Have you ever had mental indigestion? I bet you have! I think most of us have been inflicted with this ailment. Recently, I have had a few clients who were. They let stuff get to them. Here are a few of the scenarios (probably nothing you have ever experienced).
- One situation was where a close never happened. The sponsor actually bought another property. This was a big deal to this client. She wanted the deal so badly and it was important to her budget, but it was more about the ego. She lost the deal to another property that she did not think could deliver as good an ROI for this sponsor. The sad part was that she let it fester. She held a grudge. It affected her with other clients. She was becoming more aggressive in her sales actions and less relationship oriented. Furthermore, she was becoming defensive about how great her product was, while tending to be almost derogative about other properties. This was not in her nature, but as I say, she was sick—she had mental indigestion!
- The next recent case of mental indigestion I diagnosed was an internal situation. This client had great relationships within her organization, but she heard from a close peer that one of the fulfilment staff felt she was too pushy and demanding. Again, she let it eat at her and the ailment just got worse. She avoided that fulfilment coordinator, began to speak about her not being able to do the job and such. We needed to get her medicine to cure that disorder.
- And finally, very recently we were working with a young man who was just hired by a client. He was so excited to work for this brand/sponsor. He loved the product/brand and was excited to be working on sponsorship activations with several of their properties. Within a few weeks, he began hearing stories about how this property or that property always failing to deliver; how they should not be investing with this property or that one, and all from the peer level—not the leadership level. He began to get frustrated as his mental indigestion settled in. Again, a remedy had to be put in place.
I have learned over the decades (and mostly in the school of hard knocks, trial and error) is that you cannot necessarily change the world right away. Furthermore, you cannot change other people. Over time, little by little, you can move a mountain and make change. But if you are not able to control your own thoughts and have a healthy mind daily, you will not be successful.
Once when I had a terrible bout of mental indigestion, a close friend pointed out to me, “I look upon my feeling as temporary indigestion of the mind. When I get a stomach ache, it is generally because I have eaten something that has not agreed with me. Likewise, my mental indigestion comes from some story, bit of gossip, or circumstance that I have swallowed without thinking!” She was right and I now try to make sure I avoid swallowing those things. If I cannot control my own issues in my head, how can I ever lead or make change? I do my best not to let such thoughts and feelings occupy that real estate inside my head!
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