Take The Plunge

“You have two choices, control your mind or let your mind control you.” – Paulo Coelho

There is a scene in the documentary “I Am Not Your Guru” where Tony Robbins jumps into a 57° plunge pool immediately after waking up.

Brrrr…

Robbins TAKES THE PLUNGE every morning to tell his mind that he is in charge of the day.

PROFESSIONALS get up and go to work.

AMATEURS wait to be in the mood.

Our brains are hardwired to keep us SAFE and COMFORTABLE.

They are not concerned about our SUCCESS.

When our brain spots a PERCEIVED threat, it tells us to go in the other direction.

This worked great 10,000 years ago when we were being chased by saber-tooth tigers.

Not so much when this same FEAR crushes our present day CREATIVITY.

Our minds will try to convince us not to:

Wake up EARLY.
WRITE that blog post.
Make that UNCOMFORTABLE sales call.

We can’t let our MOOD decide if we will execute or not.

There are ways we can PRIME ourselves to do the work that our minds are trying to keep us from doing.

4 WAYS TO TAKE THE PLUNGE:

WAKE UP AND SMELL THE COLD

Want to create your mood the moment you wake up?

Cold shower.

Standing in a cold shower for 30 seconds is an incredibly effective way to tell your mind who’s in charge.

CREATE ROUTINES

Before each Jiu Jitsu class, I head to the pull up bar in the back of the academy.

I do a set of 10 pull ups.

This routine tells my BODY & MIND that it is time to train.

No matter what thoughts are bouncing around in my brain when I walk in, after I hit pull up #10, I am totally focused on training.

FOCUS ON THE OUTCOME

Muhammad Ali said, “I hated every minute of training, but I loved being CHAMPION.”

For me, writing consistently is a struggle but I love having a WEEKLY BLOG.

I focus on how I will feel after I hit the PUBLISH button.

SCHEDULE & PROTECT

Each of us need to use some sort of calendar.

SCHEDULE what’s important.
PROTECT what we schedule.

If we don’t, life will eat our time for breakfast.

Robbins says, “When you train yourself to do it anyway, you will have a freedom that few people will ever find.”

There will always be things we HAVE TO DO that we don’t WANT TO DO.

Free yourself by taking MOOD out of the equation.

How will you tell your mind that YOU ARE IN CHARGE?

Feel the fear.

Do it anyway.

#TakeThePlunge

-Joe Ciccarone

http://www.SalesVibe.Net

Lean In

“The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.” – Marcus Aurelius

The guy in the blue shirt was floating down the river.

A few seconds earlier his raft failed to LEAN IN.

He flew into the water.

Now he was waiting to be rescued.

One of the highlights of our summer was a white water rafting trip we took with a group of friends.

Before we got anywhere near the rapids, a man wearing a grizzly bear helmet stood before our group and laid down the law.

He told us there were RULES TO THE RAPIDS.

Rule #1 was to LEAN IN.

Our guide told us when our raft was heading straight for a BIG ROCK, don’t back down.

Take the obstacle head on.

Everyone in the boat had to LEAN IN to the collision.

When you LEAN IN, your raft has a strong center of gravity.

You bounce off the rock.

After the initial jolt, your MOMENTUM will take you around the obstacle and towards your destination.

He told us our rafts (like our lives) are built for these collisions.

If we back away, our raft would be off balance.

The obstacle would FLIP our raft over.

The look on that guy’s face floating down the river said that’s not the place to be.

LEANING IN is a principle we can apply to our lives.

When an OBSTACLE gets in our way, don’t back down.

Attack it.

Be glad that it showed up.

Obstacles are amazing opportunities to show everyone what we are made of.

Obstacles are there to keep the AMATURES out.

CHANGE and OBSTACLES will never stop showing up.

If we fail to LEAN IN, we might end up in a bad place.

How we handle OBSTACLES will determine the direction of our life.

Sheryl Sandberg wrote, “We hold ourselves back in ways both big and small, by pulling back when we should be LEANING IN.”

Problems will come at us from all directions.

When life throws BIG ROCKS…

#LeanIn

-Joe Ciccarone

http://www.SalesVibe.Net

Get Uncomfortable

“Get comfortable being uncomfortable. That’s how you break the plateau and reach the next level.” – Chalene Johnson

How do you get to the next level?

A mentor of mine told me I needed to become UNCOMFORTABLE.

He said, “What do you think about that makes you uncomfortable? That’s the project you should be working on.”

What makes me uncomfortable?

Beside “Italian” chain restaurants, it’s Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and writing a weekly blog.

That’s why I train as much Jiu Jitsu as possible and publish a blog every Monday morning.

It’s called the Sales Vibe.

Sales Vibe explores tactics and strategies that help you succeed in SALES & LIFE.

You can read the Sales Vibe by going to www.SalesVibe.net.

#GetUncomfortable

-Joe Ciccarone

Build It

“Your brand is what people say about you when you are not in the room.” – Jeff Bezos

My first year in SALES was rough.

Watching me try to secure an appointment was like watching Shaq at the foul line.

They paired me with the best sales person in our office.

He took me to lunch.

After listening to me complain how hard it was, he offered some advice:

“Be patient. You need to BUILD YOUR BRAND.”

I wasn’t even sure I knew what a BRAND was.

BRANDING was not taught in tax accounting class.

We all need to BUILD our own BRAND.

What’s a BRAND?

Our BRAND is:

The REPUTATION that arrives before we do.
What people EXPECT when they decide to work with us.
What our customers SAY about us when we’re not in the room.

Tom Peters said, “All of us need to understand the importance of branding. Our most important job is to be head marketer for the BRAND called “You”.

If we don’t BUILD IT, we’ll become just another face in the crowd.

If we work for a BIG company, we’ll fade away into another replaceable employee.

If we run our own business, we’ll be at the mercy of PRICE.

Our BRAND gives others PROOF:

It’s the PROJECTS we’ve done.
The OPPORTUNITIES we took on.
It’s the way we TREAT other people.

HOW TO BUILD YOUR BRAND:

LEAD WITH VALUE

Our first move should be to HELP the people we are looking to serve.

Find ways to help people accomplish their goals.

Nothing establishes TRUST faster.

BE FRIENDLY

People may not remember what you accomplished.

They will definitely remember how you made them feel.

KEEP IN TOUCH

Remembered people get opportunities.

Send the hand written note. Remember their birthday. Know their kid’s names.

Do the hard work it takes to make CONNECTING easy.

BE AUTHENTIC

Have the COURAGE to be yourself.

Everyone else is already taken.

BUILD YOUR ON-LINE PRESENCE

Your BRAND is not your product or your company.

It’s YOU!

Pick a social media platform.

Establish your online presence.

A good brand acts like a MAGNET.

People will proactively seek you out.

The best time to start BUILDING YOUR BRAND was about 5 years ago.

The second best time is TODAY.

If we don’t BRAND ourselves, someone will do it for us.

Your move…

#BuildIt

-Joe Ciccarone

http://www.SalesVibe.Net