“If you don’t program yourself, life will program you!”

-Les Brown

My recent blog post, “What Do Professional Athletes And Professional Sales People Have In Common?” received a lot of attention and was the most read blog I have written to date. A big thanks to all of you for the feedback and support

The article finished with this truism: “Just like great athletes, great salespeople don’t just have the ability to perform at a high level. They have the ability to do it more often than the rest.”

As a follow up, I’d like to share some of my strategies for consistently performing at a higher level by maintaining a positive mental attitude.

First, though, I have a confession to make: I am not always in a good mood, I am not always optimistic, I am not always happy and I don’t always have a positive mental attitude! I remember when I was younger I would see speakers on stage, or meet with top sales people and think that they had it all figured out. That they were different than me. That they must be positive all the time. It seemed that their life was perfect.

I’m now one of those people I used to watch and I’ve come to discover that, like everyone else, high performers are not always in a great place mentally. The difference, though, is their ability to get themselves into a good mental space on demand.

It’s not how we perform on the days we feel like performing that matters – it’s how we perform on the days we don’t feel like performing.

Top 10 Ideas to maintain a mental “A” game:

1. Review your goals every morning. Focus on where you are going not just where you are. Review your 1, 3, 5 and 10 year goals, then create a plan as to what you can do today to move toward your goals. Remember that success is a journey not a destination.
2. Perform a random act of kindness everyday. Our family calls them RAK’s. Here are a few that I have done in my travels:
   • Pay for the person in the drive-through behind you
   • Call someone out of the blue and thank them for being in your life
   • Give a book I enjoy and had just finished to the person working the counter as I checked out of a hotel
   • Go on a refreshment run for our team in the mid-afternoon
   • Send a friend a book or audio series
   • Hold the door for someone that is walking into a coffee shop behind you when you know there is a line inside (which means they will be ahead of you—watch how surprised they are)
   • Share your points. If you don’t have a points card in the store, ask the person behind you if they want your points!
      
3. Exercise daily. This is a big one for me! I don’t feel like exercising daily, but I feel so much better when I do. For some, “exercise” might mean working out hard at the gym. For others, it might mean just going for a walk around the block. Find your own definition.
4. Bring closure to a troubled relationship. Even if you do not agree with what the other person has done or said. Do you want to be right or happy?
5. Listen to positive audio programs daily in your car, or play them in the background in your office. They can be motivational audiobooks or podcasts, or training audio programs. Feed your mind positive ideas and thoughts!
6. Drink lots of water.At least 3 litres a day. It will blow your mind how much more energy you will have and much better you will feel.
7. Get deeply involved in a charity that is close to your heart.
8. Spend less than you make.
9. Have great mental triggers. I use two mantras to maintain my A-game when things get tough. The first is: You always have three choices in life: 1) Live with it; 2) Change it; 3) Leave it. The second is: There is always a solution – we just need to change the way we look at things.
10. Write down what you have to be thankful forat the beginning and ending of each day

Now it’s your turn – let us know what you do to maintain your positive attitude – it will help us all. Choose your thoughts carefully… they are the architect of your life.

Make it Count,

Rich