5 Tips to a Stress-Free Holiday in Your Business
Running a business during the holidays can lead to stress and burnout. Don’t let that happen to you.
There is no time of year more stressful than the holidays. In addition to our normal daily workload, which is stressful enough, we have all the family and work holiday activities:
• shopping and decorating for the holidays
• school pageants and children’s social calendars
• work parties and preparation for days off work
• deadlines for meeting customer holiday needs
• celebrations with family and friends
The sales world is one of continuous stress and demand for performance. As a salesman and entrepreneur I can only manage my stress with mental preparation. Unfortunately, this is typically the last aspect of our life that we think of conditioning. When you have not taken the effort to mentally prepare, you will not overcome the natural adversity, failures, indecision and panic that we all eventually face.
5 Step Process to Mental Preparation
1. Mind Conditioning
Your mind will strengthen and become more resilient when you condition your body through a regular routine of exercise. The more consistent, dedicated and engaging your physical routine the more your mind is also readied and prepared for the stress that you may endure on the job. Mental preparedness is also setting rules and standards for yourself:
a. What are the work habits and rituals that get your mind into an aggressive flow each day?
b. What are your eating habits that get you into a flow and energize you throughout the day?
c. What are your exercise habits each day?
d. What are your sleep and relaxation habits each day?
Each of these elements has a direct relation to your mental conditioning.
2. Attitudinal Conditioning
Have you ever been told by someone that “Your attitude sucks”? Your daily attitude is part of your mental conditioning and therefore it too must be prepared. The University of Notre Dame football program is well known for its slogan “Play Like A Champion Today.” This means play with the attitude of championship. This translates that as a SAM you have to “Sell Like A Champion,” be a winner, talk like a winner and walk like a winner. Folks, it’s in our attitude, it’s in the swagger of our walk and the way we talk.
A winner’s attitude of success is the result of being able to see things positively and being able to withstand a difficult scenario. A Sales Assassin has to be like a football team. No coach will ever allow his team on the field without insuring that they truly believe that they can and will win the game. Playing well or performing well does not happen by chance. You have to want it and you have to feel it.
3. Visual Conditioning
They see themselves as winners. Remember as a kid seeing yourself hitting the game winning home run? There is no athlete that does not go through the mental process of visualizing being the star of the game. We all have those moments when we see ourselves at the ultimate moment of success. Mental conditioning is the ability to allow your mind to visualize what success looks like and feels like. You must visualize yourself engaged in the selling process through each step of the way to your desired level of success. You have to be able to see the success and see how you will deal with the turbulent times that will slam you in the worst of storms. You must visualize yourself succeeding, overcoming the bad, and taking advantage of the good. When I see these moments in my mind, they are more than a dream, they are real. I can feel success and I want to duplicate that feeling as often as possible.
4. Education, Homework, Repetition
Mental Preparation requires educating yourself to knowledge, ideas and possibilities. It takes researching not only your product or service area, but also continuous education on how to think and behave. Continuous education demands repetition, and repetition conditions our brains to constantly engage and be prepared
5. Conditioning Through Mental Trust
In any sales environment, you are going to realize two irrefutable facts:
1. Selling is not easy.
2. You are tougher than you think.
In general, people are tougher than they think and we have an uncanny ability to be resilient and the ability to adapt when mentally prepared. However, we must trust our instincts that we can persevere in any situation. Perhaps this is no different than persons who discover that they have survived disaster situations and are surprised to find that they never considered what they would do; they immediately find themselves stepping up to challenges and doing what has to be done.
When we are prepared mentally, we will likely find no time to doubt ourselves and our ability to succeed. As we start the holiday season, take time to mentally prepare for the additional stress so you can successfully meet the challenges of the holiday season.
~ Anthony Caliendo, The Sales Assassin
