How to Get a Spine....TODAY!

"Persistent people begin their success where others end in failure."

Edward Eggleston, American Author

Photo Credit: Sophie Collet

Recently,my business partner and I have been showing our rental property to prospective tenants. We have had some very good prospects looking at the property, but after a look, it's been a couple days since we (my business partner and I) have heard back from them.

The self talk starts up: "This economy is so tough, it's no wonder. The property must not be that great. We must be charging too much. Everyone is having such a hard time, there is no way they can afford it." With that, the emotions of defeat and helplessness set in.

And before I know it, I've lost my spine! Have you had similar thought processes when going through challenges? Aggressiveness and persistence are key success factors to succeeding in business and in life!

Well, I recently read an article at Success Magazine that changed my thinking entirely.

Darren Hardy (@darrenhardy) wrote a post about his encounter with a very successful mortgage broker named Mari who was more successful in business volume that any ten successful agents combined. Her rapid response was, "I lose one out of five for being too aggressive, but I get the other four!"

How to Grow Your Spine TODAY:

1. Decide that you will take massive action, starting today. Darren calls this principle the "shock and awe tactic" In our case, we will go with the prospects that have shown the most interest, and have taken rental applications from us. We can call them two or three times, fax them, e-mail them, buy them lunch, offer them some perks for the place.

Persist to the point of being annoying! You may lose one prospect, but the others will pay attention and evenutally give you the consideration that other, less assertive, sales persons are not giving them.

2. Learn the power of networking. It's a well known fact that recruiters will pass over thousands of resumes for applicants they do not know, in order to grant an audience to someone who is referred to them.

Some tips for networking, from the Lazy Man's Way to Riches:

a) Don't ever think of people as objects to be used, but as persons to be valued. Do not think about what you can get from them. Rather, think about what you can give to them, and what value you can add to the relationship. Is there someone in your network that you can introduce to them, to help them with a need they might have? Approach every transaction as a win/win. If they cannot get value out of the transaction, or if they have to lose, commit to not go through with it.


b) Get assertive and purposeful in terms of talking to people and developing a genuine interest in their lives, their businesses, and their needs. Make sure that you are setting up regular appointments on a monthly basis to meet with them. I am using my gmail account to keep track of different people I meet, so that I can keep track of birthdays, anniversaries, etc.


c) Show appreciation, for prospects, customers, co-workers, business partners. Give compliments for admirable traits you notice. Don't do this to be flattering or cheesey. Rather, do it out of genuine respect for the other person.

Now, in the words of Darren Hardy:

No more namby-pamby, soft peddling around. Straighten your spine, get aggressive and get after it!
 
Click Here! for Excellent Personal Growth Development Resources

Please comment and share below!

Are You Ready to Turn Your Goals Into Reality?

Believe that life is worth living and your belief will help create the fact.

WILLIAM JAMES (1842-1910)

American philosopher, physiologist, psychologist, teacher

Image Credit: myolive at Flickr

How many of you have New Year's Resolutions? How many of those resolutions have been completed?

As you know, the key success factor to top achievement is setting and achieving goals. Toward the end of every year, and by the beginning of each new year, I have set at least 10 goals for myself in key result areas that are congruent with the roles in my life. But what do you know, life happens. Like a ship without a compass, it is too easy to let life happen, and before we know it, we are bobbing around in the ocean called circumstances, without any progress toward our key destination, represented by our goals.

The purpose of this post is to get you off of your butt, and past the starting line, off to the race!

Plant Plenty of Flowers in Your Garden

There are plenty of weeds in our mental garden, negative inputs that go contrary to a positive, optimistic mindset that will help you to achieve your goals. Therefore, you will need to plant the right kinds of seeds in such large quantities that they will eventually overwhelm those weeds with productive and helpful attitudes.

Richard Gilly Nixon, in his book The Lazy Man's Way to Riches, came up with the concept of the Daily Declaration. While the negative "weeds" in your mind may be the following: " That's the way I am," "I can't do that," or "I can't afford to do that," the practice of the Daily Declaration will help you combat and replace these thoughts.

