April 29th Focus On The Big Picture

“Look up at the stars and picture yourself moving with them. Reflect often on how the elements transform into one another—such thoughts clear away the distractions of everyday life.” - Marcus Aurelius

Marcus Aurelius reminds us to look up and to see beyond daily frustrations and focus on the bigger picture.

Like the North Star guiding travelers, our goals should serve as steady points of direction in an unpredictable world.

Setbacks? Challenging clients? Missed deals?

They’re just passing moments in a long journey.

Keep moving, stay patient, and trust your course. Progress isn’t always immediate, but perspective will keep you on track.

Actionable tips:

When things get tough, remind yourself of your long-term goals and the journey ahead, not just today’s obstacles.
Picture yourself moving steadily toward your goals, just as stars follow their path. This can keep you focused and help put daily challenges in perspective.
Set a "North Star Check-In" once a week in which you take 10 minutes to reflect on your long-term vision, what progress you’ve made, and what small steps you can take next. This keeps your direction clear and prevents you from getting lost in daily distractions.

Remember you will die.

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

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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
Co-Founder at We Have a Meeting
Zac Thompson
Co-Founder at We Have a Meeting

There, out in the darkness, a fugitive running, fallen from grace. Keep your eyes on the stars, stars, Les Miserables, 29th of April. Watch the stars in their courses and imagine yourself running alongside them. Think constantly on the changes of the elements into each other.

For such thoughts wash away the dust of earthly life. Marcus Aurelius. Wow. Many ways that we could take this, but I think one thing to think about today is obviously the North Star, keeping an eye on the stars, like you've got these goals, goals in place. It's probably like taking a moment to smell the roses and it's a quote, I'll give it to Alex Ormosy. I don't know if it's come from somewhere else. It's everything, it's a remix.

but you've already achieved goals that you said would make you happy. And I think that gratitude in the salesperson's toolbox is something that kind of missed a lot. Everybody's always onto the next call, onto the next deal, onto the next contract, whatever it may be. But I think that definitely as you're working your way through the year, you're hitting milestones. Even if you're not hitting target, taking a moment to reflect on

who you are, what you're doing, how far you've come in life. And then also like just having that gratitude to say, well, I'm in a job, I've got a company, I've got an opportunity to grow, I've got all of these resources. We are the luckiest generation so far. Like when we think about how much power we've got, you think in your pocket, you've got a mobile phone that you can have access to Marcus Aurelius at any moment that you want. You could use AI to ask him questions.

Like just having that gratitude, but actually we just spend our time watching videos of dogs doing burpees. What do you think about dogs? They're all right. So it's interesting that the human experience as wonderful as it is, one of the biggest blessings and the biggest cons is thought, the ability to think. Because Seneca's got this great thing where he talks about a wild beast in the wilderness. It sees a predator and it gets anxiety about the predator and anxiety makes it run away.

And then when it's safe again, it just carries on grazing and doing what it was doing. goes straight back to just being in a relaxed mode. Human beings, what happens is the thought arises with the emotion. So the anxiety comes, you're away from the anxiety causing thing and the thoughts just still there just repeating things and getting it on a loop. And I think about that when you talk about being grateful, often the loop is just not.

playing the gratitude track. But as soon as it does, you go, I actually, on my drive home from Bournemouth, you've done it a few times, remember, you're back to my house and you come over all these nice hills and there's a very sudden feeling of like, there's all like the rolling countryside and you're back home. And on a Friday, there's usually a feeling of like, gratitude for my wife or my kids or just getting to do the job that we do.

and like it affording you the ability to just have this drive. Yeah. Just reminding yourself of those things is a lovely thing to send to you in the here and now, because it's not that you have to do it, it's that you get to do it. So, so good. And the reframe there is powerful and sales is hard. It's filled with rejection. But actually, if you were to paint that out, and especially if you sat down with Marcus Aurelius and said in thousands of years time, you're going to sit down and you're going to use a phone.

and you can just communicate with people all over the world, have conversations with them about their business, what they're up to, how they're struggling, and you can work with anybody, anywhere. You'd have been killed. you'd been told that, you'd have thought, what Bullet to the brain. But that's it. Like, it's not for everybody. Sales isn't. But like, some people don't want to communicate with people. But actually, that's part of the thing that keeps the world spinning, the fact that you get to just have that ability to... reach out to anybody. Like it's so easy in this generation to get hold of the CEO of Hawkins Bazaar. They have gone into liquidation and I'm 3 % responsible for that. But that's a story for another day. I've been Jack Frimston. I've been Zach Thompson. Remember you will die. Why was that invited to steak night?