Some see danger when they make mistakes. Others see opportunity. Regardless of how you see it, it is written: “The only way to avoid mistakes is to gain experience, and the only way to gain experience is to make mistakes.”
Are mistakes good or bad in the RV world? Do mistakes help us or hurt us?
Consider lessons from elementary school. Failure paints a negative experience with an “F” on a report card. It also paints the fact that you need to study harder next time. Saying the wrong thing in class could mean ridicule. It could also mean you need to listen more carefully before speaking.
Consider lessons at an RV dealership where failure can be seen as a negative experience. Managers may say, “Failure is not an option” or “If you mess up, you’re fired” or “I can’t believe you lost another sale!”
This causes negative emotions to resurface. Self-esteem takes a nosedive. Self-belief evaporates and feedback stops. The failure brush paints yet another mind with avoidance.
While mistakes pave the pathways of life, it’s important that we remember a simple concept: You always pass failure on the way to success.
Great coaches become great by using past player mistakes to refine current player skill. Great coaches encourage players not to fear making mistakes. Mistakes are our best opportunity to learn.
Michael Jordan walked the path.
“I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career,” he said. “I’ve lost almost 300 games. Twenty- six times, I’ve been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that’s why I succeed.”
His message is clear: Develop a highly sustained determination to achieve what you set out to do, despite all adversity that may confront you.
Failure makes us stronger when we choose to see it as a positive experience. For many of us, a perspective shift will work just fine.
Choose to make a personal perspective shift check-up from the neck up. Mistakes are not indicators of character flaw. They are indicators of humanness.
“Make mistakes. The best teacher is failure,” said Author Jeffrey Gitomer. “It’s the rudest of awakenings, and the breeding ground for self-determination. Don’t think of them as mistakes – think of them as learning experiences not to be repeated. How willing are you to make mistakes?”
Mistakes highlight areas needing improvement, just like pain highlights an area needing medical attention. Everything in life is a lesson from which you can learn.
What can you learn from your failures? What do you want to believe?
You can never manifest the greatness inside of you by allowing fear and worry to rule your mind.
RV sales people that get stumped by the same objection over and over also have choices. They can either become bogged down in frustration or see an opportunity for improvement. A recurring objection that shuts you down simply means a tool is missing from your tool kit. The quickest way to find that tool is to spend time with a more experienced sales person or manager, learning the ways in which he or she handles such objections. Once some ideas have been gathered, incorporate them into your presentations.
Tweak your skills and kill your fears.
“When written in Chinese, the word ‘Crisis’ is comprised of two characters,” said President John F. Kennedy. “One character represents danger. The other opportunity.”