A girl I used to know posted a picture of me on Facebook last week. I was probably 19 years old in the photo. I am with my brother, my band’s first guitarist, and the band’s second drummer. This was the Bad Reputation band version 2.0, having lost our first drummer for reasons I can’t remember.Business person drawing ascending bar chart graph

My straight hair had been permed and blown dry upside down. The hair spray of the day was called Aqua Net, and it was really a form of liquid cement designed to hold your hair in place during hurricane force winds. I am for sure wearing eyeliner, a tank top, and a woman’s necklace, two of those items probably given to me by my Mom. Only my left ear is pierced, an act of defiance during my first year of high school when I was forced to cut my hair, and my right ear would be pierced within the year.

This picture was taken at rehearsal. But if you are going to be a rock star, you have to look like a rock star. How else will anyone be able to identify you as such? This is still true, by the way.

The person in this picture is not the person I am now. That person couldn’t be the the person I am now. He isn’t capable of that. We did, however, have a few things in common.

The person in the picture required his band to rehearse every single night of the week. If we were going out to see other bands, we were doing so after rehearsal. If you had a family event, we rehearsed before that event, or after that event. We worked harder than anyone else, mostly because we needed to.

The person in that picture was also taking voice lessons. He was investing in himself and his vision even when he had little to invest. At the time, $35 for a half hour voice lesson was what I made in 10 hours.

The person in this picture was a salesman. He booked every gig the band ever had, including the one we forgot until hours before the show start. Luckily, we heard the announcement on the radio that day, and we showed up to a packed house.

There a few more similarities, but nothing noteworthy. What is more noteworthy is what’s different.

The person I see in that picture had no real vision of what is possible. He is completely oblivious to his true potential. He doesn’t have any real models of success, and it will be years before his mother is a successful entrepreneur. Most of his friends will have dropped out of high school before this picture, and none will have gone to college.

His values are nothing at all like mine. He cares only about his family and his little tribe. He cares about the music. He isn’t considerate, and he is selfish. He operates from a place of fear and scarcity. His tribe is his protection.

His beliefs and his behaviors are unrecognizable to me now.

There was a person that came after this one when I turned 25 years old. To become that person, I had to stop being the person in that picture. Then there was the person that came next, this time at 38 years old. Becoming that person required that I stop being the version of the person I was between 25 and 38 years old. I am different person now.

To become the person who comes after the person you are now, you have to stop being the person you are right now. You have to shed the beliefs and behaviors that don’t align with the next version of you, the better self that is already inside you right now.

  • What does the person who comes after the person you are now look like?
  • What does that person believe, and what are you doing now that is in conflict with those beliefs?
  • What part of you do you have to shed to become the person who comes next?

If you want to see the picture, I’ll post it on my Facebook page at www.facebook.com/thesalesblog. I’ll turn on the live video at 1:00 PM, so stop by and say hello. I’ll also take your questions there.

As always, comment to send me your thoughts, your stories, and your ideas. Hit forward to send this to someone who might benefit from the big idea here, or who might remember the 80s fondly! Send them to www.thesalesblog.com/newsletter to sign up.

 

Do good work this week, and I’ll see you back here next week.

 

Anthony Iannarino

www.iannarino.com

 

P.S. This is a huge week for me! It’s the last week for preorders for my first book, The Only Sales Guide You’ll Ever Need. We have done really well, but I need a few thousand more books to make my goal. To that end, your preorder automatically gets you three months of Iannarino Online (www.iannarino.io), worth $144. This, in addition to the workbook. Order now at preorder.theonlysalesguide.com.

 

P.P.S. We are really working hard on the podcast. I have 4 killer episodes in the can now. Go to http://apple.co/2cy5wtZ to subscribe!

 

 

Contributor Anthony Lannarino is an entrepreneur, speaker, author, and consultant. He writes daily at www.thesalesblog.com and you can subscribe to his newsletter at www.thesalesblog.com/newsletter.