2010 Is Awesome, a.k.a Assume the Sale

April 2, 2010
Topics: Business Models, Ideas
Author: 
Emily Warren

 Ever since the new year I've been feeling great about 2010 as a whole.  I'm convinced that by comparison to 2009, 2010 will gleam.  It'll be more productive, a refresher course in feel-good achievement. Maybe it's the springtime air of late that's romancing my outlook, but even so, I know that 2010 is going to be "the" year in work and in life.

Part of my revived attitude comes from learning how to "assume the sale." While this is an old-school sales tactic, it's a mindset we can all benefit from, no matter our profession.  If there is one thing I've learned repeatedly in business, it's that having the confidence of a CEO (even if you are not one) gets you ahead.  Assuming your deal or project will go the way you want it to, assuming you will sign 3 new clients in the next six months, assuming your work WILL exceed expectations -- thinking like this rather than questioning if your way is the right way, is a game changer.  I'm not even in sales and I'm not the CEO, but I've learned how freeing it is to assume that my ideas and decisions are as good if not better than anyone else's.  I've stopped polling the group for opinions, and instead I just forge ahead in everything from marketing to event planning.  I've never read The Secret, but I believe that the power of positive thinking truly reaps rewards.

Imagine if you just assumed your start-up business would do $600,000 in profit in it's first year, and that every time you made a business decision this was your mindset.  One after another, your actions align with the assumption and you persuade even YOURSELF that it's already coming true.  The more and more you tell people something, the more they will believe it.  Assume it and watch it manifest.

The trick of course, is maintaining the mindset.  Despite my attempts to thwart it, work drama can seep into my everyday.  Sometimes the weight of all the hypertasking takes over and the details of a project (or two, or three) become my everything.  To remedy the slump, I take a walk, make sure to leave the office for lunch, email an old friend -- and look at the sticky note on my wall that says, "Hey You: ASSUME THE SALE."

My personal motto for 2010 is to ask for forgiveness rather than permission.  So far, I've discovered I j(oyously) have control over things previously out of reach.  I didn't ask for that control, I just took it.  I assumed it, and no forgiveness has been needed.

photo: SugarPond via Flickr

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Comments

Submitted by Neckface (not verified) on April 20, 2010.

Well written as always.... right on point... like the "walking out of the elevator smile"

Submitted by Mambo Tilles (not verified) on April 5, 2010.

I totally agree with Emily's ideas. She is brilliant. Multiple psychoanalytic theorists all the way back to Freud's time have written about the power of the unconscious (which fuels one's beliefs). A deeply held belief is projected everywhere and lived out---then it transforms into a reality. I like Emily's essays because they are so right on the mark!

Submitted by Penob Warnob (not verified) on April 5, 2010.

So true! When Martin McDonagh was a young playwright, he would introduce himself as "Martin McDonagh, I'm the most important playwright for the next twenty years." And look what happened to that guy.