Tactics

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Get Out of Negative Mindset: How To

Posted on by Jason Kanigan

Get out of Negative Mindset: How To

Today's post comes from a very good question asked in a group I'm a member of that is full of personal trainers and weight loss coaches. They know the value of exercise. They know about nutrition. But sometimes that isn't enough.

“How do you get out of a negative mindset?” one asked.
“When things go wrong, either in business or in your personal life, how do you put it to one side and move forward?
“Negativity crushes creativity and I know I have to get away from it to move forward with anything I want to do but how do you guys actually do it?”

get out of negative mindset identity beliefs self-concept

Here's my answer:

You can't simply forget about the negative situation and move on (at least, without practice)...but you can come up with a plan to get out of the bad situation.

So what happens when you feel 'stuck in the suck' is that your brain gets into a loop. It goes over the same thought again and again and again. "OMG this is TERRIBLE...and it's NEVER GOING TO CHANGE."

You get stuck inside the idea!

The Truth of How To Get Out of Negative Mindset

The ego believes you are separate from everything else, and this feeds directly into the tremendous sense of isolation most people feel when undergoing hard times.

But reality is not actually that way! You are not truly isolated—you are in fact connected to everything else.

As long as you remain the effect of this negative idea loop, you'll continue to spiral down. What you want to do is re-exert control to get out of negative mindset and get back in charge of your reality: be the cause, instead of the effect.

The key to accomplishing this is to get conscious. Instead of unconsciously following along the loop of this nasty idea, address it consciously. "Wait a minute... NEVER going to change? Things are going to stay this way FOREVER?"

Nahhh.

Right?

Change is constant. Things never stay the same. But as long as you allow yourself to remain in that negative thought loop, your conditions will continue to decline.

The key here is Belief that you can get out of that situation. Detach from it. "Yeah, this thing is happening, and it sucks...but it can't keep happening forever. That's impossible. What my mind is trying to convince me of is false. Things cannot stay this way forever."

Then get creative.

Now that can be a toughie in this condition, but do something different. Get up from your desk or your couch. Go outside. Go for a walk. Break your routine. Then, while you're out of the usual comfort zone, address your situation.

What is actually happening?

Are the collectors or evictors banging on your door RIGHT NOW?

Probably not.

You have some time. At least a little time. Nothing horrible is happening at this exact moment.

You should feel a little relief at this point.

Now step outside the problem. Imagine someone has come to you with this problem, and they want you to advise them.

Solution To Get Out of Negative Mindset

What would you suggest?

See, things are almost assuredly not nearly as dire as your mind has been telling you.

And you probably have more resources (friends, family, business contacts) available than you have considered.

Relax as much as you can. Then ask yourself, "If money and resources weren't an issue, what would I advise this person to do to change their situation?" The first part of that question is what allows you to be creative. Detaching to get out of negative mindset, then asking without limits.

Limits are artificial, anyway. They're mostly self-imposed, and yet we act as if reality was that way (see my video on The Stretch for a clear example.)

Write all this down.

Write everything down. Order and movement are the creators of success: Bob Proctor was sharing this in his pre-Internet 1980s seminars. Although the media may have changed, reality has not.

Get a plan together.

What does a plan look like? It has SMART goals. It has actions listed to achieve those goals. And all together, it is something you believe in. Your plan should excite you. Enthusiasm dramatically counteracts negativity.

Then, make another list. Look at your contacts and assign each of them to help you with something. Their help may be an approximation of what you wrote down; it may be even better than what you thought of. But ask them.

For instance, you may have realized that you need more sales. Jason here is a business strategist and sales trainer. Surely he has free resources or something he can give you, if you let him know you need the help.

Will some say No? Of course. Some people you thought were 'friends' may even disconnect from you (and aren't you glad to discover what they truly are?). But you won't be any worse off than you are now. And some will say Yes. They will help you.

Having a plan to move forward that you believe in, and that others are injecting confidence into with their help, is an astonishing turn-around device. It changes your mindset. You have something you can see working.

Sitting there, doing nothing but replaying the negativity loop, not taking any action, is the kiss of death.

