Next? >> QUESTIA
SIBU BABU
By SIBU BABU
Have you ever watched an old-fashioned delicatessen counterman or woman
work?
For one thing, they work fast.
And unless you find them during a rare moment of leisure, they're
strictly business. When one transaction is finished, they'll say,
"Next?"
If the customer they've called is off somewhere, chatting or not paying
attention, a second later and that word comes flying out again:
"Next!"
One transaction is done and all attention is paid to you guessed it,
the one coming up.
This, as I see it, is a beautiful Zen metaphor, a reminder that when
you give everything to what is happening NOW, you get the payoff called
the "pleasantness of presentness."
It's essential we do this, whether we're in sales, customer
service, management, and especially in the mechanical arts, such as
school bus driving or flying planes. The past is interesting, and it
may even contain lessons, but we'll get to those in the future, when
we can give over our entire consciousness to them.
But NOW, we need to address the things relevant to what is in front of
us.
Sellers, especially when the next prospect pops up in front of them, as
on the phone, have to wipe away vestiges of the last one, especially if
it was negative.
Service people can't blame all customers, or make this one atone for
the sins of the last.
And drivers and pilots can't spend a second considering the debris
that they just avoided. Once it's in the rearview, it must stay
there.
So, how do we stay in the here and now?
(1) Take one deep breath between transactions, to remind yourself that
the time is NOW.
(2) When you drift, have an image or a thought that you use to refocus.
I use the image of a triangle. When I superimpose that on what I'm
seeing, I return to NOW.
(3) Don't hold back or resist fully doing what you're doing. You
can't be here and now and saying, "I hate this" at the same time.
Just do it, without commentary.
And if these don't help, just say "Next!"