When You Can't Control, What You Can Control with DeJuan Brown

Rethink The Way You Sell

While we’re on hiatus preparing for a new season of Rethink the Way You Sell, we wanted to bring you some content from Jeff you probably haven’t heard before. Jeff produced a premium podcast called Deeper Thought from 2020-2022 and you’re about to hear one of those episodes. Enjoy!

This is an enhanced audio version of the Deeper Thought post When You Can't Control What You Can Control by DeJuan Brown including an interview with the author. We've all heard the mantra "control what you can control" especially in business. But is this mantra helpful when your mental health is weaker than normal or when the world feels uncontrollably chaotic?

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When You Can't Control What You Can Control by DeJuan Brown

I'd be the first one to tell you that I believe in the 'control what you can control' mantra. That it's rarely good or productive to get bogged down with things outside of my control.

That's why it snuck up on me these last several weeks when the grief, mourning and darkness of this national moment rendered the mindset I'd lived and taught nearly useless.

In my sales career, I was mentored to look at the things that fall under my jurisdiction and recognize the segments I can directly impact. This typically included things like dials, prospecting activities, research and my own attitude.

So far, so good right? So I also thought, until the seemingly back-to-back deaths of Ahmaud Arbery and George Floyd became the proverbial straws that broke...

I've been in such a state that even the things I normally put into my 'controllable' bucket no longer fit there. I was so impacted that I couldn't actually dial, prospect, research or get a handle on my attitude.

I was and am in mourning, full of grief that washes over me in waves. Even as I tried to go back to all that I've heard and read about growth mindset and perspective, I came up empty.

There was no level of aggressive attempt that could shake the internal weight I was feeling. I now know why 'control what you can control' means one thing for the mentally healthy and another thing entirely for someone struggling with their mental health.

In fact, I think there are many more aspects of the sales life that presuppose mental health when prescribing next steps. If you're mentally healthy and I tell you to block off your calendar to better accomplish tasks, it's just a simple first step to better time management.

If you're not mentally healthy at the time you hear that advice, it could bear the load of yet another thing to do before your life is deemed acceptable. Drastic difference, yes? In light of these types of swings, the last month has shown me among other things, that community is a non-negotiable. I'll say more about that as a follow up, I'm sure.

There's another thing this time has taught me. Namely, the 'one more question' I'll be asking anyone in a discussion about their mindset is now 'how's your mental health doing?' It's akin to my physical trainer asking me how's my sleep when I say I can't lose weight. Seems counter-intuitive, but they're so interwoven that to not ask is a real miss.

This is a conversation that needs to never have an end. There is no way to decouple mindset from mental health. It's easy to forget, and it's usually calamity that reminds us. We can play a huge part in changing that for one another.

What about you? When's the last time you had a good mental health discussion as part of mindset analysis? Where do such discussions find themselves in your list of priorities, and more importantly-have you found the community to safely have them in?

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