The Sales Stoic

May 15th - What are the things you’re grateful for?

7 min

“Don’t obsess over things you don’t have as if they already belong to you. Instead, appreciate what you do have and imagine how much you’d want them if they weren’t yours. But be careful—not to the point where losing them would disturb your peace.” - Marcus Aurelius

It’s easy to fixate on the next big deal, a bigger paycheck, or the next promotion. But if you’re always chasing what’s ahead, you risk overlooking what’s already in your hands.

Take a moment to recognize your existing wins: loyal clients, a great team, the progress you’ve made.

Contentment isn’t about getting more; it’s about appreciating what you’ve got.

When you shift your focus to gratitude, you’ll find yourself more confident, resilient, and able to perform at your best.

After all, success isn’t just about reaching the next milestone, it’s about enjoying the journey.

Actionable tips:

  • At the end of each day, jot down three things you're grateful for in your sales career. It could be a helpful colleague, a client win, or simply getting through a tough call.
  • Celebrate the effort, not just the results. If a deal doesn’t close, focus on what you learned from the process and how you can apply it to the next opportunity.
  • Regularly thank your clients for their partnership. A simple message of appreciation can go a long way in strengthening your relationship.

Remember you will die.

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Follow Jack & Zac: Jack: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jack-frimston-5010177b/ Zac: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zac-thompson-33a9a39b/

Connect with We Have a Meeting: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/we-have-a-meeting/ Website: https://www.wehaveameeting.com/

Disclaimer:

The Sales Stoic draws inspiration from the profound wisdom of Stoicism as presented in Ryan Holiday's "The Daily Stoic." As avid readers & fans, we deeply respect the work of Ryan Holiday, and acknowledge the significant impact of Stoic philosophy on our own approach to sales and life.

While The Sales Stoic applies the core principles of Stoicism to the unique challenges and opportunities faced by salespeople, it is an original work with its own distinct voice and focus. We aim to build upon the timeless wisdom of Stoicism to empower sales professionals with practical guidance and actionable insights for success in their careers and personal lives.

  • Jack Frimston

    Jack Frimston

    Co-Founder at We Have a Meeting

  • Zac Thompson

    Zac Thompson

    Co-Founder at We Have a Meeting

Well...

If it isn't my old friend, cause I'm Keenan and he's... I like orange soda. No, Kel. Kel. I'm Keenan. I made it all right. Yeah, Keenan Kel. Anyway, it's not about focusing on that. It's about focusing on what you have. And what do I have? I think it's an illness. Okay. So, curly chops today. Great guy. hit you with it. I'm going to lower the voice a little bit. I'm going to lower the register.

Don't obsess over things you don't have, as if they already belong to you. Instead, appreciate what you do have and imagine how much you'd want them if they weren't yours. But be careful not to point where losing them would disturb your peace. Wow, what color is your Bugatti? My Bugatti. I've got to tell you man, May! I've got to tell you man! May has given me that beautiful stuff man. May is just coming in my brother. He's given me that beautiful light. Yeah man, where's my poop?

So when I think about... Do you like that or not? I mean, I didn't like it. It was awful. was disgusting. But they liked it behind the cameras. Yeah, we'll put our Instagram handle for a roadman in the comments. So, focusing on what you have. Again, we're all guilty of it. I don't want to keep saying salespeople are guilty of it. We're all guilty of this, aren't all guilty human beings. If only I had X, this would be easier, right? So I reckon if I was sat with...

my phone and my laptop, if only I got warm leads when I'm starting my sales career out, they get warm leads over there. It'd be amazing. Yeah. And then you, sort of trapped them in that spiral of like things would work if I had that. Yeah. And then, if only I had a great data provider, like whoever X data provider is available, I might find my life easier to get. If only I had this power dial that rings a million people at once, this would happen.

And suddenly you're focused on all the, not only the externals, but the things that you don't have. And think about it like this, like, it's all right for them. They're that, like, many times do you people go through life saying like that? You what mean? Like, you must look at me and go, it's all right for him. He's gorgeous in six foot two. yeah? Do you not say that? I think you're confusing me with something. Because you're very capable. You've got a lot to offer. I want you to believe in yourself. Mate, I believe. Right. I believe that children are the future. What about you? What do you think? What do you think people will get in their own way with this one?

