Two shoe salesmen from competing companies were assigned to a new territory where neither company had ever been before.
A little town in the middle of the jungle in Africa.
The first shoe salesman arrived after a long flight and started touring the town.
He immediately called back to his office and demanded that he speak to his boss.
“I can’t believe what I’m seeing boss, this is an absolute waste of time, nobody here even wears shoes”.
The second shoe salesman arrived after a similarly long flight, dropped his bags off and toured the town.
It was within the hour that he too called back to the company and demanded to speak to his boss.
“I can’t believe what I’m seeing boss, this is an absolutely amazing opportunity, nobody here even wears shoes”.
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Now, this story probably isn’t true.
But I’m sure you get the point.
About different people seeing the same situations differently.
About seeing problems or solutions.
Over the years we’ve found one of the key changes that people take when they start working with us is in how the frame situations they find themselves in.
How they become more likely to search for the solution than the problem.
“I can’t make today’s session” becomes “I’ve rearranged things so I can come in tomorrow morning.”
“My friends keep offering me cake, etc” becomes “I need to get better at making it clear to my friends that I don’t want to be offered cake, etc.”
“I don’t feel like cooking after a hard day at work” becomes “I know I’ll need to have batch cooked at the weekend so I’ve got something good in when I’m tired and I a rush.”
And so on.
Same with most changes, it’s a bit forced to start with.
You have to consciously make yourself think of solutions when problems arise.
But, as with anything, the more you do it, the easier it becomes.
It becomes second nature.
Your immediate reaction.
Not quite there yet?
Give it a go!
Any ‘problems’ that start arising……..
Make that effort to come up with solutions.
Let us know how you get on? 🙂
Much love,
Jon ‘Air Jordan’ Hall and Matt ‘Rebook Classic’ Nicholson