And Ego Strength…The Backbone of Execution

Posted: September 27, 2012 | Categories: Sales, Self-Improvement

In the early 50’s, a young fellow named Sydney Poitier came from Jamaica to New York City.  His goal was to be a great actor.  Over the next 20 years, he achieved that goal.  Getting there wasn’t a cinch.

As Mr. Poitier approached agents, directors, and producers, he was consistently met with scorn and ridicule.  He now claims that one of his key secrets of success came every time he got knocked down and humiliated:  When these things happened, he got tougher.

In his book, “The Happiness Advantage”, psychologist Shawn Achor talked about the habit of “Falling up”.  Like Sydney Poitier, this means that whenever we encounter setbacks and crises, we pick ourselves up and get back in the ring with even more gusto.  All high achievers have this quality.

In 1995, Met Life hired behavioral psychologist Martin Seligman to help them with their sales staff.  Reps were underperforming and the turnover was high and costly.  Dr. Seligman decided to make the key hiring criteria be the candidate’s strength and resilience in attitude.  As a result of this experiment, they discovered that the optimist outsold the pessimist by 40%!

When we are planning to succeed, we need the right mental programming.  Here are some questions we can ask ourselves when we hit these “bumps in the road”.

1. What happened?
2. What is my interpretation of what happened?  Is it positive?  If not, what are some positives I can learn from this?
3. Is this event part of a pattern, or is this an isolated event?
4. What is the problem (No Blame, and make sure you are not just giving a symptom)
5. What are some possible solutions?
6. What is the best solution?
7. How can I begin implementation?

These questions can lead us to a winning attitude and better ego strength.  We can do this, or we can be a victim.  In the words of the late Steven Covey, “Act or be acted upon”

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