Optimistic Thinking – The need for different thinking!

Sooner or later we all run into opposition, setbacks and disappointment, and somehow we all have to find it within ourselves to persevere if we are going to be successful.

Enthusiasm is a limited resource that can’t be continually depleted if you expect to stay on top of your profession and on track towards your goals.

When you face a challenge or adversity, do you find yourself remaining optimistic, and able to persevere in the face of setbacks and even failure?

We can all become frustrated and even disillusioned at times, but there are techniques – different thinking, that can really make the difference to where we go from there. This is so important because it can separate you from helplessness and mastery, from failure and success.

Let’s start by asking the question, what do you think when things go wrong? What do you say to yourself when you face adversity?

What you think and then say will determine what you do next. It will determine whether you give up or whether you start to make things go right.

Here is the process: S + T = R

S = Stimulus = An event you experience
T= Thinking = Your thoughts about what is happening
R= Response = Your feelings/behavioural reaction to the event

In this case, let’s look at a stimulus as some sort of adversity you face.  For some, certain adversities cause people to say to themselves, “What’s the use? I can’t go on. I am just screwing this up.” And they give up. For others, that same adversity is just the beginning of a challenging sequence that often leads to success.

An adverse stimulus could be anything: pressure, organisational frustrations, feelings of rejection, criticism from your boss, someone yawning in your class, a partner’s overbearing demands.

An adverse stimulus always sets off your thinking, your explanation and interpretation of why things have gone wrong. When faced with a challenge, we always first try and explain it. It is this thinking and explanation that ultimately determines what we do next.

When we think, “It is my fault. It’s always going to be like this”, we give up and become paralysed.

When we take a different thought path, one more optimistic, we can actually become energised.

Let me provide some examples:

S: You miss an easy sale.
T: “I’m a lousy sales rep”.
R: You feel down on yourself.

S: Your boss criticises you.
T: “I am a lousy writer”.
R: You get down on yourself, and decide this is not for me.

In these scenarios, the stimulus takes the thinking to a personal and pervasive level. “I’m a lousy sales rep”, I am a lousy writer”.

What sort of thinking would allow you to come to this feeling/response?

S: Your boss criticises you.
T: “________________________________”
R: You feel pretty good about what happened.

What you have to do first is: Make the criticism something you could change. “I know where I can get help at effective writing”, or “I should have proof read it”. Second, you have to make your thinking less pervasive. “It was only this report that was poor”. Third, you have to shift the blame away from yourself. “My boss was in a terrible mood.” “There was too much time pressure on me.” If you can make these three moves at the point of thinking, adversity can become the springboard to success.

It should be no surprise that thinking optimistically and therefore remaining enthusiastic will always result in the best utilisation of your talents.

Try this:

S: You make a sales call, and get , “Stop bothering me, you creep”.
T: “Only 1 out of 10 calls result in an appointment, only 9 to go”.
R: You feel that little bit closer now to your success.

Optimistic thinking helps at work, and not just in high pressure jobs. It can help every time your work gets very hard. It can make the difference between getting the job done well or poorly, or not at all.

S: You haven’t got an appointment all week.
T: You think, “I never do anything right”.
R: You feel / do ______________________________.

S: You haven’t got an appointment all week.
T: You think, “I had a good week last week”.
R: You feel / do ______________________________.

The optimistic individual perseveres. In the face of routine setbacks, and even major failures, they persist. When they come to a great challenge, they keep going, particularly at the crucial juncture when their competitors are also hitting that same challenge, and starting to wilt.

Do you need to start thinking differently?

Sharing my recruitment secrets

I was really humbled to be selected as the recipient of the 2012 RCSA Young Recruitment Professional Award. Working in the recruitment industry has allowed me great opportunities to develop professionally and focus on what I am passionate about – partnering with and empowering people to realise their full potential.

Since winning the award, I have had the opportunity to speak and comment on the experience many times and more importantly, share the joy of the journey that has brought me to where I am now.

It seems that most people are interested in knowing what it takes to become a great at recruitment and what it takes to ensure you make the most of your career as a recruitment consultant?

• You must love working with people
• You must love sales
• You must love pace
• You must love succeeding
• You must have energy and resilience!

