Welcome to SALES with ASLAN, a weekly podcast hosted by ASLAN Co-founders Tom Stanfill and Tab Norris, geared at helping sales professionals and sales leaders eliminate the hard sell. At the end of the day, we believe that selling is serving. ASLAN helps sellers make the shift from a ‘typical’ sales approach, to one that makes us more influential because we embrace the truth that the customer’s receptivity is more important than your value prop or message.
The goal of these interviews is to spotlight various experts in the world of sales and sales leadership – sharing informational stories, techniques, and expert interviews on the sales topics you care about.
The following are notes from Ep. 137 – Do you need a jumpstart?
In this episode of SALES with ASLAN, Tom and Tab talk about a new book that helps you kill the past, leverage your mistakes, and come up with a plan to Win the Day.
Listen to the conversation here:
Or check out the summary and full transcript below.
Summary:
Tab Norris, Co-founder of ASLAN has been reading an inspiring book called Win the Day. “In Win the Day, Mark Batterson, the New York Times bestselling author shares practical yet life-changing habits that will set you on a path to harnessing the power of twenty-four hours. And the best thing about it? You can start today.”
We thought that some of the amazing insights from Mark Batterson might be helpful to many people (us included) on how to jump start your way to achieving your goals, with some “powerful habits that can help you turn yesterday’s regrets and tomorrow’s anxieties into fuel for a better today.”
Resources:
- You can find the book Tom and Tab discussed here: Win the Day by Mark Batterson.
- Check out our blog post on the subject here
Transcript:
00:13
Tom Stanfill
Welcome to another episode of SALES with ASLAN. I’m your host, Tom Stanfill. I’m here with my trusty co-host, Dr. Tab Norris, Mr. Norris, how are you doing? Notice how I mixed that up to Doctor and then Mr. In case any doctors are listening, they won’t be offended.
00:30
Tab Norris
Yeah. Yeah. I’m sure they would never be offended by our podcast.
00:37
Tom Stanfill
I’m not sure doctor whatever, maybe if we had a family member that were, yeah, you’re right. Okay. Nevermind. Maybe we should redo that intro.
00:49
Tab Norris
Yeah, let’s not, I love it too. We are.
00:53
Tom Stanfill
Tab. I’m excited about this topic today. I need the information you are going to deliver it. Yes, we are flipping the script today. Tab is going to be the subject matter expert and share some insights from a book that he read that I saw on his dining room table a couple of weeks ago called tab. What’s it called…
01:12
Tab Norris
Win The Day by Mark Batterson.
01:17
Tom Stanfill
Yeah. We were talking about this book as I was, as I saw it on the dining room table. You said you love this book, you shared some insights about the book and I, I, I need to read this book. We thought about let’s turn this into a podcast and I think our listeners would enjoy this. So, so tell us about the book, why we need to read it well, how it helped you and let’s dive in.
01:39
Tab Norris
Yeah, I love it. I get to my subject matter expert. I get to just pull things that Mark Batterson created and make it like, it’s my own. That’s what a good doctor does. Right? Doctor.
01:50
Tom Stanfill
Great doctor.
01:52
Tab Norris
All I’m doing, I’m a messenger of great things that Mark had to share, but I, I just, I really like a lot of his stuff. He’s written a bunch of good things, but here’s kind of what drove that. I’ve just, I’m getting older, Tom. I know this is shocking.
02:06
Tom Stanfill
You don’t look older.
02:07
Tab Norris
Thank you. Thank you. But, I just kind of feel unclear on my purpose. Feel like I’d gotten into a rut, I, maybe I can do more kind of stretch myself. You start moving to the second half of life, have I been as effective in my life? My work is I need to be and make, the second half of my life count. And, and I, I saw this book and he’s a pastor, he’s also written several books, he’s an entrepreneur. I, I thought, maybe I can kind of pull something from that. And, and that’s really, it was helpful.
02:45
Tom Stanfill
I think it, I think the fact that you’re, which I’m, I asked that those questions all the time is my life matter. Am I doing what I need to be doing is what I’m doing count. Yeah. I think everybody asks those questions. Here. I think that’s part of the great resignation people are like, what am I doing? Whether I’m 35, or even people that are in their twenties that are saying, I’m not going to do the same thing that everybody else is doing and just join the armies and go do the thing and why am I in sales? Or why am I in leadership? Or, yeah. I think that’s a question all of us, I think, it’s interesting that I think this is a true statement, but I think the number one selling book of all time is purpose-driven life.