A Daily Declaration is a statement regarding your goal that is positive and present tense. It's a statement of belief, even though you may not have entirely believed the statement when you first wrote it out.

The Daily Declaration Procedure:

Each Morning:

1. Immediately after you wake up, read your list of goals as you have prepared them, in their positive, already accomplished form. If you can tape yourself reading them, play them back to yourself in the car. Stand in front of the mirror, and repeat them back to yourself, with belief, out loud if possible.
   
2. After reading each goal statement, pause and visualize the goal completely, with all your senses. If you have a kitchen remodeling project goal, see it in your mind's eye, smell the new wood, the new paint, see the new cabinets, etc.

Each Evening:

Just before you go to bed, no matter how late it is, or how tired you are, repeat the same morning process.

Here is an example of a couple of "burning desire" goals used: one is a physical/material goal, and one is a personality quality.

• The $850 bill from Smith and Company is paid in full within 60 days.
• I face each day supremely confident in my ability to handle every detail of my thoughts and activities. I am certain of my capacity to perform in a superior manner.

When declaring the first goal, one would visualize the bill in question with 'Paid In Full' stamped across it. Then, once visualized, the goal would be repeated again.

In the personality declaration, one would read it slowly, giving careful thought to the meaning of each word. Then, one would visualize a situation in which one is performing with supreme confidence. This plants the correct image in your mind, so that when the situation does come up the next day or week, your subconscious mind is programmed to respond confidently.

Superior athletes are trained by sports psychologists to visualize the game, and to visualize themselves as winning. Life is a game, and you are the athlete. If Declarative Declaration works with pro athletes, don't you think it will work for you?! Try this for the next 30 days, faithfully, and I guarantee you will see some incredible results.

Please comment and share below!

Have You Used These Success Factors to Go From Victim to Victor?

The absurd man is he who never changes.

AUGUSTE BARTHELEMY (1796-1867)
French poet and satirist

Photo credit: Flickr: azurri_nr1

There is a story, I cannot remember where I heard it, about an experiment that was done with grasshoppers (I think). They are put into an upside-down glass, jumping and jumping against the glass walls. Finally, exhausted, they give up. The glass is removed, and the grasshoppers, broken, stop jumping. They truly believe that they are imprisoned.

In the same way, we build, or allow glass walls to be built around us. Those walls are our vocabulary, our self-talk, and the opinions of others that we have come to believe as fact. "But I can't." "Things never go my way." "Some people have all the luck."

Are you waiting to one day win the lottery?

Do you sit and daydream about that promotion without doing any work while at work?

Are you waiting for someone powerful to come into your life and give you a lucky break?

It's time to get off your butt!

Wake Up!! It's Your Choice!!

Here are some things to help you change your life for the better!

SUCCESS FACTOR: VALUE YOURSELF HIGHLY

As J.B. Glossinger from Morning Coach would say, "You are the miracle of birth." You are one of the most amazing of God's creations. If someone told you, "I will give you a million dollars for your eyes", would you take it? Probably not! If your eyesight is priceless, then how much more precious are you as a human being, with a unique soul, spirit, mind, and body?

SUCCESS FACTOR: TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR OWN DESTINY

Repeat these two mantras over and over, until they sink in and become part of your regular subconscious:

"If it's to be, it's up to me"

"I am responsible. I am responsible. I am responsible."

As Richard Gilly Nixon states in his book, The Lazy Man's Way to Riches, "Stop expecting others to rescue you from your current distress. Get rid of the dependency syndrome. Use your God given abilities and resolve. Exercise your freedom of choice, and embark on your own journey to success by working intelligently, meticulously, and persistently to achieve your success."

SUCCESS FACTOR: STOP DOING WHAT DOES NOT WORK FOR YOU

I am going to tell you what has not worked for me:

Wishing things could be better

Wishing I had other breaks, opportunities, resources that others seemed to be born with

Thinking always and only about myself

Engaging in a protracted pity party

Sitting in front of the tv for more than two hours a night

Sleeping in and barely making it to work

Eating junk food and wondering why belly kept expanding.

Have you seen improvements in your job, in your salary? Are you still putting off going back to school? Are you still wishing you could squeeze into those jeans? Are you still dreaming about a goal you set for yourself a year ago?

