I recently read a story about a woman who was learning some crucial steps in keeping her attitude up. She started running regularly because she knew that when you do aerobic exercise your brain produces endorphins which are natural mood enhancers. The other thing she decided to try was to smile for her whole 30 minute run. What begins to happen is amazing. Because she’s smiling she feels better but not only that, people smiled back at her so she started meeting new people and making new friends.

I tried that when we lived in Atlanta. We were there for 10 years but the first 5 were really hard. To combat that I learned that whenever I felt down or depressed or lonely because I missed my family, if I forced myself to smile it changed my whole outlook. If I woke up in a bad mood, it wouldn’t take me long to realize what I needed to do. I would force a smile. Almost always it made me feel better. Although there were times, and I remember one time specifically when I had to smile during my whole commute to work - which was a huge challenge but I arrived at my office in a great mood.

As salespeople especially, we have to learn how to change our moods. If we’re in a negative mood it will affect everything we do all day long. People will actually avoid you if they sense that you’re mood is down. And don’t think you can work from the office or home when you’re down because the phone hides it. It doesn’t. Your tone of voice will carry through the phone and the person you’re talking to will know. That’s why I teach telemarketers to smile on the phone - because your prospects will hear it.

Here are some other ways to pick up your mood before you head out into the world:

-Pray or meditate. Depending on your culture and background, making this a morning ritual can set your day off right.
-Have a good selection of uplifting music. In Og Mandino’s "The Greatest Salesman in the World" one of the scripts encourages you to sing if you feel depressed. It works!
-Start building a library of positive recordings at your fingertips that you can listen to. Then put them on your mp3 player for easy access anywhere you go.
-Start building a library of good, positive uplifting books to read. A great one to start with is "The Magic of Thinking Big" by Dr. David Schwartz.
-Also, my brand new DVD, Secrets of Sales Power has some other great ideas to help you create a sales power mind set.

Just remember, if you want change YOU have to initiate it. Following these steps is an excellent start.

I know you can do it and I definitely believe in you!