03:29
Tab Norris
Yep. I’ve heard that too. And it makes total sense to me.
03:33
Tom Stanfill
Yeah. It’s definitely in the top five. I just, for sure. Yeah.
03:46
Tab Norris
Bottom line is, I think the two years of COVID, that was a great wake-up call. It was a good time to read that book. And, and so, I think it’s a good thing and we’re in a good place. So,
04:02
Tom Stanfill
So tell us about it. So what’s the high level overview. What’s, what’s the,
04:08
Tab Norris
Yeah, I mean here super high level and we can double click into a couple of things, after this, but it really, if I wanted to sum it up, it’s about living life each day, it’s the first day and the last day of your life. That makes sense in each day, like the first day in the last day of your life, am I being a good steward of this life? You know, it’s.
04:33
Tom Stanfill
Breaking it down to one day, like I need to set this day is my day. It’s not, I’m not thinking in the future. I missed this day and I’m not thinking about the past. I miss just say, yeah, that’s so it’s such a, that is so difficult because you’re always going to be thinking about something else.
04:54
Tab Norris
It’s amazing when you start really breaking it down. How often, if you process what you’re thinking all day, you’ll be amazed how often you’re thinking about the past and the future. And, and it’s really, it really is amazing. And, and, it can be very motivating if we’re about something and this is another part that came out of this too. If you’re doing more than just making money or getting a promotion, it’s about making a difference in people’s lives, ? You said, living beyond, not wasting our time, just worrying about the past and the future. I think that we can just have more impact, but we have to be intentional. And that’s really what we’re talking about. It, we will naturally gravitate, I think, to wasting time in the past and in the future. And we have to be intentional.
05:44
Tom Stanfill
You have to be intentional. So, but isn’t it also by living in the present, isn’t that also the key of just having a, a life of being content. Yeah. Like, like I noticed that when I’ve been in a heavy stress phase of my life from heavy stress, I can’t enjoy music.
06:03
Tab Norris
Oh yeah. That’s really bad.
06:06
Tom Stanfill
Yeah. It’s like, I can’t, because it’s like, I’m so either freaked out about the future or I’m dealing with the past. I can’t just be, so it’s not only just about having a purpose and being in having this life of feeling like I’m doing something that’s significant, which I do think that leads to a sense of contentment, but it’s also just about like being with your children or being friends and being able to say this is day matters. There was a movie. It wasn’t about time. Oh, I’m going to botch this. I shouldn’t mention it, but there’s a movie about where the guy can go back in time and then he can come back to the present.
06:46
Tab Norris
Okay.
06:47
Tom Stanfill
You know what I’m telling you? You know, that maybe the,
06:49
Tab Norris
I don’t know, but I watched this a wonderful life. He gets,
06:53
Tom Stanfill
That’s a great . I love this. I think it’s something about Tom anyway.
07:05
Tab Norris
Well, I’ll, I like the, in this book, he talks about one of his analogies that I read that really stuck with me. I think maybe it’ll stick with you is he’s talked about this. This guy was riding on the back on a big stint on a steam ship. When people used to travel by steamship a little more than they do,
07:21
Tom Stanfill
I’ve done a lot to hit my number when I was doing,
07:26
Tab Norris
But.
07:26
Tom Stanfill
I had all the Mississippi Delta. That was my territory. I wanted that because of shift.
07:33
Tab Norris
Three days from now, I’m going to have my next appointment. Yeah.
07:36
Tom Stanfill
I got a lot of points on the Mississippi Delta steamships until I traveled. I just got upgraded.
07:43
Tab Norris
Well, he’s, it’s always these keys on this stage. He’s curious about what happens if we hit a glacier or we hit a, we have a problem. He kind of explaining to how there’s everything, the whole thing’s built into sections. Right? If something goes wrong, they can shut it all down and kind of create these airtight compartments. Right. They can kind of compartmentalize, kind of create airtight compartments. And, that’s what you’re talking about. We’ve got to try to live in these airtight compartments versus not letting all this other noise distract us, which is the past and the future. And, and we have to be very intentional about that. That’s really a big part of this book.
