Perspectives That Serve # 14 - Learning

Learning is the naturally positive mindset of the scientist but we all can cultivate this for our benefit. It starts with curiosity and asking questions. Questions like “Why does this happen?” and ‘What’s really going on here?” You can even take negative emotional states like anger, depression, or anxiety; tear it apart, re-assemble it and learn how to avoid those negative states more often.

Let’s take depression for example: A great question to ask yourself is, “How do I do depression?” For me it might look something like this:

1. An event happens
2. I interpret the event as something that will likely lead to pain
3. I entertain other potentially painful consequences
4. I mentally rehearse or dwell on the interpretation
5. I discount the potential positive possibilities
6. I share all of the above with other people and reinforce it with my words
7. I look for those who will agree and argue with or avoid those who disagree
8. I adopt a physiology consistent with negative emotions
a. rate of speech
b, tone
c. posture
d. walking pace
e. expression
f. activity level
9. I tell myself it is only natural to feel this way
10. I look for others who will tell me it is natural.

What I have learned here is the way I do depression. I have also learned that I can interrupt this pattern at a couple of points and depression won’t set in. Now flip it over. How do I do Joy and Happiness? How can I reinforce the patterns involved?

Selling, and any profession for that matter is a virtual laboratory of learning opportunities. I encourage you to learn from other peoples experiences in the form of books and tapes. Learn from successful colleagues and peers. Learn from the best in your industry. Learn from the failures in your industry. But most of all learn from each sales call. Every sales call, every appointment, every presentation, every sale won, every sale lost is a class room in miniature. John Maxwell says, “Experience is not the best teacher. Evaluated experience is the best teacher.” He is absolutely right. For many people, experience is not a teacher at all. It’s the evaluation that makes the difference. You need to develop a systematic method of learning from your experiences. Maybe this means writing in a journal every night. Maybe you could start your own blog, write a book, or teach a class. At the very least, sit down with yourself on a regular basis and evaluate your experiences. Look for the learning everyday.