Do not confuse pleasure with happiness.

Unhappy people can have pleasure.

And uninterrupted pleasures are not happiness.

Happiness is the result of knowing who you are, why you are here, and what you should do.

We need identity, purpose, and adventure.

Identity – Who am I?

Purpose – Why am I here?

Adventure – What will I do now?

Selling is theater and each customer is an actor in that play.

The marketing person – an ad writer – creates the storyline.

The salesperson is the director, the narrator, the master-of-ceremonies and the usher.

The customers sit quietly in the audience until they realize the play is about them.

Are your customers sitting quietly in the audience? 

Your job is to entice them out of their seats. You want them to stand up and take action. You need them to storm the stage, perform their parts, walk on clouds of laughter, dance in the rain of the spotlight, revel in the thunder of applause.

This play called Life should always be about identity, purpose and adventure. Make it about something else and your play is certain to be a parody, a tragedy, a satire or a farce.

These are the motivations of the characters:

Identity: Who am I? 

We buy what we buy to remind ourselves – and tell the world around us – who we are. We even choose our service providers based on how closely they mirror the way we would run their company. We’re attracted to reflections of ourselves. A salesperson points out this reflection, “That’s you, isn’t it?” and then gives the intellect the facts it needs to justify the purchase. Win the heart and the mind will follow.

Purpose: Why Am I Here?

If you’re sitting alone in the darkness, it’s because you’re afraid. Stand up fearfully, but stand up anyway. Flip the switch of the spotlight with a trembling finger and walk wobbly-kneed to center stage. We measure ourselves by our intentions but others measure us by our actions. Let your intentions become your actions and you will have stumbled onto your purpose. Quit thinking. Start doing. And whatever you do, do it with set-jaw determination. Your purpose will reveal itself soon enough.

Adventure: What Will I Do Now?

It is not the victory, but the audacity of the attempt that makes us feel alive. Small plans do not enflame the hearts of men. If your life’s work can be accomplished in your lifetime, you’re not thinking big enough. Waiting is a kind of dying. Indecision is a decision. When you let enough time go by as you wring your hands and say, “Well, I just don’t know,” the opportunity will pass and your decision will have been made. Procrastination is the passive assassin of happiness.

Opportunity has been knocking for a long time now. In fact, it’s pounding on your door as you read this. 

Get up and answer it.

Do something that scares you.

What’s the worst than can happen?

Answer the door.

It’s showtime.

Roy H. Williams