Mirror Moments

As a sales professional I am, by definition, a risk taker. I am all about putting it out there and letting it ride. I love the thrill of the chase and a fresh kill (not to go to far with an good analogy) but now it feels like all chase and no meat. I see my fellow hunters dying without any new kills to take home to the camp (their company) and feed their family (literally).

So what is a hunter to do when all the game out there is either already picked over or has gotten so good at hiding that there is no way we are gonna see a whisker appear until...well for a long time?

Dunno...

I hope you weren't looking for an answer here because all I have is questions myself. I do know that I, and many of "my kind", are having what I call "Mirror Moments". A Mirror moment is when you are brushing your teeth, or shaving for the day...or even making that weird face you make for no good reason...and those little voices with all the questions start talking to you. They start telling you that you need to run, find greener pastures to go hunt in. Maybe that is true, but you can't know if there is better hunting over there until you leave your patch and you know if you leave you will give up your spot....a spot you worked to get to, clawing up the food chain to get where you are. Now is it worth leaving what you have built for the promise of something else? Perhaps....

To step away from the analogy for a second what I am talking about is the droves of sales professionals and entrepreneurs I speak with everyday who are questioning making a change. For some it is a risky choice, for others is it no choice at all. The herd has moved and they HAVE to move or die (sorry, slipped back into the analogy for a sec). For others who are doing "ok" but not where they used to be the question pounds their brains- do I move? and if you do- where do you go?

I ask these people "what do you want to be when you grow up?" I usually get a chuckle but its a serious question. We are in the position of needing to re-invent ourselves to stay alive and to do that you need focus, passion and determination....and that all starts with a direction. I use the example all the time of a road trip- you can get in the car and go and have a great time but you'll wander and get lost a lot. That's fine if that is your point but you'll get there a lot faster if you have a map, a direction of where you want to go. Knowing what you want to do is your map, then you just have to plug in the steps that will get you there. Easier said than done to be sure and now is no time to get lost!

So back to the questions without answers and those "Mirror Moments" we are all having. Nothing is worse than looking yourself in the eye when you ask yourself those tough questions. All you can do is remember that, as a sales professional, you have the heart and spirit of a warrior and you are part of the most noble of tribes, those who go out and hunt so everyone can survive.

Look long and hard into that mirror and whatever the answers are for you, follow your passion. Its the one thing we can count on and will never lead us wrong!