February 1st Keeping Your Cool

“A truly strong person doesn’t give in to anger and discontent, they show strength, courage, and endurance—unlike the angry and complaining. The closer someone comes to a calm mind, the closer they are to strength.” - Marcus Aurelius

True strength isn’t found in anger, it’s in staying calm and composed.

Rage may feel powerful, but it clouds judgment and leads to mistakes. Calmness gives you control and resilience, even under pressure.

Dr. Steve Peters’ The Chimp Paradox explains this well: our "Chimp" brain reacts emotionally, while our "Human" brain responds with logic. The key? Let your "Human" lead.

In sales, tough clients or missed targets can trigger your Chimp. But by pausing, breathing, and staying composed, you protect relationships, make better decisions, and lead with strength.

Pause. Breathe. Respond. Don’t just react.

Actionable tips:

When you feel anger rising in a conversation, recognise that this is your inner "Chimp" reacting. Pause, take a deep breath, and give your "Human" brain a moment to regain control. This brief pause can prevent impulsive reactions and help you respond more thoughtfully.
Instead of letting your Chimp dictate your response, redirect that surge of energy toward finding solutions to the challenge at hand. This approach not only helps you overcome the issue but also shows clients that you're committed to resolving their concerns professionally. By mastering your Chimp, you can demonstrate calm under pressure and build stronger, trust-based relationships.

Remember you will die.

—

Watch The Sales Stoic on Stream by Dealfront: /resources/stream/series/the-sales-stoic/

Listen to The Sales Stoic:
Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/spotify-the-sales-stoic
Apple Podcasts: https://tinyurl.com/apple-the-sales-stoic

Subscribe to The Sales Stoic for daily insights: /resources/stream/series/the-sales-stoic/

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

Mr. Frimston. It's the first of February. First of February. We've got over the January blues. January blues are long gone. The February who's are here to stay. Nice. Did you just make up on the spot? want you to immediately forget it. I hated it. Okay. Thank you. Curly Marcus. Curly Marcus. Let me tell you what Curly Marcus has to say to you. Keep this thought handy when you feel a fit of rage coming on. isn't manly to be enraged. Rather gentleness and civility are more human.

and therefore manlier. A real man doesn't give way to anger and discontent, and such a person has strength, courage and endurance, unlike the angry and complaining. The nearer a man comes to calm, the closer he is to strength. Wow. And you know what, that's probably a good place to start on the first of the month. Maybe you missed your first target. You you missed commission and you've gone into the office and you're, I'm so angry. Yeah. But actually...

Just be chill with it. Be ghosted. Yeah. Yeah. I it. I thought he was going to come back. I thought he was going to sign. Oh no. There's so much we can talk about with the hot headed mum. And I think it's an interesting one because it falls into both sides. So it's talking about the salesperson being hot headed, but also the flip. So you make a lot of calls. You speak to a lot of people. And sometimes in the world of cold calling, you get a lot of angry prospects that lose their call. I think, I think I told you about this, but I want

called a lady and she really shouted at me. She really, really went mad at me. And then the next day I got a text and she went, I just wanted to apologize. My cat had died that morning. Really? And that was what my reaction was based on. If only I had one as well early on in the, in, in, have a meeting where I'd call the guy up. I was ringing from a well-known brand. Yeah. And when he found out where I was calling from, I'd never use you.

I've used you before. But he went absolutely mad. Phone got slammed down. And at the time we didn't have a system. So I just didn't put the note against the on the spreadsheet. Next week I rang him back and as it was ringing, I thought, I'll recognise that name. It's the guy that hello. So you always look at how. And just went straight into the same approach. Normal call. Totally forgot about it. Ended up booking a meeting. It's mad, isn't it? Just shows you when you've caught someone in that moment, sometimes it's easier to say.

When have I been like that? People don't think wake up thinking, I can't wait to shout at somebody on the phone because nobody feels good after that. Usually you feel guilty or a bit of shame if you've kind of unleashed it. I see it all on LinkedIn all the time. People like not shaming people for saying this person was angry at me. This person shouted. It's like have empathy because you don't actually know what's going on in other people's lives. So when you get into situations in sales,

Where people go to you, yeah, there's, there's that conversation of control and what you can actually control, but have that empathy because you don't know what other people are going through. No, no, no, no. Exactly. And I think it's one of those things that we always remind our team when they're talking about, Oh, this guy was so horrible to me, me to get a real, okay. Well, when you've behaved like that or been short with someone, what was going on in your life? Yeah. Oh, well, yeah, maybe I had some stuff going on at home or woke up on the wrong side of the bed or whatever. And it's, think it's about seeing.

yourself and someone else rather than seeing you as completely different. Yeah. Do you know what I do with some of my team? So if I can see they're getting really frustrated, someone's just being really rude. I'll grab them and we go out and watch this video. I don't know if I've told you about this, but it's basically a 10 minute video of earth and like it's like Google maps and it zooms out for 10 minutes and it goes out of the out of the out of the solar system and it keeps going and going and going all these different universes. And at the end it's like, that's your little bit of rage at something so

It's think about what you can control. Is it really worth being angry because somebody said, I don't take cold calls? Where does it end that video? It doesn't. Wow. I've been Jack Frimston. I've been Zach Thompson. Remember you will die. Would you rather be a duck that can't swim or a swim that can't duck?