Another Step Forward

It is not very realistic to expect that you'll go from where you are now to where you want to be in one quick leap. The most reliable and lasting progress is made one step at a time.

Therefore, welcome each step as you take it and reach it. Even though you're not all the way there just yet, you're moving steadily forward. Value and appreciate the progress you've made, and then continue moving on. The next step forward awaits you, and with it you'll move even closer.

The reward you seek at the end of the path is given value by every step of the journey. Each moment spent is time well spent when you're moving steadily forward, even if you still have a way to go.

Some steps may be tedious, or complicated, difficult, challenging or uncomfortable. Yet they are all moving you surely toward the place you want to be. Don't wait, get moving one step at a time!

Ten Attitudes of Top-Achievers

This is something I received by email this morning from the great Brian Tracy (a leading Business Authority on Success) and I thought it would be awesome to pass along; so read, enjoy and apply.

If you think the same way as the top achievers think, you can begin to get the same results they do. Here are ten psychological and practical ways to mirror the attitudes of top-achievers.

1. See yourself as a consultant rather than a salesperson. Believe that you are a problem-solver with regard to your product and how the client can best use it.

2. Become a doctor of selling. Act in the best interests of your "patients" and have a high code of ethics.

3. See yourself as the president of your own sales corporation. Accept 100 percent responsibility for your results.

4. Commit yourself to being the best in your field. Dedicate yourself to lifelong learning.

5. Be ambitious, hungry, and determined to use selling as a stepping-stone to the success you want in life.

6. Have integrity. Be honest with yourself and others.

7. Engage in thorough preparation prior to every call.

8. Be an excellent listener; be extremely customer-focused.

9. Have tremendous courage. Be willing to face your fears of rejection and failure, and overcome them.

10. Be highly persistent. Start your workday earlier, work harder, and stay longer.

To make these changes work you must walk, talk, and behave consistently with them every hour of every day. -- Brian Tracy

Follow Up To Be Successful

Relationship building is one of the most important elements of success in business. Giving people a reason to remember you pleasantly helps develop positive rapport with prospective associates, clients, referral sources and employers, and you have a marvelous opportunity to begin the process with a thank-you note and follow-up correspondence.

In this hectic world, taking the time to follow up can make you stand out from the pack. How many people remember to thank you or take the time to keep in touch? I go to numerous networking events and I’m constantly amazing at how many people don’t bother to send an email, let alone a thank-you note to the people they meet! Why did they go even go to the event? It’s mind boggling.

Following up with someone you meet at a networking event with a card or e-mail also gives you an opportunity to recap your meeting and begin building your relationship with them. Remember, people like to do business with people they like and trust. Additionally, maybe that person you met doesn’t have a need for your service… but they may know someone that does. It has been said that everyone knows about 250 people… So, by building that relationship with the person you met at a networking event could potentially gain you access to their connections.

Besides following up to networking events, correspondence showing your appreciation is always a great way to build lasting relationships.

These are a few examples of people to whom you can send thanks:

• Anyone who did you a favor
• Prospects at a sales meetings
• People who sent congratulations or compliments
• Team members who helped make a project a success
• A coworker who has done something especially helpful
• Volunteers

Now what about following up with associates or people you meet at seminars and other events? In addition to being appreciated, people love to be remembered. If you exchanged business cards with someone at a function, scribble something interesting or significant about the conversation on the card’s back.

Later, send notes telling people how much you enjoyed meeting them and mentioning one or two of the points of interest you jotted on the back of the card. You’ll be on your way to building a network of business allies.

Since it can be easy to lose track of advantageous contacts, create a follow-up program. Following up may include arranging lunch appointments or sending associates information that the recipients may appreciate (articles or links to interesting Web resources).

Other opportunities for getting in touch with people include the following:

• Sending congratulations or compliments
• Remembering anniversaries and birthdays
• A simple keep-in-touch card
• Holiday Greetings
• Good luck wishes or messages of encouragement

The more personal the occasion, the more appropriate it is to send a handwritten message. (Experts recommend correspondence cards.) However, if the message contains business information that may be seen by people other than the recipients, or if your handwriting isn’t readable, go ahead and type it. Also, if the recipients work in a tech field, they’ll probably prefer an e-mailed message. You can still include a personal touch through an online site which enables you to select or design your own card; they will print it, stuff it, stamp it and mail it for about $1.00.

It may seem hard to find the time for these follow-up techniques, but stick to them. A well-composed, friendly note has a lasting influence on recipients and marks you as conscientious and courteous–just the type of person people want to associate with them.

If you want to see or get help with a system that can help to follow up conveniently, economically and easily CONTACT ME!

RULES TO LIVE BY

1.	Get and stay out of your comfort zone.
2.	Never give up.
3.	When you are ready to quit, you're closer than you think.
4.	Accept the worst possible outcome.
5.	Focus on what you want to have happen.
6.	Take things a day at a time.
7.	Always be moving forward.
8.	Be quick to decide.
9.	Measure everything of significance.
10.	Anything that is not managed will deteriorate.
11.	Pay attention to your competitors, but pay more attention to what you're doing.
12.	Never let anybody push you around.
13.	Never expect life to be fair.
14.	Solve your own problems.
15.	Don't take yourself too seriously.
16.	There's always a reason to smile.

