Since I was a little boy, I’ve always wanted to see people be their best and to protect those who were at a disadvantage. I remember several times in grade school and middle school standing between fellow students I had been with since kindergarten and bullies who threatened them.
Now, I was by no means of big stature. When I graduated high school I was 6 feet tall and weighed in around 160 pounds. So, I’m sure it looked like “David against Goliath” a few times because some of these bullies were on the football team and much larger than myself. However, I stood my ground to protect those they were bullying, without even thinking of the consequences. Thankfully, only once did I receive a physical attack from doing this.
Later in life, I chose a career in sales because I saw this as an opportunity to help people through the products and services I would choose to sell. I won many awards and received trips and recognition for my efforts. But, how could I make an even greater impact than helping one client at a time?
In 2012, I decided to use talents and abilities I had learned as a part-time pastor to help salespeople become better so they could help their clients. This way I was multiplying the impact I was having. And, what an impact it is!
The Impact
There are people who hate to be called a salesperson, sales rep, or any derivation with the title “sales” attached to it. They have been taught to see that role as slimy, lying, manipulative, deceptive, etc. So, they look for other ways to title themselves to avoid what they feel is a professional slur.
Where did these ideas come from? Parents, peers, spouses, and other people who had a bad experience, or just heard of bad experiences, with salespeople. Yet, how can these people help solve real problems others have if they don’t even accept the role they play in helping them?
This is one area I have helped hundreds of salespeople overcome through simple mind shifts. Other beliefs that have been deeply embedded since childhood that keep salespeople from helping more people to solve their problems are:
“Don’t speak until you’re spoken to”
“Don’t talk to strangers”
“Don’t interrupt”
“It’s rude to ask questions”, and many more.
Over the last 10 years, I have helped salespeople and executives overcome these outdated beliefs to create wildly successful careers! Long before that, I was helping people with challenges on a non-professional basis as a pastor.
So, you can imagine my delight to see people each day transform from inside their minds and start reaching their full potential because the fears, doubts, worries, and limiting beliefs from the past are gone! To see these people become top-performers in their field gives me the same satisfaction as when I stood between those bullies and the people they were bullying, knowing I had changed their life!
Personal Challenges
In the spring of 2016, I began having problems breathing. My family doctor put me through three rounds of antibiotics and steroids and the problem persisted. I went to a different doctor and, to make a long story short, I ended up in the hospital where the surgeon found a lump of cancer about the size of my fist attached to my pericardium and right lung, which he removed.
While in recovery, the Neurologist informed me that I have two diseases, one called Myasthenia Gravis (MG) and the other called bronchiectisis. MG is an extremely rare disease, especially in men. It’s a neurological disease which causes muscles to become weak, especially in the neck, legs, and eyes,
I was told that I would have to use a cane or walker the rest of my life and that I would reach a point where I wouldn’t be able to hold my head up and need to be constantly on oxygen. My breathing capacity was reduced to 40%, sometimes less.
Learned Helplessness
If you look up the term “Learned Helplessness”, you’ll see that many people will deteriorate in the ability to function once they have experienced a disease, this is especially true for those with strokes.
Typically, when it’s discovered that a patient has a disease, doctors will tell patients of all the things they won’t be able to do, both currently and in the future. Because doctors are authority figures and we’ve been programmed to believe whatever they tell us, we fully accept their prognosis. But, just as there is the Placebo Effect there is also the Nocebo Effect ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWQfe__fNbs). The Nocebo Effect is what happens when a doctor tells a patient what their limitations are, and will become. Again, the vast majority of people will fully accept what they are told, thinking the doctor knows best. From personal experience, I can tell you that they have a 50-50 chance of being right.
So, when I was condemned to using a cane, walker, or wheelchair, be on oxygen, and have a brace to hold my head up as my diseases “progressed”, I decided that was not for me. Because I teach Mind Management, I used my knowledge over the last almost almost four years to prove the diagnosis and prognosis incorrect. The result? I used a walker three times around the house since being released from 31 days in the hospital in February, 2018. I’ve used a cane less than a dozen times. I go to the gym and, of course, my workouts aren’t what they used to be. (I used to power lift weights that were State Champion level when I was 50-years-old)
I’ve been deemed “Disabled” by the State because my lungs function at such a low level that I can’t work more than 2-3 hours at a time. But, as you can imagine from hearing my story, I’m on a journey to find an answer for that, too. I refuse to learn to be helpless!
Wrap up
The last ten years have been great, in spite of the diseases. I’m fortunate to have turned a skill and ability to transform people’s minds quickly and massively into a business (think Tony Robbins), because even with the physical limitations I have for the time being, I can still work with executives and salespeople to help them breakthrough limiting beliefs, just as I have for others…and myself!
And I’m even more excited to see how the next decade unfolds!
#WeeklyPrompt #MindShift #Beliefs #Fears #Stress #Doubts #Worries #Disease #Illness #Helpless #Sales #Executives