Out of all 4 mental hurdles, I struggle with this one the most. Agonizing… doesn’t that just sound awful? While the label may sound worse than what it really is, it can still crush your forward momentum. Agonizing creates a total lack of progress for one simple reason…
Perceived Risk!
When we see the risk as being greater than the potential reward, we will find ourselves frozen in “analysis paralysis.” We end up overanalyzing the situation and ultimately doing nothing. Three steps you can use to overcome agonizing:
- Know what’s at risk
- Determine the odds of success or failure
- Just make a decision
Understand that the uneasy (agonizing) feeling inside can be reduced by simply making a decision. The longer you put off decisions of any magnitude, the more the uneasiness weighs on you. As more and more decisions get put on hold (procrastinating! but that will be next week’s blog post), the more those feelings begin to pile up.
1. What’s really at risk?
We like it when life is predictable because then we feel in control. I can prove you like predictability! I am betting you like music. I don’t know what kind of music, but you like music! What is music? it is a series of patterns repeated. It includes variety (which we also love!) and it includes patterns (predictability!)
Even if you’re hearing a song for the first time, you can predict the next note in the melody. Even though you are only predicting the future by a split second, we are still predicting what is coming next. Because we can predict music, it is calming to us. This is why people have said, “Music calms the savage beast.” I don’t think they were actually talking about a real beast, I think they were talking about our internal irritability.
Ask yourself some of these questions:
- What’s truly at risk with this opportunity?
- Are you risking your job? your life? your commission? your sale? your team? your bonus? your reputation as a strong leader? your budget?
- Seriously, what’s at risk?
Sometimes when we realize there isn’t much at risk, we’re more willing to actually make our decision and move forward.
2. What are the odds of each outcome?
Knowing what is at stake is just the first step. Next, we need to think about the probability of each outcome. In other words, are you positioned well to succeed or is it a long shot? While we won’t always need to get into a statistical analysis to figure the exact probability of success (I’m picturing C-3PO from the Star Wars movies always giving the odds of survival to Han Solo.) If you have done what you needed to position you and your team well, then the odds may already be in your favor. Knowing the probability of success is higher can help move you toward a decision.
While you may not have a droid present to give you the exact odds, you can do your homework to see if you are positioned well. As I look back on my personal selling history I can see opportunities I lost where I should have known I was not positioned well.
For example, one opportunity I was never given an opportunity to speak to the actual decision maker. All information was collected from a direct report and then sent to the decision maker. In addition, all the questions from me were focused on the proposal details and the pricing. That is not a good sign. They are most likely using your bid to negotiate a price with their preferred vendor… lesson learned and never forgotten!
3. Just do it
After you’ve done your homework to prepare, you know what is at risk and you know the probability of success, you’re ready to pull the trigger. Prior to doing that, most people will fall into a risk analysis one more time. For me and my sales example above, now I know if I’m not positioned well then I’ll make the decision to pull out of the bidding. This saves me and my team the time of chasing a losing opportunity.
This is when an internal dialogue to remind you of all the preparation can be helpful. You need to have faith in something. For me, it’s God. I trust that he has the outcome in his hands. (Jeremiah 29:11) That doesn’t mean I do nothing and wait, it means I do all the things I should do, to the best of my ability and I allow him to take it from there. For you, your trust might be in something else.
Trust and go…
For you, your trust may be in your training or your developed abilities. You’ve been trained. You have the experience. You have the support group around you. You know that regardless of the outcome, you will learn from the experience. Which means, you will always walk away with value from every decision you make. Go ahead and take that step.
Next week is the final topic and one I’m sure we are all aware of… procrastinating!
See you next week!
Russ
The 4-Part Series – C.R.A.P.
May 21, 2017 – Catastrophizing hurdle
May 28, 2017 – Rationalizing hurdle
June 4, 2017 – Agonizing hurdle
June 11, 2017 – Procrastinating hurdle
Cut the C.R.A.P. and Make the Sale, by Russ Peterson Jr.
Claim your copy of my FREE eBook on Sales and Leadership Inspiration.
Russ Peterson Jr. is the co-founder and Managing Director of iSpeak, Inc. – An award-winning professional development training company. Russ is a published author on Professional Sales Communication and Business Communication. He delivers workshops, keynotes, and personal communication coaching services to business professionals in the US and around the world. You can connect with Russ directly through Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
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