As you read my articles, books, and this blog post, you’ll learn that I am a great believer in the power of metaphor in our lives.They are a powerful vehicle to serve as excellent reminders for us. Why? There is a tremendous amount of research that indicates metaphors more than any other type of writing have the ability to engage both the left AND right sides of the brain simultaneously. A symbol or metaphor better than anything else can capture the essence of a concept and crystallize your message.
Earlier this year I set the goal of completing a marathon this fall. I initially decided to train for the marathon with two purposes. First, I wanted to create a symbolic daily reminder for myself that my professional journey in life is a marathon not a sprint and should be treated as such. And for me attaching a metaphor involving sport where there are quantifiable measures of progress (clocks timers and rankings) helps me stay in a performance mindset at work. It helps me ensure in my planning and work that I take a long term methodical approach.
Secondly, I wanted to train with a higher purpose; to dedicate my run to a cause and raise awareness and funds for them. Being the parent of a hard of hearing child I decided to run to raise money for the Deaf Children’s Literacy Project. I believe we can not only train and conduct our personal lives with a higher purpose in mind but also work with a higher purpose. Your business and your job have to be about more than making money there must be a higher purpose to keep you motivated and fulfilled. Additionally your money is not your wealth; your time and your health are your wealth. (More about that on my next show by the way.)
We all need to sell and re-sell ourselves on this concept on a daily basis, so why not create a metaphor to help make the message stick. Run your marathon! is mine, what’s yours?
Speaking of sales, if you work in sales (which I believe everyone does) you owe it to yourself to take a look at my column in Sold Magazine. This month’s column is about my SW-9 Formula for Sales Success: http://www.www.bru.dev/uploads/AUGUST_ISSUE_SW_9_FORMULA_ARTICLE_sm.pdf
Many of you have already generously donated to my fundraising marathon and I thank you for your support, it means the world to me. For those of you interested in contributing and haven’t yet here is a secure link where you can give directly, just mention Coach Bru’s Run in the comment section: https://www.givedirect.org/give/givefrm.asp?Action=GC&CID=566