Managing emotions and thoughts in life’s exciting adventure
Life is an exciting adventure, with all kinds of twists and turns. Kinda like a Disneyland ride, don’t you think?
As entrepreneurs and sales professionals (and we’re all really in sales anyway, if we’re entrepreneurs, regardless of industry), I think we choose an even MORE exciting life!
I think that’s why it’s so important for us to manage our thoughts, feelings, and emotions because they affect our sales and how we approach marketing and selling.
This can be difficult, since we are seeing people lose their jobs, we are seeing people cutting back on purchases, we are seeing foreclosures happening in this uncertain economy, among other things. Having a positive attitude when your clients (and perhaps you) are experiencing these things is challenging.
Zig Ziglar is quoted as remarking, “People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing – that’s why we recommend it daily.”
So it is with managing our emotions and feelings; it’s a daily thing, and we have to be willing to spin the story of our lives in the way we want it rather than going through life by default or reacting to whatever comes our way.
It reminds me of a very telling story I picked up somewhere that I would like to share with you. Let me know what you think, and let me know if/how the story resonates with you.
So this man pulls into a gas station on the outskirts of town and as he was filling his gas tank, he told the attendant that he had just accepted a job in town but had never been to this part of the country. He wondered what the people were like here.
The attendant asked him, “What are the people like where you come from?” The man looked at him and said very sadly that they were not only not very nice, but they were downright rude.
The attendant, also sadly, answered, “Well, I’m afraid you’ll find the people in this town to be the same.”
Just then, another car pulled into the gas station and its driver asks the attendant the same thing as the first drive. “I’m moving to this town,” he said, “and I’m wondering how the people are here.”
Again the attendant asks the second driver whether the people were nice from where he came. “Oh yes,” the second driver exclaimed, “They are the nicest people on Earth and so friendly. I didn’t want to leave.”
To this, the attendance said, “Well, you’ll find the same is true of this town.” The second driver happily drove away.
As you might have guessed, the first driver is standing there a little confused and a little irritated at the gas station attendant’s conflicting stories. He manages to ask, “OK. Tell me the truth. What’s the town really like?”
The attendant answers, “It’s all a matter of perception. You’ll find things to be just the way you think they are.”
Interesting, don’t you think?
I was reading an interview that Joe Vitale gave a couple of years ago where he said that our perception of reality is only part of the creation process. The perception part is what we are talking about when we say about life that “the glass is half full or the glass is half empty.”
Joe Vitale says, however, that “we are creating the glass and what’s in the glass — and we’re doing that from our beliefs.”
What are your beliefs about yourself, about your ability to effectively market and sell, about your world?
The challenge is that sometimes what we really believe is unconscious to us, and yet, they affect what happens in our life and how we view it. One way to clue in is to stop and listen to our inner conversation (yes, we ALL talk to ourselves) and see what we say about our life or about/to ourselves most of the time. Most people are focusing on what’s NOT working, rather than purposely and deliberately writing their own story.
Or, they give their power over to the media (television, newspapers, radio, etc.) for it to determine the creation process for us.
I pick on the media specifically because it tends to program us into believing the world is horrible, we can’t make it in this world, we’re no good, the sky is falling and all that other nonsense. It’s no wonder many are living their life full of doubt, fear and worry and are consistently attracting into their lives the very things they consciously say they don’t want.
So. You want to be inspired?
Then choose to spin your own story of inspiration.
Joe Vitale in that same interview said “It all comes from within. You are the first and final authority on your life.”
Life is an exciting adventure, to be sure. Make sure you’re calling the shots 
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Flickr Image by David Blaikie, used under an Attribution 2.0 Generic Creative Commons License
Great Post Tshombe. Interesting thoughts on beliefs and noticing the inner conversation. Did I ever tell you that I’m a huge fan of Byron Katies, “work?” The challenging thing about beliefs is that they are not a product of conscious mental activity. They’re a bit of memory and a bit of hardwired experience and a bit of decision making and a bit of emotional charge and a bit of something else. Coming from a multitude of disparate places, I don’t believe
they respond very well to one’s intention to change them.
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@John,
Great insights! Thank you for taking time to comment.
I agree that beliefs are very complex, and oftentimes we do not even know what they are.
That is why so many people are frustrated with their understanding of Law of Attraction and with the practice of positive thinking to change their reality.
That said, beliefs can be influenced by ‘conscious mental activity,’ at least to an extent. If that were not possible, it wouldn’t make sense for persons like Tony Robbins to speak of “installing new beliefs.”
Being mindful of what were thinking at any given time is also a conscious mental activity, and both psychology and science shows us that our perception of a thing affects our specific outcomes. The story of the gas station attendant illustrates this point, and we are all certainly influenced by our media diet choices.
I have to say that I am not a Byron Katie expert, by any stretch. In fact, I’ve learned and practiced variations of “The Work,” from other teachers.
As a process of inquiry, I think “The Work” is great, and it is (from my surface understanding of it) a conscious way to reveal unconscious blocks. Many are able to achieve a similar “raising of consciousness” through counseling, coaching, or even a traumatic event.
Sometimes knowledge alone is itself curative. People have changed beliefs in an instant.
There is much to this topic, of course, but in short, we do have personal agency, so we can begin by monitoring our thoughts and feelings and our “inputs” from the media, family, friends, etc.
There are various processes (like “The Work”) that we can learn and practice in order to access what it is we really believe, as far as unconscious beliefs are concerned. Then, we can get the help we need to move toward something more empowering.