Most of us salesman have addictions. if it’s not drugs, it’s gambling, the opposite sex or whatever you weirdos are into. It’s no secret that we are an addictive bunch of thrill seekers. The thrill of hunting g prospects is how we make our living. We’re always looking for a high that can replace that thrill.
That high doesn’t exist though. There’s no high better than closing a sale and getting a bigass paycheck from it. I’ve chased it just like you probably have and I’m reporting back that it don’t exist. Now that you know this, what’s next?
The next step is to channel that addictive personality of yours into something productive that produces income and fills the thrill so there’s no more void. I’ll bet you’re thinking “Ok Ryan, that’s nice and all but if it were that easy…” Track with me here, I’m gonna do my best to deliver you from bondage my brother.
First thing you have to do is create new habits. Notice I didn’t say get rid of old habits? That’s because if what worked for me, works for you, they’ll drop off. Creating new habits isn’t exactly easy but the process to getting there is. Habits aren’t formed overnight. Even the ones you want to form.
Creating a habit simply comes from repetition. Nothing more, nothing less. If we fill your time with rewarding habits, you’ll not have time for the negative ones. When Is ay negative, I mean the ones you know you need to ditch. In order to create a lasting habit you need to repeat the ritual of creation every day, sometimes multiple times a day, for a minimum of 21 days.
Yes, that’s three weeks of practice to make it permanent. Like I said earlier, habits aren’t created overnight but they are easily created.
How do you create new habits? Good question1 Lemme tell you. First you need to make a list of new habits you’d like. For example, if you stay up late drinking, you need to make a new habit to wake up early. At first it’s gonna be a bitch, but if you bite the bullet you’ll end up going to bed earlier and drinking less. Knowing the consequences of one habit against the next, causes you to get clear on which one you really want.
I like to pair my habits. For example, I not only get up early, I get up early with a mission. That mission is to have all emails, texts, chats, blog posts and gym time out of the way before 9:30am. This keeps me from staying out partying on weekdays. I know that if I do stay out, I’ll suffer from it. In one of two ways. Either from being tired and strung out or from the guilt of not doing the work I’m supposed to.
It’s hard to get ourself to believe our lies, but when we do it’s dangerous. When you don’t believe your inner excuses or lies, you feel guilt when you don’t keep your word. I find that the guilt of breaking a promise to myself weighs enough to keep me in line most days.
What you’ll find is that the thrill of the gym or more sales or whatever you do, will fuel your adrenaline way more than any quick fix drug. I’m not telling you to quit drinking and drugs, I’m just telling you how you can create new habits that counteract to them and force you to choose.
I drink. I smoke. I’m aware of the consequences of both. Because of this I use in moderation vs what I used to do and just go all in whenever the mood felt right (every day)
After 21 days of sticking to the script, you’ll find yourself a new you. Yes, it’s going to be hard at first, but as each day goes by it becomes easier and easier. The more you repeat the habit, the more it sinks in and sticks in your mind. Eventually it just happens second nature.
That’s all good about habits but what about addictions?
When you’re an addict like me, you seem to find yourself consumed in one form or another with something you like. If you like the wrong things, all that needs to be done is shifting your focus. Often times we love one aspect of the thrill but hate another.
A good example of this is loving to close sales but fearing the prospect declining your offer. While closing a sale is the best high there is, losing one is the pits. It sucks big donkey you know what. Especially if it was a deal you were relying on.
Eventually one of two things happens to a salesman. Thing 1 is they get enough “NO” answers, that the pain of NO outweighs the pleasure of YES and they stop calling. Thing 2 is they create the habit of ignoring NO and keeping blocking it from effecting their confidence.
You’ve got to learn to use the pleasure of winning to outweigh the pain of losing. What I’ve done is just like ignoring the voices telling you to get high, I’ve ignored voices that say “no”. It’s not that people don’t tell me “no” it’s that when they do, I block it out and move on to the next one. I block out the bad to make room for the good.
Another example is us being addicted to our phone. Sometimes it’s sports, sometimes it’s social media. If you’re going to have the habit anyway, make it productive. Instead of scrolling ESPN, scroll linkedin. If you’re going to be on Facebook, use that time to prospect instead of trolling.
It’s as simple as switching a few things up over and over until you’ve fooled your brain into thinking that’s the way it’s always been and that’s the way it needs to stay. Only 3 weeks and you’re good. Can you do it?
I’ve channeled my addictive personality into something positive and you can too. You can find better ways to live your life before it’s too late. I’m no life coach but I got a shitload of life experiences. If you’d like to find out what it takes to work with me direct, and create winning habits, simply fill out the form below and I’ll be in touch accordingly.
