Experience can be… Taking time for…

Experience can be….the problem

Those of us who’ve been around for a while tend to have a problem. It’s not that we know everything, but rather that we’re sometimes unreasonably certain about the correctness of what we believe we know.

It’s not that what we’re certain of is incorrect. But the nature of our brain’s wiring is such that repeating a thing, or just believing something over time tends to make what may (or may not have) been true, absolute gospel in our minds.

The cure is pretty simple: We need to be open to rethinking those embedded ideas and practices.

Take prospecting. Do we absolutely have the best way to approach a new on-premise laundry prospect? It’s not that our tried-and-true way is bad, but is it the best for every occasion? Perhaps it is, but probably is it isn’t.

The challenge is being sufficiently open to rethinking what we’ve taking for granted. Of course what’s been working for years professionally, or as a deeply held personal belief isn’t something to be discarded of casually. But being open to considering that possibility needs to be on the table.

Next up: What we don’t know.

Taking time for …everything and nothing

For most of us the fact is that we’re just too busy. Whether it’s responding to an emergency call during an already busy day, finding time to visit all of our accounts in a timely fashion, or just dealing with all the headaches of business, we’re perennially a dollar short and a day late. BTW that also goes for our personal lives. Between yard work, soccer games, dance recitals, school activities, etc., etc., life is pretty hectic. The question is how to balance it all.

Well not surprisingly it always comes down to prioritizing those demands. If we allow ourselves to simply respond to the next squeaky wheel, we’ll almost certainly fail to address the really important stuff. But by taking a extra few seconds to ask ourselves a simple question we can avoid that potentially costly error.

That question is this, “Is what I’m about to do advancing my goals?” If that answer is yes, then let the distraction take first place in line. If not, then ask the next question. ‘What will be the worst outcome if I don’t let it distract me? If that consequence can be lived with then maybe it just has to wait its turn in line.

Next up: Fear and that question