Your Younger Self
Do you remember what you were like the first day you started in sales? Can you picture yourself in your office or cubicle? You’re sitting in your office or cubicle, looking over your leads. You keep staring nervously at the phone, trying to remember everything you learned in training. In a second, succeed or fail, you will officially be a salesperson. Then just before you’re about to dial in the first number, a memo hits your desk.
You Today
Let’s change perspectives a little. You’re not the one receiving the memo. You’re the one sending it. You’ve got a chance to write a memo to your younger self. What do you say? Do you offer advice? Forgiveness? Condemnation? What words do you wish someone had said to you on day one? Why would that be what you say?
My Memo
I know what I’d say. It might be tempting to brag about my successes or warn myself about my failures, but that’s not the right I’d go. If I could talk to my younger self, I would just say that the path to great things is filled with a lot of challenges along the way. But if you have the right attitude and know that hard times will pass – and you get up each time – you will reach your destination.
Your Memo
The past is a great teacher, but it can be a great burden. It all depends on how you use it. This exercise might seem cliched or hokey, but it isn’t. For better or worse, you are not the same salesperson you were when you first started. At some point, you changed. You learned lessons. This exercise gives you an opportunity to think about exactly how different you are now. Because the thing is, you can’t send a memo to the past, but you can reflect on it. Some