Good Morning Butt Kickers & Name Takers,
You guys/gals are kickin butt & takin names!! I remain
so thoroughly impressed with all of us. Our bosses boss, you may know him, Jay
Exline, sends out his own “Big Man of Campus” (BMOC) report for which of his markets
does the best each day. I am proud to report we are winning pretty often!! We
may not hit our corporate goal every day, but we are doing great (and people
like us dang it)!! We should keep that in mind, that we really are liked by
over 2 million happy customers.
The majority of our daily battle is not in product knowledge, but in our mind…what we are thinking about, how we are feeling. Our limitations may just be in our mind. Mark Twain tells us, “Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.” I think the same can be said for sales. So many limitations are mostly in our minds. We may for instance think that people will disapprove because we are too pushy, too expensive, don’t have the right products, etc. But these things only matter, true or not, when we think they matter, because we become self-conscious and worried about what people may think. And people pick up on that and may react in negative ways. Or we may interpret anything they do as a negative reaction because we are so fearful of a bad reaction and so focused inward on ourselves. If we, on the other hand, don’t mind, then people tend to not mind that much either. And if we don’t mind then we won’t let that part of ourselves become a self-imposed roadblock in our life.
Mark Twain’s Top 9 Tips for Living a Kick-Butt Life
“It’s no wonder that truth is stranger
than fiction. Fiction has to make sense.”
“Let us live so that when we come to die even the
undertaker will be sorry.”
“When your friends begin to flatter you on how young
you look, it’s a sure sign you’re getting old.”
You
may know Mark Twain for some of his very popular books like Adventures of
Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. He was a writer and also a
humorist, satirist and lecturer.
Twain
is known for his many – and often funny – quotes. Here are a few of my favorite tips from him.
1. Approve of yourself.
“A man cannot be comfortable without his own
approval.”
If you don’t approve of yourself, of
your behaviour and actions then you’ll probably walk around most of the day
with a sort of uncomfortable feeling. If you, on the other hand, approve of
yourself then you tend to become relaxed and gain inner freedom to do more of
what you really want.
This
can, in a related way, be a big obstacle in personal growth. You may have all
the right tools to grow in some way but you feel an inner resistance. You can’t
get there.
What
you may be bumping into there are success barriers. You are putting up barriers
in your own mind of what you may or may not deserve. Or barriers that tell you
what you are capable of. They might tell you that you aren’t really that kind
of person that could this thing that you’re attempting.
Or
if you make some headway in the direction you want to go you may start to
sabotage for yourself. To keep yourself in a place that is familiar for you.
So
you need give yourself approval and allow yourself to be who you want to be.
Not look for the approval from others. But from yourself. To dissolve that
inner barrier or let go of that self-sabotaging tendency. This is no easy task
and it can take time.
2. Your limitations may just be in your mind.
“Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t
mind, it doesn’t matter.”
So
many limitations are mostly in our minds. We may for instance think that people
will disapprove because we are too tall, too old or balding. But these things mostly
matter when you think they matter. Because you become self-conscious and
worried about what people may think.
And
people pick up on that and may react in negative ways. Or you may interpret
anything they do as a negative reaction because you are so fearful of a bad
reaction and so focused inward on yourself.
If
you, on the other hand, don’t mind then people tend to not mind that much
either. And if you don’t mind then you won’t let that part of yourself become a
self-imposed roadblock in your life.
It
is, for instance, seldom too late to do what you want to do.
3. Lighten up and have some fun.
“Humor is mankind’s greatest blessing.”
“Against the assault of laughter nothing can stand.”
Humor
and laughter are amazing tools. They can turn any serious situation into
something to laugh about. They can lighten the mood just about anywhere.
And
a lighter mood is often a better space to work in because now your body and
mind isn’t filled to the brim with negative emotions. When you are more
light-hearted and relaxed then the solution to a situation is often easier to
both come up with and implement.
4. Let go of anger.
“Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel
in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured.”
