Is there enough pain to change?

September 8, 2019 Trevor Coltham

By Trevor Coltham

During my Neuro Sales Training workshops, I ask participants what they want to get out of the two days of precious time invested in the room.

From this, I get a wide range of answers.

Here are some of them:

I want to learn the ability to sell on value rather than price.
I want to read people and be more effective when influencing them to make decisions faster.
I want control over my time and decide where to focus to get better results.

At the end of the workshop, I check in with the participants. I make sure everyone got the insights, their ‘ah-ha’ moments, tools, belief changes and strategies to move towards growth.

When I follow up with the participants a few weeks later, some people have taken significant action and are already getting great results. Others tell me they are planning to act but haven’t yet.

During all SG Partners workshops, I invest time to explain how our brains learn and why action after the workshop is so critical.

Then why is it that some people stall when it’s time to change and do something new?

There are several factors and it’s mostly about leverage and accountability.

I’ve talked about accountability in other posts, so here I want to focus on leverage.

Action is less likely happen if our minds have not gone beyond a certain emotional threshold.

Even when we come across a new idea that we are convinced will make a difference in our work, relationship, health or any context of life, it remains a concept or a nice to have. Our unconscious mind hasn’t got the leverage it needs to action it yet.

More specifically, is there enough pleasure associated in the future or is there significant perceived pain to be avoided if we stay the same?

Consider the following simple examples:

We all know the basics of saving money, and most people don’t save/invest enough now to be wealthy later in life. Surprisingly most educated people know that eating processed food is bad for them, yet many still eat it leading to poor health outcomes.

The same applies to education and implementing new sales skills.

Are we just weak or foolish? Or is there a more in-depth level at play here?

Will power alone is not a great motivator for most people. To make positive changes, we must actively engage our minds in a way that provides an automatic push/pull mechanism beyond consciously getting up each day and putting one foot in front of the other.

Here are the two tricks that assists you to learn something new:

Associate enormous pleasure in achieving the potential results of the actions: take the time to imagine what you will see in the future once the hard work has paid off. What will it enable for you, your family, your business? What will others say to you? How significant will you feel?
Imagine the dire consequences of staying the same: others are leapfrogging you. You are still working long hours and lack of connection with your family. Whatever the potential limiting effects are, make them appear 10 or 100 times worse.

Your mind through human evolution is designed to pull you towards pleasurable outcomes and push you away from painful situations.

This process helps your brain provide you with the extra motivation you need especially when you are time-poor, stressed out and overwhelmed.

If you would like to learn further about how to leverage new opportunities, sign up to our Neuro Sales Program. Spots are still available, so get in quick!

SG Partners

Is there enough pain to change?

By Trevor Coltham

During my Neuro Sales Training workshops, I ask participants what they want to get out of the two days of precious time invested in the room.

From this, I get a wide range of answers.

Here are some of them:

I want to learn the ability to sell on value rather than price.

I want to read people and be more effective when influencing them to make decisions faster.

I want control over my time and decide where to focus to get better results.

At the end of the workshop, I check in with the participants. I make sure everyone got the insights, their ‘ah-ha’ moments, tools, belief changes and strategies to move towards growth.

When I follow up with the participants a few weeks later, some people have taken significant action and are already getting great results. Others tell me they are planning to act but haven’t yet.

During all SG Partners workshops, I invest time to explain how our brains learn and why action after the workshop is so critical.

Then why is it that some people stall when it’s time to change and do something new?

There are several factors and it’s mostly about leverage and accountability.

I’ve talked about accountability in other posts, so here I want to focus on leverage.

Action is less likely happen if our minds have not gone beyond a certain emotional threshold.

Even when we come across a new idea that we are convinced will make a difference in our work, relationship, health or any context of life, it remains a concept or a nice to have. Our unconscious mind hasn’t got the leverage it needs to action it yet.

More specifically, is there enough pleasure associated in the future or is there significant perceived pain to be avoided if we stay the same?

Consider the following simple examples:

We all know the basics of saving money, and most people don’t save/invest enough now to be wealthy later in life. Surprisingly most educated people know that eating processed food is bad for them, yet many still eat it leading to poor health outcomes.

The same applies to education and implementing new sales skills.

Are we just weak or foolish? Or is there a more in-depth level at play here?

Will power alone is not a great motivator for most people. To make positive changes, we must actively engage our minds in a way that provides an automatic push/pull mechanism beyond consciously getting up each day and putting one foot in front of the other.

Here are the two tricks that assists you to learn something new:

Associate enormous pleasure in achieving the potential results of the actions: take the time to imagine what you will see in the future once the hard work has paid off. What will it enable for you, your family, your business? What will others say to you? How significant will you feel?

Imagine the dire consequences of staying the same: others are leapfrogging you. You are still working long hours and lack of connection with your family. Whatever the potential limiting effects are, make them appear 10 or 100 times worse.

Your mind through human evolution is designed to pull you towards pleasurable outcomes and push you away from painful situations.

This process helps your brain provide you with the extra motivation you need especially when you are time-poor, stressed out and overwhelmed.

If you would like to learn further about how to leverage new opportunities, sign up to our Neuro Sales Program. Spots are still available, so get in quick!