“The fear of loss is a path to the dark side… Train yourself to let go of everything you fear to lose.”~ Yoda
Yoda said this to Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. I was watching part of this movie again yesterday with my 7 year old son, who was watching it for the 5th time this week.
Anyway, when I heard Yoda’s wisdom, I wrote it down right away so I wouldn’t forget to blog about it in the context of business development.
You see, one of the key components in successful sales is to not be attached to any particular outcome. That means not being attached to the money, to the possible deal, to getting the work, to nailing the pitch, etc. No attachment. When we are holding on tightly to that which we think we need, we indirectly influence in a negative way the results we intended to produce.
It’s a tricky distinction. We must be committed to the outcome we’re selling, we must have clear intentions of how we’d like it to go, but we must then let go of any and all attachment to how it goes.
So, my Jedi younglings…your mission is to practice letting go of all that you fear losing. It’s the only way to win!
Here’s a clip of the video where Yoda shares this profound nugget:
