Language is important and words matter. What you say to yourself is way more important than what others say to you. We tend to believe ourselves and it’s unfortunate that often we use words that signal messages that are contradictory to our intended results. We want to be successful in our sales and leadership careers and yet we say things like “I hate when customers give me an objection”. The leader says, “I really struggle with knowing how to help someone who lacks tenacity”.
When we use words like these, we are affirming the wrong thing. “Hating” objections or “struggling” to help those we lead sends us in the opposite direction to what we say we want which is being good in sales and leadership.
Make a conscious decision to listen to the words that you and others use and you will see how frequently this occurs. The solution starts with awareness. Too often we use “bad language” without giving thought to it. If you are a leader, you can turn this into a game where team members call out each other and you whenever this occurs. Perhaps set up a “bad language jar” and require the offender to pay a small fine. Once the jar gets full you can treat the team to lunch or some other reward for participation in the “bad language challenge”.
The other solution to the problem is to practice writing and saying positive affirmations. Turn these into affirmations like “I love it when my customers give me objections because it gives me an opportunity to further educate them.” Or you could say “I am a master trainer/coach and I am highly skilled at helping my people develop tenacity.” When you write down and repeat out loud these type affirmations, you are programming your mind to support the behaviors you seek.
When writing affirmations it’s important that you write them in the first person, present tense. Use “I am” or “I do” instead of “I will” or any other form of future tense. Affirmations should speak as if you are already doing or in possession of your stated goal. Affirmations need to be as specific as possible. Clarity helps us picture in our minds eye that which we seek. Develop a routine of reading out loud your affirmations daily.
Whether you feed your mind positive or negative affirmations it works the same. You input these ideas and they begin to affect the way you think. The way you think is called your attitude. Attitudes control behavior. Behavior leads to results. So if you want a different result in your career or any area of life, you have to start by feeding your mind ideas that will support it.
If you find this idea interesting, and you are seeking improved results in some area of life, let’s connect. I work with growth-seeking individuals and organizations to help them reach their full potential.