Confronting the reality of your limited control

December 04, 2016 1:53 PM

Part of being a compassionate, empathetic person is learning to step out of the mindset that everything begins and ends with yourself.

Always assuming that most people are fighting a battle you know nothing about. And remembering that there are a multitude of internal and external forces at work at any given moment, most of which have exactly nothing to do with you.

Selling is the perfect venue for practicing this principle. Because you can only follow up with people so many times before crossing the line from persistence to stalking.

I once had a prospective client reach out to me about conducting staff training for their frontline employees. We chatted on the phone for an hour, had a deeply engaging conversation, and continued to email back and forth a few weeks thereafter. She was my champion.

But then suddenly, she vanished. Sight unseen. For six months. The woman was completely unreachable via every medium of communication.

Of course, being the hypersensitive love addict that I am, I stepped into the mindset that everything begins and ends with me. That my prospect’s unresponsiveness was a rejection and a personal attack and a slight against my work.

And so, I phoned her office, partly out of curiosity, partly out of frustration, to find out what was going on. Then the receptionist said three words that I’ll never forget.

Oh, she retired.

Turns out, after thirty years of faithful service to the organization, this beloved employee was happily moving onto the next phase of her life, and the entire office was mourning her absence.

And all I could think to myself was, so, are you guys still going to hire me or what?

I’m so vain, I thought the song was about me.

The point is, the disappointments in life accrue faster than we can find external forces to blame them on.

We may as well confront the reality of our limited control and just move onto the next one.

LET ME ASK YA THIS…

Are you so vain that you think this song is about you?

LET ME SUGGEST THIS…

For the list called, “99 Ways to Think Like an Entrepreneur, Even If You Aren’t One,” send an email to me, and you win the list for free!

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Scott Ginsberg

That Guy with the Nametag

Author. Speaker. Strategist. Inventor. Filmmaker. Publisher. Songwriter.