My dad was a successful salesman. He carried a little spiral notebook with his appointments, notes to himself, important names and numbers. One day, he dropped the notebook on the floor and when it fell open, I saw it had gold stars pasted on most of the pages. I asked him why a grown man would have gold stars in his book and he told me he gave himself a star every day for just getting through the day. On the days when he made a sale, he put lots of gold stars on his page. He said it kept him focused on what went right in his life. On the days when things weren’t going so well, he’d flip back through the pages, look at his gold stars, and think, “They aren’t all like this. Some days are really good.” In spite of what was happening that day, he would concentrate on his success. What my dad was doing back then was a technique which we know today as “anchoring.”
Anchors hold something in place. The physical act of putting the star in the book was anchoring his self-esteem in place.
So, at the age of 16, I started “anchoring” my self-esteem by putting gold stars in my planner. I’ve been doing it ever since!
What will you do today to “anchor” your self-esteem in place?
