Part of keeping your mindset under control is keeping your head on straight and your expectations grounded. Sometimes, when things are going poorly and you’re unsure about how your interactions with others are going to go, it helps to think like Greg Sisson- what are they going to do, eat me?
It may seem silly to put it into that perspective, but sometimes your reality needs a jolt to get your head back on straight.
Another good piece of advice is to not sweat the small stuff. Small things like spilled coffee or a missed connection might set the mood for our entire day. We can’t let it bother us that much - especially when we remember that we aren’t guaranteed anything in life.
It’s a good mental exercise to remind ourselves that everything is temporary. All this ties into a mental state and an attitude that you develop that keeps you in check. The attitude you’re developing is an attitude of gratitude. Instead of getting upset about spilling coffee on a jacket before an important presentation, you’re grateful for the opportunity to be able to give a presentation in the first place. It’s this restructuring of our minds that lets us view things in a different, more positive light
A good way to manage your emotions is to use the five-second rule by Mel Robbins. All you do is when you feel an urge or instinct to do something that you know you need to do, but don’t want to, start a countdown. Count 5-4-3-2-1 and then when you hit zero, physically move your body towards the goal. Go get a pen and paper to write something down, get up and go to get your keys to drive somewhere and close a deal, or even count down to roll out of bed.
A huge pro to having your mindset under control is that when your clients are freaking out, you can be the voice of reason and a calming presence that they need to have. To meet them with the same level of energy they’re putting off might not be productive - instead, be the steady hand that they need to calm down and regain their composure, all because you have your mindset under control.
Lastly, we need to think about how our reactions affect other people. Being aware of how your reactions to things might affect others and how long it might stay with them is important. If we realized that our reactions might have lasting impacts on our clients, wouldn’t we all be a little slower to react?
