Skills come before the label

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Look at anyone’s social media feed and you’ll see their label…

NYT Best Selling…

Wall Street Journal Best Selling

TEDx Speaker

Founder

Developer

Million Dollar Producer

…you see those labels & want to aspire to be “the label,”

James Altucher made a good point, “Skills come before the label, so when the label comes, that’s just the confirmation of the skills.”

Your label will come when it comes. “Until” is your time frame anyway.

“Every day I’ll show up until I see the results I want to see.”

Here’s the paradox: If you chase the labels, you’re skills will be weak because your dominant focus is on a distinction instead of an ethos…

…but if you chase the skills, your label becomes strong, because your identity is in the development of skills not in the ego of the label.

Stay in The Sales Life 💪

You can’t practice being taller

Check out the all of the episodes of The Sales Life Podcast

One of my favorite shows to binge watch on Amazon is the detective series called Bosch. In one episode,  Bosch picks up his daughter from her volleyball game and asks her how it went. Flustered, she got in the car and said that the other team was huge and annihilated her school. Bosch, his mind a thousand miles away, offered an offhanded apology to his daughter to which she quipped, “Hey, you can’t practice being taller…”

I found her statement interesting because she was quick to point out the one reason why they lost, but gave no consideration as to what specific leverages she and her teammates could’ve used to give them a better chance at winning the game. 

We do that…

We tend to point out the giants in our lives. We look at the one thing-the one obstacle as the reason why we cannot succeed. No, you can’t practice being taller, but you can practice utilizing your leverage points to better benefit you in sales and in Life. All of us-yea you too, have leverages-specific skills, talents, and positions readily available to use, yet instead of putting them to work, we highlight the one trait someone else has and discount the tool box of leverages we already possess.

We always seem to covet what the next man has…

I call this the McDonald’s Fry Syndrome. My brother used to come home from work late at night with a fresh box of fries from McDonald’s. They smelled soooo good and I would beg him to give me just one fry. (You know how it is-the next guy’s plate lunch always smells and looks better than yours.) The urge to have just one of his fries was far more powerful than the past feelings I’d had when I’d bought my own bag of fries. I wanted what my brother had…

It reminds me of the parable of the talents; two men reinvested their talents  while the 3rd one buried his. Don’t bury your talent-these are your leverages that you’ve either cultivated over time or naturally possess.

In sales my leverages are:

• I’m 6’3″ so my height gives me a dominate presence.
• I have a powerful voice that commands attention.
• I’m insatiably curious and have learned to read body language.
• My 4th quarter, seconds left in the game, experiences have enabled me to perform well under pressure.

All of these leverages have helped me professionally, but they’re no better than the next man. The guy who stands 5’5″ or who is butter-ball lovable, or soft spoken has leverages too because his height may not intimidate others; his weight makes him seem more fun loving and amicable and his soft inflection draws people in to listen closer.

Whatever you got, use it-whether you’re a planner or the fly by the seat of your pants kind, make it work for you.

I’ll see you on the Blacktop!

 

 

You are the total package

You have everything you need to be an impact player in this world. You are equipped with unique talents to reach your potential. When you discover your talents and refine your skills you become unstoppable. There are no extraordinary people out there, only ordinary people who go to extra lengths to find what they are good at. The only difference between you and the next guy is determinism. The determined rake, prod, and probe until they realize their talents; their choices and decisions determine their outcomes. There are no victims in success; you must go on a search and discovery mission through the halls of your mind. Pull out the faulty wiring in the recesses of your mind-the wiring that causes a mental fire called doubt that burns down your dreams and ambitions. Rewire your mind, change your speech and find the coals of your talents. Immense pressures of those coals reveal the diamond you are.  It takes lofty expectations and unyielding desire to go to the next level. Just because you posses a talent doesn’t make you heir to the throne of success; the world is full of talented flakes. There are no miracles in agriculture; a farmer doesn’t chunk seeds from his tractor, wait a few months and expect to reap a harvest. He has to work the land, tilling up the old, dry compacted dirt to expose fresh, new, moist soil underneath. When weeds are removed, seeds are planted, watered, and nurtured, in time, the fruits of his labor are revealed. Don’t let your talents die on the vine; find thyself to know thyself. When you discover what you are capable of and work within your talents and skills, you will blow your mind. It takes faith to discover your talents and fear to keep them hidden.