The futurist Joel Barker offers an interesting perspective on a phenomenon that he calls “Paradigm Paralysis”. He says,
“Whatever our current level of success, we accept it as ‘normal’ and so continue with the activities, actions, and behaviors that keep us at that point.”
That is paradigm paralysis – being crippled by our own limiting self-perspective. Do you accept your current level of performance as being all you are capable of achieving? If so, your actions and behaviors will follow suit. Our actions and behaviors are always consistent with the way we see ourselves.
This phenomenon works both ways. Think of something that you are really good at: listening skills, or golf, or demonstration technique. If you think you are successful in any of those things, a very large portion of your success is based on your self-perception. Read more…
I’ve had the good pleasure of late to be working via e-mail with Angela Batchelor, sales star from North Carolina. I respect Angela tremendously for her strong and active desire to be the best she can be. Many sales professionals claim they want to maximize their effectiveness – Angela is exceedingly active in that objective. And it is action that leads to greatness.
Recently Angela shared with me that she has been working on envisioning success in her appointments. Here are her words on the subject:
Rehearsing and practicing my appointments the day before has made it so much easier, and I have much less anxiety before an appointment. Overall every activity that I do to prepare has made me more efficient and effective. However, the one thing that I think has made the biggest impact is to write my goal next to each and every appointment. It keeps me focused and allows me to track my outcomes much easier.
Talk about planning for success! Angela writes her goal next to each and every appointment. That way she has a clear vision in her head before she meets with a prospect. Read more…
In my ongoing quest to increase the level of boldness in all areas of my life, I must constantly deal with an old nemesis: procrastination. Based on my informal surveys I’m guessing many of you might struggle with this issue as well. Organizational psychologists label procrastination as pandemic in today’s workplace. Countless hours and profits are lost to this mindset. Moreover, stress and burnout increases as procrastination goes unchecked.
Definition
Procrastination occurs when we are faced with an uncomfortable task, and in submitting to the discomfort of the task we make up a story as to why deferring action is in our best interest. Classically defined, procrastination is counterproductive. Therefore the story/rationalization must be particularly juicy.
The most common story might be, “I don’t feel like doing that now.” Unfortunately, that’s not a particularly effective story as it does nothing to mask the fact that the action really does need to be done immediately. In this case, procrastination leads to guilt, and guilt to stress. (My apologies if I’m hitting too close to home on the topic!) Read more…
