Fixed mindset – can’t welcome constraints

constraints, ego, Fear, possibility thinking, problem solving

Yesterday I had written about how I have changed over the years, growing old has also got me to become more open to different thinking patterns, to stop fearing problems and constraints and to rather welcome them.

Sometimes I do get blocked by my own fixed mindset or by others in the team who are not willing to take a different route to solve a challenge. This happens because the existing method had helped solve similar challenges till now. So we try harder to use the same method with the same failure. But because the path has got so strongly ingrained in our mind, we don’t like to change.

At one point in time, calling out or sending physical letters was the best method to get connected to B2B prospects, then came email, then social media. Today with a plethora of methods available you sometimes have to use all of them.But if we were to only stick to calling – and I am guilty of this – then our connections will fall.

So while using various tools like the ones which are shown in ” A Beautiful Constraint” help open the mind to look at possibilities, if you are not willing to work on the results that the tools throw up, you will still be where you started from.

I think our ability to have a growth mindset, possibility thinking and an outward looking nature are all intertwined, as are, a fixed mindset, inward looking and pondering over problems for too long. The later could be because of a fragile ego or a fear that someone else thought of a solution rather than us.

We live in interesting times right now, there are lots of challenges and therefore a lot of opportunities. Its all about what you want to spend you time with.

Till next time then.

Carpe Diem!!!

Welcoming constraints

constraints, creativity, Fear, Human Brain, possibility thinking, problem solving, Uncategorized

I have written multiple times before how I used to be scared when problems came my way.

One of the first people to influence me against being scared was the writing of Jay Abraham. One of the things that has stuck in my mind is one statement – the bigger the problems you solve, the more you can earn.

Over the years, as I have matured the ability to handle challenges has also changed but still there are times when constraints baffle me.

Realizing that its the rain which tries to create all our challenges has helped me in managing the thought process around handling constraints.

A book that I found useful with a good set of tools for welcoming constraints is A Beautiful Constraint by Adam Morgan and Mark Barden.

While a lot of people will talk about looking at the positive side of things and about, thinking out of the box etc. This book gives practical tools which if you use make your brain actually look for options and find solutions.

The more I read about the challenges that we face, the more I realize its our brain which creates mountains out of mole hills.

Till next time then.

Carpe Diem!!!

Pre-empting conversations

Affirmative action, client management, Fear, Trust

While my experience has been sales and then marketing, I also carry a revenue responsibility.

When you carry a revenue responsibility, managing client engagement becomes a major task.

A lot of times deciphering the why behind the what becomes a tight rope walk. Especially when you are selling services, where, unlike in the case of a product, the boundaries are not clearly defined, managing the gap between the customer expectations and the delivery of services is an every day challenge

One thing I have found useful is to pre-empt the conversation. You don’t give a chance to the customer to come and complain. You go and tell her the challenge, what could be the impact and how you think you are going to solve it. Then you ask the customer for suggestions so that she sees herself as superior to you, which helps manage her ego . Also since you have informed her of the problem, before she could complain, she is now partly responsible for finding the solution. This affirmative action also increases trust.

A lot of the out-bursts which happen when a customer complains, can be completely avoided if we pre-empt things. However most service delivery people are scared to do this out of fear, that the customer will fire them, not realizing that the firing in a complaint situation is even worse.

If you are in services, its always a good idea to pre-empt the conversation if you want to be successful.

Till next time then.

Carpe Diem!!!

Fear – our brain can be playing games – 2

Brain size, Energy, Fear, Human Brain

Today’s will be a very short post. I generally write based on what I have experienced during the day or what I have read and found worth sharing with you.

Two days back I wrote a post with this heading and its my thesis, I am not sure if there’s a scientific backing to the fact that its brain which plays games in making us fear things because it wants to conserve energy. For all those who have not read that post, the brain consumes between 20-25% energy compared to the remaining body while its sizeis only 2% of the body. The second point is that the brain believes that its first agenda is to ensure your survival and therefore wants to conserve energy for that rainy day.

Tomorrow I intend to be a going to a place which is little distance from where we stay. I have been there more than 50-60 times. But because of the Covid lockdown we haven’t gone outside our home location for more than 18 months.

Just this fact that I planned to go got my brain working in overtime in trying to show me all the reasons to not go and creating fear and panic.

This time however, I used this new logic which I have created and just asked my brain to relax. It did quieten up.

I will try more experiments like these whenever I am feeling a little scared and will let you know.

Meanwhile if you could also try this and let me know your results in the comments section below.

Till next time then.

Carpe Diem!!!