Salesperson Fitness and the Amazing Tom Brady

This is my final article on salesperson fitness, with a note on the incredible Tom Brady.

As we’ve discussed throughout this series, fitness isn’t just a matter of one’s body. There is also fitness of the mind, and (believe it or not) fitness of the spirit. Most importantly, these must all be addressed together, holistically, as many Asian cultures tell us–unlike the ancient Greek, who considered you could address either the mind, body or spirit separately and ignore the rest. We now know how untrue this is.

The ancient Hebrew had a word for acknowledging someone as a woman–the word Jada. It included a holistic view of getting to know a woman before getting married. This holistic approach is what need for all human beings.

Holistic fitness makes for an authenticness that cannot be missed. It can be seen in a person’s appearance. A very powerful demonstration of this fitness can be seen in the amazing quarterback Tom Brady, now leading his New England Patriots to yet another Superbowl. The discipline you can observe both in himself and his team is amazingly represented. He is obviously very fit in his body and mind–just watch him operate. It can even be seen when he talks; when he is interviewed, you don’t get an arrogant attitude of “look how good I am.” He is praising his team in a very natural, easy going way.

We can also see when someone is fit in one part, and very weak in another. Some of the most famous actors of old Hollywood are prime examples–they were fine actors who lived miserable lives, even while adored and admired by the public. Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor drank and smoked to amazing excess. Marilyn Monroe died tragically by her own hand. James Dean recklessly drove his car into a horrific auto accident in which he was killed. Neglecting a part of your fitness will, in the end, catch up to you.

So again, you must be holistically fit.

Salesperson Fitness

In wrapping up, I’ll provide 5 tips for salesperson fitness that sum up and add to the advice given throughout this series.

1. There is something being touted today as “life balance”–that you must totally balance your life. I consider this complete poppycock. It must be you that is in balance–in mind, body, and spirit or soul. When you are balanced, you can then balance your life.
2. You are the decision-maker, the driver, of your life. If you know a something is not working, be it a pattern of health or a pattern of behavior, it is up to you to fix it. Don’t wait for the doctor to tell you, for example, that smoking is bad for you. This certainly goes for sales, too–if you see something you’re doing doesn’t help you sell, change it.
3. As a salesperson, you are more a part of a community than just about any other profession. A salesperson functions through a community, through relationships. Relationships are made by contacting and speaking to others. If you simply wait for someone to knock on your door, you’re going to be waiting a long time.
4. Take the time to laugh! A good sense of humor makes life easier. Of course there are serious parts of life, but don’t take everything seriously. If you take a serious view of everything, then everything will be serious. With a twinkle in your eye, with a little more humor, life can become much easier.
5. My final advice to top off all fitness is, fine your happiness! If you don’t have fun and happiness in your life, you will never be fit. Fun means enjoying life. Take, for example, food. If you’re going to spoil your diet a little bit an eat a hamburger, do it with gusto! Eat it with all your heart, and know that the next day you have to take that run. Or if you’re going to have a glass of wine, enjoy it!

Believe it or not, this all comes back to sales. When you enjoy something, you are participating in life. If you’re not participating in life, and you feel your life is miserable, how can you enthusiastically sell something, and provide value to a customer?

You can have a happy life–it’s totally up to you. It has less to do with life’s circumstances than what you do with those circumstances, what you make out of them. And when you do participate in life and find happiness, that is also when you find meaning in life. As Victor Frankel mentioned in his outstanding book Man’s Search for Meaning, every person has to find his or her meaning in life And for a salesperson, there is nothing more important.

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