Attitude #3: Self-Esteem: Sell Yourself to Yourself
Libraries offer a host of publications on self-esteem, all offering various definitions. In the interest of clarification, I offer you my definition: "Self-esteem is the conscious appreciation of our own worth and importance, the reputation we have with ourselves. It is an attitude of acceptance versus envy." Accept who you are and what you have rather than what you don't have. Learn to be happy with what you have while you pursue what makes you truly happy.
Self-esteem not only empowers you to feel better about yourself but it allows you to live better. The level of your self-esteem has profound consequences for every aspect of your performance and your existence. Without question, self-esteem is the most important of the five attitudes. Self-esteem goes far beyond that innate sense of self-worth that presumably is your human birthright. It is about confidence in yourself, confidence in your ability to think, confidence in your ability to cope with life, and the confidence to recognize your right to be successful and happy. To trust your mind and to know that you are worthy of success and happiness is the essence of self-esteem. When you trust your mind, you reinforce your worth and you will more likely persist in the face of difficulties and daily challenges. Research suggests that individuals with high self-esteem persist at a task significantly longer than individuals with low self-esteem. This reinforces trust in your mind. If you distrust your mind, you are more likely to be mentally passive, to bring less awareness than you need to your activities and to be less persistent in the face of difficulty.
Personal Self-Esteem and Career Esteem
Esteem includes not only your personal self-esteem but your career esteem as well. Career esteem is how you feel about your job, your company, your boss, your product, or your service. Are you committed to the career aspects of esteem? If not, you will probably want to take your job and shove it. Your career attitude will come through loud and clear to your internal and external customers.
If you are not happy with the career aspects of your life, consider finding another job. Get paid for what you love to do. When you enjoy your job everyone benefits, at work and at home.
Success is often jeopardized by the self-imposed limitations of low self-esteem. Many of us are our own worst enemies. Perhaps the greatest liability sales representatives have is low self-esteem. They often pursue sales careers handicapped by low self-images. Low self-image and low self-esteem are further fuelled by the fact that sales professionals live in a world of constant rejection. We are too hard on ourselves even before things go wrong. Often negative self-talk—the conversation within our mind— supports a predetermined outcome: "I can't do that ... I'll probably screw up ... I won't be successful." And so it goes. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. I once heard personal and professional development expert Brian Tracy say, "We shoot ourselves in the foot and then admire our marksmanship." [7] You must learn to appreciate your own worth and importance. (We'll get to how you can do that in a minute.) "Healthy self-esteem corresponds to rationality, flexibility, admitting mistakes, creativity, and a receptiveness to change. Poor self-esteem corresponds to rigidity, blindness to reality, resistance to change, and limited productivity." [8] Where do you fit in?
Top-achieving sales professionals have high regard for themselves. They believe in themselves and understand that you only sell as well as you feel. When we feel good about ourselves, our ability to be effective with our customers is enhanced. However, feelings are not facts. Just because you may feel incompetent doesn't mean that you are incompetent. Sometimes you may feel that you are not performing up to your usual standard but in fact, you may well be. By trusting your decisions and your judgment, you enhance your sensitivity to your customers' needs. Your own insecurities may prevent you from focusing on your customer. Without high self-esteem, we live in a house of cards, built on a weak foundation.
