the Southwestern Company Sales Blog
Noticing. That’s all it takes.
Focus. What do you focus on? This blog seemed to tie in to Valentine’s Day coming up, so…
How can you fall out of love with your job? At Southwestern, you can notice how few people say yes, on the heat, on random negative thoughts, on how you dislike the feeling of failure, on the weight of your bookbag. If this is what you notice–what you give your attention to–soon, you will be falling out of love with your sales job.
Now to your significant other. Remember all the habits that you once found cute, or overlooked? His inability to ask for directions, his talking with his mouth full, his leaving his dirty clothes all over the floor? Early on in your relationship, you overlooked these foibles and concentrated on what you loved about him. You were noticing his strengths and ignoring his weaknesses. (You could fix those up later, right?)
Now, what you ignored you notice–all those habits become irritations. The crumbs on the counter, never replacing the toilet paper roll, all the time he spends with his friends…what a schmuck! (How did I ever like him?) You are noticing what you don’t like. You will fall out of love at some point and may not know why!
So, since this is a sales blog and not eHarmony, it might be time to refocus your focus–in other words, if you’re tired of your sales career, you may want to notice what you’re noticing. You may need to decide to be grateful.
Here are a few good questions to ask yourself at the end of the day:
- What have I given today? (not gotten, given)
- What have I learned today? (people who are learning are liking what they do)
- How has today been an investment for my future? (not just a day closer to the weekend)
- What do I love about what I do?
After you have been in a love relationship or a career for awhile, the shiny newness tends to wear off. When it does–and it will–you have to be deliberate in your focus. You have to affirm what you want, consciously. Left to my own devices, my mind automatically drifts into negativity. It’s far easier for me to notice what’s wrong than what’s right. Are you like this? I have to consciously make an effort. At times, I have to notice what I like/love about my job–and my wife. I’m sure she has to do the same.
A sales career, a loving relationship–both take energy and investment to work over the long haul. Action point: Send your sales opportunity some flowers or a nice box of chocolates. It deserves it.
I welcome your thoughts and comments. What are your strategies to stay in love with what you do?
Lee, awesome blog and so very true. My strategies in the pastand current, especially with Southwestern, are to remind myself about how many amazing people are a part of the company. Every campus meeting, every sizzler, every getback, every GRS, every Freddie’s, etc. I have the opportunity to meet someone new. Whether they are from a different country, another state, or heck even the same state. I feel so blessed to be part of something that is constantly growing. Another thought that I have is SW Alumni. My mom and I were just talking about this earlier today. It is so crazy how you can meet a former book person, no matter what age they are, and already have this instant rapport. I mean think about it, on the bookfield, how excited does everyone get when they meet alumni?! No matter if they buy or not, they are awesome! I actually had a “Dad” alum that bought health and welness’ my first summer. There are quotations around Dad because he didn’t have any kids, but he wanted to buy something. Ha.
I tell myself everyday that I have met some of the smartest, influential, motivating, inspiring people in Southwestern. People are constantly pushing me to be a better version of myself. That is why I love my job
Reply
Jenny Cunningham Reply:
January 28th, 2010 at 5:39 pm
Grammatical errors up the wazoo. Why isn’t there spell check??
Reply
During the summer, I try very specifically to pin-point what is bothering me, and focusing on the EXACT opposite. For example, if it feels like I’m melting because it’s so hot, I milk every single breeze and subconsciously bask in air-conditioning. If I’m worried that Mrs. Jones will slam the door, I focus on smiling and speaking sincerely. On the bookfield (and everyday, actually), I just have to remember that I can control ME, my actions, and how I CHOOSE to see a situation. Once you remember that you are in control, you feel foolish for letting some petty little thing get to you.
Reply
What you are saying is all very true – there is always ups and downs, and training your mind to stay balanced (read:no negativity) is a good way to deal with every situation.
We learn from making mistakes. In order to learn we have to be aware of our mistakes.Asking questions from yourself is a good start.
One question people don’t ask often is: what is my real motivation for doing this or that?
Another one that is in tandem with the first one: Does this motivation (read: attitude/desire) give me benefits in the long run and what are the benefits?
Asking those questions from oneself gives one deeper understanding of how things work in life and what makes one truly happy and what does not make one truly happy.
So every time you do/plan something ask yourself why are you doing it? When motivation gets weak, look at the situation from another angle, try to use something else for motivation.
After a while one should start noticing that some motivations are kind of natural and make taking action easier than some other motivations.
So it is a good idea to work with motivations that make things easier and simpler
I am in love with this job because it is a perfect place for training one’s mind while earning money and getting insight into life’s laws.
