Are You Divergent Enough to Thrive?

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“Because to take away a man’s freedom of choice, even his freedom to make the wrong choice, is to manipulate him as though he were a puppet and not a person.”

~ Madeline L’Engle

#MeToo isn’t Good for Your Business

Any time you take a look around at ‘what everyone else is doing’ and set your compass by those standards, you are choosing a course that will set you on the fast-track to discount pricing because… you are willfully choosing to look just like everyone else. To be average.

Of course, there’s a place for conformity, too, but in business… it’s dangerous.

I don’t know if you’ve read the Divergent books (or seen the movies), but there are a lot of great business lessons in them. You see, Tris always had that sense that she didn’t quite belong and she had to deliberately choose to fit in for her own survival. Whereas others around her acted instinctively according to the accepted standards, she did so deliberately, always knowing that she had the power to make a different choice.

As a business, you may be tempted to follow that path in the mistaken belief that that is the way to success and survival. My message for you today is that if you want to thrive in a turbulent economy being a copycat is the wrong path to follow.

Unlike Tris, trying to fit in will jeopardise your chance of survival, not contribute to it.

Why You Need to Aim Higher and Ask More… Especially from Yourself

Just to straighten things out before you accuse me of trying to turn everyone into unbalanced workaholics, that is not what I’m advocating.

You see, people are not made to work under constant pressure. Just like a machine, if you constantly subject your mind and body to unreasonable stress and don’t do the required maintenance it will break down. Aiming higher and asking more of yourself includes providing breaks and adventures to open your eyes to new avenues of creativity and growth.

Actually, one of the things you need to ask of yourself is “time out” to regenerate mentally, physically, and emotionally however you most enjoy… And to fill your idea bank with alternative solutions for current problems.

Another powerful tool (especially for the overworked) is meditation and breathing. I was talking about this with someone the other day and he said, “When I feel too busy and hurried to stop, shut my eyes, and breathe deeply for at least 5 minutes, I can just about guarantee I’m going to do something I’ll regret later.”

Just like elite athletes, musicians, and other high performers, if you want to achieve outstanding results, you need an extraordinary commitment to creating the environment and energy you need to do so.

That includes choosing what NOT to do.

Unusual… Eccentric… or Unhinged?

Today, we’re surrounded by unusual personalities who have done great things in many fields. In fact, I would go so far as to say that the outstanding performers in just about every arena have been told they’re nuts… so criticism is probably a good sign!

It’s not just a modern phenomena, either… although it’s probably easier to get away with being exceptionally anything today than it was in the past. Archimedes, one of the greatest mathematicians of the ancient world, was apparently so excited when he finally solved one problem that he jumped out of the bathtub and ran around town stark naked, shouting “Eureka!” Hardly conventional behaviour!

But what about you?

How often do you just look around at what your peers are doing and ignore your own ideas because they’re ‘different’? Zig Ziglar famously said, “If I were going into a new market about which I had no knowledge, I’d look around at what everyone else was doing and do the exact opposite.” He had a point.

However, it takes confidence in yourself, your skills, and your ability to solve problems, to cut a fresh path. The easier way is to follow the ‘blueprint’ someone else has provided unquestioningly without seriously separating principles from tactics. I see a lot of people doing that and it’s one of the business aspects I address in my business development courses.

It’s even more important to develop the analytical and communication skills that enable you to stand up for your ideas, communicate them effectively to your supporters, and execute them rigorously (if not always flawlessly) and confidently.

What Does it Take to Stand Out?

Confidence.

There’s a reason why my sales training and business courses all include “Confident” in the title. It’s the missing ingredient in many sales presentations – whether the speaker is actually selling a product, or is selling an idea, vision, or course of action. The confidence of genuine conviction (and action) is extremely powerful and persuasive… And manufactured confidence doesn’t carry the same power.

Here’s the really exciting part, though!

“You can’t fake confidence, but you can cultivate it.”

Many business owners have a vision of what they want their solution to deliver, but they can’t communicate that vision to others. You cultivate confidence as you learn to communicate the benefits persuasively in terms that others understand… And as you practice doing so. You can also jump start confidence by harnessing the power of your mind using Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) techniques.

Are You Interested in Discovering More?

NLP Mastery Academy meets fortnightly (with a few exceptions over the holidays) to learn, review, and apply NLP techniques in your life. It’s a 12-month online group certification program that explores how these techniques can be used in relationships, personal growth, career and work settings, parenting, and much, much more. Go HERE to learn more. 

Confident Closing and Confident Conversion are our flagship programs for designing and communicating a unique business that stands out from your competitors. These fast-paced, yet thorough programs target the roots of any uncertainty you may have about your business solutions, address them, and help you design a confident and profitable business. Go HERE to learn more. 

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