Mental Baggage



Mental Baggage

Mental baggage is a collection of all the situations we have experienced or encountered during our lifetimes. We carry all this baggage around in our heads and draw from it when appropriate situations present themselves. Perhaps you tried to join a school sports team when you were a child. Your athletic abilities in that particular sport were average; for that reason you were unable to make the team. You filed away this experience in your subconscious until a similar situation to it came along. You immediately recalled the previous performance and outcome, and told yourself that you were not capable of successfully meeting the current challenge. Consequently, you did not make the effort required to meet it.

We all carry around this mental baggage. It influences us in everything we do, both in our business and personal lives. How it affects us on the sales floor is very simple.

At one time during our career we have all had to deal with a difficult customer. Let's say he was looking to buy a pair of dress shoes. He was attired in a navy-blue business suit, white shirt, and a maroon tie. His glasses had thick black frames and he displayed an aura of seriousness. After fitting him with several pairs of shoes, making several trips to the store room, and spending almost an hour with him, he left the store without making a purchase. You shook your head in frustration, repacked all the shoes and returned them to the back room. You also filed away that person's image in your mind. This became mental baggage.

Some time later a completely different person wearing a navy blue business suit, white shirt, maroon tie, glasses with black frames come into the store. You immediately – unconsciously – recalled the previous customer and remember that he wasted your precious time (your perception). You then made the decision to disregard the new customer. If you finally do decide to serve him, your mindset might still be negative because in the back of your mind you 'know' that this type of person is just a time-waster. Ultimately, you displayed outwardly this attitude and ended up with a potential customer who received less than satisfactory service from a salesperson with an obvious chip on his shoulder. This customer, in turn, made the decision not to buy from confirming your original assumption about him. Mental baggage may consist of customers who have been rude, abrupt, or angry toward you. Baggage can include situations from earlier in our work careers or even from our childhoods.

As time progresses, this mental baggage weighs heavier and heavier. Yet we continue to drag it around with us into every sales situation. Over time our attitude turns sour, we become pessimistic and jaded, and we view most sales transactions as intrusions on our time. Our productivity drops, our performance slides, and our job security is threatened. We become increasingly bitter toward our chosen occupation, the customers we serve, and life in general. Our mental baggage is a weight on our shoulders.

How do we prevent this from happening? First, carrying around mental baggage is a natural part of being a human being. It is the way we view and deal with our baggage that makes the real difference in our lives. If we look at each experience and consider how we can learn from it, our baggage will have less hold over us. I recall the first paid keynote presentation I gave. I was well prepared, but not in the appropriate manner. The room was an awkward shape and the stage was positioned quite high, something I had never dealt with previously. I was uncomfortable during my presentation and I knew my delivery was affected. Instead of focusing on this after my session, I chose to concentrate on what I learned from the experience.

Second we must understand that every sales situation is completely different than the others we've experienced.

Third, we must recognize that some of our baggage is outdated. We may be relying on information that is several years old. This happened to me at the beginning of my career.

When I was twenty-three I was working for a restaurant chain as an assistant manager. I was promoted to general manager and lasted less than a year before I was demoted back to an assistant manager. I had proved unable to perform to the company's expectations. I ended up leaving the company shortly afterwards. For five years I hesitated any time an opportunity for a promotion presented itself; I had not been sure I could do it. Finally it dawned on me exactly what I had learned from that experience. I was not the only person responsible for that particular failure, and my leadership and managerial skills had developed since then. Nevertheless, it took me five years to realize it!

Exercise

Take a moment and, in your action planner, list some of the experiences or situations that may be holding you back. In other words, what mental baggage are you carrying around?

Identifying this is the first step to overcoming it. Here are some suggestions for doing so:

1. Realize that the baggage is only mental. You can replace any mental thought with another thought. Replace the negative image or thought with one that demonstrates your ability to succeed at that particular task or issue. Concentrate on creating a positive self-image. When you find yourself resisting new situations or experiences think about what mental baggage may be contributing to this resistance.

2. Evaluate what has changed since your first experience. Remind yourself of your growth and development since then.

3. Determine whether inaction now will exacerbate the consequence you faced earlier. In other words, does the price of avoiding the current situation outweigh the reward you could gain if you chose tackle the situation?

4. Take action. You always have two choices;

5. Do nothing, which means that you are allowing your mental baggage to dictate your life.

6. Tackle the situation head on. As author and speaker Susan Jeffers wrote, "Feel the fear and do it anyway." It may be challenging, frightening and intimidating. However, you will become stronger from tackling the situation.

Choosing to discard your mental baggage is the first major step that will propel you forward. Once you decide not to allow what has happened to you in the past to influence your future, you begin to take control of your life and your circumstances.