If You Could Then You Would

Back in the day, a fellow sales rep was disappointed with his lack of sales. I remember him venting, “I’m better than this. I can sell more than this.”

I’ve heard plenty of people say something similar. I’ve probably said it, too, although I don’t remember ever saying it.

Our sales manager at the time replied with, “No you’re not, and no you can’t. If you could then you would.” That sounds harsh, but if you were there, you’d know our sales manager said exactly what that sales rep (and all of us) needed to hear.

Don’t waste your failures. Don’t respond to failure with, “I know this already. I don’t need to learn anything new.” That’s not true. If you really knew it, you’d be able to do it. That response flatlines your growth.

Every time you say you already knew something, you’re saying you haven’t changed. You’re saying you knew something before the failure, and you still know it (regardless of the measurable results). That’s not growth.

But if you reflect on your failure and acknowledge that you didn’t know something before the failure, but now you do—that’s growth. You’ve stepped up to the next step. Maybe it’s really small progress, but it’s progress.

What do you think?
Joseph