#899 Getting Punched in the Face

Reporter: I hear your opponent has a clever plan for defending your left hook. How do you respond? 

Mike Tyson: Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.

I’ve always loved that Tyson quote. (And you have to do it with Iron Mike’s voice saying it in your head for maximum effect!)

I assiduously plan each week laying out blocks of time for calls, writing, exercise, meetings, etc. but even as I plan, I know I’m going to get punched in the mouth. Someone will cancel a meeting, the weather will thwart a run, a prospect I’m expecting to convert will ghost me, or an injury will derail me. 

When these things happen, will calmness, discipline, and a strong sense of purpose prevail, or will I breakdown and give in to negative emotions? Will I assign the setback a prominent place in my psyche with phrases like Why do these things ALWAYS happen to me? I SUCK at this! I KNEW this would happen! Why do I even bother? Why is EVERYONE around me so incompetent? OF COURSE, this would happen to ME! It’s over.

“I assiduously plan each week laying out blocks of time for calls, writing, exercise, meetings, etc. but even as I plan, I know I’m going to get punched in the mouth.”

Or will I be calm and agile enough to make an adjustment and salvage what I can? Will I be able to go back to my plan and build in a detour to get me closer to where I have to go, albeit via a different path?

Shit happens. That’s guaranteed. “The best-laid plans,” as they say. How we respond is the very definition of who we are.

Own Your Sales Gene…