This week's Rocket Fuel is about the importance of understanding and managing your mental real estate. In this excerpt Bob Stephens (alias Rocket-Man) is in a meeting with Jeff Townes and is reminded of an old lesson he learned from John Andrews, his old mentor:
My attention has faded from Jeff's presentation; Jeff's mention of time and energy reminds me of something that John Andrews taught me and that, over time, had completely slipped my mind. I slip back in time to a conversation with John Andrews. John Andrews came into my office asking to look at my list of prospects. After studying it a few moments he said, "Ah-ha, just what I thought." Then he dropped the list, which floated gently down and landed right in front of me. I grabbed it, looking for clues. "What are you talking about, John?" "Bob, I was looking at some of your old prospect lists from a few weeks ago and I noticed that the same names keep re-appearing." I studied the list more closely. "John, I keep those prospects on there because there is still a chance I can do business with them; it's not like they're taking up a bunch of time. Every couple of weeks or so, I pick up the phone and give them a call to see if they're any closer to making a decision… no big deal!" John leaned over with one hand on my desk, his finger pointing to the top of my head. "Bob, it's not the time they are taking… it's the mental real estate they occupy!" "Mental real estate? What's that?" I asked, confused. At that moment, Jeff stops talking momentarily, which brings me back to reality. "What's the matter, Bob? Doesn't this make sense?" "I'm sorry, Jeff. When you were talking about all the time and energy those fool's gold prospects take, it reminded me of when John Andrews told me about mental real estate… when I was new in the business." "What is mental real estate?" Jeff asks, smiling. I point at my head just as John Andrews had done. "Mental real estate represents the total mind space we have available. Those fool's gold prospects you talked about can consume a lot of mental real estate. The problem is, as long as you are thinking about them you can't be thinking about those prospects who really deserve your time and attention. I believe we need to learn to manage our mental real estate like we do our time.
How well do you manage your mental real estate? Having a cluttered prospect list consumes time, but more important it consumes a huge amount of your mental real estate. Cleaning out all those 'fools gold' prospects is an effective way to break new ground for all those great prospects who are just waiting to meet you. So, grab your prospect list, be brave and stroke off all those prospects who don't deserve your time and energy, and make way for the ones that do!
Onward and upward!
Brian
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