Your first reaction may just be habit.

©Copyright 2009 Ian Keightley. All rights reserved. Feel free to forward and distribute but copyright is retained.

Hi [name] and welcome to Ian Keightley's Weekly Insight for Monday 19th January 2009

Is your initial reaction valid or even fair? 

One of the greatest outcomes of a great holiday is the time to reflect. Time to think is a real bonus as many people today are in such a hurry and often decisions or reactions to opportunities are made based on past experiences, current stress levels, current knowledge and present motivation.

What we then see are decisions made in haste, based on previous reactions to the same type of idea, behaviour or suggestion. Or decisions made, based on what was approved of, or ignored last time. But at least a decision was made. Holidays give you time to reconsider some of those decisons or as to how you come to those decisions. What fun watching familes cope with a "Working dad" being present all the time. Watching frustrated drivers, parents, surfers, boaties etc all respond to situations that tested them, demanding a reaction. And on some occasions the reactions were memorable. One was so good I only remember the reaction - not the point being made.   

Time at the beach and driving in the holiday traffic, watching people at play, provides some great insights that may help our work habits.

It got me thinking. In a market that tests us all, are we reacting in ways from the past? Are these reactions still relevant?

We hear it all the time:

"Heard that before."

"That won't work in our town."

"I thought we tried that ONCE."

"I couldn't do that."

"Our town is too small."

"My vendors won't take any less than$XXXXXXX."

"My buyers won't pay that."

"I don't need any training. It's all the same old stuff."

"My buyers won't buy at Auction."

"My sellers won't pay for marketing."

"There's just no buyers."

We could write a book of such negative clap-trap, but what would it achieve?  These are simply remembered reactions that you are in danger of allowing to become beliefs as they are continually trotted out in response to challenges to suceed in this market. The danger is you start to agree with such statements because everyone says it and it supports those who have sold nothing lately.

Dear me, let's move on from such habitual reactions.

Next time someone asks you for advice, next time someone suggests an idea or strategy, a new dialogue, cut your initial reaction off in the first quarter of a second. STOP right now.

Step out of the situation and ask yourself, "Am I giving the idea a fair go? Is my reaction a habit.? Is there some value here for ME? Am I doing the same old thing?"

If you would like to do better, make more sales, feel better about you, your job and the market, could it be your habitual reactions that are in the way?

Quote of the Week

"Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen."

Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)