Is it time to “S.U.M.O.” = shut up, move on? NMBS part 1

I'm just back from a brilliant few days in Tenerife at the annual conference of the NMBS, the National Merchant Buying Society. I was speaking and running a masterclass on growing the core (its a tough job, but someone has to do it). 

This is a the first of a series of posts sharing some of the nuggets of insight from the many great speakers at the conference. First up is the SUMO guy, Paul McGee, who is a motivational speaker and writer. He had the 350 people in the audience crying with laughter, whilst landing some powerful messages.

SUMO: shut up, move on

By "shut up", Paul means work on shutting up the inner voice of doubt and fear that can sometimes hog the internal conversation inside your head. Allow yourself time to "wallow" a bit when things don't go well. But them, its time to tell that negative inner voice to shut up, so you can move on

Stress busters

Paul had some great practical tips to help us all de-stress when things go wrong, visualised below in a series of cartoons you can download from his website here. My favourite is the idea of "How important is it on a scale of 1 to 10 (where 10 is death!)". This little catchphrase is a good one to remember when faced with everyday challenges (missing a train, making a mistake in presentation etc.) that can easily get blown out of proportion.

The power of brand properties

Beyond the motivational messages from Paul, I also thought SUMO is a great example of creating and amplifying brand properties. Motivational speaking is an overcrowded market and its hard to stand out. The little red SUMO guy on a unicycle is highly distinctive, and helps Paul get his brand recognized and recalled at the moment of truth.

So, next time you start to doubt yourself or feel you are over-reacting to a mishap or problem, try the SUMO approach so you can move on.

If you want to read more about SUMO, you can buy the book here. I can also highly recommend Paul as a speaker if you have a conference or meeting coming up.