Aug 15 in General discussion
Maintaining a Winning Mindset
Maintaining a winning mindset is what sets apart top performers from the rest.... (somedays I feel more like the "rest" fyi)
A winning mindset is a belief that you can and will win against internal and external adversity.
How do you continue to believe in your abilities and skills as a salesperson when times are slow?
How do you press on preparing for your next big win when you have nothing on the books?
Where does the energy to motivate yourself come from when you have had 3 no-shows in a row?
These are all REAL questions I ask myself almost once a quarter when the pipe has dried up and I can't seem to find traction. Mindset is a muscle that can be trained, stretched, and grown like any other. How you think will determine how quickly you come back from a setback and continue on winning.
To be completely transparent, I have REALLY struggled in this area over my career in sales. In sales, it is so easy to get our identity wrapped up in our work. If we are not careful, a couple of lost deals can wreak havoc on our mental state and self worth. When your self-confidence is low, maintaining a wining mindset is damn near impossible. In fact, we start to have quite the opposite... a losing mindset. When this mindset sets in, you start too see failure everywhere in your life and career (many times before it even happens so you just go ahead and fulfill the prophesy). Once sunk in a losing mindset, it can take a lot of work to dig your way back out. Let's not get there. Here are a few things that have helped me maintain a winning mindset and keep some semblance of self confidence in the midst of adversity.
First of all, you have to detach your identity from your job. This is MUCH easier said than done. In order to bring the lows up, you also need to bring down the highs. About 2 years into my career, I was a obsessed with comparing myself to other reps. When a big deal would close and I heard the cheering down the hall, I would immediately feel my skin flush and a cold sweat would form on my palms. I would also get a weird feeling that I needed to call every prospect in my active pipeline and force one them to close. After a while, comparison negatively impacted my relationships in the office and my own peace of mind. I knew I had to face this thing head on and I started talking with my coworkers how I was feeling. By opening up, I learned something interesting... EVERYONE felt the same way. Comparison was killing our team and it was due to our identities being attached to our success. If you start to feel yourself habitually comparing yourself to others and losing your peace of mind, that is a red flag that you need to look at how much weight you put into your identity as a salesperson. Do the work and detach your self worth from your job... it will pay you back.
Secondly, you need to keep sharpening your axe. One of our team leads always uses the analogy of sharpening your axe to communicate how important it is to maintain and grow your skillset. The story goes like this...
There was a young man that got hired as a lumberjack and was placed on a crew with some of the top guys. The first day he went out with his brand new axe and chopped as many trees as he could manage alongside the older workers. Around the fire that night, each of the lumberjacks went around and shared how many trees they cut down. One said 30, one said 31, one said 29, and the young man spoke up and said "well gents looks like I beat you all with 35 trees!". He slept well that night knowing he could beat the others and came prepared to beat his record the next day. Around the fire that night, he announced to the group that he must have been tired from beating everyone the day before because he had only cut down 32 trees. The rest of the guys kept their same number from the day before. Day after day his number kept declining until he couldn't cut more than 15 trees in a day. Around the fire on his second week, he broke the silence and asked the older guys of the group "How in the hell are you all keeping consistent numbers and I can barely hit half of what I did the first day?!". One of the oldest guys on the team looked him dead in the eye and asked him "when was the last time you sharpened your axe?".
Maintaining your tools is key to a winning mindset. Reading books, watching videos, taking courses, and reading blogs are all invaluable ways to continue growing and building. You NEED to take time daily to sharpen your axe.
What are some ways that you maintain a winning mindset?
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Maintaining a Winning Mindset
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