Acknowledging Your Weaknesses Doesn’t Make You Weak

I’ve written a couple of posts now related to taking time to rest and having boundaries around your time. You might be thinking to yourself, “Does this girl ever work?” I can promise you that yes, I do in fact work, in spite of the fact that I really prioritize carving out time to rest.?

Last week marked the end of the third quarter here at Blind Zebra. The week was jam packed with follow-up, trying to close deals, and defining timelines for any deals that were staying open. I was GO, GO, GO all week up until my last deal of the quarter closed at 6:00 pm on the 30th.

On Friday, the first day of Q4, I was still riding the high of closing out a fantastic Q3. I jumped straight into prospecting and outreach determined to start re-filling my pipeline. It wasn’t until I headed home at 5:00 pm on Friday that I realized just how tired I was from the week. I’m not one to stay in on Friday nights, but that night I fell sound asleep by 9:00 pm.

Monday morning, I was dragging to say the least. I was feeling burnt out and the idea of prospecting and cold outreach sounded like someone had just asked me to run a marathon. For context, I’m about as far as you can get from a runner.

I’m fairly in touch with my body. I could tell that what I needed was sleep. So Monday night, I went to bed at 7:30 pm. Last night, I went to bed at 8:00 pm. Both those nights I got between 10 and 12 hours of sleep. But despite the extra hours of shuteye, I still felt like shit.

I realized what I really needed was a mental health day. You might remember my post about Blind Zebra’s monthly mental health free day and be thinking to yourself, so what’s the problem?

Here’s the problem. I’m already taking two days of PTO this month. Because of that, I was planning to forgo my monthly mental health day. I felt guilty and like a slacker for needing a day to rest and heal myself.

Most salespeople have a tendency to “push through.” The culture of sales is to sell even if the sky is falling down around you. Even if we’re sick, burnt out, or struggling with mental health, we feel like we must keep on selling.?

We equate acknowledging our weakness with being a weak person. Here’s my take. Asking for help or acknowledging that you are struggling is the strongest thing you can do.?

So, I put my money where my mouth is. Just before posting this article, I had my one-on-one with my boss. I opened up to her and told her where I was at with my mental health. I told her I needed my mental health day in addition to my PTO this month. You know what she said?

Yes.?

So, I’ll be offline Friday. Taking time to rest, check in on myself, and recharge my batteries.

Monday morning, I’ll be back ready to run hard. But, I couldn’t do that without a day to rest.?