Switching on Motivation: Speaking of Attitude

By: Barry Maher

Here's a simple truth: “There may not be any simple
truths.”

Yet whether you’re selling ideas, your vision, yourself
or your products or services, persuasion is often a matter
of supplying shorthand ways of thinking about complicated
problems, allowing people to quickly evaluate a complex
situation and come to a decision. That's why stories, analogies,
and metaphors work so well.

As former General Electric CEO Jack Welsh said, "Simple
messages travel faster, simple designs reach the market faster,
and elimination of clutter allows faster decision making."

Wyatt Technologies, a client of mine, manufactures light
scattering equipment for measuring absolute molecular weight in
polymers. It may require a Ph.D. to fully explain why their
methodology is superior to their competition's. Many of their
prospects and at least one of their consultants (me) couldn't
understand it even from a Ph.D.

But everyone could grasp the shorthand metaphor they
came up with: "It's like using a speedometer to measure the
speed of your car rather than an altimeter. The altimeter will
do the job, roughly. If you're willing to do some complicated
figuring. The speedometer gives you the exact speed
immediately."

Consider finding shorthand ways to sell your goals to
yourself--to remind yourself of what you are doing and why you
are doing it. So you can keep yourself motivated. Which means
keeping yourself sold.

Former San Diego Charger defensive tackle Norman Hand
wore a pair of Miami Dolphin shorts under his Charger shorts.
Hand was cut by the Dolphins. "Every time I'm tired,” Hand
said, “I raise up my Miami Dolphins shorts and they remind me."

I once watched a top level executive completely
demotivate an assistant with a few harsh, astonishingly ill-
chosen words. I noticed he was wearing a pair of shoes that
probably cost more than the assistant made in a month.

"In your business," I asked him after the assistant
left, "your shoes are more important than your attitude,
right?"

"No, of course not."

"So what exactly do those expensive shoes do for your
business?"

"They HELP my attitude."

"Good. Switch them on, will you?"

Fortunately he laughed, and his mood lightened
immediately. From that point on, he used to talk about
switching on his shoes when he needed to adjust his attitude.

Salespeople used to say they sold on a smile and a
shoeshine. Nowadays too many executives, too many of all of us,
are all shoeshine and no smile. We wouldn't think of wearing
shoes that pinch and bind but we'll wear an attitude that
chafes ourselves and everyone around us.

You can change your attitude even quicker than you can
change your shoes. That can change your entire day and the day
of those that have to deal with you. A visualization like
switching on your shoes, as silly as it might be, can be an
effective shorthand way of recovering the attitude you want.

# # #

Barry Maher is a motivational keynote speaker and workshop leader, who speaks and writes on communication, motivation, leadership, management and sales. His books include “Filling the Glass,” honored as “[One of] The Seven Essential Popular Business Books, ” “No Lie: Truth Is the Ultimate Sales Tool” and the cult classic fantasy novel, "Legend." Sign up for his newsletter at www.barrymaher.com or call him at 760-962-9872

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