Anger
is most of the time pretty pointless. It can cause situations to get out of
hand. And from a selfish perspective it often more hurtful for the one being
angry then the person s/he’s angry at.
So
even if you feel angry at someone for days recognize that you are mostly just
hurting yourself. The other person may not even be aware that you are angry at
him or her. So either talking to the person and resolving the conflict or
letting go of anger as quickly as possible are pretty good tips to make your
life more pleasurable.
5. Release yourself from entitlement.
“Don’t go around saying the world owes you a living.
The world owes you nothing. It was here first.”
When
you are young your mom and dad may give a lot of things. As you grow older you
may have a sort of entitlement. You may feel like the world should just give
you what you want or that it owes you something.
This
belief can cause a lot of anger and frustration in your life. Because the world
may not give you what expect it to. On the other hand, this can be liberating
too. You realize that it is up to you to shape your own life and for you to
work towards what you want. You are not a kid anymore, waiting for your parents
or the world to give you something.
You
are in the driver’s seat now. And you can go pretty much wherever you want.
6. If you’re taking a different path, prepare for
reactions.
“A person with a new idea is a crank until the idea succeeds.”
“A person with a new idea is a crank until the idea succeeds.”
I
think this has quite a bit of relevance to self-improvement.
If
you start to change or do something different than you usually do then people
may react in different ways. Some may be happy for you. Some may be
indifferent. Some may be puzzled or react in negative and discouraging ways.
Much
of these reactions are probably not so much about you but about the person who
said it and his/her life. How they feel about themselves is coming through in
the words they use and judgements they make.
And
that’s OK. I think it’s pretty likely that they won’t react as negatively as
you may imagine. Or they will probably at least go back to focusing on their
own challenges pretty soon.
So
what other people may say and think and letting that hold you back is probably
just fantasy and barrier you build in your mind.
You
may find that when you finally cross that inner threshold you created then
people around you may not shun you or go chasing after you with pitchforks. They
might just go: “OK”.
7. Keep your focus steadily on what you want.
“Drag your thoughts away from your troubles… by the
ears, by the heels, or any other way you can manage it.”
What
you focus your mind on greatly determines how things play out. You can focus on
your problems and dwell in suffering and a victim mentality. Or you can focus
on the positive in situation, what you can learn from that situation or just
focus your mind on something entirely else.
It
may be “normal” to dwell on problems and swim around in a sea of negativity.
But that is a choice. And a thought habit. You may reflexively start to dwell
on problems instead of refocusing your mind on something more useful. But you
can also start to build a habit of learning to gain more and more control of
where you put your focus.
8. Don’t focus so much on making yourself feel good.
“The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer
somebody else up.”
This
may be a bit of a counter-intuitive tip. But as I wrote yesterday, one of the
best ways to feel good about yourself is to make someone else feel good or to
help them in some way.
This
is a great way to look at things to create an upward spiral of positivity and
exchange of value between people. You help someone and both of you feel good.
The person you helped feels inclined to give you a hand later on since people
tend to want to reciprocate. And so the both of you are feeling good and
helping each other.
Those
positive feelings are contagious to other people and so you may end up making
them feel good too. And the help you received from your friend may inspire you
to go and help another friend. And so the upward spiral grows and continues.
9. Do what you want to do.
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed
by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did so. So throw off the
bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails.
Explore. Dream. Discover.”
Awesome
quote. And I really don’t have much to add to that one. Well, maybe to write it
down and keep it as a daily reminder – on your fridge or bathroom door – of
what you can actually do with your life.
Over $110K SOLD again – GOOD JOB GUYS/GALS
Did anybody run with yesterday’s self gen tip? I would love
to hear about it.
“Whether you think you can, or you think you
can't--you're right.” – Henry Ford
Floors By Tomorrow
Auth Rep of Empire Today
Sales Trainer
720-371-2000
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PS: YEA!! First rain of spring!!
PSS: Remember to keep an eye on Gina/Elena install
availability.
PSSS: 2 contests going on (Jake & Shawn) – You can’t win
if you don’t play!!
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