Have you ever watched an old-fashioned delicatessen counterman or woman work?

For one thing, they work fast.

And unless you find them during a rare moment of leisure, theyre strictly business. When one transaction is finished, theyll say, Next?

If the customer they've called is off somewhere, chatting or not paying attention, a second later and that word comes flying out again: Next!

One transaction is done and all attention is paid to you guessed it, the one coming up.

This, as I see it, is a beautiful Zen metaphor, a reminder that when you give everything to what is happening NOW, you get the payoff called the pleasantness of presentness.

Its essential we do this, whether were in sales, customer service, management, and especially in the mechanical arts, such as school bus driving or flying planes. The past is interesting, and it may even contain lessons, but well get to those in the future, when we can give over our entire consciousness to them.

But NOW, we need to address the things relevant to what is in front of us.

Sellers, especially when the next prospect pops up in front of them, as on the phone, have to wipe away vestiges of the last one, especially if it was negative.

Service people cant blame all customers, or make this one atone for the sins of the last.

And drivers and pilots cant spend a second considering the debris that they just avoided. Once its in the rearview, it must stay there.

So, how do we stay in the here and now?

(1) Take one deep breath between transactions, to remind yourself that the time is NOW.

(2) When you drift, have an image or a thought that you use to refocus. I use the image of a triangle. When I superimpose that on what Im seeing, I return to NOW.

(3) Dont hold back or resist fully doing what youre doing. You cant be here and now and saying, I hate this at the same time. Just do it, without commentary.

And if these dont help, just say Next!