08:25
Tom Stanfill
Talk about the dealing with the past.
08:29
Tab Norris
Yeah. You gotta go there first.
08:31
Tom Stanfill
Yeah. Because.
08:32
Tab Norris
That’s the big.
08:33
Tom Stanfill
Habit. I think that’s a big barrier for us to either live in the day or not make the moves we need to make in the future because of what happened in the past.
08:45
Tab Norris
I agree. I think we can almost just talk about this one the whole time. I mean, it’s, he sets it up around this concept of flip the script, which I love that, flip the script and, and the idea is all of us may be telling ourselves the wrong story. If we’re telling ourselves the wrong story, we need to change our story, and think about it from the perspective of where my limiting myself and I love, I wrote this quote down that I really liked. He said the difference between success and failure is the stories that we tell ourselves. They become self fulfilling prophecies. If you tell yourself the wrong story, you live a lie. If you want to change your life, start by changing your story in that. Awesome.
09:35
Tom Stanfill
Yeah. That is that I there’s a lot of books out right now about that. Like the Lou Giglio’s book, I think it’s in an allowing the enemy, a seat at your table very well with titles,
09:51
Tab Norris
Don’t allow the enemy to see at your table or something. It’s a long title.
09:54
Tom Stanfill
It is a long title, but there is a lot about how we interpret what happens in life, and I, I think about, and I started thinking about this as were preparing for this and talking about this, we, and we discussed it at your house is that I have two ways of interpreting failure. It’s what I associated with. Like, if I associate a failure as something related to a project, right. Thing, it’s not a big deal. Like, oh, I did that didn’t work out. I just need to do it differently. Right. It’s not a big deal. Oh. That’s one more thing that doesn’t work. Let’s just do something different. Okay. We did it last time. And so it’s not associated with me. It’s just associated with doing something, Hey, I mowed the yard and I spilled gasoline. Not killed the grass. Don’t do that anymore. I don’t know why I came up with that.
10:47
Tab Norris
That’s a good one.
10:48
Tom Stanfill
Yeah. Or like, I know I’m not on top of my initiatives or tasks. I need to do that better. Than somebody teaches me a way to do that using outlook on a now and better at that. Okay, great. It’s not a big deal. It’s just, I just didn’t. I made a presentation and it didn’t go well. Well, why didn’t that go? Well, well, I figured, I forgot to ask those three questions at the beginning. Next time I’m going to ask those three questions. It propels me forward because of the way I interpreted, I just, oh, that’s just something I can learn from. I’ll do it again. Then there’s other mistakes that I make. That’s a tied to my identity. I am a bad person. I am flawed. I am. I’m not somebody that can do this. Well, I’m never going to be successful. I’ve got something wrong with me.
11:34
Tom Stanfill
I was out of town the other day I wrote about this LinkedIn post. I was out of town and I was doing some work preparing for a meeting. I left my wallet at the, this one shop that I happened to love. I went back later on and I left my credit card.
11:54
Tab Norris
And.
11:55
Tom Stanfill
When I came back, I hit my head of on the stairs, above the lamp three times, because I put my keys there and every time there’s a stair there and I would hit it and I’m like, fine. Like, I’m just an idiot. I am,
12:10
Tab Norris
You need to flip that script. Maybe you don’t need to flip the script.
12:14
Tom Stanfill
Yeah. Hey, I’m distracted. I’m focused on this meeting. There’s nothing wrong with me. I’m just in this mode of really trying to concentrate. But it’s is that what you mean? Like flip the script on how I interpret this event.
12:28
Tab Norris
Yes. And it’s like, where are we? Like? Cause the first part of that story that you told where you don’t, that doesn’t bother you is the exact opposite. For me, those are the kinds of things that greatly impact me. If I mess up a project that crushes my soul, I’m no good. I’m a failure. I’m no good. I’ll never, I can’t ever make a mistake. See, that’s a lie. I can make mistakes. I’m gonna make mistakes. To live in this fear of ever messing up or, or slipping up and doing something, not exactly right. Or having a, I mean, God forbid that a client could be disappointed in me. I should be shot if that happened, ? There’s nothing wrong with wanting to serve every, do my very best and everything I do, but I don’t need to buy a story that if I’m not perfect, I’m not worthy or I’m not good.
