Why Try To Get Out Of Your Box, When You Can Use What's In It?
If they know nothing about you, they can’t connect.
If they know nothing about your mission, they can’t contribute.
If they know nothing about your story, they can’t retell it.
If you’re after progress, it’s impossible to achieve without letting anyone else know.
Stay Positive & The Microphone Is In Your Hand (Always Has Been)
There’s no shortage of writing out there about the importance of being uncomfortable. It’s a sign of progress. It stretches us. It’s the gap between where we are and where we want to be.
But most people forget how debilitating it is to be in an ongoing absolute state of discomfort.
I’ll be the first to admit that you can be comfortable and be moving toward discomfort at the same time.
Example? My company just held a Revenue Kick Off meeting. While it was work, it was inspiring, validating, informational and motivating. It was comfortable. But all the comfort had purpose; its purpose was to help everyone move faster toward discomfort and through it.
By all means, ensure there’s some comfort in your life, but when you do, it’s important that the goal of it is to move toward discomfort. Anything short of that is merely a set back, hiding, and being comfortable because, well…it’s comforting.
Stay Positive & Always Toward, Never From
Tension moves things forward. It spurs action. It breaks bad habits.
The greatest stories, if you dissect them, are a symphony of tense moments – that’s creative writing at the core.
The greatest salespeople are those who leverage tension to move a prospect along the buying journey.
The greatest coworkers are the ones who can both be pushed forward with tension as well as do the pushing on us.
They say if you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen.
I’d add, if you can’t offer the heat, get out of the kitchen, too.
Stay Positive & Strategize The Tension
Team-based selling outsells siloed with every deal.
Incentives directed at team progress over individual progress inspires everyone more.
A single person can come up with a great idea, but it takes a group to make that idea magical.
Have you noticed that every improvisor and stand-up comedian takes on different personas and voices during their show?
The faster you lean into a team mentality, the faster you’ll get where you want to go.
It even ties to the adage, you can have everything you want if you help enough other people get what they want.
Stay Positive & Where’s Your Team?
Progress is made when the fear of staying the same outweighs the fear of change.
I’d argue greater progress happens when the alternative of moving forward is harder or scarier than the main option of how to move forward.
Consider the order in which you completed your last to-do list; I’m sure you chose the items to do in the order you did because the alternatives sounded worse.
Cleaning windows of a storefront is more fun to do when the other option is to clean the toilets.
If you’re stuck (or just want to move forward faster), find something worse than the action that will actually get you moving.
Can’t find something? Then make it up.
Stay Positive & Whatever It Takes
Then you better know it.
Stories from others. Experience from yourself. Have read books about it.
And even then, double check it before you talk about it.
Is it still accurate?
There was a day that one person told another that it’s impossible to split the atom, even though it was done and shared in the newspaper that morning – they simply didn’t read the paper yet.
Stay Positive & Know It Thennnnn Show & Tell
If you’re telling a joke, it’s far more impactful if you work your way to the punchline than if you start with the punchline.
Same goes for selling a product; it’s far more impactful to lead a prospect to your product than it is to lead with your product.
Stay Positive & It Applies To All Communication, Really
