Thoughts, highlights and stories from the week:
(1) Ever said something on a bad day you wish you could take back? I’ve followed a consistent routine for 15 years. That’s over 5,000 mornings. I still have bad days.
The other day I woke up late, short on sleep, and felt like I was dragging myself through the day. I felt pessimistic. Then someone who owed me money missed another deadline. Not the first time. I didn’t handle it calmly. I was upset, short, more aggressive than I’d ever be on a normal day.
That’s what low energy does to me. It changes how I talk to people.
So I stopped fighting the day. I was in bed by 10, so the next morning could start on time.
The next day was great. I woke up early and went for a walk. Then I journaled and cleared my head. After that I had a full, focused day and got a lot done, right through to the evening. Nothing special happened. I just got my basics back in place.
People say never miss a day. I think that’s bad advice. If your mind is telling you to rest and you can move things around, do it. If you can’t, show up anyway, but know you’re not at your best. Be careful what you say and how you react, because that’s where a bad day does the real damage.
(2) You got to be confident all the time no matter what. Even if you make a mistake your body language has to exude confidence. If it doesn’t exude confidence, you give the world the opportunity to control, manipulate and dictate who you are. Don’t ever allow somebody outside of you to tell you, who you are. It’s upto you. You create your own story and force other people to read it. Whether things go right or wrong, you got to always believe in your skill set. You got believe in you no matter what. You got to be proud of you.
(3) Your intentions don’t change your life. Your actions do. Everyone can dream when lying in their bed at night. But what matters is what you do when you wake up in the morning.
(4) Self-help should NOT become self-fixation and self-remuneration. Be a person of action. Action gives you proof. Proof that you can do it. And daily actions keep adding a layer of proof daily till it becomes a part of your identity. You become the person you want to be by starting on day-1 and just never stopping.
(5) Would you hire a great salesman who turned up to the interview looking like he’d just rolled off the couch?
I’ve been in sales since 2008 and done over 100 sales interviews. Most people judge the wrong things. One of the first things I look for is how fast you can build trust. The best ones find common ground in minutes, lighten the mood, and sell themselves before they sell the product. They are interesting because they are interested.
But I’ve also watched candidates like that miss out at the final stage because they didn’t look like they’d come to win.
That doesn’t feel good. I’m trying to build a team with a really high bar, people who win. When someone who’d raise that bar misses out over something so easy to fix, it makes my job harder. The results come back to me as the leader. So that’s a change I need to make. From now on, I’ll tell every finalist straight: dress for the job you want.
Your skills matter. But people are sizing you up before you open your mouth.
Harsh
I spent sixteen years helping build a business till it sold. Now I'm helping build something much bigger. I share what I learn on WhatsApp, LinkedIn, and this Sunday Email.