How to Have a Mindful, Focused Mindset w/ Bridget Gleason [Episode 390]

Welcome to another Front Line Friday with my very special guest and co-host, Bridget Gleason. On this week’s episode, Bridget and I discuss a mindset of gratitude, dealing with problems and getting over the frustrations they cause without anger. We also discuss the addiction to digital messaging, and the pitfalls of trying to multitask in sales.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Bridget is grateful for life. Experience helps her look over frustrations as they occur, reflecting on past frustrations that were worse, of which the causes were forgotten. She deals with them, goes on, and models and shares this behavior.

Give people permission not to get all worked up. Frustration doesn’t need anger, bitterness, or disappointment. It is an opportunity to address a problem, without hanging onto the emotion around it. Don’t be addicted to anger.

Andy cites Simon Sinek on challenges Millennials have, including the dopamine-driven addiction to texts, emails, and replies. The anticipation for these creates a distraction. Bridget doesn’t crave the interruptions, especially in the morning.

Andy gave a presentation to inside sales reps, and saw people checking their phones. He stopped and asked if they kept their phones on their desk while they were making calls. 100% of them raised their hands.

Next he asked, who looks at it, if it buzzes while you’re on a call with a buyer? Virtually everybody. The science is absolutely conclusive. We do not multitask. Looking at a text while talking to a customer distracts you from the customer.

Looking at a chat or text, to be “responsive,” to a buyer, while you are talking with another, only makes you less responsive to the person actually talking to you. You may only have this one opportunity with the person on the phone.

Chat, with one person managing multiple chat windows, divides attention and concentration on any specific conversation. Invite the chat to move up to another channel that allows more personalized attention, even, maybe, a visit.

Are older people going to have to incorporate these quick, short chats into their sales process? As humans, we are incapable of switching our attention rapidly and efficiently.

Carnegie Mellon research shows that our test-taking ability (a measure of intelligence) falls after an interruption, to the point of making us 20% “dumber.” In a chat, each separate conversation is sub-optimal.

Two multi-tasking people chatting with each other, makes the conversation doubly sub-optimal and unfocused.

People who can’t resist trying to do two things at once are suckers for irrelevancy, according to Stanford sociologist Clifford Nass. It is efficient and respectful to focus on one thing. Put distractions away. Put your phone in a drawer, or away.