Battling Your Own “Internal Critic”

[Brian Anderson]

Just posted Dr. Jack Singer’s second article for Insurance Forums, which focuses on how self-limiting belief patterns can prevent producers from reaching their potential, and how to recognize when your “internal critic” is undermining your efforts.

Do you ever feel like self-doubt or negative thoughts hinder your success as a producer? If so, what – if anything – have you found works to counteract this phenomenon?

If you have questions or thoughts about concepts in the article, Dr. Jack will be happy to respond here as well.

Insurance Forums | How to develop the mindset of a champion producer for continued success: Part I

 

[rousemark]

Thanks Brian.. Have to admit that I have been wrestling with the guy in the mirror lately... When is part 2 of the article to be published?

 

[Brian Anderson]

Part II will be posted in late June - on a schedule with Dr. Jack Singer to post his articles monthly. Thanks for checking it out, and if you have any questions in particular in the interim, Jack is good about responding quickly...

 

[rousemark]

Part II will be posted in late June - on a schedule with Dr. Jack Singer to post his articles monthly. Thanks for checking it out, and if you have any questions in particular in the interim, Jack is good about responding quickly...

Thank you.. Thank you very much! Will look forward to seeing part 2..

 

[ModernInsurance]

For me, it's more about celebrating the small successes to stay motivated and continue moving forward. With sales (and most other things in life), it takes time to develop accounts. Failing to close on the first or second call doesn't mean it will never happen.

A college professor once told me if you frame the sale process as a continuum, with those on the left being utterly disinterested and those to the right practically tripping over themselves to hand you their money... You will see many people start at the left. Our goals are to move them ever closer to the right and even if they don't ultimately buy, you can relish the fact they got a few stops closer in the direction you wanted them to go.

 

[amb_leigh]

Thank you. I stay as motivated as possible by making my car into a "rolling library" and continuously listen to positive audio books, as well as surrounding myself with the most productive, positive people in our company. The positive, optimistic producers tend to be the top producers, at least in our company. Some amazing reads for me that may be awesome for others in terms of productivity/positivity are Think and Grow Rich, The Compound Effect, The Untethered Soul (more about mindset), and Go for No. A few of the books I've found helpful when getting down in this industry.

 

[shotgunenergy]

Thank you. I stay as motivated as possible by making my car into a "rolling library" and continuously listen to positive audio books, as well as surrounding myself with the most productive, positive people in our company. The positive, optimistic producers tend to be the top producers, at least in our company. Some amazing reads for me that may be awesome for others in terms of productivity/positivity are Think and Grow Rich, The Compound Effect, The Untethered Soul (more about mindset), and Go for No. A few of the books I've found helpful when getting down in this industry.

Do you have any audio books you can recommend ? thanks, that aren't

 

[WCMason]

So the article says that if we don't get a sale, we should not use the negative self-talk that "I wasn't prepared to answer all of his questions, so he didn't have confidence in me, as that "produces stress, unhappiness, anxiety, etc." Instead, we should say to ourselves, "It wouldn’t matter how I answered his questions, he knew from the beginning that he was not going to purchase a policy today, so I’ll just move on and find the next client who needs my products and services."

Nonsense.

What if I lost the sale because I wasn't prepared? And as a result of that lack of preparation the prospect did lose confidence in me? How does dismissing that possibility, concluding I had no control over the outcome so I should just brush it off and move on without self-examination make me better for the next sales opportunity? I do agree with the article that we should not beat ourselves up as failures if we lose a sale. But the idea that we should attribute lost sales to circumstances outside our control so we feel better about ourselves is the typical feel good psychobabble that led to invention of participation trophies.

In my view the better approach is the opposite. Use every lost sale as a chance to review how to do better next time. Maybe the outcome would have been the same, but don't lose the sale AND the opportunity it creates to examine the sales process, to break down the game film on the loss to learn from it next time. Then even a lost sale has value.

When I first got my insurance license I was captive with an agency and the trainer they put me with told me, "you have to go into each appointment assuming you already have the sale, you're just going in to pick up the check." I knew immediately that this was perhaps the stupidest advice I've ever received. Can you imagine Tom Brady at a pre-Super Bowl press conference announcing--or even quietly believing--that "the game is in the bag, I'm just showing up to pick up the trophy?"

Assuming you have the sale, assuming lost sales are just out of one's control and no need to be critical about your performance is just lazy in my view. I don't battle my internal critic. We talk every day.

 

[shotgunenergy]

Just posted Dr. Jack Singer’s second article for Insurance Forums, which focuses on how self-limiting belief patterns can prevent producers from reaching their potential, and how to recognize when your “internal critic” is undermining your efforts.

Do you ever feel like self-doubt or negative thoughts hinder your success as a producer? If so, what – if anything – have you found works to counteract this phenomenon?

If you have questions or thoughts about concepts in the article, Dr. Jack will be happy to respond here as well.

Insurance Forums | How to develop the mindset of a champion producer for continued success: Part I

thank you for the information, looking into it!