I was born with a happy gene. I have been accused of being
Pollyannish. The words “rose-colored glasses’ have also been used to describe
my world view.
Still, I have experienced times in my life when I fell into a
‘victim’ mentality because I could not or would not step back and assess my
options. I stayed in relationships too long and to my own detriment.
Relationships with family members, friends, and at jobs that ended up being
very one-sided because I struggled with setting boundaries. Over the last five
years I’ve worked on changing the mindset that unconditional love for others
does not have to make me someone else’s doormat.
Whoa and once I change my mindset, get out of the way. Once I get
committed – I act. Knock on wood… so far it has always made space for better
situations to occur or better people in my life. It's not easy making the
initial decision to look at things from a different perspective. I am not
talking about toxic positivity either. Though I will be the first to admit I
try to find the positive in almost every situation - even if it's telling
myself there is a lesson for me to learn.
When I sold Mary Kay (2003 through 2015) I saw mindset changes
change people’s lives over and over – including mine. I can think of two
occasions when my world view was totally tipped on its head and had a positive
impact. One was when I heard a speaker ask the audience, “Are you ashamed to be
a salesperson? If you are, why?” I was able to answer that in my mind
immediately, “Yes.” The ‘why’ took a bit longer and when I figured it out, I
was able to confront my fear and concerns about others judging me as ‘less
than’ because I was selling a product, I believed in.
My second epiphany, during my Mary Kay career, occurred when a
sales director was talking about not assigning power to a ‘no’ from a potential
client. She asked us, “If you offer someone a piece of gum and they say no, do
you take it personal?” Of course not. We don’t stop liking the person or think
they are rejecting us because they don’t want a piece of gum. This thought was
a major breakthrough for me and one that helped carry me through to a
directorship with Mary Kay for the next three years as I grew my business.
A
negative mindset can also change your life. Overcoming the limitations of my
own thought processes has been a lifelong journey. I know I’m not alone out
here. If you get a hankering to share a mindset you changed, leave it in the
comments below and just leave your first name after if you’d like (anonymous is
also okay!).
❤
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