?”

It may not roll off the tongue as easily, but it’ll be more beneficial to your business, for sure.

Boredom.

Man, business lead generating activities are so tedious.

First, you’re choosing who to contact, then you’re copy/pasting a message from a script, and finally, you’re logging it in your CRM.

It’s like you’re working an assembly line for an hour a day. If you have these thoughts, that’s Boredom doing the talking.

Chances are, Success will chime in with “Sit the heck down, Boredom, and get out of the way!”

However, for too many folks, Procrastination and Boredom kicked Success out of the carpool a long time ago; either way, there’s no voice to take charge and keep them on track.

We’ve become so used to having everything now, now, now that we grow bored way sooner than in the past.

We want things now and if we don’t get them now, we move on.

Boredom isn’t something most people are comfortable with. They forget that success takes time and hard work and neither are super sexy or fun.

Lack of visible results.

This is a big one! It often dovetails with boredom, in many cases. When we get into business, we’re thinking of the end results, right?

We’re counting up that cash and have mentally spent it before we’ve even sold anything! It’s no wonder we’re so disappointed when reality doesn’t match our fantasy.

When we’re working hard for a month or two – really pouring in the blood and sweat – and don’t have the results to show for it.

Where are the legions of adoring customers we imagined we’d have by now? Did we unknowingly offend somebody and they put the social hit out on us? It was Sarah, wasn’t it?

She’s all mad that we wouldn’t let her in the pickup line at school that one time – get over it, Sarah!

See how that escalated? We begin to tell ourselves stories to justify why we’re not getting results. Our product or service is lame. We’re awful at sales. People don’t like us. Blah blah blah.

So people quit. They no longer want to put in the work when they’re getting nowhere.

They don’t know that one of their contacts is just waiting for payday to roll around to place an order or that another has just been through hell and back in life and what they want more than anything is your product or service. It’s tough to consistently put in the work and do your activities when customers aren’t exactly banging down your door for what you’re selling.

So how do you cope? You find your “Why?”

What’s your Why? It’s your reason for putting in the work every day, regardless of whether you make a sale or recruit a prospect that day or not.

It’s the reason that you shut down the voices of boredom and procrastination when they want to chime in their two cents.

It’s what keeps you motivated to put in that hour of work and follow-ups when it’s oh so easy to kick back and catch up with the drama of the Real Housewives or binge watch Poldark.

If you know your Why, write it down in a Why Statement and post it where you can see it every day, such as a sticky note on your computer or tablet.

If you’re like most folks and don’t know what your Why is, don’t worry, we’ll help you find it. It all starts with five questions.

1) Why did I become a distributor?

Let’s start with the basics, shall we? You could’ve just stayed a customer and enjoyed using the product or service, but you decided to take it a step further and sell it yourself.

What made you become an evangelist of it in the first place? Did you experience dramatic results or benefits using it?

Do you have a great story that would inspire others? Did you think of how much the extra money you’ll make could improve the financial security of yourself and your family?

Whatever your reason, write it down.

2) What do you hope to accomplish?

What do you want to get out of running your own business? Do you just want to make enough to have some “fun” money? Do you want to take your family on a once-in-a-lifetime vacation?

Do you want to pay for your children’s education in cash instead of them having to take out loans?

Do you need to purchase a larger home to accommodate your family and your changing needs?

Did you just experience a life change, such as a divorce or new baby, and you want more money coming in?

Your reasons don’t have to be financial. You could want the satisfaction of building a business and building a legacy in your community.

Figured it out? Good, now write it down.

3) Why is that important to you?

Piggybacking off the last question, think about why your answer to number two is important to you.

Is it born out of necessity or out of an innate need to challenge yourself (or a little of both)? Knowing why your Why is important will help you recommit to it when you find yourself falling off-track.

4) What would achieving this mean for you and your family?

Get ready to visualize! Visualize what your life will look like once you’ve achieved your goals and turned your Why into reality.

What does your life look like? What do you see? Who are you with? Where are you living?

How does this vision differ from your current reality?

What specific benefits will come out of achieving your why?

5) Why is that meaningful?

You’ve visualized the results; now focus on your feelings. How does achieving your Why make you feel? How does your family feel? Write down all the feelings you’re feeling right now, even if it’s hard to express. Sometimes feelings can be emojis and punctuation.

Alright, now that you’ve put it into words, what now? You may have heard the saying “Show me your calendar or checkbook and I’ll show you your priorities.”

Where are you spending your time and money? For example, you may say your Why is to buy a bigger home for your growing family, but if you’re not spending 30 minutes to an hour a day following up with your customers, prospects and distributors, your Why is going to be pretty disappointed with you, right?

The only thing worse than your folks being disappointed in you is when your Why knows you can do better. That’s the worst, right?

Don’t let procrastination, boredom or lack of results impede your success!

Sure, it’s easy to give up, but then you’ll never enjoy the rewards of persistence. You’ll never know your true potential or have the satisfaction of achieving your Why.

You’ll bask in the rewards of hard work and dedication. Your customers for sure won’t benefit from the help and expertise only you can offer.

Your prospects will keep on keepin’ on in their lives because they won’t know of the opportunity that awaits them.

Your distributors won’t experience the rewards that lie just around the corner… no, over there, to the left, and they won’t be inspired to figure out their own Why to drive them to succeed in their businesses.

It’s not Christmas, but aren’t you feeling like Jimmy Stewart’s character in It’s a Wonderful Life right now, imagining the world without your business in it? Just a little bit? The world needs you! Your family needs you! Your potential customers need you! Your prospects and distributors need you!

So get in touch with your Why and go get ‘em, tiger, because the world will be a load less awesome without your business!