The snowball of Fear

Hear the full 8 min episode right here.

• Most wouldn’t think of “Iron” Mike Tyson being a fearful guy, but he is-always has been. At a young age he was abused and pushed around.
• At 13 years old, Mike met Cus D’amato and even though he prophesied that Tyson would be the heavyweight champion of the world, Cus first fought Mike’s mind before he’d even let him fight in the ring.

“Fear is your friend, but fear also is your greatest obstacle to learning. Fear is like fire, if you learn to control it, you let it work for you. But if you don’t learn to control that fear, it’ll destroy you and everything around you. Fear is like a snowball on a hill. You can pick it up, throw it, and do anything you want to before it starts rolling down the hill, but once fear starts rolling down, it gets so big it’ll crush you to death. So one must never allow fear to develop and build up without having control over it because if you don’t you won’t be able to achieve your objective nor save your own life.” ~Cus D’amato

• Fear can be your greatest motivator or debilitator. 
•  We all have snowballs in our lives-at one time we could’ve handled them, but undealt with fear barrels down and eventually overtakes you.
• Fear can be used either as fuel to ignite you or you can choose to swallow it and its corrosiveness will kill you. 
• Years ago while vacationing with my family, the front desk called and asked if I had another form of payment. American Express had frozen my ability to charge…I had no other form of payment (my other cards were maxed out), no cash, & was hours from home.
• • What was I to do? We needed to eat and get back home.
• Fear overtook me. I was living a lifestyle I could no longer sustain and had to declare bankruptcy.
• I’ve learned fear, undealt with, will eventually overtake you. Sure you can run, but fear will always catch up with you.
• Turn toward fear, not away from it.
• It’s written, “Speak to your mountains,” for a reason.
• Running toward fear does 3 things: Gives you control back in your own life; shortens the duration of the storm (days instead of decades), and the results are rarely worse than you imagined (if you run at it immediately).

The greatest obstacle to your potential is fear.  

Share your thoughts with me from the podcast.

Subscribe to The Sales Life w/ Marsh Buice podcast where we make a point in minutes not hours. Check it out on iTunes, Spotify, or your favorite podcast platform.

The willingness of pros & the wants of others

When legendary skateboarder Tony Hawk started skating, he and his crew had to skate in empty swimming pools because the city shut down the skate parks due to insurance liabilities.

Not to be dissuaded, he and his cronies jumped fences and continued skating in the concrete fishbowls.

Conditions to skate at the competitions weren’t much better either. With little to no sponsorship, the competitions were bootlegged strapped together-there was no real structure-figuratively and literally.

The ramps were poorly built, so when it came your time to skate, you could feel the weak structure swaying underneath your feet-you had no idea if you were going to be the losing Jenga piece.

Because of the poorly built structures most fearfully turned back, but Hawk skated anyway.

Most turned back because they were amateur in thought…

Hawk was a pro in action.

Pro’s see their current situation for what it is-yes they see the abysmal structures & shaky conditions…

…they feel all of the pressures that everyone else feels, but pro’s embrace the suck and “skate” anyway.

Where amateurs look for excuses, pro’s seize the opportunity…they’ll drop in, attempt, fall, fail, and face embarrassment…they’ll embrace the imperfection and say, “Move, I’ll do it.”

This past spring, a friend of mine had to play a wedding-everything was ready except for one thing…

It was an outdoor wedding, and the coordinator had forgotten about the sound…no mic..no amp..& no power.

With the bride standing at the entrance of her perfect day and with dozens of friends and family in attendance, my saxophonist friend did the only thing he knew to do.

He played his ass off.

That’s what pros do…they take “it is what it is” and show you the magic they can make out of it.

Pros and amateurs do have 1 thing in common though…they both want, but amateurs stop at want while pros push on because they’re willing.

