Q: What
is your fundamental mindset? Are you a
beginner, a novice, an expert?
A: The
frustration in finding any answer is that it often demonstrates the death of
the question. If you believe that you
are the utmost master within the sales or management arenas, please forget it
as this mindset can lead to your ultimate demise.
Don’t allow your routine to become
a routine. Don’t accept that its
business as usual. Don’t become
predictable to a fault. If you do fall
into this trap, your competitors, your peers, your customers and your employees
will know what you will do or say to any given situation. And in most cases, that is not a good
scenario.
Now with that said, please don’t
misinterpret my meaning. It is
imperative that you remain defined and disciplined and that you must keep your
“tools” sharp and polished but not to the point of becoming a slave to these
things.
Whether you are in a sales,
administrative or management career, it’s continues to be all about people and
people issues. And with all people comes
one constant and that is change. You
cannot react to change if you don’t keep an open mind. You must think like a beginner and act or
react like an expert. To stay on top of
your game, you must maintain a high level of alertness that will allow your
mind to receive new and more effective techniques to incorporate into your bag
of tools. And this, is what I define as
a beginners mind.
Picture this…. We are sitting at
the kitchen table and I put a cup of coffee in front of you that is almost
full. I start pouring coffee slowly into your cup and soon it reaches the brim
and starts to overflow with hot coffee splashing on you, the kitchen table and
onto the floor. When will you jump up
and tell me to stop?
In this analogy, the cup of
coffee represents your mindset. You came to the table with an almost full cup
and little room for anything new. You
may think you know it all but the mind of a consummate professional is never
full. In fact it’s really always empty
and ready to receive something new without warning. My example uses the coffee in the coffee pot
to represent knowledge, ideas, techniques and a new prospective. A proven prospective that you can put into
motion within your life with little effort.
As a final thought, remember
this, “If you open your hand, you can take hold of anything. If you close your hand, nothing can grasp
it.”
2011 is in my rear view mirror
and 2012 is happily glaring into my windshield. I am determined that this year
is MINE for the taking. Is your mind
open enough for 2012 to be YOURS’ as well?
If not, I promise to offer my hand to you as I go by and hopefully we
can proceed down Highway 2012 together.
You do make a difference and I do care.
Call or write if you have a need and I will respond immediately!
Regards,
George F. Mancuso, CPCPresident
Client Growth Consultants, Inc.
