The world of sales is fast paced and hectic, leaving many sales professionals feeling burned out and exhausted after only a few years. All too often, bright, energetic sales people blaze their way to the top, only to fizzle out after going through the rigors of being a top earner. What's more – it's preventable. The key is to recognize that it's difficult to work at such a high level for a long period of time. While rising to the occasion takes a burst of effort, maintaining it is often a much more difficult challenge.
One of the best ways to beat stress and find lasting calm is through Zen type practice. Although it sounds extremely “new age,” anyone can use Zen techniques to maximize their productivity, instantly create mental clarity and develop a lasting calmness that can stop the damaging effects of stress.
To prevent burn out, it's important to take the time early on to build habits that will allow you to create an atmosphere that gives you peace and serenity throughout the day. Over the course of a workday, you might face hundreds of different stresses and tasks that cause anxiety or worry. Although each may be small, they can add up. It's like the story of the philosopher who held up a half full glass of water to his students. Instead of asking them if it was half full or half empty, he asked them how much it weighed. Then he went on to explain that while the glass doesn't weigh very much on it's own, the overall weight depends on how long you have to hold it. At first, holding it is very easy. After an hour of so of holding it, your hand begins to ache and the muscles in your arm start hurting. If you carry the glass around all day, it can become a huge hindrance to your work and take an increasing larger effort to sustain. The moral: while everyday stresses might not weigh very much, if you don't set them down, they can cause you a lot of pain.
Zen techniques are designed as a way to help people put down the glass and mentally massage their aching muscles. To adopt these practices to your life takes some effort initially but the rewards are huge. Here are a few ways that you can create lasting calmness in your work and home life:
Begin your morning with meditation – Spend a little time each morning doing something that helps you focus and begin your day. Some people enjoy sitting quietly in meditation for 15 or 30 minutes, while others might find it helpful to read favorite motivational quotes or scriptures. Another way to focus your mornings is by doing yoga. Yoga is a great way to calm your mind while getting your body moving. Another way this helps is by slowing down the morning routine. Too often, we sleep until the last possible moment and then frantically get ready for work. By the time we reach the office, we haven't had a moment of quiet reflection and aren't ready to hit the ground running.
Pay attention to the way you respond – Humans are emotional creatures and, often, we allow our emotions to determine how we are going to respond to any given situation. The problem is that emotions are tricky and often changing. In fact, most of the time we aren't really even sure which of our conflicting emotions are at the wheel in any given situation. One common thing that sabotages our lives is taking everything personally. If our boss doesn't give us enough praise, it must mean that she doesn't like us. If our co-worker received more attention for their work on our last project, it must mean that they are out to get us. This can happen in all sorts of situations. When you find yourself taking things personally, take a deep breath and remember that it's not all about you. Maybe your boss was distracted and your co-worker really worked hard and deserved the recognition. Once you stop taking things as a personal insult, they become easier to manage. Remember that these are things that are happening around you, not to you – which makes a big difference.
Focus on one thing at a time – Life can get crazy and, especially when you are working in sales, there is a lot of pressure to do everything right away. Between returning email, sending a text, talking with a client and working on a project, it can feel as though everything is screaming for your attention. Instead of trying to do everything at once, focus on just one thing at a time. This isn't as simple as just doing one thing; you really need to give it your full attention. For example, if you are cooking dinner, really pay attention to what you're doing. Notice the way the knife feels in your hand while you are chopping vegetables, enjoy the smells of the spices and so on. The goal is to be present in each moment as it happens. Once you get good at this, you can give each customer your complete focus without being distracted by everything going on around you. You'll find that by being present as much as possible, you will actually get more things done and be happier on a moment to moment basis.
Zen habits can help you find a sense of calm even amid the chaos of the workplace. It's easy to do and really does make a difference. If you're long overdue for a day of pampering, make taking care of yourself a daily habit.
Do you do any of these? What are your experiences with them? Please share your thoughts in the comments.
Image by adamr / freedigitalphotos.net
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