The Single Thing Responsible For Success AND Failure

The physical and mental worlds share more in common than we might like to think.

While sitting on the plane, the thing that crosses my mind is Newton’s first law of motion:

An object at rest will remain at rest, and a body in motion will remain in motion unless acted upon by an external force.

The term for this law is ‘inertia’ and it applies to life, too.

Most people will keep doing what they’ve done unless acted upon by an outside force.

I call it “cognitive inertia.”

Sometimes that outside force is losing a job, a breakup, a death or other disruptive life event.

Other times (and more rarely) people just get fed up living with their problems.

And, even more rarely, you can be that outside force.

It’s called persuasion, and it’s at the heart of all successful coaching, consulting, sales, and any other kind of positive (and negative) change.

Specific to sales, most of your leads & potential clients will poke around with your service, but not follow through in hiring you.

And I think a majority of the time it’s because the sales person is not an expert in persuasion.

(Before you tell me this is manipulation or coercion, you should watch this video that lays out the landscape.)

So, how about you?

Are you going to be an “outside force” for success?

Best thoughts,
~Jonathan