Since making the move from Michigan to California, I’ve taken up yoga. Every Saturday morning, I take my mat to Golden Gate Park to practice being present. My state of mind while practicing yoga is something I have been bringing to work with me as I learn to configure in Salesforce. It’s easy to become overwhelmed while learning yoga or Salesforce — a feeling I manage by focusing intently on the task at hand. Approaching my Salesforce goals the same way I approach my yoga mat is my tip for success: keep your eyes (and mind) on the task you are working on instead of the entirety of your project. You will be much more efficient if you break down your project into smaller, more manageable pieces.

My biggest learn from Saturday morning yoga is the impact that mindset can make when taking on a new task. When I first tried tree pose, I kept looking at the others in my yoga group. It was frustrating to see others doing better than me  — and I told myself that I would never be as good as them. And, to no one’s surprise, I lost my balance every time. Yet as I continued going to class, I learned it’s important to focus on what I'm trying to improve, as opposed to what others are practicing. It was hard to stop watching everyone else, but as I directed my attention to myself, my tree pose improved — I still wobbled, but now I can hold it without falling. I held myself back by focusing on the difficulty of the pose instead of what I was able to accomplish at each stage.

When I started at Bluewolf, I couldn’t hold tree pose. I also couldn’t configure in Salesforce. I was overwhelmed by the complexity of the platform, as well as the magnitude of experience that my colleagues had. There were so many key concepts I had to hold on to, and some, like reporting and dashboards, seemed too complicated to ever understand. Luckily, I had my own Salesforce guru, my manager David, who helped me hone in on the steps I could take to learn instead of the overwhelming task in front of me. He did this by directing me to some great resources: I took a Salesforce Administrator course that showed me, among other things, how to create a report on the platform step-by-step. After the class, I experimented in my own Salesforce developer environment and practiced making reports and dashboards until I knew what I was doing. Because I focused on each step as I took them, I didn’t get overwhelmed, and I earned my Salesforce Administrator Certification less than a month after taking the class.  

Whether you’re in charge of implementing a new instance of Salesforce, or trying to learn how to use what your company already has in place, focus on what you’re learning in the present. If you want a step-by-step approach to mastering Salesforce, consider our Salesforce Training program. Contact us to connect with one of our Salesforce Training experts. As for mastering tree pose,  keep your attention concentrated on your own pose — shakiness and all.