Develop the mindset of a champion in your insurance career

So often, salespeople focus on their failures and what they did not achieve. Instead, you need to focus on what you have achieved. You can actually program your mind to believe in your strengths and your ultimate success. Just as athletes focus on their strengths, you can focus on yours. Always remember that your product knowledge, your customer service skills and your sincere concern that the customer is satisfied and better off having purchased that insurance plan will overcome any deficiencies you see in yourself.

Action plan 2: Practice presenting a positive attitude toward everyone you meet, not just prospective clients and customers. Constantly pat yourself on the back with positive self-talk, such as,"I provide a valuable service to my clients" and "I help people achieve their goals."

Focus on good results you have achieved in your sales career and pat yourself on the back. Learn from results you were not pleased with in the past and move on. Keep a success journal. Record times you were on a roll and situations where you were really proud of what you accomplished. Each day, put at least one item on your list. Review the list of successes regularly, especially when you are having a worrisome day.

3. Fill your mind with optimistic expectations: Unleash the most powerful mental tool that drives championship performance. Research conducted over 30 years with over 1 million participants has determined that there is a single, powerful predictor of sales achievement — optimistic expectations. Ability and motivation in ones' sales career are not always enough to guarantee consistent results. Expectations of success or failure are self-fulfilling prophecies that often determine the outcomes, regardless of ability and motivation. The research also shows that people who develop learned optimism live longer and healthier lives, so there are major benefits that go far beyond your career.

The key here is to believe that you will succeed, despite the challenges, obstacles and setbacks that are inevitable in your insurance career. Continue to believe you will succeed, even in the face of resistance, rejection and hostility. How you explain to yourself and react to setbacks in your career is a crucial determinant of how successful you will ultimately be. Training yourself to look at setbacks as temporary challenges and minimizing those setbacks with the knowledge that you can find a solution and overcome them, predicts ultimate success. (More: 8 ways to increase sales success)

Action plan 3: Developing optimistic expectations can be learned! Even if you are a chronic pessimist and your parents or spouse is a pessimistic thinker, you can absolutely learn ways to overcome the negative beliefs that underlie your pessimistic explanatory style. Revisit Action Plan 1 (above) because the best way to develop an optimistic explanatory style is by understanding your own negative thinking patterns and practicing changing them. You can also get cognitive training from a professional psychologist or by attending training seminars directed at teaching you learned optimism. Such training will do wonders for your career and in your life!

Jack Singer, Ph.D., is a professional speaker, trainer and psychologist. Dr. Singer has been speaking for and training Fortune 1000 companies, associations, CEOs and elite athletes for 34 years. He is a frequent guest on CNN, MSNBC, FOX SPORTS and countless radio talk shows across the U.S. and Canada. He is the author of "The Teacher's Ultimate Stress Mastery Guide," and several series of hypnotic audio programs, some specifically for athletes and some for anyone wanting to raise their self-confidence and esteem. To learn more about Dr. Singer's speaking and consulting services, please visit www.drjacksinger.com or call (800) 497-9880.

More from Jack Singer:
"How to consistently outperform your sales competitors"
"4 ways to become an "inner winner" and achieve sales success"