There's two types of people in this world . . .

The Mindset Shift That Separates Lasting Salespeople from Burnouts:

The life of a salesperson is full of ups and downs, and a lot of grind. Hundreds of rejections a week, spanned over months, can drag any sane person down and cause you to question yourself and even your own ability to bounce back. That’s why it is so important to have something that motivates you beyond these inevitable down phases — for some it is money but in my experience the appeal of external objectives wears off quickly. Even hitting quota and internal ranks can’t sustainably motivate you to stay in this game long enough and still be happy and striving. 

A focus on purely external goals and material achievement almost surely leads to dissatisfaction—when you pair your own satisfaction with the volatility of external success measured by money or status, the moment they fade the lows become even lower and the fun stops. 

Studies show that a relentless focus on the process, not the objective, lead to more satisfaction and ultimately a more fulfilling career. Focusing on the process of achieving something, like refining your pitch, your tonality or improving your mindset, will allow you to broaden your scope and find meaning and purpose in those phases, where you are failing a lot. 

The perspective change of process oriented thinking, also known as intrinsic motivation, is an extremely powerful mindset technique to help you make down phases just part of the game, not a definition of who you are as a seller or business person. 

One of the most useful studies to understand this shift in mindset comes from Carol Dweck and Ellen Leggett (1988), who looked at how people approach goals and setbacks. They found that individuals generally fall into two categories: those with a performance orientation (focused on proving their ability and hitting external milestones), and those with a mastery orientation (focused on improving their skills and learning through the process).

In a series of experiments, participants were given tasks with varying levels of difficulty, and researchers tracked not just their success rates but also how they reacted when things got hard. The results were clear: those with a mastery orientation showed more persistence, less frustration, and more enjoyment—even when they failed. That’s exactly the shift I’m talking about. When you focus on getting better at the process—refining your pitch, deepening your product knowledge, or improving your mindset—you become more resilient. The lows don’t hit as hard, because they’re part of the game, not a sign that you’re not good enough.

In which of the two categories do you put yourself in?