Today, you woke up and roared like a lion with your first thought: "I’m gonna crank out ONE HUNDRED emails and calls today!"

Congrats, you had a burst of prospecting OOMPH, and it felt great. But immediately upon starting your workday, you got distracted by the first crisis that hit your inbox. (Happens.)

It may or may not bother you when you get derailed like that – heck, it happens easily when prospecting is on the calendar – but you understand you can’t keep kicking the can down the road.

That sudden burst of prospecting enthusiasm you had earlier can be bottled and used later. Today might be the day to learn how.

Prospecting starts with attitude, as it only helps by repeating phrases like, "I can do this, I WILL do this." But it doesn’t get real until you start the DOing. The sellers who continually hang out in the TOP 10% will tell you that prospecting perseverance is the number one skill needed to succeed in sales. (Objection handling is a close second.)

Ex-sales managers, sellers, and executives have written much about prospecting. But the psychologists offer the best insights into how sellers like you can fight through prospecting aversion. This has nothing to do with time on the couch, it’s merely appreciating a few truths about behavioral modification. This is not a blame game. The game you should be playing is the change game.

What will you change that commits you to spend more prospecting time?

Like deciding to have a good attitude, deciding whether or not you want to excel at prospecting is just that, a decision. Everything else – tactics, emailing best practices, networking – is just a list of tactics that must be done to reach your goals.

Today, decide to prospect. Yes, today.

Brazenly cancel an internal meeting you don’t want to attend anyway. Make up any excuse: your dog needs to go to the vet, your car needs to be polished. Whatever.

Instead of that internal meeting, it’s you, your CRM, your creativity, and your burning desire to hit your number.

Call prospects. Email prospects. Call clients who can introduce you to people you need to see in the org. Just DO. DO prospecting. Do you know how good you’re gonna feel when you score a meeting with someone on your TOP 20 VIP list?

You’re fired up now. But the time thieves are coming for you. Don’t give in.

So you’ve rallied and put a block of time on your calendar to some prospecting today. Excellent. Good for you. Guard that chunk of time on your calendar with all your might. (It helps to title the calendar invite something like "Prospecting for Rome Vacation.")

Predictably, the second you reserve a prospecting block on your calendar, people will come out of the woodwork trying to steal that time. Don’t let it happen. Prospecting is a game of both offense and defense. Defend that prospecting time and get aggressive with your offensive attack!

You know how to get to people. You know how to send emails and make calls. You know how to create compelling outreach. You know how to ask for referrals. You know how to work a list of those who will make your quarter and year.

But whatever you do today, keep that 30-minute block of prospecting sacrosanct. Protect it with your life, because success at prospecting does lead to a better life down the road.