Routine and Cognitive Function with Dr. George S. Everly, Jr.
Release Date: 05/20/2024
Why We Stick to What’s Not Working with Annie Duke
Breaking Sales
You probably don’t think of yourself as resistant to change. But when something has worked for you before, it's easy to assume that’s the reason for your success — and that habit makes it hard to notice when a different approach might actually work better. In this episode, Dan sits down with cognitive scientist, author, and former professional poker player Annie Duke. Together they explore what’s really going on when someone won’t let go of an approach that’s not serving them — whether that’s a sales professional or a prospect — and what it takes to move past it. If you’ve...
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How you start does have a cost!
Breaking Sales
The opening minutes of a prospect meeting carry more weight than many sales professionals give them credit for. It can dictate whether you are starting from a position of strength or from behind. From that very first moment forward the prospect is trying to determine one thing: What does this person actually want from me? The question is - do you want your prospects thinking about where you’re trying to take them, or how you will use their answers to advance a sale? Or do you want their energy and effort focused on answering your questions with honesty? All of this is determined...
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The Work Nobody Sees with Coach Urban Meyer
Breaking Sales
There is a pattern that often appears in sales organizations: someone isn't performing, and the response is frustration, blame, or eventually, a conversation about whether they still belong on the team. What rarely happens is an honest look at whether that person was ever actually set up to succeed — whether they had the development, environment, and preparation to perform when the stakes were high. In the 200th episode of Breaking Sales, Dan sits down with three-time national championship-winning college football coach Urban Meyer for a conversation about what high performance actually...
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Why You Choose to Play It Safe with Roy Baumeister
Breaking Sales
There's a reason so many smart, capable sales professionals consistently avoid doing the things they know they need to do and taking the risks they know they need to take. It’s not laziness, and it’s not a lack of motivation. As it turns out, it’s rooted in something far more fundamental about how the human mind works. Roy Baumeister is a decorated social psychologist who has spent decades researching topics like loss aversion, self-control, and the outsized weight of negative experiences. In this episode, Roy joins Dan for a conversation that digs into why it’s so tempting to...
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Is Development Fatigue Real?
Breaking Sales
Plenty of sales professionals will tell you they’re committed to their own development. But when you ask them what they’re actually doing, how much time they’re putting in, or whether it’s paying off, the answers are all over the map. In this episode, Dan and Pam explore what real professional development requires — and what separates it from the kind that feels productive but doesn’t actually help you improve. They take an honest look at why so many people experience fatigue in the process, and what that fatigue might be telling you when it shows up. This conversation is for...
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Self-Awareness and Performance with Dr. Mark Leary
Breaking Sales
There’s a pattern that affects almost every sales professional, regardless of experience level: the conversations that matter most are rarely the ones that bring out your best performance. The higher the stakes, the more you might find yourself hesitating, second-guessing, and holding back — even when you know exactly what needs to be said. It’s easy to chalk this up to nerves. But the reality is that something specific is happening in your brain in those moments — and it has everything to do with where your attention goes when the pressure increases. In this episode,...
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Designing a High-Performance Day
Breaking Sales
It can be common to not always give much thought to how you’re setting yourself up each day. You might have habits, but not a deliberate practice built around how you actually want to perform. But performing at your best — and achieving a sense of fulfillment when the day is over — doesn’t happen by accident. It requires deliberately building the structures and routines that actually support you. In this episode, Dan and Pam talk through what this looks like for them: the routines they’ve built, how they structure their weeks, and how they manage the mental pushback that...
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The Neuroscience of Trust with Dr. Paul Zak
Breaking Sales
What does it actually take to build trust in a sales conversation? Not just rapport, but trust — the kind that makes a prospect lean in, open up, and ultimately make a decision? Dr. Paul Zak is a behavioral neuroscientist, the author of several books, including Trust Factor and Immersion, and one of the world’s leading researchers on the science of trust and persuasion. In this illuminating conversation, Dan and Paul explore what actually drives trust in a high-stakes sales interaction. Listen in to learn why the most likable salespeople may not always close the deal, what's...
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Providing for Today vs. Building for Tomorrow
Breaking Sales
Ask any underperforming sales professional why they’re not doing what they need to do, and you’ll eventually hear them say, “My family comes first.” Ask a top performer the same question about what drives them, and you’ll hear the exact same thing. It all comes down to how one demonstrates it. In this episode, Dan and Pam explore the uncomfortable reality behind one of the most universal (and most misused) statements in sales. They break down why “family is my priority” means something fundamentally different depending on who’s saying it, and what those differences reveal...
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Rewiring Your Response to Adversity with Erez Avramov
Breaking Sales
What separates professionals who stay composed when facing rejection from those who get knocked off course? It's not experience or natural talent; it's understanding how your mind responds to challenges and redirecting it when it starts working against you. In this episode, Dan sits down with resilience expert Erez Avramov, who discovered something powerful about mental resilience after surviving multiple life-threatening experiences. Through his recovery, Erez developed a five-stage approach that applies directly to how we handle pressure, rejection, and uncertainty in sales. ...
info_outlineHigh performers often cite their routines and sleep habits as essential ingredients to improving cognitive ability, productivity, and other aspects of performance. It’s no different when we think of having meaningful conversations as leaders, teammates, or sales professionals. Powerful communication is no accident, and it can be learned.
In this episode of Breaking Sales, Dan continues his conversation with Dr. George S. Everly, Jr., a prolific researcher and author. George and Dan discuss how we can maximize our conversations and interactions with strong cognitive function through routine, sleep, exercise, and support.