How many times have you been told that to be successful in sales you have to think positive?
Yes, it certainly helps. But how do you do that, especially when our natural tendency is to think negatively. Positive thinking is a learned self-discipline that needs to be practiced each and every day, before it becomes a habit.
What is an habitual way of thinking? Well, imagine a piece of string held between two people. It would be pretty easy for those two people to break that one piece of string. However, if you wind lots of string together, binding them one over another, it gets harder to break. Imagine putting many, many pieces together so it becomes a piece of rope. How easy is it now to break?
A habit develops in much the same way. We think one way, then add similar thoughts (strings of thoughts) and before long, it becomes a thick rope, difficult to break, driving our responses and building results.
So what actions can you take to build a strong rope of positivity? Here’s some thoughts:
• Remember that you always have a choice in what attitude you display. Many choose negativity because it’s more natural to blame and defend than accept responsibility
• Invest your time in productive ways. Find a project and invest, say, 30 minutes a day in learning about it. In one year, you will have invested 180 hours of study in the subject. That’s equivalent to nearly 25 days of training! Think what kind of an expert you could become investing THAT kind of time in something!
• Surround yourself with positive people. If that’s not possible in your workplace because many of your colleagues have chosen to look on the dark side, spend a break time researching Napoleon Hill’s ‘Think and Grow Rich’ or works by Zig Ziglar, Wayne Dyer, Tony Robbins, Dennis Waitley or others that will fill your mind with success.
A quick ten minutes in the company of these people will quickly put you in a positive frame of mind.
• Check in on how you use language. Are you consistently half-full or do you regard yourself as half-empty? Your words will have a profound affect on your attitude.
• Think about things that affect your mood, and identify how long you stay in a bad mood, if that happens. Take personal responsibility for how you look at things, rather than allowing others to control your mood.
• You can visit Pity City, but you don’t have to live there. Spend 20% of your time analysing why a situation is what it is, and 80% on the solution. That way, you don’t dig yourself deeper into cynicism and despair.
• Notice what the differences are in your mind-set when you approach something from the direction of positivity rather than negativity. You actually have a different feeling inside simply by changing your habitual thought patters, so be aware and consciously choose.
You can tell yourself to think positively, but in the end you have to take action to make it work. Positivity without action is wishful thinking. Don’t get caught in that trap. Take the necessary action and see the genuine results that will come your way
Happy Selling!
Sean
Sean McPheat
The UK’s #1 Authority On Modern Day Selling
MTD Sales Training
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