The first Sandler rule is “You have to learn to fail to win”. This is very hard for me to come to terms with as I always want to be the best. An interesting point that was brought up in this section of the Mattson book was that there is a Real-you and a Role-you. The Real-you is defined by your self identity; your sense of self-worth. The Role-you is defined by your performance in a role. It is important to be able to distinguish the two, and realize that you might not fit into every role. The general idea in this section of the book is that you should not take your role-failures personally. Getting into the mindset of viewing failures as an opportunity for improvement rather than an inadequacy is something that I aspire to become better at doing.
Specifically applied to sales, Mattson says that “when you begin to look forward to the lessons from ‘failures’ becuase you know those lessons will lead you to future ‘wins’, you will be on the right track” (Mattson 19). I think this concept can be taken and applied to many different aspects of life, not just sales and selling. Being able to take what you learned from a failure and apply it to win at whatever the next task may be, is an essential skill and one that I definitely need to work on.
Mattson, David. The Sandler Rules: 49 Timeless Selling Principles and How to Apply Them. (Pegasus, 2009)
Aliyah Shelatz 
tothrm19
Sandler’s rule can be applied to basically anything and that’s another reason why its so important in sales. Each failure you make is another lesson you learn about how to be better prepared and do better in the future. Losing a lot of the time can also make the wins even more special and memorable.
Right. I’m a perfectionist so I need to work on this as well. You can’t be perfect forever. You have to be willing to fail or try. Failures are only good for you and it’s the best way to learn and grow. “Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly,” Robert F. Kennedy once said. “Aim for success, not perfection. Never give up your right to be wrong, because then you will lose the ability to learn new things and move forward with your life. Remember that fear always lurks behind perfectionism,” David M. Burns said as well.