You only have one life to live. Create your legacy NOW!

SUCCESS FACTOR: MAKE A PRODUCTIVE ACTION STEP TODAY, AND EVERY DAY AFTER THAT...

According to best selling author Tony Robbins, the key success factor that separates winners from losers is the decision to take massive action. But even better, instead of taking one big massive action, take just one small step toward bettering just one aspect of your life, and then take another step the next day, and so on, for the next 30 days. As J.B. Glossinger from Morning Coach states, all it takes is moving ahead with 1% improvement every day to start effecting some major change in your life.

I cannot wait to hear from you about the changes that you are starting to make in your life after reading this article.

Leave me a comment!

Do You Need to Stop Moving Sideways?

Image via Wikipedia

Our Story Begins with the Dog Chasing His Tail

• He was born in Haiti to the son of a French sea captain in 1785, but spent his growing up years in France.
• He was sent to military school at the age of fourteen.
• He did not make it there, because his real passion was hunting and drawing birds.
• At eighteen, his father and family moved to the United States.
• He had an abysmal career in business. His business partner possessed tenacity for trade, but this man of our story preferred to roam and hunt. In the end, the business went bottom up, and he had to sell his wife's share of her wealthy family's estate to pay off creditors.
• Finally, his partner bought out his share of the business, and our character went in search of another opportunity, never thinking that his affinity for shooting, mounting, and drawing birds would be a serious vocation.
• Over the next 10 years, he failed in business after business, but by 1819, he was bankrupt.
• Necessity forced him to utilize his 'hobby' of hunting birds to put food on the table. He also sold his bird drawings on commission to bring in money.
• Finally, in 1820, this gentleman had a 'big idea' to paint beautiful, detailed pictures with detailed research which became a masterpiece all over Europe and the United Stated.
• His name? John James Audubon, founder of the Audubon Society. His book finally gave him financial security, and a legacy that extended far beyond his lifetime

Lessons To Be Learned: Key Success Factor: Introspection With An Aim Toward Change and Action

John Maxwell, in his book, Failing Forward, dissects this story, and comes up with a simple process that can help you from spinning out on the track to moving forward with new energy, vitality, and purpose.

1. See Yourself Clearly. Garry Marshall, a very successful television producer (of such shows as Laverne and Shirley, the Odd Couple, and the movie Pretty Woman, also produced many failed shows before succeeding). "Most people try to beat down their flaws or deny them altogether. I've found it best to say, 'Here are my flaws. Now I have to find something I'm good at.' Don't use your flaws as an excuse to quit. Move forward or sideways."
2. Admit Your Flaws Honestly. You must take responsibility for your actions. You must also take responsibility for who you are as a person. That means owning up to what you are not good at (based on skill), should not do (based on talent), and ought not to do (based on character).
3. Discover Your Strengths Joyfully. No one ever achieved her dreams working outside her areas of gifting, talent, and motivation. To excel, do what you do well.
   
4. Build on Your Strengths Passionately. Like Audubon, you will improve only if you enthusiastically develop your God-given abilities. To reach your Tomorrow's potential, you must commit to growth Today. As Ghandi stated, "We must be the change we wish to see in the world."

Action Plan:

• Take inventory of your weaknesses, through your personal observations, listening to the observations of those closest to you (listen with an open and humble mind), and listening to the observations of other people. Write these weaknesses down. If they fall into the category of an attitude or character flaw, work with a close friend for the accountability to change that pattern. If the weakness you listed has to do with an absence of talent or skill, you may need to assess whether you need to shift your work toward working with your strengths, or whether you need to make a plan to gain the skill sets you need to compensate for those weaknesses.
• Take an inventory of your strengths, again through your personal observations, listening to the observations of those closest to you (listen with an open and humble mind), and listening to the observations of other people.
• Write down your strengths under these categories: giftedness, skills, opportunities, resources.

Develop a plan to both correct and minimize your weaknesses, and to build passionately upon and expand your strengths. Change your world, and your whole world changes.

Please Share this Article or ReTweet: I will be honored. Also Please Comment below.

Click Here! for Excellent Personal Growth Development Resources