We are oscillatory beings

Are you flat lining life?

I want to spend one more day on the importance of energy oscillation, before moving on to the second characteristic of champion sales people–enthusiasm. I love this quote from Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz, on page 30, of The Power of Full Engagement.

"We are oscillatory beings in an oscillatory universe. Rhythmicity is our inheritance."

More from page 30-31, called The Pulse of Life:

Nature itself has a pulse, a rhythmic, wavelike movement between activity and rest. Think about the ebb and flow of the tides, the movement between seasons, and the daily rising and setting of the sun. Likewise, all organisms follow life-sustaining rhythms–birds migrating, bears hibernating, squirrels gathering nuts, and fish spawning, all of them at predictable intervals.

So, too, human beings are guided by rhythms–both those dictated by nature and those encoded in our genes. . . . Our breathing, brain waves, body temperature, heart rates, hormone levels and blood pressure all have healthy (and unhealthy) rhythmic patterns.

Oscillation occurs even at the most basic levels of our being. Healthy patterns of activity and rest lie at the heart of our capacity for full engagement, maximum performance and sustained health. Linearity, by contrast, ultimately leads to dysfunction and death. Just picture for a moment the undulating wave form of a healthy EEG or EKG–and then think about the implications of their opposite: a flat line.

Are you successfully oscillating your energy?

How is your energy meter reading?

This week we have been talking about the number one characteristic of a champion sales person: energy management. Once we master our energy, in each of our human capacities (mental, emotional, physical and spiritual) we can then tackle the other five keys to successful selling: enthusiasm, likability, love, uniqueness, and urgency. Without mastering our energy, we will fail as a salesperson, as we will eventually break down and succumb to the rigors of our faster and faster moving world.

There are two keys to successful energy management. The first is to understand that we build mental, emotional, and spiritual energy in exactly the same way we build physical energy. The question I like to ask to make this point is this: Do you seek stress or do you avoid stress? If your goal is a more productive physical body, then we all understand that we must 'seek' stress in order to build strength and endurance. But we must also build in periods of rest, in order to let the stressed muscles recover and strengthen. So we intentionally and purposely stress the body, and then we rest the body. The same is true when we want to grow our intellect on a specific subject, or when we want to expand our emotional capacity, or when we want to grow spiritually. If we don't purposely expand outside of our comfort zone, then we can not grow.

The second key to successful energy management is building regular rituals into our lives, so that we routinely 'oscillate' in and out of each of the capacities. A regular workout routine, a well-planned nutrition plan, a weekly meeting with a group of friends where you can talk openly and honestly, a morning devotional time, meals with the family, meals with co-workers, walks with a spouse or loved one, games with the kids. These are all examples of 'rituals' that can be built into our routines in order to assure that we are a champion oscillator.

• How do you do with energy oscillation?
• What does your energy meter look like in each of the four capacities?
• If one area is overloaded or under stressed, how can you build new (and needed) rituals into your life?

Managing energy, not time, is the key to high performance

Energy oscillation is the key:

Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz, in their book The Power of Full Engagement teach that managing energy (not time) is the key to high performance. Listen to the first paragraph of the book:

"We live in digital time. Our rhythms are rushed, rapid fire and relentless, our days carved up into bits and bytes. We celebrate breadth rather than depth, quick reaction more than considered reflection. We skim across the surface, alighting for brief moments at dozens of destinations but rarely remaining long at any one. We race through our lives without pausing to consider who we really want to be or where we really want to go. We're wired up but we're melting down."

Successful selling, maybe more than any other profession, requires a complete understanding of energy management. Energy management is an entire science in and of itself. We can't do the subject justice in short blog posts, and thus stress the importance of studying a book like the one mentioned above. Another great read, with very similar teachings is Stephen Covey's book, The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness. Reflect on these two sentences, the first from Loehr's book and the second from Covey's book:

"To be fully engaged, we must be physically energized, emotionally connected, mentally focused and spiritually aligned with a purpose beyond our immediate self-interest."

"I will tap my talents (mental capacity) and fuel my passions (emotional capacity) in a way that rises out of a great need (physical capacity) in the world that I am drawn to by conscience (spiritual capacity) to meet - for therein lies my voice, my true-calling, my soul's code."

Tomorrow we will focus more on the word 'oscillation' and the importance of moving in and out of each of the capacities, and learn how we build emotional, mental and spiritual energy in exactly the same way we build physical energy. When we understand this, and put rituals in our life that allow us to rhythmically move in and out of each area, we can then (and only then) succeed in the other key characteristics of successful selling.

Why energy is so important

Digging deeper into our series on what it takes to be a champion sales professional, we have to start at the top of the pyramid with an understanding of Energy. Over the next several weeks, we will be churningOn the Six Key Characteristics of Champion Sales People. I call it ELU squared or E-L-U to the power of two: Energy, Enthusiasm, Likable, Love, Unique, and Urgent.

Like everything in life, to be a champion, you must understand the difference in managing energy versus managing time. Time management is way over-rated. Energy management is very misunderstood. Each of the other characteristics of a champion sales person simply can not be accomplished without first learning to manage your energy. I believe the best body of work on this subject comes from Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz, authors of The Power of Full Engagement and founders of The Human Performance Institute.

Without being an excellent manager of your energy (mental energy, emotional energy, physical energy, and spiritual energy) you will not be able to be enthusiastic, to be likable, to be lovable, to be unique, and to be urgent. Let's just leave it at that for today and go deeper into the butter maker tomorrow, when we discuss why 'oscillation' is the key to high performance.

ELU Squared: The Champion Sales Professional

William Patton McDowell Jr:

Regardless of where you are in life or how you earn a living, you can benefit from the Six Characteristics of the Champion Sales Professional. This is the introduction to my series, named ELU Squared or E-L-U, to the power of two. This series is dedicated to Billy McDowell, my grandfather. 

From my 'Poppy,' I first learned about sales. I spent a lot of time with Poppy when I was a child, riding in his Oldsmobile, talking on his rotary-dial 'car' phone, flipping through his presentation materials, learning the fundamentals. Poppy would say, "A good salesman always has a pen . . . listen more than you talk . . . and remember son . . .

what's behind the door, 

I am not sure, 

but this I know 

and know it well, 

the more I open, the more I sell."

The Six Characteristics of the Champion Sales Professional are:

• Energy
• Enthusiasm
• Likability
• Love
• Unique
• Urgent