13:22
Tab Norris
It’s an identity thing. That’s,
13:23
Tom Stanfill
It’s not tied to how do I do something it’s tied to who I am or getting better, which I think tab is why a lot of people don’t want to have want to receive feedback.
13:35
Tab Norris
Because.
13:36
Tom Stanfill
I associate it with it’s like, you’re going to tell me that I’m not okay. They’re like, well, I don’t want to hear that message.
13:46
Tab Norris
Yeah. Well think about me and my job, what my role is. I have to get feedback about every other week. I mean, it used to be every three days. As for a person that struggles with that, it’s really difficult. It can be the ability. I mean, it’s okay.
14:00
Tom Stanfill
People score you and they all are, and it’s all anonymous. Every time you stand in front of a crowd at the end of it, all right, let’s see. I don’t like his shoes. His hair’s short.
14:13
Tab Norris
I know. I remember one time someone said that was the most. That was the biggest waste of time I’ve ever had in my life was the time I spent with that guy tab. I mean, I was just like, oh my gosh. I mean, but you know what? The crazy thing is I moved on because there were 25 other people that said it was awesome. Who cares is this guy had something with me. It doesn’t matter. I mean, it’s just that’s that can’t be my script. My script can’t be, if you ever get negative feedback, you’re not worthy. I mean, it’s your script.
14:49
Tom Stanfill
Needs to be. I wrote a blog about this one time and that’s so, cause it was a breakthrough for me. I was on a plane and I saw a guy listening to Reetha Franklin on his computer actually pulled up. I could see it, maybe his iPad, whatever. I remember thinking, I don’t like Aretha Franklin. Don’t like any real music. Don’t listen to any of your music. Haven’t bought a new music. Merissa Franklin is one of the most successful singers in the world, but I don’t like her she’s okay. Right. No matter how complex I might be, if I ever reach the pinnacle of my career and I am designated like reef, Aretha Franklin, I am the best at what I’m doing. Somebody is going to say, don’t like you that’s the script.
15:39
Tab Norris
You know,
15:41
Tom Stanfill
Some people don’t like Tom Brady, he’s the best football player that’s ever lived. Some people hate Tom Brady. It’s just, that’s the script. That’s the way it works. That’s the way it,
15:48
Tab Norris
Yeah, it’s so true. And, and by the way, this is hard to do flipping this. This is not like, oh, I read a book. Oh, I’m going to chase it. I mean, I’ve been blessed. I’ve been struggling with this, I’m 56 years old, ? I mean, it’s not like it just changes overnight. I love, he talks about a story that I just am fascinated with. You’re going to like this top America’s cup. You’re a big sailor. Right? You have a.
16:14
Tom Stanfill
Couple of Youngs and be associated with.
16:16
Tab Norris
People. You don’t actually do the sailing or I’ve never done the Americans.
16:21
Tom Stanfill
I haven’t done it well, so,
16:23
Tab Norris
Well, I didn’t even know. I never heard this story, but it’s supposedly the New York city yacht club back in 1851, the skipper star Gilligan’s island. He wins the America’s cup 1851. Guess how long he retained the America’s cup? 132 years. Wow. America kept winning this thing 132 year winning streak. Think about that. Think about the script that is written for all the competitors that are competing for American’s cup. Well, 131, we just lost again. I think we’re going to lose. I mean, think about it. That story. Well, it’s so cool because nobody can even click. Nobody can win because they’re just buying into this whole lie that they don’t have a chance. Well, this guy, I don’t know all the details that you read the book, you can read the details, but it’s from Australia and it was Australia. Two was the ship and he decided they were going to flip the script and they were going to change it.
17:27
Tab Norris
What he did is he created a recording of his team, winning America’s cap.
17:34
Tom Stanfill
Wow.
17:35
Tab Norris
They had to watch it twice a day, the crew twice a day. I don’t know for how long I may be in a year or two years. I don’t have no idea for how long. Maybe it was a whole year, two times a day. They just had to watch themselves winning America’s cup. Wow. They want it, they broke the streak. I just thought that is, think about the power you talk about. Not easy. I mean, they had all the choice. It’s a choice.
