Drive your own life to sales success
Written by Tom Richard | | tom@tomrichard.comKnowing that I would need to leave my nephew’s birthday party early, I opted to park on the street to avoid becoming blocked inside my sister’s long, skinny driveway. Another guest, arriving at the same time, parked right behind me on the street.
I thought nothing of it at the time, but it turned out that my decision to park in the street became a trend.
Guest upon guest followed suit, avoiding the slim stretch of asphalt and, instead, parked in the street. Within an hour, there were a dozen cars lined up and down the street, and the driveway remained strangely bare. Without fail, guests asked as they settled in, “Why aren’t we allowed to park in the driveway?” My sister had not posted any “No parking” signs, yet the party guests had all obediently followed the parking lead started by yours truly.
The truth of the matter is that we all do things without even knowing why we do them. We fall victim to following the lead of those around us. We conform.
The mere suggestion that you may be conforming to those around you may make you feel uncomfortable. It should. Without any thought or reason, we find ourselves doing exactly what the person in front of us is doing. We allow our days to be molded into the shape of the container in which we find ourselves working and living.
Nobody likes to think that they are simply playing follow the leader in their lives. Only when you are able to stop and ask yourself why you do what you do, are you able to recognize that you have a choice in your life. A choice to choose the values and virtues you wish to emulate. In the absence of this definite choice, you will default to taking on the characteristics of those in your close proximity.
In much the same way a garden will prove to be fertile soil for any seed that falls into it, your habits, values and virtues can be overtaken by those aggressive traits and characteristics that surrounded you.
Be vigilant. Instead of letting yourself be overtaken by those things that are growing around you, tend your garden well by choosing which habits, values and virtues you want.
Choose traits and characteristics that will help you achieve your goals, advance your career and become a better person. You need to be wise when choosing the company you keep. There are countless numbers of personally inspiring heroes, living and dead, from whom you can cherry pick values.
Whether it is Abraham Lincoln, Ruth Bader Ginsburg or your grandparents, choose wisely. Surround yourself with people who embody the characteristics you admire and begin to develop a baseline by which you can evaluate yourself within everyday situations.
With your new company, you can then ask yourself, “How would Ruth Bader Ginsburg organize her morning activities?” “How would Abraham Lincoln respond to that comment?” “Would Grandma park on the street or pull right into the driveway?”
Recognize that there is a difference between conforming with and emulating those around you. Conform and you go along with the crowd, blend in and thumb your nose at change and progress. Choose, instead, to emulate the qualities and values of those who embody the virtues you want in your life.
Through ambition and effort, by aspiring to be great, you will learn from those who have wisdom and more to offer you. Seek their advice as you allow yourself to reshape even the most mundane workday tasks that you busy yourself with each day so that the next time you drive up to a birthday party and see a dozen cars in the street with a bare driveway, you won’t have to ask yourself, “Why?” You’ll just drive right into that driveway with a big grin on your face.
Tom Richard is a Toledo-based sales trainer, gives seminars, runs sales meetings and provides coaching for salespeople. For more information, visit www.TomRichard.com, call
(419) 441-1005 or e-mail tom@tomrichard.com.
