Pain is Inescapable Suffering is Optional

Most people handle adversity exactly backwards.

They generalize the negative (“I lost this sale, I must be terrible at marketing”) and isolate the positive (“I won that deal, but I probably got lucky”).

That’s a perfect recipe for a permanent crisis of confidence.

Try this instead:

• Generalize the positives.
  When you make a sale, treat it as evidence that you are a strong marketer, your value resonates, and your relationships create business. One success reinforces your identity and capabilities.
• Isolate the negatives.
  When you lose a sale, confine it to its proper size: this buyer, this time, these circumstances. Learn what you can, but don’t promote a single event into a verdict on your worth.

Crises—personal, financial, environmental, or global—are inevitable. Pain is inescapable, but suffering is largely optional.

The more you decide not to suffer, the more effective you become at moving through the crisis, instead of living inside it.

Here’s a practical way to start:

• Each morning, choose three positive things you’re going to do—personally or professionally.
• Each evening, note what you actually accomplished.

That’s your 1% solution. Tiny, daily improvements in perspective and behavior compound into a dramatically better life and business—for you, your clients, and your family.

Crises will keep coming.
Whether they become your prison or your catalyst is largely your choice.

Categorized in: The Hero Mindset