Autonomy a Key Element in Sustainable Sales Training

Autonomy is one of those words that people hear, but probably truly do not understand and especially do not think of respective to sustainable sales training. Many think of autonomy as associated with governments and that is actually half-right. The Latin origins of this word mean self and law. For this word is truly about governing oneself first before governing others.
To have autonomy suggests that there exists certain laws or in the case of individuals, values, that regulate the self. Depending upon the individual's spirituality, these values can be easily found within certain religious documents or even etched into buildings that have withstood the test of time.
However, autonomy extends beyond these values or laws. The recent economic debacle along with stories of individuals thriving by deceiving others only reaffirms that few people understand the underlying three most basic elements intertwined within this concept of autonomy. Much like the strands of DNA, these elements provide the building blocks for sustainable autonomy that leads to sustainable sales training.
Element #1
"Know yourself" to quote Socrates is the first element. When you know the why of the decisions you make, you can make better sales decisions. Better decision making leads to improved autonomy where you truly accept responsibility for your success and failures. Of course, there exists numerous challenges about knowing yourself from first being truly honest with yourself and then finding the best "know yourself" tools. Sometimes, you may even require external help from a friend, mentor or even a sales coach.
Element #2
The power to choose who you want to be is the second element. Your awareness about whom you are allows you to determine if this is who you want to be. You have the choice to choose the person that you want to be. This choice is 100% yours. Now if you choose to blame others such as clients, the competition or even fellow employees then you have made the choice to be the victim of life. On the other hand, you can choose to embrace being the Victor and always moving forward, closer to your dreams and goals.
Element #3
The third element is action by creating the person you have chosen to become. Just choosing to be a Victor
is only one step. You must take decisive action to become an antonymous individual who knows what behaviors (think sales skills) are necessary to demonstrate being a self-governing individual.