18:02
Tom Stanfill
Yeah. If I have a very real example that I was, when I was playing football in the early eighties, were one nine in one, my freshman year.
18:12
Tab Norris
I remember that year.
18:14
Tom Stanfill
And were awful. It was bill Curry’s first year. If you’re not a football fan, it’s still a great story to the America’s cup. It’s kind of the similar, I mean, there was just, we were, we just we’d had a lot of people hurt. We do not have a good recruiting class. Bill Curry walked in to spring practice. This is the first, the beginning of our second season, my sophomore year, he walks in and he says these words, he says the first thing out of his mouth and says, we are going to kick Alabama’s ass, sophomore side and raised my hand. Like, do you know that bear Bryant is really a good football coach. And were one nine and one. And he said it over and.
19:00
Tab Norris
Over.
19:01
Tom Stanfill
From that spring practice through summer practice up until the game. And we beat Alabama.
19:06
Tab Norris
I just love it. I mean,
19:08
Tom Stanfill
It was like, you watch that first play. They just, our defense just exploded. They went nuts and we beat Alabama. We had no reason to be Alabama. Now we’ve lost the rest of the game,
19:20
Tab Norris
But he, but he changed the story. He like, we believe.
19:24
Tom Stanfill
We could beat Alabama. Now you should have said, we’re going to beat the other teams.
19:30
Tab Norris
He only flipped one little script, but it.
19:34
Tom Stanfill
Is, it is powerful. I saw that.
19:36
Tab Norris
Whoa. Yeah, I love it. And, and I, I love, I, take it or leave it. I, I love reading the Bible even though the top stellar. If you read them, if you read scripture, if that’s something you do, you’ve probably noticed it’s full of a lot of this, but you think about Abraham, he thought he was too old, Moses unqualified. I’m going to go do what I’m going to do. You know, Joan a superiority complex. I mean, it’s like we, we have to do an inventory on ourselves. Like where are we limiting ourself based on what somebody told us, whether it’s on growing up, it’s based on a failure. It’s, and it was, it was a little, I’m still working through this, Tom candidly, but I have been recognizing some things from my past that, that are lies that can create limitations.
20:36
Tom Stanfill
That are holding.
20:37
Tab Norris
They’re holding me back and this is dumb and it doesn’t, I can press on and I can kind of do okay. I can always do fine, but I’m not, I don’t have the joy that I want to have. I’m struggling with things that just shouldn’t be straight. I need to have more, have fun. Let’s have some, let’s have a good time. There are things that truly do limit.
20:56
Tom Stanfill
Yeah. I think the key to this tab, it just a little work that I’ve done in this area. What I’ve seen other people learn from other people is just like, what you’re doing is stop and say, I’m going to open up these closets that I need to flip the script on. I saw this the other day, literally I saw it last night. I was with a friend and they got the wrong address, put it in the invite. Went to the wrong venue to see this concert.
21:24
Tab Norris
Oh my God.
21:26
Tom Stanfill
And it was, it just was. So were completely late. And, and so I could tell this person didn’t want to talk about it. I was like, cause I gave him directions based on what I’d been told. We’re trying to figure out how did this happen? I could tell the person did not want to talk about it. And, and they did, like, I didn’t want it. They realized it made them feel stupid. There was something about that. That was said that like basically the, the, in the inner voice was, I am stupid. I don’t want to talk about this. And here’s the truth. You are not stupid. That’s not true. This is a detailed thing. If you’re willing to go there and say, why does this happen? Because it happened several times with this person. So that’s why they feel that way. They’ve just decided this is associated with something they don’t want to think about.
22:10
Tom Stanfill
Rather than go, no, I’m going to open this door. We’re going to figure this out. Why do I do these things? I’m going to explore this because I’m not stupid. And I need to flip the script. I am able, I’m created by God to do the thing I’m supposed to do. It will enable me to do the thing that I’m supposed to do. So, he’s my dad and I’m his child and he doesn’t make mistakes. Let’s just go there versus making it associated with I’m a bad person. I think that’s really the key is when I associate something with my identity, I’m a good person or bad person based on the information I’m about to get, or what happens is that I’m in trouble.
