People are capable of extraordinary things. However, most people do enough just to get by. They essentially learn the easiest way to keep every area of their life just OK, whether it be in work, relationships or any other life category. They feel that average is where everyone else is, so there is nothing wrong with them being average. Some would argue that this is just human nature and that most people prefer the path of least resistance. However, we were not sent here to be average, we were sent here to be great. It sometimes takes someone else believing in us before we raise our expectations and start seeking to be at our best.
I learned this first hand, and I hope that you can all learn from my experience. Throughout a lot of my college education I did just enough to get the grades that I wanted. It was about getting good grades, instead of focusing on what I could learn. This system worked well enough to keep a pretty high GPA at Brigham Young University. However, in this process of doing just enough to get by, I made the mistake of trying to use this system on the wrong person.
It was my last semester of college and I was taking a sales course. We were about to take our first oral test, which was actually selling one of my fellow students a product. Ironically, I was selling him a coaching product, as I have always known I wanted to be a coach. We were able to have notes, and I had taken full advantage of this. I had the entire presentation written down and just used my notes very well. Most people would have called this great preparation. My professor did not. He actually pulled me into his office and called me out for gaming the system. I admitted to it, saying that I hadn’t broken any rules or cheated.
He then went on to say how this was a lot more than that. He said that he expected so much more out of me; he believed in me. He continued to say that I had a lot of natural and raw talent to be a great sales person, if I would just work at it. He then told me he really believed in me and that he would mentor and help me learn how to be a great sales person, if I would work hard. He told me that he felt I could win the entire sales competition that would be held later that semester.
To make a long story short, I began to apply myself and learn the art of sales. I came to class prepared and studied what was being taught in the course. This was no longer about just getting a grade, this was about becoming the best in the entire class. The first of 3 preliminary rounds came around and it was with one of the higher ups of Ecolab. I ended up getting 3rd place, because I made the mistake of going back for an up-sell (that’s a story for another time). In the 2nd preliminary round I got 3rd place again and was not thrilled. In the final preliminary round with the VP of Kraft, I did a great job, but made one mistake and got 2nd place. However, 2nd place was enough to get me into the finals.
The finals would be with an actual company SEO.com and an actual company that they were pitching. I prepared myself for the finals, studying, preparing and practicing. When the time of the presentation arrived, luck and good fortune was on my side. I was selected to go last. This gave me an extra 45 minutes or so as the other contestants went. I used this valuable time to practice, practice and practice some more. Finally, the time arrived to go into the presentation room, I took a deep breath and walked confidently, towards the room. I had prepared for this day for the past 3 months, I had visualized winning this competition – the sights, the sounds, the people and everything else.
As I sat down in the chair I felt totally in zone. Their potential client was roughly my age, so I could relate with him. I went through my presentation as if it was only him and me in the room. After the allotted amount of time I closed the sale, and ended the presentation. Then I sat down in a chair by one of the other contestants and she suggested to me, what I already knew deep down. She said that she thought I had won the entire competition. A few moments later the judges walked in and presented me with a star shaped trophy, and told me congratulations that I had won the entire competition.
How did I go from someone that just wanted a grade to winning the entire competition? Because it was expected of me. When my teacher pulled me aside he gave me a new standard to live up to in my life. I could not let him down. He believed in me and now I had to live up to that. This professor, Sterling Bone was the first professor in my entire college career to pull me aside and tell me that he saw greatness in me and that I had a level of talent I hadn’t yet realized. This one act of kindness, and caring made a great difference in my life.
We all have beliefs in our heads about who we are and what we are capable of. Until someone comes into our lives and helps us adjust those beliefs we remain the same. It may be a person that says that you can do more, it may be a book, it may be a seminar. It doesn’t matter what or who it is, it is time to start expecting more of ourselves.
Remember that what we expect of ourselves gets done. Isn’t it time that we started expecting more and living at a higher level? Isn’t it time that we start believing in ourselves? If you have no one that has pulled you aside and told you that you are capable of so much more, go look in the mirror and start talking to your reflection. Begin to ask much more of yourself and you will get it. If you need another person to believe in you, contact me and I will help you break through your limiting beliefs and create new ones.