The Solution We Didn't Know We Were Buying

Well, hello world. I have to share this. I heard something really creative and thought-provoking that I couldn't get out of my mind the other night and I want to title this one the solution we didn't know we were buying. So it was Tuesday night and the sky shared about an interesting sales process that he has and for the purposes of this let's say he sells software and when he sells it he tells you know he talks to the customer the customer explains the problem that they need solving his software can solve it and it can often do a whole bunch of other helpful things and when he explains it and pitches it to them he only tells them about the solution that will fix their problems that they told him about he says the other stuff for after they can sell it and when they can back to him later satisfied but with other issues he makes their day by telling them that the software solution he already sold them can fix it without my anything else and it makes their whole week like their super happy customer and really oftentimes they'll end up being the one of the best referrals that he has and then he mentioned that he thinks this is how our program works and I do think the analogy fits really unusually well because most of us come into the program with one problem we desperately want solved we need to stop drinking we're not necessarily shopping for this new way of living we just want the immediate pain to stop and the program does not require us to understand every benefit of it before we begin the initial pitch is pretty simple it's right if you have a desire to stop drinking there's a way we have found that works it's pretty simple come in the meetings get a sponsor work the steps help somebody else don't drink today come back tomorrow and at first that really is enough but then something kind of interesting happens we start using the program and discover that sobriety is like the first feature because we come come back where your people come up came back and said you know what I'm sober but I'm still angry we have something for that I'm sober but I can't stop thinking about the future and I'm running worst case scenarios we have something for that you know I'm not drinking but my relationships are still a mess we have a we have some tools for that I'm resentful I'm jealous I'm really working for everybody else out of them myself I still can't forgive myself I'm trying to control everything I can't make decisions I get really restless when things go well and I don't feel like I'm good enough unless someone tells me I'm doing a good job but one by one it's like we come to discover that the same program that we've bought that fix our drinking problem has features for all of it and I think that's why I love calling it a design for living a philosophy for life rather than just a method for accidents you know the close-ups do start with addressing that primary thing that got us in the door but over time you know they start adjusting like who I am like the actual person I am not just that one problem that I am all of me you know we have inventory I think that's what works on the resentments and the fears we have a men's making which is helping with preparing relationships or at least cleaning up our side of the street we have prayer and meditation and I think that helps with acceptance piece of mind serenity direction and then when we serve others try to help the next person out it gets us out of ourselves and then I think what I like about sponsorship is it gives me somewhere to take these thoughts that see perfectly reasonable to me and take them to somebody else and get their opinion and often I find that what I'm thinking is probably not the best and so it ends up helping me at home it helps me at work it helps me in my relationships it helps me be a better dad it helps me when I get disappointed it helps me deal with success sadness and especially when things go really good because I think that's a split result for us as well but nobody comes in and we don't tell them all of that on day one could you could you imagine if somebody came in and we're like okay we got this program and all these things that you're gonna do and it's gonna take care all this stuff and you're gonna change everything about yourself you probably be like I don't think so man you need to walk right back out I think they would run it's like the our program meets that new person the customer in this analogy with help some with I guess like where the pain is you know you want to stop drinking we can help with that and then when they return with the next problem we can kind of smile and be like oh yeah man we got you we end up giving them and I have like the set of principles for navigating life and that goes to the last thing that he talked about like where the referrals because we're about attraction rather than promotion right and you might think of referrals of promotion but it's I don't think it really is you know these people who myself included whose lives have visibly changed we are that referral I don't really have to sell it very hard people see what's happened to me and they ask me like what do you do differently and I'll tell them not oh I just stopped the drinking what I'll really tell them is man I came in because I had this really problem that I couldn't fix on my own it was pretty much destroying and taking away any semblance of sanity and peace of mind that I had and when I stopped drinking it gave me the space to start working on all those other things in my life that needed to change and I found and discovered this new way to live work for me peace