Pump up your attitude
by Dave Anderson
A good attitude can make or break you in sales. It can even compensate for a deficiency in knowledge or skill. At the same time, a poor attitude can render great knowledge or skill as irrelevant. Building and keeping a great attitude takes awareness, discipline and hard work. Decide which of the following power points on attitude can help you and apply them.
1. Focus more on the aspects of your job that you can control
Eighty percent of what holds you back from moving to the next level in your job is within your control and 20% is not. Devote your time and energy into the aspects that you can control and stop whining about and giving attention to those things you cannot do anything about.
2. Develop an early morning routine that fortifies your attitude
Attitude, like any other discipline, will not take care of itself. You must work at preparing your mindset for the assaults it will incur each day. Your routine can include anything from reviewing goals to inspirational reading or audio programs.
3. Guard what you allow to go into your mind
This includes the things you read, the media you choose to listen to and the conversations you choose to participate in at work and away. Evaluate what you're reading or listening to and ask yourself, "Is this material moving me closer to or farther away from my goals?"
4. Guard your closest associations
You become like the people you associate with most. This can be good or bad, depending upon whom you choose to associate with. In life there are some people you must give up to go up.
5. Develop a bigger and bolder "why"
The more focused you are on where you are going and why, the easier it is to stay focused and motivated in the moment. It's easier to live with the "how" and "what" that you must do each day if you understand the "why."
6. Take responsibility for your attitude
No one and no thing can give you a bad attitude.You choose a bad attitude. Attitude is a choice! You may not be able to choose what happens to you, but you do get to choose your response to it! And the quality of your response will greatly determine the quality of your life!
7. Increase the space between an event and your response
Avoid instant replies to provocations and events that may trigger the wrong response. It is the immediate and unthinking response that normally brings strife and creates situations that you must live down and apologize for.
8. Learn to change your state quickly when your attitude gets out of whack
The longer you let your attitude stay off track, the harder it is to regain a healthy state of mind. If you're not careful, a temporary bad attitude can devolve into a prolonged rut. When something bad happens to you, don't rehearse it over again in your mind and don't bond with it! Let it go and focus on what is before you, not what's behind you.
Closing quote: "There is a little difference in people, but the little difference makes a big difference. The little difference is attitude. The big difference is whether it is positive or negative." W. Clement Stone, author, "Success through a Positive Mental Attitude."
Dave Anderson is the author of No-Nonsense Leadership: Real World Strategies to Maximize Personal and Corporate Potential. He is a peak performance author, trainer and speaker for leadership and sales. For more information go to: www.LearnToLead.com, or call 650-941-1493.
INDUSTRIAL SUPPLY MAGAZINE
The November/December issue of Industrial Supply magazine features an in-depth cover story about Kimball Midwest. Plus, we're featuring articles by contributing writers Dirk Beveridge, Frank Hurtte, and Mike Marks, as well as interviews with numerous product and distribution industry experts.
