Want to Achieve Success?

I recently stumbled upon some archived readings; this one in particular came from IBD or Investor’s Business Daily. I thought the core of the article was brilliant and I would like to extrapolate my thoughts in hopes that it will help give you a jumpstart for the balance of your year.

How you think is everything: my daughter and I were involved in a pretty serious accident several years ago. When the car finally stopped rolling I realized very soon that my car was totaled.  My daughter, 16 years of age, at the time, looked at me and said, “Dad, we’re both ok and safe…and it’s just a car, we can get another new car”. I learned from that lesson that there are many ways to view a situation, positive or negative, choose wisely.

Remember your roots: think back to where you were, things may have been better, but I would reckon, if you looked hard, things today are much better. When we take a moment to see from where we have come and where we are today, those thoughts should give us inspiration to move forward. Additionally, this retrospective view should bring tolerance and compassion for those less fortunate than you. Do what you can to give back and pay it forward.

Make your dreams your goals: Take the dreams you have today and plant them as future goals; stop wishing and start doing. I had a friend of mine that was seriously in debt. I remember having a chat with him, he mentioned he had this dream of being debt-free, not owing a soul. He mentioned that “NOW was the time to put a plan together and work that plan” and remarkably, 10 months later my friend’s dream/goal was realized…so can yours!

Never stop learning: once you have knowledge, apply it. A good friend of mine Barry Roberts once said that; “Knowledge without action is useless”. Applied knowledge, if used in a positive way can lead to remarkable discovery. Never feel you are too old or too tired to learn. I used to own a martial arts school, I had a gentleman come to me and said, “I would like to my Black Belt”, he mentioned it had been a “life-long dream”.  I told him it would be a hard road, but he could do it if he really wanted it. Eight years later at age 78 he was presented with his first degree black belt. Quite an achievement! What is your new learning opportunity?

Be persistent and work hard (smart) – you need to do both.  Speaker Jim Tunney told the story of persistence and hard work when he spoke about the Chinese Olympic Diver, He Xi and her rigorous training schedule. He summed it up pretty succinctly: ‘…four years of training, EVERY DAY for seven hours a day, up and down the ladder, dive after dive just for her final Olympic Gold Medal winning dive…which took less than three seconds…” that puts things into perspective.

Learn to analyze the details at both levels – What you do today the micro things, how will they affect the big picture?  And what about the big picture or macro plans, how will they affect what you do or what you put into action today. Think both micro and macro to keep things on track and in perspective. An amazing speaker, Jesse Itzler summed this idea up in one short quote that he lives by every day, now I do as well; “Remember Tomorrow” – how will my actions today determine the outcome tomorrow, rather powerful thought!

Focus your time and money – no truer statement has been made, “time is money” and your thoughts, ideas, hard work ALL have value. Place a dollar value on your time, if you do not value your time, how can you expect others to do so. The thought of getting paid for my knowledge never occurred to me, however when I implemented that change and determined my hourly rate it began to put my business on a path of higher productivity and profitability. What are you worth an hour?

Don’t be afraid to innovate – change is inevitable, don’t fight it. Always be in a mode of evolution. Take a moment to GOOGLE™ the evolution of various brands: Apple, IBM, UPS FedEx; just do it (sorry NIKE, no pun intended) and see how these companies are always in the mode of change and innovation. Remember what I have always said, “if you’re not different, than you’re the same”.  Thomas Edison, in his quest to invent the light bulb, failed over 1,700 times, or as he put it, ‘I found 1,700 ways NOT to make a light bulb…’, how far would you go?

Deal & communicate effectively – EFFECTIVE Communication IS the number one skill you should perfect to propel your business forward. How you communicate with your staff, clients and vendors will indeed lead to your success or failure…it is up to you. Are you an effective communicator? Good way to tell is; do people seek out your thoughts and opinions? Do people find you receptive? Do people find you approachable? You know! A big part of being an effective communicator is being an effective listener; an active listener. You have seen the people who seem to be listening but actually mind-drift and cut you off mid-sentence, look at their cell phones while you are speaking. Develop good listening skills, be approachable, be open to ALL possibilities and become an exceptional leader.

Be Accountable – this one is tough. Pointing the finger inward rarely happens. Imagine if more people took responsibilities for THEIR actions, amazing things would happen. Being accountable means taking control of your actions and accepting the good with the bad as a result. I make it a point to always look inwardly first; I have made it a habit. It was not easy at first but now I must say it helps me focus on becoming better and better every single day in all aspect of my life.

Take a moment to review these tenets, how did you score? If you keep these thoughts in the forefront and work to master and hone them daily, you cannot help to be successful.

Until next time, continued good selling ~ CQ