How are you feeling today? Happy? Sad? Worried? How has your week been? Did you score a big client? Did your dog get sick?
If you’re anything like me, your mood is directly effected by the events that occur in your daily life. Something good happens, you feel great. A challenge arises and suddenly you feel lousy. I know the great yogis will say we’re suppose to be able to be “ok” no matter what is happening around us. God bless the people who master their zen, but that isn’t me. Not yet anyway.
Nope, as the great Gwen Stefani would say, I’m just a girl in the world with a vat of emotions. Although it would be lovely to cultivate a more consistent sense of well-being, having ups and downs is not the end of the world. What is a buzz kill, however, is letting those emotions get in the way of steady progress in your business.
It is so easy to get knocked off our game by how we feel, but I want to clear up a little misconception: You do not have to feel good to succeed. I know, I know you’re going to argue that of course, one needs to have a positive mindset to be successful. And you know what, I agree. But having a positive mindset and feeling good are not the same thing.
Feeling good is an emotion. As we know emotions come and go like the change of weather. Mindset is a decision. It is an intention. The challenge is to not pollute your mindset with your emotions. When you have a success mindset, you make the decision to succeed despite the way you feel.
Now I’m not suggesting you don’t tend to your emotions. If you get down, use the tools available to you to move through it. Working is much more pleasant when you are happy and excited. But guess what? You do not have to feel happy to get work done. You do not have to be in a good mood to write a sales letter. You do not have to be in a good mood to get yourself out the door to go to a networking event. You just have to go.
So often we use feeling disappointed as an excuse to pull back. We’ve been hurt or knocked down, so we think we are entitled to stay down. You do not have to feel good to succeed, you have to work. You have to show up when you don’t feel like it. You have to do what you don’t feel like doing.
We think we’ll go back into full swing once we feel better, but while we licking our wounds, someone else is wooing our clients. Bills are still rolling in. Deadlines are still looming whether we are happy, sad or otherwise.
Lest you think I’m preaching, I’m as guilty of this as anyone. At first it made me upset to think I had to do work when I was unhappy, but once I realized I could work in spite of my feelings, it really freed me up. To make a sales call all I have to do is pick up the phone. I don’t have to change my mood, I just have to dial. And you want to know what makes you feel really happy? Landing a new client and getting paid.
Of course, if you are clinically depressed, you may not be able to function as well and you should most certainly get help. If you are grieving, you get a pass. But if you are allow the ebb and flow of your emotions to interfere with the work necessary to achieve your dreams, you have a true reason to be sad.
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