Patience. A necessity for any Sales Professional, yet so often absent.
You approach the crowded intersection & the lights suddenly turn. The luminescent green light signalling “go”, now a burning amber ball.
You have two choices. The foot pedal on the right, or the foot pedal on the left.
What’s the difference between those choices?
Arriving two minutes later at your destination?
Hearing another song on the radio?
A human life?
Let’s face it, the universe is in a hurry.
A hurry to tick off the checklist, or progress a career. A hurry to make a million, or share a latest triumph on the digital highlight reel. A hurry to succeed. Be noticed. Feel important.
The lack of patience – impatience – occurs when we place more importance on our own agenda as opposed to accepting the position of another.
It’s our starving ego screaming, “I matter. Notice me. Hear me. Come with me.”
“the attachment to speed & hierarchy is a sickness of the ego.”
~Yung Peublo, Lighter
Deviously, impatience undermines us. Escalating our stress response through frustrations with events out of our control. Things we deem important, but are they?
Impatience feeds our short-term insecurities with rushes of instant gratification. It drives people pleasing behaviour which ironically, pleases few. Least of all – ourselves. Success becomes reliant on validation from the outside world.
Ever so slowly, loosening the connection we have with our spiritual engagement with life.
At some stage we must ask ourselves, “what’s the cost of impatience?”
One of the most remarkable changes I’ve observed in myself since my leap out of the corporate world, has been the slowing of my cadence of patience. I can no longer be hurried.
Perhaps it was my shift in personal values, or the relief accompanying the letting go of the redundant – the things that used to matter. That now don’t at all.
As a sales professional I was always in a hurry. To succeed. Hit my target. Please my customer. For the recognition my ego felt I deserved. To get the work done, only to do more work.
It was a life governed by a stop clock & competing customer & corporate priorities.
Today, I’ve realised the benefit to my overall well-being of slowing the heck down. I’ve learned not everything can be hurried, rushed or pushed. No matter how hard we try.
Particularly the human mind.
As much as we might like, none of us can rush a person (customer’s) decision-making mind. It’s their pace to own. One based on their risk appetite. Influenced by their experience with life’s juggle. One based on where they are in an exact moment in time.
The way & pace at which a customer makes decisions is deeply personal & must be respected. After all, they are the only ones who know how much they can handle.
It is up to us to meet them where they are.
Not force them to be somewhere they aren’t ready to be.
To take the time to understand what is important to them & why it matters.
It takes a bold individual to say “I’m not ready” & an intelligent recipient to realise the benefit of the boundary that’s been created.
Accepting & respecting boundaries, foster trust.
Patience really is a virtue. One we make out of respect for another & their desired position in life. After all, a virtue is a behaviour showing high moral standards.
Is there any higher moral standard than respecting another human’s position in life?
The virtue of patience is one of the most priceless gifts we can gift ourselves. To buck the trend & slow down. To oppose life’s current. To have the courage to stand up to corporate pressure to deliver yesterday. To say, “wait, I’m not ready.”
To realise & understand, patience will not deter success. In fact, meeting someone where they are & moving at their pace, will only strengthen the partnership in the long run.
What does patience look like?
A patient soul is a considered mind
A mind that responds rather than reacts
One that reserves judgement & seeks to understand
A voice with no need to fill silence
A soul not seduced by craving, competition & control
A humble being who understands the value of admitting their flaws
A mind realising conversations can be effectively broken down into smaller discussions
Patience when balanced with kind candor, creates space for growth.
Impatience on the other hand compromises both growth & opportunity.
Start by practising patience with yourself.
“When you are patient with yourself, you can be patient with others”
~ Gary Vaynerchuk
Easier said than done you say?
It is up to you to set your own pace & respect it. If you don’t, what message does that send those around you?
Consider that question when you approach your next amber lit intersection.
Peta x
Sales Coach | Commercial Growth Consultant | Keynote Speaker
Author of My Beautiful Mess - Living through burnout & rediscovering me.
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