Moving Backward to Go Forward
Taller trees have deeper roots
By Jeff Bajorek
Before we start, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention how much fun I had with the Guardian Alarm sales team on Monday, giving a keynote and leading some breakout sessions at their 2025 Sales Rally.
I grew up seeing their commercials on TV, and it's kind of surreal to have a small hand in their sustained growth plans for 2025.
I was speaking with a young rep on Friday (he turns 23 the day this piece goes live).
I’d given him some coaching on his cold calls, as so many people had done for me when I got started, and the progress I noticed in a few short weeks was spectacular.
I said, “You’re happy now, but this is a continuous process of development. You’re going to keep getting better.”
“Yep, just gotta make sure I don’t go backward.”
That’s where I stopped him to disagree.
Sometimes, you have to feel like you’re going backward to continue going forward.
“Wait, You Can’t Go That Way!”
A few weeks ago, I mentioned that talent will only take you so far before your foundations and habits let you down.
A single-family home and a skyscraper don’t have the same foundation—for a reason. If you want to grow taller, you need a stronger base.
The same goes for your career, relationships, or any area of life. When you hit a limit, sometimes the only way forward is to reinforce your support systems.
Sometimes, there’s still plenty of room to grow.
Other times, you won’t get any further without revisiting your fundamentals.
It’s humbling, occasionally remedial, and even embarrassing.
I never told you this would be glamorous work.
They Don’t Hand Out Gold Watches Anymore
People change jobs at much higher rates these days.
I think that’s a good thing, but what often goes unappreciated is how rarely you transfer 100% of your skill set along with you when you move.
Each new job has slightly different demands, even if you’re selling in the same industry.
For instance, I had a strong career in medical device sales before transitioning into coaching and consulting. I know how to open doors, create opportunities, and grow a business.
Even though the sales process is fundamentally the same, working in an inside sales role is a different motion. It took me several weeks to feel like I was getting my feet underneath me in a prospecting motion.
Every role requires new things to learn, and it’s more than just new products and solutions.
If you make radical changes, you may find yourself in a situation where you know you’re capable but feel like you’re missing something.
I’ve been there, and it’s infuriating.
I talked to another young rep earlier this week, who’s taken on a new and ambitious role in a completely different industry than where he started.
If you could buy stock in a sales career, sign me up for this one.
He said, “Jeff, I feel like I was very fortunate to learn from who I did when I first came up. Now that I’m in a different situation, I feel like I’m out of my element.”
“Those are the gaps in your fundamentals, and you have a choice,” I said. “You can waste a lot of time worrying about them, or you can just fill the damn gaps.”
Starting From The Ground Floor
I’m building a new base for myself, both personally and professionally. I felt like I ran into some consistent challenges with my last few projects and roles, and there were some commonalities to those roadblocks.
So, I approached my goal-setting and intentions for this year much differently.
. Be kinder to myself
. Build better routines
. Dive headlong into AI
These aren’t exactly SMART goals. If anything, they might be the anti-SMART goals.
Part of the challenge has been the patience to listen and pay attention.
What does it mean for me to be kind to myself? While driving hard has gotten me where I am today, I believe it has reached the limit of its value.
There’s got to be a better way, but changing this feels like moving away from so much of who I am. That’s a little terrifying.
What about my routines? I’ve never been fond of doing the same thing every day, time after time after time…
Well, ok, where do I get stuck? What’s the feeling beneath the frustration? Where’s the root cause that needs attention?
This kind of mental work is excruciating, but the opportunity and potential on the other side of it are exhilarating.
Quite frankly, I’ve put it off for too long. It’s easier to lament the gaps than to fill them until you’re faced with a choice you really don’t want to be faced with.
It’s hard work to be successful, but to me, it’s even harder to face your own unrealized potential.
One of my biggest fears is that I don’t live up to who I could be because I didn’t do the work to get there.
Early results
I don’t think I’m alone in that January felt like an entire quarter, but I’ve noticed some very positive returns on these efforts in a short time.
My journaling practice is becoming more thorough, quickly becoming a cornerstone of how I begin and end my days.
I’m much more focused on what I can control than what I’m not doing. While this is a great approach, I seem to have backed into it this time, which is intriguing.
Physically, I’m sleeping better and have lost five pounds- without anything resembling a diet. The only guardrails I put in place were Dry January, and stopping eating by 7pm, which are very sustainable, with plenty of room for exceptions.
In the past, I would have seen these changes as things I needed to add to my routines.
This time, I’m making them priorities, and it’s interesting how the other stuff is falling into place.
It’s almost like an automation running in the background. I get momentum from it.
Going back to what I mentioned I was afraid of, my work hasn’t suffered. I’ve got happy clients who are asking for more of me.
If this is what the ground floor looks like, we’re in good shape.
How’s your approach to 2025 coming along? I guess there’s an unofficial holiday in mid-January for everybody who sets too ambitious goals. It’s called Quitter’s Day.
Speaking of goals, I was interviewed for a book about goal setting released this week. It came out nicely. You should check it out.
AI Corner
There are a lot of people looking for new jobs at the moment, and I passed along this advice just the other day.
Use ChatGPT or another bot to help you get up to speed on a new industry that you want to enter. But take it a step further: spring for the $20 monthly subscription and prompt it as a hiring manager. The voice capabilities are totally worth it.
The AI will put you through a mock interview, asking alarmingly realistic questions, and then coach you on what you did well and where you can improve—all in real-time.
It’s a remarkable role-playing partner, and I’ve got a lot more for you next week on the other ways I’ve been using this feature.
As always, thanks for reading this.
I’m happy to have you along with me for the ride, and I’ll see you again in the future!
Jeff Bajorek is a sales consultatnt who helps sales teams design and implement their sales strategies with a focus on the fundamentals, and by noticing what others don't.
Website: www.jeffbajorek.com