Coaching Videos & Tips - April 25 2018 No. 555
TIME TO PUSH THE RESET BUTTON!
Who's life is it anyway? (Hope you know the answer to that one!) You need to look after yourself, you need to do it first, you need to be in the driving seat, full of the joys of life... here and now. If you're not, if you're simply not feeling that way, right now, of if you're having "one of those days"... stop, stop it now - and start afresh.
No prizes for guessing what today's Quick Tip is...
Regardless of what kind of day you're having, you, me, all of us, need to keep ourselves on our toes. So, within the next hour (max), get up, walk around; get out, take in the sights and sounds; close your eyes, take a few long, slow, lovely, deep breaths... press the reset button.
All too often, your day (your life!) runs away with you and you're not fully present or even involved (you're on autopilot)... press that reset button, disengage the autopilot, pull up the handbrake... and break free of your own thoughts, your own mental constraints... savour the here and now.
It's strange how many people baulk at the idea that they should put themselves first... I suppose that, in Ireland (and with my Irish background and strict upbringing, we think that putting ourselves first is selfish. Nothing could be wider of the mark.
You simply have to - it's imperative - look after yourself before you're even remotely capable of looking after anyone else... isn't that what they say during the safety demonstration when you take a flight: "Put on your own mask first before trying to help anyone else". You see, if you're not fit for purpose, what purpose do you have?
Of course, I'm specifically talking about looking after yourself mentally (spiritually if you will) - to ensure that you are, as far as is humanly possible, always in the right state of mind. And that makes all the difference...
If you're in the right state of mind, you won't shout at your children - remember, they take psychological snapshots of things that, in particular, leave them with a negative impression of themselves - and they carry this baggage for their lives... until, of course, they look after their own state of mind. If you're "in the zone" you'll never react and make things worse (we're ordinarily really good at making things worse!); you won't think you know what's going on and "act" accordingly; you won't make the wrong decision when you're in a tight corner (our brain's are actually wired to make the right decision... it's just that the autopilot doesn't allow those really clever parts of the brain to operate!); you'll never go through a full day wreaking havoc because you haven't put the proverbial handbrake on.
If you have not come to your senses, you are a loose cannon, a danger to all around you (yourself included)... that's why you need to look after yourself first. You are the most important person in your life.
In sales and marketing, there are various different types of selling: there's the direct sell, the hard sell, the soft sell, the cross sell... and then there's the simply stupid sell (or attempt at selling).
Picture this... I'm standing atop of five meter ladder, in mid-air, balanced against our house's gutter, trying to measure the gap between the top of the downpipe and the gutter (and with Alpine roofs that's quite a big mid-air span) when a white van stops in the middle of the road.
"Bonjour" I hear, logically assuming that the driver is talking to our neighbour who is considering cutting his grass. "Eh... bonjour" the van driver shouts a couple of times. I turn (in mid-air) and ask him if he's talking to me... "Do you want your roof powerhosed?" he asks. Incredulously and in the nicest possible way, I decline. "OK... do you want your hedge cut?" he asks and gets the same reply "Would you like your gutters fixed?" he asks... to which I reply... oops, I've run out of typing space... :-)