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Hey bud,

In my first year in sales as a financial advisor, I had a very difficult time.

It wasn’t even in my nature to sell.

I was a nervous wreck every time I was about to call a prospect to set an appointment.

And every time clients would say no to what I was offering, it really stung (and I sometimes took it personally too).

I wasn’t accustomed to sales in the beginning, and so I felt a lot of frustration and sometimes even shame.

It felt paralyzing.

I wasn’t accustomed to sales, and so I found it difficult.

Sales is also an emotional roller coaster.

There have been multiple occasions where I got my hopes up because I expected a prospect to become a client.

They were very pleasant.

They gave good feedback.

They sounded enthusiastic about the presentation.

And then… nothing.

I go from excited to disappointed and frustrated.

Little did I know, I needed to experience these challenges so that I could develop Emotional Agility.

Which is, the ability to recognize when we’re in states of stress, step out of this state, and decide how to act in alignment with our values and goals.

It’s an ability that I learned to develop which allowed me to shift into states of joy, gratitude, and bliss.

And when you’re able to shift into joy, gratitude, and bliss, your body and mind work at their best — which makes you more productive.

Emotional Agility in Sales

All top producers in sales have this ability.

They say that in sales you eventually grow “thick skin.” And I think part of that process of growing thick skin is developing emotional agility.

Top producers act in alignment with their values and goals most if not all of the time. If they don’t, they wouldn’t be top producers.

What separates those that eventually succeed, and those that do not is what they do after a stressful situation, or a moment of temporary defeat.

The average sales professional will take days or even weeks to recover from a moment of temporary defeat. In that time, they wallow, feel sorry for themselves, and fall into unproductive behavior.

They try to run away from the uncomfortable emotions by distracting themselves with:

• Food

• Video games

• Social Media doom scrolling

• Nights out drinking

• Excessive sleeping

In essence, they self-sabotage.

I know this because I’ve been there.

On the other hand, a top performer will take less time to recover from a moment of temporary defeat.

What takes an average sales professional days or even weeks will take hours or even just a day for a top performer.

Why?

The top producers have developed emotional agility.

Think of it like a professional runner vs an average person.

Both decide to run 10kms.

The average person will recover and be ready to run again after a few days.

The professional runner will recover and be ready to run again the next morning.

If you are someone that wants to become a top producer in sales, you need to be able to develop emotional agility.

How to Develop Emotional Agility

Here’s 3 steps on what to do when experiencing states of stress or any uncomfortable emotion:

Step 1: Recognize The Emotion

In other words, acknowledge them.

Recognizing whatever emotion you are feeling helps you understand the reason behind that emotion.

Think of your emotions as a guidance system. They help you clarify what you want, and what you don’t want.

If you don’t recognize your emotions, you are, by default, avoiding them.

Many people avoid as a knee-jerk response.

And while avoiding the discomfort kind of makes sense (we’re just trying to protect ourselves), it will do more harm than good in the long run.

Emotions that we avoid feeling end up being bottled up inside of us.

If you keep doing this, you might end up having an emotional outburst or breakdown one day, which isn’t good for anyone.

Do this instead:

The next time you’re feeling emotionally charged, first try identifying what emotion you are feeling, and then acknowledge that feeling.

If you’ve identified anger, for example, you can tell yourself:

“I accept that I am feeling angry right now. It’s an appropriate emotion to feel in this moment, and I love, honor, and accept myself in spite of how I am feeling.”

I personally like to imagine sitting down with the emotion I’m feeling and listening to what it has to say, without judging it.

As if I’m just a friend listening to that emotion vent and release.

Step 2: Release The Emotion

The second step to cultivating emotional agility is to release the emotion.

Releasing emotions has to be done responsibly and energetically.

This is so that any heaviness you are feeling is removed through release work.

You can do release work using:

1. Expressive Writing like journaling your emotions 

2. Creative Expression like art, dance, or music

3. Physical Activity like walking, running, or boxing

These are just some of the many ways you can release your emotions energetically and responsibly.

Personally, I like journaling and just writing down whatever I’m thinking and feeling when I’m in uncomfortable emotional states.

And then, I go for a walk or a run and feel so much better afterward.

Step 3: Reframe Your Experience

The third step is to reframe your experience from negative to positive.

Once you have successfully released the heavy emotions, you are now ready to reframe the experience that caused that emotion to come up.

Think of this as re-writing the story from the perspective of a victim to a victor.

What benefit is this experience giving you?

What are you learning about yourself because of this experience?

How is this experience making you a better person?

Self-reflecting on these questions help you reframe that experience from a negative one to a positive one.

Once you have reframed that experience, if you encounter a similar one in the future, you will be able to respond to it from a place of wisdom and growth.

In Conclusion

I can say that one of the reasons I see myself as a high-achiever now is because I learned how to develop emotional agility.

It’s one of the reasons I was able to qualify to the MDRT multiple times.

It may not be a direct reason, but it allowed me to lessen procrastination and self-sabotage over time.

Overall I also just generally feel good most of the time.

And because I feel good most of the time, I can work in pleasant states of experience rather than stressful ones — which is something I wish for everyone.

All the love,
All the power,

— Zach Mar

P.S. Whenever you are ready, there are 3 ways that I can be of help to you:

1. Book a free kick-off conversation for one-on-one coaching here if you are a financial advisor — I’ll help you double your case size using identity shifting.

2. Follow me on Instagram here if you want a source of bite-sized ideas and content that can help you reach your next level in life.

3. Download my goal setting guide here if you are wanting to create clarity on your desired outcomes (Free until 100 downloads — and then I convert it to a paid resource).

P.P.S. If you are from the Philippines and are looking for a personal mastery workshop to help you experience growth and transformation, check out Discovery by I Am Plus Coaching and Training Systems. It’s where my journey of self evolution personally got fast-tracked.