"change"
Many of us spend an inordinate amount of energy trying to
avoid new experiences because we know inherently
that change is not comfortable. My wife is a wonderful cook, and but one
shining example of her kitchen prowess is her award-winning chili. Okay, she
hasn’t won a national contest or anything, but she did win a chili cook-off at
work once, and first prize was a weekend for two at a nice hotel. Since I travel
quite extensively, I wasn’t thrilled with the prospect of spending even more
time at a hotel, so I asked her about second prize. As it turned out, second prize was a round of golf for three people with a PGA pro at
the prestigious Medinah Country Club in suburban Chicago. Now, I don’t know
who was in charge of determining prize values, but this person obviously
wasn’t a golf aficionado! Thoughtless of her own preferences, my wife agreed
to swap prizes with the second place finisher. I'm still repaying that
debt!
Now I have never pretended to be anything but a novice at
the game of golf, but I do enjoy it. Medinah’s Number 3 course is both
beautiful and awe-inspiring, which proved to be a challenge to both my modest
skill and considerable patience. In fact, when I told a friend I played golf at
Medinah, he asked if the fairways were as nice as they were reputed to be. I
told him, quite sincerely, that I didn’t know - I was never on
the fairways! Regardless, I had fun pairing with the pro, John, an entertaining
guy who saw through the nightmare that was my game. At one point, we made our
way into the woods to retrieve yet another of my ugly drives. Sensing my
frustration, John asked, “Would you like a couple of tips?”
“Feel free to help,” I sighed appreciatively.
John said, “Okay, try this: when you set your grip on the
club, roll your right wrist over the top a quarter-turn.”
For those of you who have played golf, this is a small adjustment, and guess what? It worked! My next drive
was straight! So was the next!
After my mini-success, John asked, “How does the grip
feel?”
Without thinking: “A
little uncomfortable.”
He responded prophetically, “Good. ‘Cause if it’s not
uncomfortable, you’re not changing a thing.”
John the Golf Pro-turned-Psychologist hit on something we
deal with every day: change is
uncomfortable. If we can
recognize this and effectively thrive
on this discomfort, you’ll find that change isn’t so traumatic. Change
isn’t bad; it’s just different.
This discomfort is a feeling more than any other that
prevents people from moving to the next level in their personal or professional
lives, but you can get beyond it by taking one small step. Do you need some
ideas?
 | Eat
an apple. |
| Call
an old friend. |
| Write
and send five prospecting letters and call the people 4 days from today. |
| Call
5 of your clients and thank them for their business. Even if you
haven’t talked to them in a year or more. |
| Park
as far away as possible. |
| Greet
customers in the service drive tomorrow morning. |
| Say
hello to the technicians in the service department. |
If these don’t work or you’d just like more
‘things to do today’ ideas, feel free to send me an email! GOOD SELLING!
| Jon Quade is one of today’s top sales and
management speakers and authors, counting among his clients General
Motors, Ford Motor Company, Primedia Workplace Learning, MSNBC, America
Online, the National Automobile Dealers Association and many others. He
is an award-winning speaker with over 8000 hours on-camera, and he
carries a Professional designation from the National Speakers
Association. You may contact Jon at (800) 701-7767 or via email at
JonQ@emotiv8.com. |
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