They don’t want to feel the acidic feelings of failing…Tony Hawk didn’t want to keep breaking his bones and losing his teeth…athletes don’t want to miss the game winning shot…

Salespeople don’t want to work with customer after customer and be told:

“No…”

“I bought elsewhere…”

“I beat your price…”

Salespeople don’t want customers to drive off, walk out, and hang up on them…

No one wants to be left standing alone in the ashes of rejection, but pros are willing to…

…they’re willing to look stupid, dust off, & get back up…

And with only an ounce of strength left, they’ll pull themselves up & throw themselves back into the fires of attempt…

Amateurs want and wait for optimal conditions, but pros are willing to just seize the opportunity.

Stay in The Sales Life 💪

Catch my podcast The Sales Life w/ Marsh Buice on iTunes or your favorite podcast platform.

5 X 5

I’m not a Gratitude Journal kind of guy-it’s not that I am not grateful, I am, and I’ve read and listened to so many in the self-help world that advise you to keep a gratitude journal and write things that you  grateful for. Now if journaling your gratitudes every day is what helps you maintain your perspective, then by all means do it-it just never resonated with me. On the heels of that, I’m not a To Do List kind of guy either. I’ve tried all kinds of things: Planners, Post It Notes, and Apps, but many of them distracted more than helped-not to mention I was never consistent at keeping the lists up anyway.

I needed a system that was easy to follow that kept me: 1) Consistent 2) A right perspective 3) Keeps me evolving/growing. So I developed a 5×5 system to keep me on the rails of life.

The first 5 of my 5×5 is simply asking myself, “What are your 5 wins today?” This is a simple question that I’ll ask when I’m laying in bed or sometimes I’ll randomly ask myself this question if I find I’m in a foul mood. For instance, “What are your 5 wins today?” I’ll say, “I sold 3 warranties; I folded and put all the clothes up; I paid my mortgage; I said No to the $5 Big Box at Popeye’s Chicken (but those biscuits though); and my son and I got along today.” That’s it! A simple, easy to answer format that has no right or wrong answers because they’re just for me. I find at times that even after I answer 5, I keep on going-railing out 7-10 at a time. Not only can I complete this in seconds, but it also re-calibrates my thinking with simple positive wins.

The other part of my 5×5 is going to be different for you. See, there are 5 things that I have to do everyday to feel more complete, accomplished, and in control of my life.  I find that when I do my 5 Power Moves, I have a sense of accomplishment and the day didn’t just get away from me. Often times the reason why I am in a pissed off mood is because I have stretched myself too thin-tending to everyone and everything and alienating myself along the way. The 5×5 method is a way of ensuring that I put myself first every day-remember you come first…when you put yourself first, then everyone gets a better, healthier version of you.

My Power 5’s are: Meditate, Workout, Write, Read, and Record

• Meditate: 5-10 minutes of breathing deep and thinking about nothing. Sometimes it’s 3 minutes other times it’s 10.
• Workout: Bust a sweat every day. Whether it’s a quick Hiit (High Intensity Interval Training you can find on Youtube), 20 min jump rope right outside my door; 30 min weight training or jog..whatever time I have, bust a sweat every day.
• Write: Write 2 pages of thoughts-don’t edit-don’t type. Just let your thoughts flow. Sometimes it’s specific, other times it rambles-the point is to spill your thoughts onto paper. It’ll help you clarify your thinking and speaking.
• Read: Read 30 minutes per day. Sometimes I can do more…other times less.
• Record: This podcast helps share my thoughts with the world. I also have a goal of recording at least 2 things on my voice memo app that is learned, observed, or Ah-ha’d that I can be shared later. This practice helps me stay woke throughout the day.

These are my 5×5- easy to do; easy to keep track of (I only need 10 fingers); and easy to stay consistent. Give it a try-maybe you’ll  have a 3×3, 4×4, 5×5.

I’ll see you on the Blacktop.

Don’t forget my daily podcast, The Sales Life w Marsh Buice found on iTunes, GooglePlay, or anchor.fm.