By training the mind I mean growing in sharing what I have with others (not just material things), always having compassion and best wishes for people who try to push your buttons or the buttons of other people. And of course having compassion/understanding towards your own mistakes.
Unconditional love is such a great mind state. It is a result of having/creating compassion and joy towards everything you encounter in life.
That is why I will sell books again and probably again and again
I hope you get the point :p
Reply
Congrats Lee ! In fact all you say it´s so true, and you can see it in every thing you do , ( When you are working with people), Have to invest time in your target and the most important thing it´s recognition to the people, so everybody it´s motivated.
Thanks…I hope you are inspired because of the commetns.
I ´m waiting the next article!!
Reply
Lee McCroskey Reply:
January 29th, 2010 at 9:06 pm
Thanks Nanu! Kind words.
Reply
This is great, even if I’m not “in a relationship” according to facebook
No I like this because it’s so true… Actually we were just interviewing a girl today.. and she said what she loved about hearing about this program is that it reminded her to have a good attitude again. she said she had done it in high school, but had been taking a break from it, and she didn’t know why! that is what motivates me. Because that is what we are about. Yeah the money’s great, sizzler is sweet. But that doesn’t keep me in it. That doesn’t drive me to push my friends to do this and push themselves in ways they never thought possible. All the Success Principles are what are priceless. Keeping a positive attitude, finding ways to make a rainy day awesome, interacting with kids, investing in my future with independence gained and leadership skills acquired!! It is so worth it and that is why we do what we do with conviction!
Great blog!
Reply
Great words of advice Lee for both career and marriage. Often times it’s our work life that can get in the way of our relationships with other people. We have to make sure that we devote time to continually build our relationships and go as far as scheduling the time in. As crazy as it might sound to have to schedule time with your significant other, if we don’t we can easily fall into the trap you talk about, especially for those who have careers that take them away from home a lot.
Reply
here’s a different possibility:
Instead of ignoring the things you don’t like in your SO (sales opportunity, right?), or try to pretend they don’t bother you, why not accept them for what they are, and that you chose them?
There are certainly things about my job that are not my favorite, but denying their existence doesn’t solve anything. Serenity now, insanity later, to pull from Seinfeld. When I acknowledge that certain things (ie, prospecting, cold calling, the way she feels about my parents…) that may not be pleasant are a natural part of the situation, and I accept them as part of my deal, a deal I have freely chosen, I can start to become at one with the unpleasantness and let it be.
When I’m off my game, and I start to put happy-face stickers over things that don’t really make me happy, I start to get overwhelmed and burned out. Also, in a relationship, putting happy faces on disagreements prevents them from getting resolved; seems like the route of a passive-aggressive personality. Somehow, “it’s gonna be a great day! i feel happy healthy and terrific!” sounds like “I hate my life and want to die.” Bookpeople, anyone remember week 11, if your schedule hasn’t been exactly ironclad?
When I’m at peace, I sometimes start to feel angry because I am doing things I don’t like doing, I acknowledge that I don’t like them and do them anyways. And then I move on.
Reply
Lee McCroskey Reply:
January 30th, 2010 at 7:28 pm
Logan–everyone has a different way to deal with stress; it sounds like you’ve got a mental system that works for you. Thanks for sharing this stuff!
Reply
Ah, it definitely takes effort to notice the positive aspects of things when times are done.
This insight helps me with focusing on the positive things in my business and positive things in my relationship.
Thanks Lee!
Reply
Lee I totally needed this thank you!
Reply
Lee McCroskey Reply:
February 15th, 2010 at 1:33 pm
I’m glad to help–was it on the personal or professional side? Perhaps I should start a Mars/Venus blog…
Reply
“What you think about you bring about” soooo true! I like the analogy, great work!
Reply
Lee this is such a great concept to keep in mind. I think with anything in life we always like new things because they are shiny and we enjoy learning more about it/them. Soon we no longer want something because it is old, it is annoying, it doesn’t fit right, or with SW – it is hard, you don’t always get the results you want, you have to listen to others puke, you don’t like having to work so hard. But I think the thing to keep in mind is as you develop in anything, new shiny things continuously come in different forms. In my three summers of SW I learned that if I focus my attention on all of the things that I first started selling books because of: Sizzler, freddies, traveling, new friends as well as leadership and everything I am continually getting – helping people grow, helping people find themselves, helping families with their education, making people smile; these things become, and continue to be, things to look forward to perfecting and striving to get more of.
Reply
Lee McCroskey Reply:
March 15th, 2010 at 10:54 am
Christine! Thanks. Yes, focus is everything. What you choose to think about determines how you feel and definitely affects your actions.
Reply