There is an old saying, “What the mind can conceive, the body can achieve”. I am not sure I agree with this fully. I can conceive myself climbing a mountain or winning the Boston Marathon, however for those of you that have seen me, this body just isn’t going to get that job done!
On the other hand, I do believe that the mind directs your life. You can focus on whatever you want and if you focus long enough and each time you think about something you get more and more in depth with your focus, the mind can do amazing things.
There is a legend about this very subject. Many of you may have heard either Zig Ziglar or Dr. Denis Waitley tell the story of the Vietnam serviceman who was a POW and kept his sanity over the his years of capture by playing rounds of golf on his favorite golf course. How could he play golf from his prison? He played round after round in his mind. He imagined every hole in exact detail. Every club he would use and every stroke he would make. He saw the traps and the rough; he saw the fairways and the greens. He played in wind, rain, cold, heat. He played the course over and over so many times that the legend states when he was released, he went to the course and shot his best round ever after not holding a club for 7 years in captivity.
This legend, to the best of my ability to confirm, remains simply a legend. However there are verified stories of Olympic Athletes who have had problems performing a certain move that have improved and been able to perform the move by using mental visualization. Former Olympian Sylvie Bernier was a spring board diving athlete and she would practice all 10 of her dives every night before she went to bed. Not in the pool, but in her mind. She states that she got to the point where she could feel herself on the board doing the dives, she could hear the crowd cheering and she saw herself performing the perfect dive.
In sales we can do the exact same thing as the POW and the Olympian. We can visualize ourselves in front of the customer, we can hear ourselves making the presentation, doing the demo, probing, closing, and making the sales. If we practice enough in our minds, then we will have no problem when we go live in front of the customer or prospect. If we mentally cover every objection, answer every question, and add the value to our product or service in our minds we will be at our best when it is time to earn our livings.
Please don’t get me wrong, if all you do is to think about making sales and you don’t actually go out and call on customers all you are going to do is think about eating and not really have any food! Your actions after the mental visualization is what will make you a success.
Visualization will dramatically improve your performance. Although, unlike the stories and legends, visualization alone isn’t enough. Visualization works in combination with other performance enhancing factors to make you better NOT as a substitute for them.
I think I weigh 180 pounds, I think I weigh 180 pounds, I think I weigh 180 pounds… OH FORGET IT!
Lorin
No comments:
Post a Comment