My Inner Critic vs. My Inner Coach.

In my book, "The Anxious Salesman," I write that a problem with wise words from wise people is that we can use them to justify contradictory positions.

Sir Winston Churchill admonishes me, “Never give in - never, never, never, never.”

But Kenny Rogers sings to me, “Know when to hold ‘em. Know when to fold ‘em. Know when to walk away. Know when to run.”

One minute my inner coach pumps me up to keep making sales calls. In the next, my inner critic spews doubt because I’m not reaching decision makers or closing deals. I think there has to be a better way.

On and on the contradictions roll:

“If not now, when,” questions Hillel the Elder.

While the poet Violet Fane tells us, “Good things come to those who wait.”

“Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die,” says the Mormon Book of Nephi.

While the movie classic Gone With the Wind ends with, “Tomorrow is another day.”

Benjamin Franklin warns, “If you fail to prepare, you are preparing to fail!”

While Jane Austin’s Emma entreats, “How often is happiness destroyed by preparation, foolish preparation!”

Dangit, what’s a salesman to do? Take two steps: one inward, one outward.

If you’d like to know how to take those two steps you can download a substantial portion of my book for free here as well as take a free training that I put together to help tame your inner critic.

In the meantime, here’s how I define those two steps. The inward step means simply to notice the chatter - often a screaming match - of my dueling mind. This step requires a quietude I show you how to access throughout the book, which is one of the reasons I call it a Field Guide.

The outward step means right action. Think “right” not in the moral sense (although it could be) but in the manner of a small boat with a heavy keel; it will get knocked about but will always right itself, just as you can.

In a way, that is what the entire book is about: Wresting control from the inner critic, its siren song of rationalizations, justifications, or flagellations so we may connect to the most powerful truth needed in any moment of choice, then choosing - again and again and again.

To the championship coach inside all of us!

Sheldon