Make Your Beliefs Your Own

Do you have the same religious beliefs as your parents? How about your political beliefs? Do you share most of your beliefs with your closest friends and co-workers? It’s likely that you do.

That’s because most of your beliefs aren’t your own. You inherited them, you picked them up from the people around you, and you were even infected with some of them without even knowing it.

Don’t worry. This post isn’t about your political or religious beliefs. But it is about that fact than many of your beliefs aren’t your own. More importantly, you don’t have to accept other people’s beliefs as your own. And you especially don’t have to adopt them when they don’t serve you.

I Hate Cold Calling

Do you really hate cold calling? Or is that a belief that you picked up from the salespeople around you? The conventional wisdom holds that you are supposed to hate cold calling. Could it be that you only hate cold calling because you were exposed to that belief early on? Maybe by people who never gave it a good go to begin with?

What if you believed that you loved cold calling? What if you believed you were great at it? What could you choose to believe about prospecting that might serve you better?

Selling Is Manipulative, Sleazy, Etc.

Do you have a title that states that you are a salesperson, while deep inside holding a belief that being a salesperson means that you are manipulative, sleazy, or some other horrible thing? Is that really your belief about your role? Or did you pick up that belief from watching old movies and listening to old stereotypes?

What if you believed that selling is meaningful work? What could you believe about what your role in sales really means?

This Place Sucks, The Boss is An 4$$h013, I Hate it Here

Do you believe that your company is on the wrong side of every issue? Do you believe your sales manager is on the wrong side of every dispute? Do you hate your job? If you are honest, you’ll acknowledge that at some level, these beliefs aren’t really yours.

You’re surrounded by cynics, critics, slackers, naysayers, has-beens, never-will-be’s, and burnouts. Every day, you are exposed to negative beliefs from people with a negative outlook on life. You can easily be infected by their negativity.

What if you chose your own beliefs about your company, your boss, and how you feel about your job? It’s my hallucination that, were you to do so, you’d find that the worst part of your job is being surrounded by those that have voluntarily disempowered themselves and have instead chosen to blame everyone else for their lot in life.

Disabuse yourself of the unhealthy beliefs of others.

You don’t have to inherit, adopt, or be infected by other people’s beliefs. Decide for yourself what your truth looks like, and make your beliefs you own.

Question

Think about your strongly held beliefs? Are those yours, or did you inherit them?

How many of your beliefs came from your parents, grandparents, and great grandparents? Which beliefs came from your peer groups?

What are your beliefs about your work? Are those your own? What have you been infected with?

What are your beliefs about selling? Where did you get those beliefs?

Which of your beliefs are solely yours?