Napoleon Hill's 17 Principles of Personal Achievement

There is always something a person can do to improve his/her personal development as it is the key to success and achievement, Napoleon Hill provides us with some great lessons to put into action, so read on and enjoy!

Lesson 1: Definiteness of Purpose
Definiteness of purpose is the starting point of all achievement. Without a purpose and a plan, people drift aimlessly through life.

Lesson 2: Mastermind Alliance
The Mastermind principle consists of an alliance of two or more minds working in perfect harmony for the attainment of a common definite objective. Success does not come without the cooperation of others.

Lesson 3: Applied Faith
Faith is a state of mind through which your aims, desires, plans and purposes may be translated into their physical or financial equivalent.

Lesson 4: Going the Extra Mile
Going the extra mile is the action of rendering more and better service than that for which you are presently paid. When you go the extra mile, the Law of Compensation comes into play.

Lesson 5: Pleasing Personality
Personality is the sum total of one’s mental, spiritual and physical traits and habits that distinguish one from all others. It is the factor that determines whether one is liked or disliked by others.

Lesson 6: Personal Initiative
Personal initiative is the power that inspires the completion of that which one begins. It is the power that starts all action. No person is free until he learns to do his own thinking and gains the courage to act on his own.

Lesson 7: Positive Mental Attitude
Positive mental attitude is the right mental attitude in all circumstances. Success attracts more success while failure attracts more failure.

Lesson 8: Enthusiasm
Enthusiasm is faith in action. It is the intense emotion known as burning desire. It comes from within, although it radiates outwardly in the expression of one’s voice and countenance.

Lesson 9: Self-Discipline
Self-discipline begins with the mastery of thought. If you do not control your thoughts, you cannot control your needs. Self-discipline calls for a balancing of the emotions of your heart with the reasoning faculty of your head.

Lesson 10: Accurate Thinking
The power of thought is the most dangerous or the most beneficial power available to man, depending on how it is used.

Lesson 11: Controlled Attention
Controlled attention leads to mastery in any type of human endeavor, because it enables one to focus the powers of his mind upon the attainment of a definite objective and to keep it so directed at will.

Lesson 12: Teamwork
Teamwork is harmonious cooperation that is willing, voluntary and free. Whenever the spirit of teamwork is the dominating influence in business or industry, success is inevitable. Harmonious cooperation is a priceless asset that you can acquire in proportion to your giving.

Lesson 13: Adversity & Defeat
Individual success usually is in exact proportion of the scope of the defeat the individual has experienced and mastered. Many so-called failures represent only a temporary defeat that may prove to be a blessing in disguise.

Lesson 14: Creative Vision
Creative vision is developed by the free and fearless use of one’s imagination. It is not a miraculous quality with which one is gifted or is not gifted at birth.

Lesson 15: Health
Sound health begins with a sound health consciousness, just as financial success begins with a prosperity consciousness.

Lesson 16: Budgeting Time & Money
Time and money are precious resources, and few people striving for success ever believes they possess either one in excess.

Lesson 17: Habits
Developing and establishing positive habits leads to peace of mind, health and financial security. You are where you are because of your established habits and thoughts and deeds.

What do Successful People DO that others DO Not?

Received this from some Todd Falcone training, figured it would be great to post and let everyone see it as it is real good stuff!

1. They get SERIOUS and make a REAL COMMITMENT. They don't flake. They never ever treat it like a hobby. They never dabble. They roll up their sleeves and GO.
2. They DO what they SAY. In other words, there is TOTAL congruence between what they SAY they want and what they actual DO to GET what they want!
3. They NEVER make EXCUSES. Successful people don't blame their sponsor, their team, their company, comp plan or anything else. Successful people realize that "if it is to be, it is up to me."
4. They work harder and more efficiently than anyone else around them. Anything worthwhile is going to take work. The great news is that we all have to work hard in life, and we can all learn to work more efficiently in what we do. How are you spending the 24 hours a day that God gives you?
5. They are ALWAYS willing to invest in the most important asset in their life...themselves. I hope you really get this point. Oftentimes people will say, "I just can't afford it." If you have ever found yourself saying that phrase, my question to you personally is this: "How else and where else in your business life is that showing up if that is your immediate and general reaction?" I can tell you there have been many times in my personal life where I knew I couldn't really afford something...at least in my rational mind, but because I KNEW that I needed to LEARN, I was willing to take that short-term risk for the long-term gain...and it has ALWAYS paid off. I get it. Trust me...I get it. However, if you KNOW you are not producing the kind of results you want to produce and you find yourself spinning your wheels, it's time to stop. How long do you want to stay in that position? It can change at anytime, but you've got to be willing to commit...which goes right back to the first point I made in this training.
6. They take FULL RESPONSIBILITY for their actions. No blame game. They completely understand that unless they PERSONALLY do something to create change, change never occurs.
7. They never, ever stop....in spite of any challenge, set back, roadblock or obstacle. They simply keep on "chugging away", as Donald Trump so wisely stated when he was nearly $900,000,000 in debt a few years ago! Don't ever stop. Never!
8. They force themselves to do what is uncomfortable. Average producers do what feels comfortable to them. BIG producers constantly force themselves outside of their comfort zones, even if ever so slightly...and they do it daily. If you simply begin to stretch yourself to do things that are a bit uncomfortable, that which WAS uncomfortable now seems easy and quite comfortable.