I think about it. Do you know something called the hydronic treadmill? ⁓ sometimes I put it on an incline. Yeah. I put it on at least 10, at least 10. So I saw a beautiful story about this the other day that obviously we adapt as human beings. So even if you get the warm leads, you would adapt to actually that becomes the norm. So most people want like a funnily enough, I had a friend to text me before and said, ⁓ his name is James.

James will put his Instagram handle in the other friends obviously about the friend and he text me and he said I've just had a pay rise. I've just had a job title change and I've just had a new thing. I'm still not fulfilled how stoic of me and he doesn't know I'm here today. So that's obviously like quite fitting but that's not stoic what no, no, no, I know he was being ironic. ⁓ yeah, right how stoic of me but we talk about stoicism a lot got you. Yeah. But it's quite interesting because actually

We just adapt and then like it's like this in the industry, more money, more problems. And we adapt to that. But it also works the same as pain. So the story and the analogy I saw was walking and you've got like you bought some new shoes and they're too big for you. And I'm not going to say what you think I'm going to say because they used to be nasty to you at school, didn't they? But we won't say that today. I've got big feet. What do they use to be? I really.

Gangly thing didn't people used to tell me I bowling shoes on every day They did and but like eventually over time so you have big shoes on and then your feet are rubbing Maybe you can move on from the feet one Yeah, baby you continue if you continue with that and you keep walking eventually you'll you'll get used to the problem So as human beings we adapt to either the pain or the pleasure so

If you are, I'll be happy when I get X, I'll get happy when I get Y, I'll be happy when I get Z. No, as human beings and the way that we behave, we adapt to those things anyway. So when you say I'll be happy when I'm getting three grand more a month, you'll get used to that. And actually you're, you're, as human beings, have a baseline of our happiness. So as much as it will fluctuate and go up and down based on what's happening, it usually comes back to whatever your baseline is. And that's based on your genetics. Other things are available.

I'm going to give people a little mantra here from our old friend Alex Hormozi. Yeah. Alex Hormozi said this. Yeah. He was in your year at school. He was in my year at school. Is it Alex Hormozi who said you've already achieved things that you said would make you happy? Yeah. I love that. I think that's a great one. And it's funny, isn't it? I think there's a lot of things around spirituality and meditation. So that probably gets a bit of a bad, a bad rap. Now people immediately like grow and roll their eyes and whatever, but this idea of practicing gratitude, actually what that means.

This is, this is a perfect antidote to this type of thing. So instead just kind of reminding yourself, I've got a really nice commute back home. It's a long commute. It's about an hour. But as I come back into my little village in Dorset, there's like a big hill that I drive down that overlooks the whole thing. having that moment, regardless of what day it is, where like the sun might be setting or the stars right or whatever. And just having a moment of like, this is just so amazing. Isn't it? Like I get to live out here. I could easily be going.

to this drive every single day. Other people have to do this drive. Other people can work from home the time, actually driving in and going like, how nice that I get to do this. Yeah. You can do that about so many things in sales. If you don't have the warm lead, you can go, how great that I get to actually practice this skill. Yeah. That when I do get the warm leads, I'll be flying. Yeah. How amazing that I get to do this and make things really hard on myself so that when I do get the power dialer or the masses of data, I'm going to be flying. Yeah.

Why don't I just focus on just honing my skills now and you can focus on what you have in the moment rather than what you don't have. Cause that's what life's about, isn't it? Cause it's the haves, the haven'ts. Wow. That was really, really beautiful. Can we, can we get that chopped up and can we put that on like some kind of spin.com? Something like that. Yeah. was a once again, really lovely. It's gratitude is a superpower. Right. Get on with it now, Gratitude is a superpower and it might surprise the audience, but I'm grateful that you are here.

I've been Jack Frimston. Hold my hand, man. I've been Jack Frimson. Hold my hand while I've been Jack Frimston. I've been Jack Frimston. Do it. Just say the bit and I'll do it. I've been Jack Frimston. I've been Zack Thompson. Remember you will die. And look, we do like each other after all. Tickle, tickle, tickle.

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