As you know, I’m a small business coach.  I have a small and exclusive clientele, which means they take a long time to find and sign up.  It’s not uncommon for my sales cycle to be several months long.  More important, most people I talk with don’t end up purchasing my services.

The result for me, internally, is that I get quite excited when it looks like someone will sign up as a client.  Because I’m optimistic, I like to hope for the best.

That doesn’t always happen.  Which can leave me, well, quite grumpy for awhile.

I’m trying to learn how to “hold hope lightly.”  It’s a balance point of hoping, but not investing emotionally.  Of realizing that either outcome is possible, even good.  My internal dialog is something like this: “I’d love for this person to become a client.  But it that doesn’t happen, that’s OK too, because my deeper goal is to find the people who will get huge value from my services.”

This helps to level out the emotional roller-coaster quite a bit.  My wife appreciates it too.

I’d like to think that the saying about “not putting all your eggs in one basket” is a bit similar to this, especially when it comes to focusing your emotions.

Oh, by the way, I did sign a new client last week.  So NOW I have a great reason to celebrate!

If you are interested in individual career coaching, group coaching, or other resources which might help you with difficult choices, please contact Carl at carl@dierschow.com.

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© 2011 Possibilities Partnership LLC