If you have those innate qualities, then you need to develop effectiveness to ensure you focus on doing the right activities, and efficiency to ensure you continue to deliver enough of the right activities. We all have the same finite number of hours in a day, however with those same number of hours, some recruiters bill over $800,000, and others don’t!

What are the activities that matter?

• Meet with people face to face
• Listen to people
• Keep your word and call people back
• Stand your ground on rates and terms of business (Value the service you offer or no one will)
• Walk away from customers that don’t respect your service
• Constantly communicate and deliver exceptional results to customers that do value your service
• Continue to learn and develop your capabilities and industry knowledge (Read, be mentored, and be a mentor)
• Offer and share your expertise to your industry (Speak at conferences or help people write better resumes)
• Build a team around you
• Start work early
• Never eat alone
• Build relationships with other recruiters
• Encourage someone every day
• Stay away from pessimists
• Work really hard
• Never give up! (So many opportunities have come my way because I stuck at it longer than most others wanted to)

During my career I have worked next to both big billers and average billers, all working in the same office, with the same technology under the same leadership. Although many things were the same, the results generated were vastly different. Great recruiters do things differently.

I hope the insights I have shared will help you reach your potential and allow you to find fulfilment in recruitment the same way I have.

Bouncing Back

Despite all your best efforts, as thorough as they may have been, things don’t always go to plan…. Missed opportunities, setbacks and disappointments are part and parcel of any sales role – so how do you best deal with these inevitable realities?

Interestingly certain people seem to respond very differently to the same set of undesired circumstances. Some become defeated, rejected and directionless, while others are able to continue moving forward, responding, and ultimately succeeding.

Why do some people have the wind knocked out of them when they face sales rejections while others don’t?

I hope the following insights will shed some light on why some have learnt sales resilience and others haven’t.

1. Sales resilience is about one’s ability to cope with stress and adversity. The term “bouncing back” is often used to describe someone’s resilience after a setback. The simple reality is that the more times you have successfully ‘bounced back’, the easier it becomes to continue doing so. The analogy works much like your typical inoculation; it gives you the capacity to cope well with future exposure. Therefore, it is important and comforting to know that resilience is a process, and anyone can improve there’s if they desire to.

2. Sales resilience is linked to self confidence – specifically around the competency you exhibit in your role. Although self confidence is something that is nurtured from childhood, it is expedited when operating from a place of mastery. The more confident you are in what you do, the more resilient you will be to possible adversities. Getting better at what you do makes everything you do easier and more enjoyable.

3. Your sales energy and resilience is within your control. All of us have control over our body, emotions, mind and spirit. Every day we have the opportunity to enrich these dimensions or let them wilt. Let me ask the following questions across these dimensions to help you assess your regular behaviour and determine whether you are investing or depleting your sales resilience:

I. Body

a) I don’t get at least 7-8 hours sleep, and often wake up tired?

b) I don’t take regular breaks during the day and often eat at my desk?

II. Emotions

a) I frequently find myself feeling irritable?

b) I don’t stop frequently enough to express my appreciation and reflect on my achievements?

III. Mind

a) I have difficulty focussing on one thing at a time, and am easily distracted, especially by e-mail?

b) I spend most of my day reacting to immediate crises and demands rather than focussing on long term value?

IV. Spirit

a) There are significant gaps between what I say is most important in my life and how I actually allocate my time and energy?

b) My decisions at work are more often influenced by external demands than by a strong, clear sense of my own purpose?

If you answered ‘yes’ to more than 2 questions, there is room to improve your energy and resilience levels, if you answered ‘yes’ to more than 5 questions, significant energy deficits might exist requiring immediate attention.

4. Maintaining high performance activities helps you move past disappointments and more frequently realise successes. If ‘all your eggs are in one basket’, if only ‘one ball is in the air’, if only ‘one bun is in the oven’, then time after time, you are going to feel the drain of rejection take its toll on your reserves. Successful sellers maintain high activity levels and consequently have greater opportunities to remain focussed and move forward with. That is the key, learn from your setbacks, improve your process for next time, and ultimately move forward as the next great opportunity may just be around the corner.

Hopefully these insights will help you respond constructively to undesired circumstances. Instead of becoming defeated, rejected and directionless, my goal is that you continue moving forward, responding, and ultimately succeeding.