The golden quarter is in full swing and retailers must deliver results – how should retail staff use their minds to tackle the task at hand?
It never ceases to amaze me that in retail we overlook understanding and developing the one thing that has the most impact on our success and wellbeing, both at work and in our personal lives – our minds.
For sure, retailers have lots going on, particularly at this time of year. Sales are critical in December. We’re all so busy trying to get things done, to achieve, to maximise results, to get on in our career, to make money.
And with this business can come feelings of stress, pressure, frustration and overwhelm.
“Better results and greater success can be achieved if teams learn to use their minds more effectively”
Martin Palethorpe, The Pragma Group
Top athletes have known for years the benefits that working on their minds can have for their performance. They know that a quieter mind = performing ‘in the zone’ = better results = winning.
The concept is equally applicable in retail. Better results and greater success can be achieved if teams learn to use their minds more effectively.
So what can be done? Where is the operating manual for the human mind?
The process begins with understanding the basic principles that lay behind how the mind works. The three main psychological forces that operate inside us are thought, consciousness and mind.
We each have 60,000-90,000 thoughts flowing through our minds every day. Some of those thoughts flow into our consciousness, where we become aware of them.
Our thoughts create our feelings and our experience of life in every moment. And underneath all of this, we have our mind, which is a deeper, more powerful intelligence that we have access to in every moment – as long as our thinking isn’t getting in the way. Three of the key implications of these principles are as follows.
Our feelings are not caused by outside events
Often people think that events that happen in the outside world create our feelings. If trade is bad we feel fed up; if we have an unproductive day we feel frustrated.
But our feelings are not created by events external to us. The only thing that can create a ‘feeling’ in any given moment is the thought that we have in that moment. Nothing outside of us can physically create the feeling.
The more deeply you understand this principle, the less you will be affected by outside factors, meaning you will feel calmer, more relaxed, be more resilient and experience less strong negative emotion.
Our reality is not real; it’s created in thought
The only way that we can experience life is through our thought. The danger occurs when we live our lives immersed in our thinking. “I’m not a confident person,” “my boss is arrogant,” “trade is bad because of the weather.”
This is all just thought – simply a perspective – but it’s not real. Another person could think totally differently about the same things and have a different perspective, so create a different reality.
As an example, somebody who’s really talented may not think they’re very good. They lack confidence. We think “if only they realised how good they actually are”. We see their talent, but they are stuck in their thinking, in a reality that limits their potential. It’s not real, it’s just their thinking.
Being ‘in flow’ is our natural state
When we’re not over-thinking and have a quieter mind, we all have within us a powerful natural state. This is similar to the state that psychologist call being in flow.
“The flow state is when we’re highly productive. We’re not overthinking and being distracted by a noisy mind”
Martin Palethorpe, The Pragma Group
The flow state is when we’re highly productive, feeling alive, engaged, focused, energised, positive, full of ideas, acting on gut and connected to others. We’re not overthinking and being distracted by a noisy mind.
When our thinking is quieter and we’re present in the moment only, we can access our mind for all the wellness, wisdom, ideas, intuition, inspiration, productivity and resourcefulness we need.
Next step
So how do you start using these principles in your work and everyday life? The answer is there’s nothing to do.
Don’t control your thoughts, don’t try to ‘think’ positively, don’t do anything. Simply reflect on the truth of each of these principles for you. And as you dwell further, you’ll probably notice that you automatically get your “mind out the way”.
- Martin Palethorpe is founder of The Pragma Group, a UK-based performance consultancy
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