Let’s talk about your bank account. Not the bank account where you deposit your money but the one that controls your emotions. This bank account is more important than the one that stores your money because learning to control it, puts you in position to experience success in all areas of your life.
If you are a sales professional, you understand the impact of withdrawals on your emotional bank account. After hearing multiple times “I’m not interested”, you can find yourself losing enthusiasm and tempted to call it a day. You know how it makes you feel when the customer who made a purchase decision yesterday, calls back and says they’ve changed their mind and would like to cancel. And then there is the “sure thing” that ends up disappointing us. It doesn’t take too many of these and we find ourselves depleted of our energy and motivation.
Leaders also experience withdrawals from their emotional bank accounts. You hire a promising new representative, invest your time and energy, and then they come in and resign saying they have decided to pursue a different opportunity. Your team is on record pace through the first 3 weeks of the month and then events beyond your control such as inclement weather or illness to key team members set in, and you end up missing your goal for the month.
Then, there are influences outside of the job that can suck withdrawals from our emotional bank account. An argument with your spouse, financial challenges at home, lack of support from loved ones, not getting enough sleep or taking care of our bodies, all can have a negative pull on our emotional bank account.
Just like your other bank account, you can make deposits to cover those withdrawals. Experiencing success is a deposit. Anytime the outcome is as we hoped, or even better than we hope, we make deposits into our emotional bank account.
Top performers understand that outcomes and results are not the only way to build a healthy emotional bank account balance. Sometimes outcomes and results are beyond our control. Top performers want to continually add deposits to build resilience for when the inevitable withdrawals occur.
Investing time in personal growth and development can make valuable deposits in your emotional bank account. Anytime we are learning and growing, we tend to have positive emotions. Taking time to study your industry, your products, your prospects, and the skill sets needed to do your job all build your reservoir of positive emotions.
Self-talk is another tool and technique for making additional deposits in your emotional bank account. What we say to ourselves is way more important than what others say to us. Make sure to check your self-talk. Being intentional by creating positive and affirming statements that you say to yourself regularly as a reminder of who you are, what you do, and where you are going.
What’s true about your emotional bank account is that it always has a balance. If that balance is positive, you will tend to enjoy what you do and be good at it. You will also be able to weather the storms that most surely will occur. If on the other hand, you are operating with a deficit, you will not be your best and your service to your clients and prospects will be less than they deserve.
One other thing to remember. You can be a deposit or a withdrawal from someone else’s emotional bank account today. Be intentional about the influence you have on others when it comes to their emotional bank account. And be intentional about taking care of your own emotional bank account.