22:46
Tab Norris
Yeah. If yeah, that’s it. I mean, if in my script is just, I look at all the great things in all the people that I admire. I go, if my bar is, I have to be all those things, I’m never going to meet that bar. I mean, it’s just, it’s impossible because I’m created differently. I have unique strengths, you have unique strengths and that’s okay. Embrace that and run with it. So anyway, I love it. I think that’s a great one. And, and I wanted to spend more time on that one because I think that really did have a huge impact. I would just encourage everybody, do some inventory,
23:20
Tom Stanfill
Bury the dead yesterday. He worked through it, bury it, move on and live. That the past is the past leveraged, what we can do to learn. What’s the next thing we need to do.
23:32
Tab Norris
And then it’s like winning the day. I mean, it’s like you get that out of the way. We’ve got to win the day. And he talks.
23:38
Tom Stanfill
About one day, I just got to win this.
23:40
Tab Norris
One day 24 hours. Our, our, our bodies are only built. Our fragile frames are only built for 24 hours a day. I mean, I mean, it’s like, we’re w w we’re created that we can really live in 24 hours. We things start falling apart. When we spend a lot of our effort on the past and the future, we just it’s just too much. And so.
24:02
Tom Stanfill
Break it down today, live, you looked at, I mean, what is it? They live a day at a time, and that’s kind of an old one day at a time, but it’s so true.
24:10
Tab Norris
It’s so true. And it’s like little things. It’s like, if you can live in the day, little things can happen and they can add up. They can, he sets this up around the idea of fly the kite. You want to flip the script on the past and you want to fly the kite. And, and it, this whole, the point of the fly, the kite is they were trying to build. This was a fascinating story. I didn’t know. They were going to build the first suspension bridge over the Niagara Gorge, Niagara falls, right? Massive waterfall, big thing, 800 feet, gore, foot Gorge crossing, and then 1800, they’re like, wow, are we going to do this? That looks impossible. Like, if you could get lost in the past, you could get lost in the future. It’s.
24:53
Tom Stanfill
Forever.
24:53
Tab Norris
I’m going to live in today. What’s one thing we could do in this 24 hours. What can we do? He said, what we’re gonna do. We’re gonna, we’re gonna do a kite flying contest and get somebody to fly a string across the Gorge. Because if we can do that’s just start if we could just do that.
25:12
Tom Stanfill
Wow.
25:13
Tab Norris
That’s when they did some kid, and I don’t know, he won the contest. They got the string after tons and tons of just practice and trying and trying, and he wins and whatever. They go, okay, that’s a win, right. We won the day. Now we’re going to win another day. We don’t want to tie a line on it. And they’re a fly that across. And they did that. And then it grew to a rope. They had one with a rope and they did it and did it until they won with a rope. They one with a cable and they finally were able to get a cable on a, over a cross. Once they attach the cable, then it led to the project. It led to a suspension bridge, which then led to a communities. It led to a connection of Canada and the U S I mean, it was just like so cool.
25:56
Tab Norris
The whole point was, it started with a string on a kite.
26:01
Tom Stanfill
He broke it down to something manageable and like this, make it small. We can do this. And all I’m going to do today. All I’m gonna do today is get a string across the CAnyon.
26:14
Tab Norris
It started with kite string. It’s the little things that produced dis proportionate celebration. And we don’t think like that. I don’t think like that. It’s the little baby things. It’s, it’s dream big, but start small dream big, but start small. I love that. I’m trying to build this into my life. I’m also reading a book called atomic habits. You may have read that.
26:40
Tom Stanfill
I’ve heard about that.
26:41
Tab Norris
Great book. He talks about 1% better each day. Like, if, and know, if you do that at the end of the year, you’re 37% better. I don’t, he’s got a whole statistical thing in there, but it’s got compounding, I guess. My point is, it’s just that, how you do anything is how you do everything. It’s like, and you just don’t realize the power of that little habit, the power of that change in a day. I’ll tell you, Tom, I have, I’ve got a, I’ve done it. And this is a one little victory. I’m going to share is I decided I used to get up at six o’clock every morning. I wake up Tom. I said, I started reading all these books about people who are successful. They all get up early. I’m going to get up at five. I created that habit of five in the morning.
27:31
Tab Norris
I’m telling you, it has been unbelievable. The dividends that it is just one hour, like who care, the amount of things.
27:39
Tom Stanfill
I think it’s a month, a year. I think it has a month to your year.
