Enjoy An Espresso Shot of Sales Wisdom!
Random thoughts on meditation, coffee and routine
Earlier this week I had a great meditation session that got me fired up. It was 6 am, I sat outside and embraced the cool crisp air. If I am totally honest this was my first meditation session in over two weeks. I disclose this as I consider myself a meditator but clearly, I have lapsed. I first came across Tara Brach from listening to her on an episode of the Tim Ferriss podcast . For anyone interested in Mediation, and Buddhism, I highly recommend listening to that episode. During the session, she asked a question along the lines of… what does your heart desire? My first inclination was to ignore this seemingly cheesy question. Strangely, I felt almost embarrassed to even consider it.
But without much effort, the following statement much like a wave appeared out of nowhere… to move through this world with intention I was surprised at how much this thought struck a chord with me. Everything we do should have intention. But the real gift of this wave was its simplicity. To move through this world with intention is a great mantra that gives purpose to our everyday activities. Finding joy seems to come easy when we have a vacation to look forward to, or a weekend to get excited about. But what about the other 99% of our time? How can we find joy in the ordinary and mundane? That’s a journey that I’m excited to plan and travel on each day. For example, let’s take my morning cup of coffee. I know your thinking hold on a minute, you had me at meditation and mantras, now you're talking about coffee? Let me explain…
The coffee beans I grind every morning arrived from a place of intentional selection. Meaning I subscribed to a coffee club called Atlas which curates coffee beans from all around the world and delivers them to my doorstep each month. On top of that, they include a postcard from that month’s coffee region. I am no longer drinking just a cup of coffee. I have a very deliberate almost meditative process for preparing my coffee. I prefer the pour-over method as it extracts the subtle flavors that otherwise would go unnoticed or worse stay trapped. All this is to say I have ritualized my morning coffee routine. While it may take me longer than most to prepare my coffee the result is always a delicious cup even before I have taken the first sip. There within lies the magic... My coffee prep routine is where the joy comes from and not the coffee itself. The goal is to be intentional with my morning ritual. I wonder how this applies to the world of sales and or a sales career? I suspect the key may be to find joy in the sales process and not the end result.