Get Out of Negative Mindset With Clarity

As you gather resources, do not wait. Get into action. Use whatever you have and move forward with it. Remember: order and movement. The TV show The Profit recently had an episode visiting Cuba. Entrepreneurs under that harsh anti-business environment were literally using whatever was available to accomplish their goals. One was using a crock pot to melt down commercial soap as the base for her specialty soap business. They weren't waiting. They didn't need everything to be perfect. They were in motion, with a clear idea behind their actions.

You can do this, too.

You will likely encounter a delay between starting your actions and putting your plan into place to get out of your negative situation, and the results you desire. That's normal. The delay is caused by your beliefs and resulting mindset. Keep at it. Be consistent and persistent. The results will arrive faster than you imagined.

If others are around you who continue trying to feed the negativity, cease or limit communication with them. You don't have to be rude. “I have to concentrate on this right now; I'll be happy to talk with you again once I'm back on my feet.” Of course, if it's a family member or significant other that can be more challenging. But you can always steer the conversation away from the negative topic in times you must be with that person.

But get into order and motion.

Get conscious. Break out of the negativity loop. Develop your plan. Assign helpers. Ask them for the help. Use what you've got and get into action with it. Forget perfection. Look to results.

Update for 2022 & 2023: Changing Your Mindset For The Better

As with most fundamental concepts, things have not changed since I wrote the first version of this post in 2016. What you can use are apps, reminders, and even online chat programs to jolt yourself out of a troublesome mindset. Remember that your life can and will start delivering you different results the moment you decide it will. Don't forget to reach out to a friend. You have more support than you think. You've had a bigger impact than you believe.

If you missed my free report on what makes for a good client and how you can identify them, grab it here. No opt-in required. Even simply seeing this could be the big first step in making the mindset change and getting out of a negative point of view.

>> Jason Kanigan is a business strategist and Conversion expert. Book a call with Jason to discuss your situation here. <<

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Your Growth Problem

Posted on by Jason Kanigan

Growth Problem - QuitterGrowth problem defined: in a new sales role, especially if you are starting your own company, you are very likely to become a victim of your own thinking when sales and revenue don't ramp up as you thought they would. You'll give up and quit. Perhaps this has happened to you already...and maybe even more than once.

The Cause of Your Growth Problem

In an employee sales role, you have a wage or salary. That will stave off giving up for awhile, but eventually you'll get discouraged when reality doesn't meet your expectations.

Here's your growth problem: you believe growth should be linear. But it doesn't work that way. And when growth doesn't proceed as 2, 4, 6, 8 etc., you get frustrated and quit.

What's disappointing and deadly about this is quitting resets you to zero. You lose any credibility you may have developed in the niche you were working in. Your specialized knowledge becomes useless. You are no longer "the person to talk to about X." Growth is back to square one.

People give up too soon.

So if growth in business isn't linear, how does it actually work?

Exponentially.

Mapping Your Growth Problem

Check out this graph:

Growth Problem - Graph

The horizontal axis is time passing, and the vertical axis is the money you earn. Look at the green, exponential curve. Growth occurs very slowly at first. Nobody knows who you are. Contrast these results to your expectations: the red, linear line. The gap between the green and red line is your disappointment. Is it any wonder you quit?

Your growth problem is entirely one of expectations. You go in with the linear view. But reality is exponential. So for a long time, things are slow. But at a point things take off. You can see that critical point on the graph. Enough collateral, belief, awareness and results are out there to really blow up your business. People who you've never spoken with before start contacting you, because they know you can solve their problem.

Too bad most people gave up long before. And then they went straight back to 0,0 on the graph, completely starting over.

In my experience with many companies and my own businesses, it takes three to four months to start getting known as "the person to talk to about X". And up to a full year to start getting those serious inbound inquiries from new prospects. Sure, you can speed this up with advertising. But without the "Oomph" of effective marketing and fulfillment collateral, you are going to have a tough time converting those inquiries into sales--until you've hit that critical point on the exponential graph.

Update To Your Growth Problem for 2023

This article was originally written in 2014. That was the year I started this blog. In the eight years since then I've watched many people start something, pursue it for a few days, then give up and jump to something else—putting themselves back to 0,0 on the exponential growth curve.

