If You Can Look Up, You Can Get
To win in this economy you must take action now to invest in yourself.
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If You Can Look Up, You Can Get
In an economic downturn you are going to have those days, weeks, and even months where everything that can go wrong, will. I mean everything – both personal and professional. These series of failures and set-backs will sap your strength and kill your optimistic attitude. In this episode we’ll discuss how to get up when thing have got you down.
A few days ago I got a call from Richard, a Sales Professional in the business services sector, who is living in Los Angeles. He’d had a particularly bad week and was desperately looking for help. Richard had consistently been a top performer in his company but now was at his wits end. As I listened and asked questions it became clear to me that the cumulative impact of his failure to invest in himself was about to get Richard fired.
Here is how he described a typical day last week.
I got up at around 6am and turned on the news. I flipped from Fox to MSNBC to CNN, but all they talk about is how bad things are. Then I got in my car and spend 45 minutes on the 405. I listened to talk radio on the way to work. Yesterday by the time I got there they were saying the stock market was going to have a bad day. You won’t believe how much my 401 (k) has lost, so as soon as I got to the office I turned on my computer and started checking on the market and reading the news. Then I checked my email inbox and got the bad news that a new customer I just closed had their credit rejected. Our accounting department has gotten insane with credit rules and I’m losing business right and left because we won’t extend credit. It just frustrating and exhausting, and my commission check has been cut to the point that I’m really feeling it. We’re not going on vacation this year and I don’t think we can send my son Kevin to summer camp. We’ve had to dip into savings just to pay our bills. I’ve tried to explain the situation to my wife but doesn’t she doesn’t understand why I’m not selling more – she is constantly pushing me.
Normally I’d hit the phones and start prospecting but I just didn’t have the energy to face any more prospects telling me they were on a spending freeze, so I went and got a cup of coffee in the break room. Some other sales reps were there too and we started talking about all of the bad news – it seems like no one can sell anything. When I got back to my desk my sales manager pulled me aside to remind me that I was missing my quota again. I told him I was doing everything in my power to sell but no one was buying and the ones that were couldn’t get credit. I know he is pissed at me but what else can I do . . .
Richard’s day became even bleaker. He had no appointments set because he wasn’t prospecting. He just sat around the office shuffling papers and watching the stock market drop. He said no one wanted to meet with him any way. On the way home all he could think about was how much he hated his job but said he was stuck because there was nowhere else to go. By the time he got home he said he was too tired to run like he usually did. Instead he got into a fight with his wife over money again, and just vegged in front of the TV. Richard recognized that he was on a downward spiral that had no good ending, but he didn’t know what to do. One thing was clear to me. Richard was taking no action to invest in himself. The thing is there are hundreds of thousands of salespeople who are having similar experiences. And like Richard they have set themselves up for failure on a massive scale.
To win in this economy you must take action now to invest in yourself. You must build your knowledge and skills through daily reading, audio programs, training programs and seminars. You must take care of your body by getting enough sleep, eating a healthy diet, and exercising every day. You must take care of your spirit by investing in your belief system by controlling what you let into your heart and mind.
In an economic downturn you are going to have those days, weeks, and even months where everything that can go wrong, will. I mean everything – both personal and professional. These series of failures and set-backs will sap your strength and kill your optimistic attitude. Like Richard, in a fit of anger, you may shout out loud, “what else can possibly go wrong!”
There is a passage from The All-Star Sales Book by Billy Cox. In the passage Cox says, “I’ve always heard that when life knocks you down you need to land on your back, because if you can look up, you can get up.” He goes on to say that the defining difference between average people and all-stars is “when All-Stars get knocked down, they get back up. They refuse to stay down for long. Although bruised and sometimes wounded, they pick themselves up and start over again.”
Winners have developed the discipline to change their self-talk. Even in moments of despair their inner voice pushes through their anger and negative thinking and says, “You have got to stop focusing on the negative. Don’t you know that you become what you think about? You’re just making things worse. You are a winner and winners don’t quit. Get your butt out of that chair and start looking for solutions.” That is their wake-up call to change their thoughts and start focusing on the possibilities and opportunities. Instead of plopping down in front of the TV in exhaustion, or co-miserating in the break room, winners will themselves to get up and fight back. They will not let adversity to keep them down.
The reality is, in this economy, sooner or later we are all going to experience, setbacks, defeat, adversity, failure, and even tragedy. No one is immune. And when it happens it won’t always be easy to maintain a positive attitude, keep your enthusiasm, or see the opportunity in your adversity. When it happens to you, there is a real possibility that you will become overwhelmed, you will feel self-pity, and you will cry out – “why me.” This happens because you are human. But you must find that little voice inside of you that demands that you, “look up, and get up.”
This internal dialogue is one of the keys to winning in an economic downturn. Where does this voice come from? How does it find its way through clouded, negative thoughts and get your attention? How do you develop this voice? What is the secret to finding the will to keep going in the face of adversity?
The internal voice that lifts you up when you are ready to quit is the child of the motivational and inspirational audio programs you listen to, the professional books you read, the podcasts you subscribe to, seminars, speakers, prayer, exercise and the myriad other sources you invest in to train your mind, body, and spirit. This voice is there when you invest in yourself. But it is unavailable when you don’t. You see, just as we invest our money into retirement accounts so that we will be taken care of when we grow old, we must also invest in our mind, body, and spirit so that we will be ready when faced with adversity.
Unfortunately, most people, like Richard stop investing in themselves when in a crisis. They lack the energy. Their self-talk grows increasingly negative, and their belief system deteriorates. It is a downward spiral.
They forget that when we take action to learn, improve our health, of grow spiritually, our attitude improves, we feel more confident, and we don’t have time to dwell on negative things. Successful people, through regular training, have simply taught themselves to be persistent and to get up when knocked down. They have learned through study that even though they cannot always change their particular circumstances, they can change how they respond. On their worst days, when they are blinded by frustration, depression, and anger, they have developed a little voice on the inside that delivers the wake up call, “stop whining, get up, keep going, you are a winner and winners never quit.”
Investing in yourself will make you stronger, faster, and smarter. It opens your mind to new ideas and new possibilities. And it gives you the winning edge in any economic environment.
This is Jeb Blount, the Sales Guy.
Salesman image courtesy of Shutterstock