What did the title make you think of? The Rolling Stones? Your philosophy of life? I read a great book recently, The Go-Giver by Bob Burg & John David Mann. It was recommended by my online marketing coach, John Thornhill. I’m paraphrasing the quote below. It really resonated with me.
You can’t always get what you want, but you will always get what you expect.
WOW. Think about that for a moment. Now I know it’s easy to go to the “dark” side and think about all the things that haven’t gone right and possibly blaming yourself. Let me say emphatically (big word, I know!) that negative self talk does not help you move forward and there are better ways to think about the quote that will serve you better.
Here goes…what if you went into every sales conversation with the expectation that something good would come out of it? How would that change your results? Would that expectation open more opportunities for you? Listen, I’m not going all “rainbows and butterflys” on you. Bad stuff and stuff you can’t control happens all the time. You can’t control other people or circumstances. You can control your experience and your response of those things and to those things.
All of your power resides in your experience. Expect great things from yourself and from those around you. Expect wonderful things to happen and they will. It’s been a game changer for me. Sometimes when something or someone bad happens to me, I feel bad or irritated just like everyone else. I have gotten good at asking myself the following question, “What is the opportunity here?”
In fact, when I explain the ground rules for my live seminars, one of the rules is to expect great things and another one is to be open. Have you ever had the experience of saying, “Oh, I already know that” and then you start reading your email on your phone? I’ve done it myself…on more than one occasion. What might happen if you paid attention and stayed open? You’re not the same person you were the last time you heard it. Can you apply it in a different way? Was that information a good reminder for something you can do now that you weren’t ready for before now?
Bottom line: Expect great things and then act appropriately.
Hi Kim,
I think your post was interesting and it gave me another insight into the book I was supposed to read. I actually borrowed the audio version form my library, but every time I went to listen to it, I fell asleep! Someone else wrote about what they got out of the book and it was different from yours.
I am in sales myself and I need to remind myself that I need to expect great things from each sales call!
Thanks for the post and your site is looking good!
Rich
Rich:
Thanks for checking in and commenting on the site – I really appreciate it. It is interesting to read about different takeaways from the same book. I thinks we look at it differently depending on what we need at any given time. I have a big vision for my business and need to remind myself of the message to overcome the inevitable disappointments and hurdles.
Kim
What a great post, Kim.
I also read the Go-Giver on John’s recommendation. It is an excellent book. I read it in about a couple of hours (unusual for me!).
It really made me think about the way I had been going about my daily life; I was wanting great things to happen to me, but I wasn’t giving great things out. I actually put some of the lessons learned in the book into operation a day after I finsihed the book, and I was really pleasantly surprised at the outcome. This stuff really does work!
As you say, if we expect things to go wrong, they almost always will. I have found that when I have really good positive thoughts, better things happen to me.
I really like what you say when something goes wrong: “What is the opportunity here?”. When you ask that question, you don’t really see it as a failure, but as an opportunity to learn. I love it!
Anyway, Kim, thanks for your post, and I look forward to hearing more from you.
Arny
Arny:
I’m glad to hear you also liked the book too. It’s definitely one that you can read numerous times and get different things out of, depending where you are. I appreciate your sharing and I look forward to hearing more about your progress.
Kim