January
2009
Preparing for the Pressure Moments of Life
By Steve Martinez - The Sales Magician for Business Development
Have you ever been in a situation where you could be the hero or the goat? Preparation is the key to success in moments where you are confronted with your greatest challenges. Here is a quote from Juan Pierre – Los Angeles Dodger about preparation.
“It’s a lot of preparation. I need to do some things to get ready for the game. And stay after the game to get ready for the next day. It’s not work for me. There’s nothing better in the world to come out here and take extra batting practice and fly balls. I consider that trying to make me a better baseball player.”
When You are in the Big Game
It’s late in the game. The final inning and you need to score 3 runs to win. You are tired and you are on deck to hit next. The player ahead of you gets walked so the bases are now loaded. At this point the bat feels like it is a hundred pounds. The other coach calls time out to talk about the situation and changes pitchers. This gives you more time to think and wait for your first swing and you start thinking about the situation. You can become the hero or the goat. Your mind is racing and you wonder what the first pitch will be. Your friends are in the stands cheering you on but you are the visiting team so the heckling is louder than normal. You start thinking to yourself, will it be the fast ball you can hit out of the park or the curve you have trouble seeing late in the game. Worse yet, could it be the knuckle ball that confuses you. At this point, self doubt may try to enter your head or your preparation for this moment will impact the outcome.
If there was ever a situation where preparation for a golden opportunity comes into play, this is it.
This is where all the extra time you took in the batting cages pays off. This is where the research you did on the other team’s players and specifically the pitchers will impact your confidence. This is a time to step back and pause. The sound of the umpire shouting, to you – batter up awakens you from your trance. The pitcher is now ready, the pitcher and the catcher know what they are going to send you as the first pitch.
Before you take the first pitch, you step back away from the batters box and the umpire raises his hand to stop play as you take a little more time. This time, the pitcher has to wait for you. At this point, you start your ritual again. You developed a habit you developed when you watched your favorite baseball hero step up to plate. Baseball is a game where players develop rituals for special moments like this. You pick up dirt from the ground and rub it between your palms 8 times. You take position in the batting box and dig your cleats into the ground taking extra time to swing the bat three swings. Now you are ready. In the last few moments you visualized and mentally prepared yourself for the first pitch. You saw it streaking across the plate in the low outside and imagined yourself hitting it to the open left field.
The pitcher looks down at you from 60 feet away. The Catcher gets ready, you are ready and the ball leaves the pitchers hand. As the ball streaks toward you, you see it like it is charging in slow motion. You have already started your swing and your body is compensating for the speed, angle and the direction of the ball. The loud crack of the bat hitting the ball is felt in your hands and the sensation tells you it was a solid hit in the location you expected the ball to be.
At this point, you know from past memories that the ball won’t be restrained by the confines of the ball park. You have released the pressure of the moment with the proper execution of your preparation. Life is good!
The Power of Preparation
The story I just told is almost real, I was a young man when an event like this played out for me. My father was in the stands when I rounded third and the proud smile he had was magic to me. On this glorious day, I hit two home runs and two doubles. I stole a few bases and fielded the ball without errors. I cling to this memory for obvious reasons – it is one for the books. I use this memory when I am confronted with a challenging opportunity to remind myself that I am a winner.
If you don’t have a visual memory like this, I encourage you to commit to memory a successful moment or two in your life and apply them to memory so you can replay them in your mind for confidence building when you need them. The power of visualization cannot be over stated. We should also prepare for life’s moments through practice of our craft of influencing others when we sell. Not just practice, perfect practice of how you introduce yourself and tell prospects who you are and what you do. You should practice for moments of tough questions and situations. When you do this, you are ready for anything. If you need a ritual, develop one. For me, I like to rub the palms of my hands eight times like I’m ready to hit a home run. Good Selling.
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http://www.thegameofselling.com or http://www.sellingmagic.com
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