"People Don't Pay For Mindset"

"???????????? ??????'?? ?????? ?????? ??????????????."

I was on a speaker series recently, and after I finished my presentation, we did some q&a with the audience.

A long-time leadership trainer typed in the chat:

"?? ???????? ?????? ???????? ?????????????? ??????????, ?????? ???? ?????????????? ?????? ???????? ???????? ???????????? ???????? ?????? ?????????????? ????????????????."

Here's the transcript of what I said,

"You know, I've heard that a lot over the years. In fact, I was sitting in a seminar once, when the leader of a large event, said, 'People won't pay for mindset or personal development, but they need it. So sell them what they want, but give them what they need.'

And I made the mistake of listening to that person's advice for about 6 months. Which caused me to create and sell things I didn't want to be an expert on. Then my mentor at the time, Harvey Dorfman, said to me:

'????????, ???????? ???????????? ???? ?????????? ?????? ?????????????? ?????????? ?????????????? ????????????. ?????? ?????????????????? ???????? ???????????????? ?????? '????????????-????-??????-??????????????' ???? ????????. ?????? ?????????? ???????????????????? ?????? ?????? ???????? ???????? ???????????? ???????? ?????????????????????? ???????????????????? ?????? ?????????????? ???????????? ?????? ?????????? ???? ???????????? ?????? ????????. ???? ?????? ???????????????? ???? ???????????? ?????? ????????????, ??????'???? ?????? ?????????? ???? ???????? ?????? ?????????????? ?????? ????????.'

(Harvey was known as the 'Yoda of Baseball', wrote the bible of the mental game industry, and worked with every elite MLB player. He was a legend.)

As usual, he was right.

My point, 'mindset' may not be appreciated by the clients you're going after, but it's massively appreciated by the best of the best in that market."

Ironically, a few years ago, Jesse Itzler (founder of Marquis Jets, Zico Water, and co-owner of Atlanta Hawks) & Sara Blakely (founder of Spanx) were hosting an event at Spanx headquarters in Atlanta.

And, I was fortunate enough to be asked to speak at it.

The interesting thing about the speakers they curated for the event... we only spoke about or had businesses that trained people on mindset.

The image in this post shows the five of us that spoke on stage that day:

Frank Shamrock - one of the all-time legends of MMA & UFC Champion.

Jesse Itzler - mentioned above.

Sara Blakely - mentioned above and SOLE owner of a multi-billion dollar company (which she NEVER took outside investment money to grow or scale.) <-- that last stat is UNHEARD of in billion-dollar companies.

Me - Author, The Alter Ego Effect. Created The Black Mamba with Kobe, and a lot more work in the world of performance & inner game work.

Tim S. Grover - Kobe and MJ's fitness trainer, and author of 'Relentless.'

Every single talk that day was themed around the meta-category of Mindset.

Every statement or issue mentioned that day was mostly a Mindset issue.

Every question that day was under the context of Mindset.

Why?

Because most people don't have a '?????? ??????????????', they have a '???????????????????? ??????????????', they have a '?????????????????????? ??????????????' or an '?????????????? ??????????????.'

Most people know what they should go and do right now.

And most people even know how to do it.

But most people have a bad relationship with the What and the How.

Their association or mindset is where the friction lies.

I remember in 2010 when I won 'The World's Greatest Salesperson' competition in Cannes, France sponsored by Ogilvy and spearheaded by the brilliant Mat Zucker, Mish Fletcher, and Brian Fetherstonhaugh.

(This was the video submission. A decade ago and more hair! You had to submit a video of how you'd sell a red brick.)

So many interviewers and people said to me, '?????? ?????????? ?????? ???????? ???? ???? ?????????? ???? ?????? '???????????????? ??????????????????????'?'

The question reveals so many terrible philosophies about the idea of 'sales, selling or salesperson.'

Why wouldn't you want to be known as being a great communicator, a great messenger, a great empathizer, a great listener, a great motivator, and a great researcher?

Because in order, to be GREAT at selling, you have to be great at those things.

But many people think about, coercion, convincing, slimy, manipulating, fast-talker, and on and on when it comes to sales.

This is a terrible philosophy holding a lot of good people back, from selling their ideas, their missions, their treatments, their non-profits, their research studies, their widgets, and so on.

Which makes sense, when you look at their mindset.

My good friend Phil Jones, one of the greatest sales trainers/authors on the planet, has a great line, "???????? ?????? ?????????? ???? ?? '???????????????????????? ??????????????????????', ??'?? ???????? ??????'???? ???????????????? ??????????????."

At the event I mentioned earlier, Sara Blakely stood on stage and told everyone,

"?????????????? ???? ?????? ???????????? ???????? ??????'???????????? ?????????? ?????? ???????? ???? ???? ????????????????????????. ???????? ???? ???? ??????????.

And to the elite-caliber people in the room, they all nodded their heads in agreement.

Now, whether they took it to heart, and actually started adopting that philosophy or some of them continued to try to find the 'hidden secret' to finding the success they sought, I have no idea.

What I do know is, when you have a regular practice of subjecting your philosophies, perspectives, and opinions to scrutiny, you can unshackle yourself from the hidden puppet strings holding you back.

Even earlier I shared how I wasted six months taking the misguided advice from the man on stage, and shifting away from mindset work until thankfully, my mentor Harvey shifted my perspective.

This is an example of how mindset was wreaking havoc on my business, clientele, and more importantly, enjoyment of what I did.

It's also a good example of why it's so important you ensure you're curating the right messages from smart, experienced, and humble messengers of expertise.

Why Humble?

Because you want to hear, someone say, "I don't know that." "That's not my domain."

Only the experienced and disciplined, know they'll do more harm than good, by offering an opinion on something they don't have the sinew of experience to speak emphatically about.

This is also why, the toxic advice from some people that, "you only need to be one step or two steps ahead of the person you're helping.", is patently false and dangerous.

Because what if that path of 'two steps ahead' is leading people off of a cliff?

To wrap up...

1. Be militant about defending your mind. I'm careful about ensuring the trojan horses of terrible philosophies, perspectives, and opinions don't enter my mind and hurt positive progress.
2. Be militant about weeding your mind. I'm constantly reflecting on and challenging the philosophies, perspectives, and opinions, causing friction with the experiences I want.
3. Be militant about the care you have for planting seeds in other people's minds. I want to stay disciplined in ensuring I stay in my lane. I never want to be a 'thought-repeater.' (Thanks to Matt Church for that gem.) Planting a philosophy, perspective, and opinion in someone else's mind is a huge responsibility.

Cheers.

The late great, Wayne Dyer has a great quote, "???????? ?????? ???????????? ?????? ?????? ?????? ???????? ???? ????????????, ?????? ???????????? ?????? ???????? ???? ????????????."