27:43
Tab Norris
And it’s quiet. There’s a no distraction. Five to six in the morning. My house, there’s no distraction at journal. I have quiet time. I may, I may reflect on things from my past or things I need to work on. I may take I’m doing some planning. It’s amazing how much it changes things.
28:05
Tom Stanfill
That’s that’s that is, I saw that tab for me in doing accomplishing really the biggest, I guess, project that I’ve ever accomplished was just writing the book. Like the idea of writing a 70,000 words and getting them all right. We’re just, and that’s a great example too, of flipping the script. Because when I started, I thought I’m not a writer, ,
28:31
Tab Norris
That you had to flip the script.
28:34
Tom Stanfill
Call to deliver this message. And this that’s not my problem. How could I find, excuse me, how can I find somebody to help me do the things that I can’t do? It doesn’t mean I’m a bad person, or I’m not smart, or I’m not talented. It just means these are my limitations. Some things I need to learn to get better at some things I need to partner on, but just breaking it down to. This is what I learned by reading some of the books that helped me do this is just break it down. I’m going to write this much every day.
29:01
Tab Norris
That’s it?
29:02
Tom Stanfill
This year. Yeah. You just at a time and or I’m going to break off a day and I’m going to do it. Over time, I mean, I ended up writing the book three times. I would have, if you’d have told me that you’re going to write a book three times I’d have said, you’re crazy.
29:14
Tab Norris
Yep. It’s habits that he calls. He calls it habit, stacking know, that’s what you’re doing. You just have it stacking. You just keep doing it, do it. And then it just starts happening. You just keep that’s what you did.
29:24
Tom Stanfill
It sticks. Yeah. Now it’s easy for me to write.
29:27
Tab Norris
Yeah. That’s the big takeaway from that, which I think is really important. It’s really powerful to kind of think about those habits. There’s one more kind of big the whole, the, the whole, imagine.
29:39
Tom Stanfill
Your building block.
29:40
Tab Norris
Kind of the imagining your unborn tomorrows. And, and that was not as big a deal for me, probably because I’m not, I’m really not, I’m not a real play it safe care person, but he talks about cutting the rope and he talks about Otis, have you ever been in an elevator and you’ve seen Otis Elijah Otis. He’s the elevator guy, but it was funny. I thought, you’d appreciate this, Tom. He talked to him. It was, he was, it was in the world’s fair. This is 1853. He was at the world’s fair. He invented the safety elevator break. Okay. And, but he was having a hard time selling.
30:19
Tom Stanfill
It.
30:19
Tab Norris
- He had invented this elevator brick. Obviously elevator was out there, but I don’t think it was catching on because we didn’t have a break. You know? I guess you don’t have a break. The other way.
30:29
Tom Stanfill
I have a question. If it, if it breaks or something happens, what happens?
30:34
Tab Norris
It hits the ground. Yeah.
30:36
Tom Stanfill
We all die. So that’s a downside. That’s a downside. That’s an objection.
30:41
Tab Norris
There was a big objection. Thank you. Our sales guys, this is for all the salespeople listening. Think about, you’re trying to sell something. You can only sell like one to two stories above that. You’re not. What happens is all nobody wanted, and this was happening in New York city job. Nobody wanted to rent. They weren’t, they were built. They run out of room. They were building higher buildings, but nobody wanted to rent the higher spots because they didn’t want to take all those stairs.
31:09
Tom Stanfill
Right.
31:10
Tab Norris
But there was no solution.
31:11
Tom Stanfill
So he comes.
31:12
Tab Norris
Up with this elevator. I mean, this is as an entrepreneurs, this just gets me excited. I’m like, yeah, this guy’s great, but he can’t sell it. Nobody’s buying it. He’s been all this time, Greg eating, is it? But no one’s buying it. So he goes to that. He said, I’m going to go for it. He said, go big or go home. Right. He sets up and he puts this, he gets this, he’s still on elevator platform. He hoisted up way high so everybody can see it like way high, scary high. And he had the X man. I mean, see, he’s got a rope holding him up and he’s got an ax man above the elevator and he cuts the rope and everybody gas. The thing comes flying down and all of a sudden stops. And he’s like, I’m okay. And the rest is history. Now, all of a sudden New York, you could have skyscrapers.
