THE TOP 3 INGREDIENTS OF A WINNING ATTITUDE

How to Identify Performance Driven Thinking When You See It

You’ll get a pretty good feeling when you come across a Performance-Driven Thinker, because what they say and what they do tend to match.

No one enjoys hypocrites, whether you’re playing on a team, working in a company, serving in a nonprofit or working in a power structure like government or the military.

You can spot a hypocrite easily. They give commands quite readily, but they’re usually short on willingness to train and instruct how they want things done. Clarity isn’t their strong suit. Hypocrites usually lead by applying a lot of pressure, and follow up with shame and blame.

Hypocrisy doesn’t just travel downhill, either. It’s from a virtuous pool of followers that virtuous leaders emerge. You can be certain a society or group has compromised on substantive, Performance Driven Thinking when they routinely end up with hypocrite leaders.

That’s why a leader who says what they mean and means what they say creates such polarization among a divided group … and such momentum for a united one. Performance-Driven Thinkers combine the desire to perform with the will to act.

When you know where a leader stands, because you see their behaviors matching their words, it becomes much easier to make a decision to follow.

WHY YOU MUST GO THROUGH “NO” TO GET TO “YES”

Rather than use militaristic concepts or ideas here, I’m going to offer something from personal experience as a salesman and businessman.

You may have heard of a book called Getting To Yes, by Roger Fisher and William Ury. You may have also heard of Go For No! by Andrea Waltz and Richard Fenton. I think these books argue the same point I’m about to make … but the titles really belong mixed together.

In short, you should “Go Through ‘No!’ to Get to ‘Yes.’”

We take an ancient wisdom approach to attitude in Performance Driven Thinking. There was something profound our ancestors understood, which we’ve abandoned in the last 100 years, about human nature.

To put it simply, we face opposition to just about anything we want to do. Especially anything noble, worthwhile, heroic, self-improving or honorable. If you want to know a key factor in the massive social upheaval right now, it’s that we’re several generations into upside-down thinking.

We not only dislike the idea that everything good is worth a sacrifice, and worth fighting for … we believe we’re owed what we want, without effort! We have it so completely inverted that we’ve exalted laziness and self-indulgence, while demonizing responsibility and hard work.

Viewed through warped lenses like these, it’s no wonder the increase in sick, desperate, antisocial behavior in every corner of the world. We grasp for meaning and significance … by panicking, destroying, looting and pillaging.

From a business standpoint, it’s no different. Sales remains one of the hardest (and most well-compensated) professions because it is so hard to understand. We are not taught how to go through “No!” to get to “Yes.” Or, if we are, nobody goes on to demonstrate how it’s done.

So you end up resenting when people decline to buy, and hypocrite leaders in sales organizations blame you for your bad attitude. They can’t see what’s blocking you, and so they don’t help you fix the problem. It festers, until you resign or get dismissed.

We’ll come to how to fix it in a moment, but I’ll emphasize again: all human activities, organizations and societies are brought forward and improved by Performance Driven Thinking.

Our current stagnation stems from our reluctance to face opposition, or overcome it with honor. That’s why it will take a long time to outrun COVID-19 and race relations. For you, unless you change how you think, it will take you longer to become a master salesperson or successful entrepreneur.

HOW TO GO THROUGH “NO!” TO GET TO “YES”

As members of Alcoholics Anonymous are told, “The first step in overcoming a problem is admitting you have one.” That’s easy enough. Most of the dysfunction taking place around us occurs at the hands of people who think they have an enemy. They just have the wrong one.

The problem with their line of thinking is that you rarely have just “one” enemy. You may have an opponent … but believe it or not, they are not your foremost enemy. They can actually be converted into your ally, if you can deal with your true enemy.

And who is this “real enemy,” you ask? Where can we find them? That’s easy. They’re standing there in your bathroom mirror every morning, when you wake up and do your daily hygiene ritual.

1. How to Identify Your Opponent

You can’t defeat an enemy you refuse to name. Imagine the Allies in World War II refusing to call their opponents “Nazis.” So too, in Performance Driven Thinking, you must be willing to name yourself as an enemy.

This does not mean you “hate yourself” or become suicidal. It means you adopt a posture of humility. You don’t exempt yourself from fairly evaluating personal flaws. You don’t assume zero responsibility when things don’t go as planned.

If you lack desire, will, courage, knowledge, skills, abilities, resources or time … you acknowledge and admit it. You develop a plan to work on it. You do NOT hide it.

1. Prepare For Your Opponent

The traitor within us is cunning. For most of our lives, it has the advantage on us because we don’t understand or acknowledge its existence.

But you didn’t read this far, just to be reminded that life “just sort of happens.” You must not “let it happen” to your mind, either. Whether that means journaling, writing out values and declarations, making a “not-to-do list” — however it’s done, you must seize the verbal and mental “high ground” against your lower self.

1. Expect to Win

The nice thing about intercepting your lower self is that he or she is highly emotional, but not very intellectual. It’s classic David-and-Goliath battle, between a small opponent with mental agility, versus a much larger one running on instinct.

If you begin to exercise control over your lower self, don’t expect it to last long in battle. It’s oriented toward laziness, self-indulgence and sensory pleasure. It doesn’t have much appetite for the wisdom and prudence of your higher self. It will walk right into your trap … if you’re willing to set the trap! It will surrender quite easily.

Once your higher self is in the driver’s seat, you see both order and chaos as normal. You don’t react with anxiety or panic when you encounter resistance. You can continue being authentic no matter what happens. You’re free to focus on serving people, which is entirely the domain of your higher self.

To activate your higher self, start where it really counts — with how you think. Order your copy of Performance Driven Thinking today.