Success does not come from outside. It comes from you. You must persist, develop new plans, learn and apply new skills to keep striving for what you want. You must give yourself and the exponential growth curve time to work.

Of course, persisting without learning and modifying your plans ie. course correction is a recipe for frustration.

But this is one of those timeless principles rather than shiny objects that we discuss here at salestactics.org. Many people would rather believe the source of success is outside of themselves, and keep chasing those shiny objects. You cannot say, now, that you were not advised.

>> Jason Kanigan is a sales force developer. If you found this useful, please consider Liking, Sharing or Commenting to let us know! And if you want more key info like this, get the free Small Business Sales Effectiveness Report! <<

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Your Barrier To Entry

Posted on by Jason Kanigan

barrier to entryWhat I've seen over the years here is people learn of an idea: the magic bullet (of the week). They put it into action ONCE and it doesn't work (for whatever reason...poor quality traffic; insufficient traffic--key issue, that one; lousy conversion tool; insufficient followup; poor target market definition; etc.)

And then they announce, "It DIDN'T WORK!!" to the world.

They really have convinced themselves that because they tried this thing one time, one way (imagine, trying only a single headline and then saying the whole project was a failure) it doesn't work. Ever. For anyone.

Then they jump on after the next shiny object...the new magic bullet of the week.

That's the silliness I'm fighting against here. It's rampant.

Many variables are involved in online marketing. Basic math is required to be good at online marketing. Based on the evidence I've seen, people want to remain ignorant of both and yet still be successful.

People: that ain't gonna happen.

Stick with something longer than three days. Test one variable change at a time. Yes, keep your eyes open for what works and what doesn't, and why.

Imagine there's a fence you have to jump.

That's the fence you need to get over to start making sales and being successful (BTW, did anyone ever tell you Making Sales is the RESULT, not the guts of, internet marketing? Kinda changes your perspective...there are all these things that need to be done and go right BEFORE you make a sale).

Now imagine all the wannapreneurs, here they are, running full tilt at that fence. Some of them don't even know the fence is there. Many underestimate how tall it is. But there they are, full of false and highly temporary enthusiasm based on some magic bullet they heard about and have awkwardly (how else are you gonna do it the first time) put into practice.

And WHAMMY!

Sure are a lot of broken bodies fallen at the foot of and atop that fence.

What Barrier To Entry Means For You

This is called, in professional marketing terminology, Barrier To Entry.

Most people lack the perspective, the stick-to-itiveness to pass that Barrier To Entry.

What does this mean for you, the individual?

Don't be like the herd. The herd is all beat up and broken in front of that fence.

If you can behave differently, and get over that fence, you'll be Inside.

And Inside is where the money is.

Once you figure it out...how to get over that fence, that Barrier To Entry...you keep that knowledge forever. You know what the process is.

Oh sure, some little techie this or that may change. A variable may need a dial or level adjustment. But you know what the variables are.

Stick with it. Measure and manage. Be intelligent.

Blindly and mindlessly following magic bullets is stupid. You'll end up crashed on the fence every time. Even if you do "succeed" you'll have no idea how to duplicate what you just did.

Barrier To Entry Today

This post was first published in 2016. Is there an update for today?

My impression is that this concept is part of human nature. It is unchanging. We all know "the information is out there", often free of charge. Yet few people will knuckle down and do the research, personal learning and testing necessary to develop skill. They randomly try something once, and when it doesn't work everything related to it is a "scam".

Remember that this is a hurdle separating the wheat from the chaff, the successful from the wannapreneur. Those who expect success from magic beans, rather than developing skill through persistence, are welcome to their fate.

If you are a founder and find yourself sharing information that you know is available out there from other sources, you might be worried about how you're going to "break into" the marketplace. Let me share with you a reframing: you don't need to have unique information to get clients and build a business today. What you need is to find your tribe. People can get information from anywhere. So what do they do? They find a source of that information who they like, who they resonate with. They want to learn from this person. And that is why they buy. When your barrier to entry changes from trying to make your information unique to working on being yourself and attracting your tribe, the game changes.

>> For business strategy that gets you past the barrier to entry, get the Sales On Fire program. <<