32:06
Tab Norris
You could have high rise, buildings and sales went through the roof. Right? You think about it. It’s the whole idea is cutting the rope. Doesn’t feel safe. Does it? I mean, that just seems odd to say, but it’s it’s and it’s not just, he had done his research. It’s not a blind leap. He knew what he was doing. He had done all his prep, but you’d got to go for it. Playing it safe is scary. The greatest risk is no risk. And to,
32:35
Tom Stanfill
Think about what the risk is. What’s the, what’s the risk.
32:39
Tab Norris
I know, and you think about it, whatever you don’t do today, you’re less likely to do tomorrow.
32:46
Tom Stanfill
Yeah.
32:46
Tab Norris
I, I mean, that would happen. You just, you can’t play it safe. And I thought that was good. I don’t, you know, and it’s really,
32:57
Tom Stanfill
I think what I’m hearing you say is only says a mile I’m applying. This is, I got to put myself in the situation where I’m out there and I’m doing this, like for head, for me, part of my way of cutting the rope is I go public with something. I say, we’re, I get myself trapped, but that’s my cut the rope. And it’s like, what? I am going to do this. Like, you’re running rim to rim, which I want you to explain that. In your, like, I in may, I’m taking this time off and I’m doing it well, now you’re stuck. When I said, I’m going to write a book and I want, I’m getting, I’m going to take time off side. And I’m. I T I purposely told people and it was annoying. Cause we’d was like, well, I’m not doing great, but, but I was stuck.
33:45
Tom Stanfill
I was like, I cut the rope. I’m like, I’m doing this. I’m getting people to help me. I love that second look, I have a lot different, could be leaving a job, right. It could be going to, I don’t know, I could be going to training. I could go be going to.
34:02
Tab Norris
Going after a new market segment, I mean, it could be anything. I was going to kind of wrap up with this story, Tom, I mean, is the whole idea about doing this rim to rim event in the grand canyon? The whole idea being, it’s a good stretch here. It’ll help me stretch in other areas of my life. That was a good cutthroat and the whole idea of same thing. I’m going to go public 45 miles in a day, like 11,000 feet of elevation or something crazy like that. It seems a little crazy, but if you do the prep, you do the habit, the daily habit of training and all the things that you need to do. It’s not some blind leap, but you can get there and it can have a P it can happen, but I’ve got to, what do I gotta do? I gotta forget about the past.
34:53
Tab Norris
I got to live in my airtight compartments, got to do the system. I got to do it daily. I have to do my exercises. I have to do my running. I do my climbing. I have to do all these things. And then guess what? Then I got to cut the rope. I got to do it all in.
35:04
Tom Stanfill
You got to go. I, I, going back to your original point, I think that is the biggest challenge or maybe barrier to really cutting the rope is the fear of failure. I mean, I know sometimes it’s financial for us, right? If we change our roles, move positions could be purely financial. There’s a financial risk associated with it, which is obviously readable. I think for most of us, the bigger challenges, if I go in this direction, right. And I put myself out there, right. Whether it’s take a leading in a presentation that I haven’t done before speaking at an event that I haven’t done before, writing something that I haven’t, and I put myself out there, I’m going to be a target, or I’m going to be public. People are going to go, yeah, you only ran 43. Had to bring a helicopter and pull you out of the canyon.
35:56
Tom Stanfill
Or you wrote a book and it sucks. Or you’ve, you took, you went after the leadership position. Cause you wanted to do that. And, and so if, again, if we don’t tie it to who we are, we just tie it to a learning experience that will lead us ultimately to the right thing, whatever that is. When we’re moving in the right direction. I think it’s just all how we frame flip the script on how we see failure.
36:21
Tab Norris
Yeah. I think that’s a great way to wrap that up. Tom is we got to flip the script first, got to work on that first. We can kind of layer in the, the fly, the kite and the habits and the daily thing. Then, then the, cutting the rope to where we go for it. So I totally agree with you.
36:36
Tom Stanfill
I love it. I love it. Day at a time. Love the book. Thank you for sharing with us tab guys. I hope you found this helpful. If you did leave us comments related to the podcast like us, tell us what you love about us or what you don’t love about us so we can get better and continue to serve you on SALES with ASLAN. Thanks, my friend.
