I recently stumbled upon some archived readings; this one in particular came from IBD (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 and into 2014.
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 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, choose wisely.
Remember your roots: think back to where you were, things may have been better but I would reckon that 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, that retrospective view should bring tolerance and compassion for those less fortunate that 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 and he mentioned that he had this dream of being out of debt, 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 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 ever feel you are too old or too tired to learn. I use to own a martial arts school and I had a gentleman come to me and say, “I would like to get 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!
Be persistent and work hard (smart): You need to do both. Speaker Jim Tunney told the story of persistence and hard would when he spoke about the Chinese Olympic Diver He Zi 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 dive of 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.
Focus your time and money: No truer statement has been made than “time is money.” Your thoughts, ideas, and hard work ALL have value. Place a cost 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 and see how these companies are always in the mode of change and innovation. Remember if you’re not different, then 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 and communicate effectively: EFFECTIVE communication IS the number-one thing you can do to propel your business forward. How you deal and communicate with your staff, clients and vendors will indeed lead to your success or failure … it’s up to you. Are you an effective communicator? A good way to tell is; do people seek out your thoughts and opinions? Do people find you receptive? A big part of being an effective communicator is being an effective listener; an active listener. You’ve seen the people that seem to be listening but actually mind-drift and cut you off mid-sentence. Develop good listening skills and be open to ALL possibilities.
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; and I’ve made that a habit. It wasn’t easy at first but now I must say it helps me focus on becoming better and better every single day.
Take a moment to review these tenets, how did you score? If you keep these thoughts in the forefront and work to master these and hone them daily, you can’t help to be successful.
Until next time, continued good selling ~ CQ
