This particular individual had come to that crossroad where he had to leave his comfort zone and try something new. He needed to explore another way, but was hesitant and yes, even afraid of the change. What I was asking him to do was something completely different than what he was accustomed to. However, he also recognized that he was not getting the results that he wanted to.
How many times in our lives have we said: “I won’t like it” even before we have tried it? How many experiences have we missed on because it was just so different from what you were doing? How many opportunities have slipped through our fingers because we did not want to take a risk, or were afraid? Let’s look at each of these three individually:
- “Won’t like it.” How do we know if we have never tried it? I love traveling to Mexico every year and every time I go; I always eat the local cuisine. I can always have a steak or hamburger back home, but how many times am I going to experience barbeque octopus. May not sound appealing, but if you go in with an open mind, you may find that you do like it. I loved it. Look at your own food choices. Did you just know you were going to like it, or, did you go in at first thinking: “I’m going to give it a try and see what happens.” Therefore, unless you try it first, how can you possibly know you are not going to like it?
- Experiences. Do you really know that you will not enjoy skiing unless you try it first? Unless it is illegal or immoral, why not try it? Again, without doing it, how does one know that they would not like it? I never thought that I would enjoy skiing as much as I did until one day a very good friend of mine dragged me onto the slopes. Once I did it, you couldn’t drag me off the slopes.
- Opportunities. Business is an evolutionary process and is in a constant flux of change. If you are unwilling to change along with it, or, even be a step ahead, then what happens is that you get left behind and with the speed of change today, you not only get left behind but get there in a very short period of time.
Which brings us back to my client. He knew he wasn’t getting the results that he should and he was very hesitant to try something that I knew would work, as I had done it in the past, because it was so different from what he was accustomed to doing. To his credit, he took me up on the challenge to ‘prove me wrong.’
The result, however, was completely different. Not only did he speed up the process to get a decision, but he signed one of the largest contracts that he had ever been a part of.
The question we all have to answer is unless we do it, how do we know it won’t work?