Jeff Riseley

Sales is often compared to an emotional rollercoaster, with salespeople frequently facing difficult emotions that can impact mental performance throughout the day.

One minute you might be celebrating a closed deal, and the next, you’re feeling anxious or disappointed when a client suddenly stops responding. This constant shift between emotional highs and lows can be exciting at times, but more often, it’s draining and harmful to your well-being.

In the early days of my sales career, I often experienced this when leaving the office at 5 p.m., feeling a strange buzz—a tangled mix of happiness, frustration, anxiety, and sadness.

But instead of trying to understand these emotions, I found ways to escape them.

I’d spend hours partying, drinking, or playing video games, avoiding the discomfort of facing how I truly felt. This worked for a while, but eventually, it all caught up with me, leading to panic attacks, difficult sleeping and an inability to sell effectively the next day.

The reality is, you can’t just ignore emotions—they don’t disappear.

The harder you try to push them away, the more they build up.