Unauthorized Charges

So I’m at the grocery store and the lady tallies up my-what I went in for two items and came out with a basket full of items and I reach into my wallet only to realize my ATM card is missing. You know that feeling-the heart pounding, cold sweat feeling you get when you begin to imagine that some dude is at Footlocker and soon will be heading to Forever 21 for his boo and he’s doing it all on your dime-at least for the moment anyway. As my nerves settle, I realize that I have fraud protection and once I initiate the claim, they’ll eventually reverse my charges.

But what about you?

Everything you’ve worked so hard for-mentally, spiritually, physically…financially-multiple accounts that have taken you years to build up…

Imagine as if you’ve got a big magnetic strip on you and you’re letting people and events make unauthorized charges on your emotional, physical, spiritual, and financial well-being.

Be careful who you let into your life-who you let snuggle up, lean in, and ride shotgun in your life. They may be making unauthorized charges…swiping…pulling threads from the fabric of your life. Even some clients-the ones who seem that there is no pleasing them are swiping…incessantly draining your emotional accounts when you could be using your resources for others..

…your employer, family, “friends,” co-workers-hell even the Capital One credit card…

Watch for leaks…

Energy draining leaks-those people and events that seem to suck the life right out of you-debiting you of your energy…often these swipes are small, incremental charges that seem like minuscule infractions only to realize-often too late, that you’re drained, overdrawn and operating in the red. Financially, if there’s some things you just cannot pay-I mean no way, no how-pay your essentials-pay your rent, insurance, car note, day care, and buy groceries to sustain your storm..and if you’ve got to let a bill ride, then hell let it ride. I know you don’t like it…I know you’ve busted your ass to have good credit, but you’ll get it back. If it can go down, then it can surely go back up. I’d rather you be 30 days late than cut your life 10 years short with panic attacks and depression.

The reason why you’re so exhausted..the reason why you have no idea how you got home..the reason why you have no clue what your daughter told you what happened at school today or the fact that you’re just too tired to eat macaroni and cheese is because you’ve let too much drain you-too many of the wrong things..too many of the wrong messages have pulled on you making unauthorized charges on a priceless account…

You…

Watch for leaks today. Make sure the right energy comes back to you-if not-even if it’s a close, love one…

Deny the charges.

I’ll see you next time on the Blacktop!

P.S. Take me with you! Did you know I have a daily podcast? Subscribe to The Sales Life w Marsh Buice (found on iTunes) right here and you’ll get a daily 5 minute dose of positivity.

Fold your clothes

The other day I could tell something was amiss with one of my salespeople. Normally he’s all teeth-smiling and jolly, but today I could tell he was aggravated. When I asked him what was up he told me that not only was he not selling any cars nor did he not have anything working, but nothing was going right at home either-he wasn’t spending time with his newborn daughter, his house was a mess, and he had a mountain of clothes to fold. When he finished, I looked at him and said, “Go fold your clothes…” Now you should’ve seen the look on his face-like, “Dude did you hear anything I just told you?!” But I repeated it again, “Go fold your clothes…because it’ll serve a few purposes…”

First, the act of folding your clothes will get you a small, easy win. No exertion-no sweating, just a simple act. It’ll bookmark a win and stop the erosion of slack and sloppiness in your days. Second, folding your clothes will squelch the chaotic voices in your head. You know the voices that go banging away in your head when you have 684 things that need to be done and you end up doing none of them because you’re pissed off that the day is almost already gone. Taking this one simple act will enable you to regain control over your days. Lastly, folding your clothes will cause you to bleed…one win bleeds to other wins too. Because it was so simple, so easy to do, your mind pings the win and begins to look for the next one. Notching up the wins will lead to incremental and eventual massive gains…one sock at a time.

From the sink to the desk drawer, think about all of the countless tasks that you’ve been putting off that have mounted up and caused you to feel like your days are slipping away from you.

If you want a better day, sales career, and life….go fold your clothes.

Check out my daily podcast The Sales Life w Marsh Buice found on iTunes or anchor.fm.