“To every thought and action there is re-action – opposition. This brings the experience and outcome. Cause and effect….For every determination and intention there will be a counter determination and intention. Every thought will have an effect and action.” From Grandmother’s Legacy by Pa’Ris’Ha *

The other day I was traveling back from a sales training with a fellow sales rep and we were discussing an apparent “slump” in the activity of our local sales force. He shared his recent discouragement from getting more rejections than normal and that he was letting that holds him back from pursuing more new contacts.

I offered the wisdom of my business coach, whom I have also known as spiritual mentor and Elder for over 25 years, Pa’Ris’Ha Taylor. Coach Taylor often speaks of the using the opposition to gauge the strength of what we have put into motion.

We know, from the laws of physics, that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Therefore when we declare a goal, or make a declaration of position, there is a natural response of equal and opposite energy that comes back to us.

Some will see that as a “sign” that they weren’t supposed to proceed, or that they were on the “wrong” course, or that it’s going to be too hard. Coach Pa’Ris’Ha Taylor always used that show of opposition as an indicator of the power and strength of what she had put into motion.

She taught by her example, to welcome and embrace the opposition.

From Quantum Physics we learn that there can be no creation without resistance. “Resistance” can be another term for opposition.

Cold calling isn’t something that comes easy to me necessarily, but it is something I have done well when I’m consistent with it. Many sales people can identify with the “fifty-pound phone” analogy. So can some network marketers. So my “resistance” is to picking up the phone. But unless I pick up the phone and make the calls necessary to make contacts and appointments, I make no money.

In order for me to experience success in sales, or “create” income, I have to move through my resistance and do what I might not find pleasant, but in the end profitable.

If I’ve set a high goal and start experiencing lackluster results – it might just be that “opposition” factor coming into play. The opposition/resistance can come from outside myself or within myself – or be a combination. What I know from my own past experience is that if I allow the resistance to stop me, I don’t reach my goal. If I persevere and press through the resistance, I accomplish what I set out to achieve, and then some.

“You are built not to shrink down to less but to blossom into more”. Oprah Winfrey

 

*© Copyright 2007 Parisha Online. All Rights Reserved.

 

©2011 Deborah Adler. All rights reserved. (NOTE: All quotes remain the sole property of the original authors.)

God has a wonderful sense of humor! I walked into Pa’Ris’Ha Talyor’s office in the Center for Human Development in Cleveland twenty five years ago, filled with chagrin that after having gone to listen to other “teachers” in the fields of personal, professional and spiritual growth, I had heard nothing so profound and so pure as the Elder’s Wisdoms she shared from her traditional roots. We laughed that day, and have done so on numerous times since recalling my exasperated declaration of discovery!

Tonight I found myself smiling once again as I listened to an excellent coaching session from my network marketing upline leader that was essentially a recasting of the coaching I and a team of others have received numerous times down through the years from Grandmother Pa’Ris’Ha pursuant to building personal business ventures as entrepreneurs.

The wisdom is simple. Here’s a few highlights:

“Plan Your Work and Work Your Plan”

In evaluating daily and weekly activity, here are some indicators to consider –

1. In honest reflection, how was my week (day)?

2. Did I complete the actions I said I was going to do?

3. Did I stretch?

4. Did I grow?

5. Was I focused on the right activities and the right people?

Grandmother Pa’Ris’Ha has shared a simple benchmark from hr Grandmother:

“Does it grow corn?”

In other words, is the activity I’m engaged in one that will produce results. Will it bring my desired outcome into fruition? Is it the best activity for the time in which I’m doing it? In sales, the time to make calls is when businesses are open, or people are available. Emails, paper organization, etc. can best be done in “non-productive” hours, rather than take up precious contact time.

Energy is the essence of life. Every day you decide how you’re going to use it by knowing what you want and what it takes to reach that goal, and by maintaining focus. -Oprah Winfrey

When evaluating the true progress of your plan, here’s a simple but effective test:

1. What is not working in your business?

2. What corrective action do you need to take in order to change that?

The focus here is on self-discovery. If I’m looking at my own progress, I need to be honest, without being self-castigating. If I’m coaching a team member or assisting an associate as a reflection, my role is simply to ask the question from the place of the Observer and let that individual come up with their own answers. That leads to self-empowerment, which will make the “course correction” more readily embraceable.

‎“If you are not failing on an hourly and daily basis you are not trying to grow or move forward.” –Pa’Ris’Ha Taylor

I shared in an earlier post about Grandmother’s analogy of the airplane pilot needing to make course corrections in order to reach their destination. (ref). Grandmother Pa’Ris’Ha also often utilizes a strategy of action built around the concept “Mis-take; Re-take.”

When we embrace “failing forward” we take what hasn’t worked in stride as part of the learning process and then make the necessary “course corrections” or “re-take” that opens the way for a different and potentially better, more effective outcome.

‎“Making adjustments as we go and covering as much as we can in any instant is still not likely to prevent failure here and there. So you were wrong. Now do you die? Is it fatal? No! You re-take the whole thing and move forward.” –Pa’Ris’Ha Taylor

We are most successful when we are constantly measuring the effectiveness of our plan. That means perpetual evaluation. Evaluation is not about criticism, but rather about determining the “value” of what has taken place.

‎“Learning is dealing with failure. Growing is maximizing our failures.” –Pa’Ris’Ha Taylor

 

-Deborah Adler

©2011 Deborah Adler. All rights reserved. (NOTE: All quotes remain the sole property of the original authors.)