Why You Need to Work Scarier, Not Harder

I’m not scared of much — cockroaches in the kitchen, bats in the trees, or even traveling to third world countries. None of these makes my skin crawl, but rejection, that hurts. Just hearing the word “no” makes me quiver. Getting ghosted by customers makes my frizzy hairs stand up.

Ok, I may be exaggerating a little bit on this cold Halloween morning, but the truth is rejection, like a flu shot, can actually cause physical pain and nausea.

But here’s one thing I know for sure, when it comes to increasing our income, we simply need to work scarier, not harder.

Working scarier means:

• Making the tough calls
• Asking the difficult questions
• Saying you’re sorry
• Opening your mind to an opposing point of view
• Admitting your weaknesses to a friend or mentor
• Recognizing the protection mechanisms you use and the mindset that stands in the way of gaining new insights.

The truth is I get tired of hearing salespeople and sales leaders work themselves into poor health and damaged relationships. Your ability to move through the fear of rejection, take action when you’re scared anyway, and then stop and reflect will dictate your success more than any other factor.

Working scarier means opening up to the possibility that we don’t need to be creating, doing, building, and staying connected all of the time. When we take more time and reflect inward, we’ll be more focused, calm, and insightful outward.

In the words of author Eric Greitens:

“We can move through fear to courage. We should move through suffering to strength. We should move through pain to wisdom. But sometimes we don’t have to move at all. We simply have to be, and to practice the virtue of restful joy in a world that is not at rest.”

Find the extraordinary in the ordinary.

Happy Halloween!

About Shari Levitin: Shari helps sales teams bridge the gap between beating quota and selling with an authentic heartfelt approach. As the founder of the Shari Levitin Group, Shari has helped create over 1 billion dollars in increased revenue for companies in over 40 countries. Shari is the bestselling author of Heart and Sell: 10 Universal Truths Every Salesperson Needs to Know, a contributor to Forbes, CEO Magazine, and Huffington Post. Learn more at www.ShariLevitin.com.