Our beliefs, about the world and about ourselves, control what habit machine we can build and what our habit machine will be allowed to do. Our beliefs are our “truths”. Truths move to new truths through marketing and sales (scary). But, whatever the belief about the world or our Identity (belief about self), our habit machine must fall in line and is governed by them. The question then: Does that leave us helpless or do we still have power? Is the truth, the truth or is there something else?
I am 5ft10in and I can’t dunk a basketball. That is the truth, until I found out at elementary schools they have shorter basketball hoops. WOW! Did I have fun! I also found out you can adjust the hoop on a lot of baskets. Hey, I’m still 5ft10in, but I can dunk a basketball and it is fun! Now, you might consider that cheating. Cheater! I just want you to start thinking of the “cracks”, …. cracks in the truth.
What do I mean by cracks in the truth? Most of our truths are forever and all encompassing. I never have any fun. I won’t ever be able to do that! You never let me do anything! It feels so solid and hopeless. Doesn’t it? You know I’m setting you up, don’t you?
Sales people (good ones) know when you say NO! …… it just means not yet! Me, I tried sales and immediately gave up when they said NO! I was pathetic! Here, I was, charming, good looking, mannerful, full of wit and would fold at the first indication of NO! How sad! My paychecks would make you cry! I had all my managers crying with me, until they let me go!
So where are these cracks in the truth! This sounds so wrong! …. Doesn’t it? The truth is so sacred. The truth is the truth and that’s just the way it feels and is. When you fall in love with your spouse, you are in LOVE and that is the truth! FOREVER! Then with time you start to see the cracks. What do you do? CRACKS! Yikes, it can’t be true, …… but it is! Now, I’m stuck with this “Cracked Truth”. Ok, you decide to love him or her cracks and all. The only point here is, sometimes the truth that seems so real, has “cracks!”
You might believe, it’s the truth, that you are doomed to be a failure and all of a sudden, (drum roll …..) a crack appears that is going to expose you as a success. What about the successful person? The successful person is afraid the crack will appear and expose he is a failure. Hey, we are just playing with the truth and cracks. Sort of like the tip of the iceberg and the rest of it. Hey the tip of the iceberg is all scraggly and underneath is a sculpted bust of you winning the olympics! Hey, lighten up a bit and stop being so skeptical. You don’t really know, do you?
That’s where miracles come from. You see the tip of the iceberg and all of a sudden the rest of it shows up saving you miraculously. That’s what makes for a good joke, you know. Show them the tip, like the truth of it all, then BAM! The unexpected rest of the iceberg gives you a whole other perspective or truth. WOW! Is life funny or what?
OK, I know you are still very skeptical about the truth and cracks. Remember, I’m the guy who thought “NO” meant “NO”! …. I’ve been trained to listen, understand and act like what they said was true! Have you ever told someone you would “try” to make it and didn’t even think about it again. Did you LIE? In sales, they have this saying: “Buyers are liars! …. They really mean not yet!”
How many people know you have to fall down and fail to learn something? Then if you get back up and keep going, you will eventually get it. Me, I fail or fall down once and I am done! I tell myself, “I can’t do this.” “I’m not talented!” Did I just lie to myself. For me it is so true, but ….. Why don’t I have a salesman inside me saying, “Buyers are liars! …. He really means not yet!” No, I don’t have that machinery! …… not yet anyway.
Studies are starting to show there is no such thing as talented people. All the talented people, when studied, seem to have some experience that trained them or got them to that point that the other person didn’t know about. They think is was magical, “You are so talented!” and in reality they were trained. They may “like” the training, but they were trained. Hey, liking the training would make you do it more. May be that is the key! Training needs to be liked!
How would you set it up so training was liked. Could you imagine students liking what they were learning and actually practice and moving forward on their own. How could that be? It didn’t happen to me. I didn’t get the “make training fun or so I’d like it” machine. My teachers tried, but they were big old dead heads thinking their stupid jokes would get me all worked up. Hey, training fun, likeable?!?! You have to be kidding. I missed out on the training of the “like” machine. Hey, maybe that’s why I’m not very talented!
Hey, there’s another crack. I may not be talented now, but if I got the “make training fun” or likeable machine, maybe I would become talented. It’s more the practice, they say. If I liked it, I’d practice. WOW, is that a crack or what! I’m talented and didn’t even know it! I’ve cracked my case and on the way to victory! I may not be talented yet, but as I develop this “like” machine, I might find I have multiple talents.
What we believe so strongly in may be stopping us. …. but, may, when looked at in a different perspective, expose cracks that will allow us to progress. Our beliefs about the world and ourselves has cracks that we just need to develop machinery to expose. Good sales people know the world is full of cracks and it’s just their job to find them. Successful people aren’t stopped easily as they know there are many way that may not initially appear that will lead to success. In a way we are quite arrogant to think we know the whole truth. It in looking for what you don’t know you find more of the truth. Crack open the truth with as many machines as you can.
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