Where are Your Habits Leading You?

by Jack Canfield

You are an accumulation of your habits. From how you get out of bed, how you shower, how you dress, how you walk, sit, and talk, how you respond to the world, how you act in front of others, and how you think; you're living out your habits.

Habits are necessary. They free up your mind so you can concentrate on how to survive day to day. You don't have to think about how to drive your car so you can be on the lookout for danger while you are driving. You don't have to think about how to walk so you can concentrate on where you're going.

Unfortunately, habits can also keep you locked in self-destructive patterns, which will limit your success. To become successful, you will need to drop bad habits and develop new ones that are in line with the life you want to live.

People don't suddenly appear in the life they want to live... their habits determine their outcome!

What are the habits you have that are keeping you from achieving your goals?

Really be honest with yourself here... Are you always running late? Do you return phone calls within 24 hours? Do you get enough sleep? Do you follow through on your promises? Do you plan out your day?

Imagine what your life would be like if all your habits were their productive counterparts!

What would your life be like if you ate healthy meals, exercised and got enough sleep?

What if you saved your money, stopped using credit cards and paid cash for everything?

What if you stopped procrastinating, overcame your fears, and began networking with people in your field?

Would your life be different? I bet it would!

So, my suggested action step for you is to write down some productive habits you could adopt and visualize in your life, step two is to 'act as if' you were living these new habits right now!

I'd like to help you get moving toward creating more successful habits, so I'd recommend you develop four of your new success habits each year, one for each quarter.

Once you pick the new habit you're ready to adopt, next you'll want to create a method that will support your new habit.

Here are some ideas... You could write it down on a card that you keep with you and read several times a day. You could make it a part of your daily visualization. You could also enlist the help of an accountability partner who has habits to change, or work with a personal coach who can keep you on track.

It's important to make a 100% commitment to your new habit, so be specific about the steps that you're willing to take in order to drop an old habit and adopt a new one. Don't be vague about how you will change your habits. Spell it out for yourself so you can recognize situations that motivate you to act out your new habit.

Just developing four new habits a year will dramatically shift your life to be more in line with your vision. And the more in line it becomes, the easier the other habits are to replace because your perspective is shifting and you can see more clearly how your old habits aren't serving you anymore.

Make the decision. Make the commitment. Then watch your new, positive life unfold!

I'll see you in another two weeks in the next edition of Success Strategies. In the meantime, take the time to implement just one of the strategies discussed in today's issue.

© 2009 Jack Canfield

Your Dream Can Be Your Future by Chris Widener

Here is a basic truth you must accept and believe if you are to achieve your dream:

Your dream can be a reality! That’s right; your future can actually see you living your dream. It doesn’t just have to be a big wish!

When we are young, we are dreamers. Nothing seems too big for us to accomplish. Nothing seems too outrageous. “The world is ours on a string,” as the old song goes. Until reality hits. Reality is what others want to box you into by saying:
“You can’t do that.”
“Nobody has ever done that before.”
“It will never work.”
“You’ve gone off the deep end now!”

All dreamers (who eventually become accomplishers) have heard these things. Yet, they overcome them. They refuse to accept someone else’s reality for their own life. They let the average people live their average lives, bound by fear, while they pursue their chosen future—their dream! So don’t believe the people who tell you that you can’t or that you won’t. Believe your dream. Believe that it can be your future!

Once you have determined that you can actually live your dream, I want you to memorize this acronym. I’ve shared it before, but I’ve found it to be tremendously helpful for reminding and motivating us toward our dreams.

D is for Dare: Dare to dream while others don’t.
R is for Relentless: Relentlessly pursue your dream, no matter what.
E is for Excellence: Strive for excellence in all you do.
A is for Abandon: Abandon any other alternative plans.
M is for Measure: Constantly measure where you are on your dream journey.

OK, that’s great and motivating, but what about the practical stuff? Well, there is certainly practical stuff. No matter how lofty your dream, no matter how spectacular, you will live most of your life in the mundane. Richard Nixon said of the presidency that you “campaign with poetry, but govern with prose.” The vision is beautiful; the actual is mundane—not bad but “everyday,” so to speak.

If you are to achieve your dream, you need to plan and work, and work and plan. Here are my thoughts on how to go about reaching your dream and securing it as your future: Decide that you will do it. This may seem elementary, but many people never decide and commit to their dream fully. They simply keep thinking about it. Tell others you are going to do it. This puts you on the record as to what you are dreaming about. It makes you accountable. It will help you do it, if for no other reason than to avoid embarrassment!

Develop a step-by-step plan. This is absolutely essential. You must sit down and write out a few things:

1. A timeline. How long will it take to the end?
2. Action steps. Point by point, what you will do and when you will do it.
3. Resources you will need to draw from. What will it take? Who will need to be involved for help or advice?
4. An evaluation tool. You need to evaluate from time to time whether you are progressing or not.
5. A celebration. Yep, when you are done, you should already have planned what you will do to celebrate. Make it big!

I have found that there is no better time than the present to start making your dream a reality. So, set aside some time today to get started on your dream. Follow the action plan and set your sights for the top of the mountain! You will be glad you did!

—Chris Widener

119% Business Growth In 90 Days by Rod Moore

Is it possible for you to achieve 119% Business Growth In The Next 90 Days?

Yes absolutely it is possible and in this article I will share with you the three key areas to focus on, and why you only need to make incremental improvements in these three key areas to achieve substantial business growth.

The key is getting access to the right knowledge and implementing the right systems into your business. (Note: You want to make sure you are getting advice from the right people ... don't take advice from a Prosperity Coach for instance, unless they have a truly prosperous mindset and results. Many business owners have made the mistake of having the Yellow Pages rep determine how their advertisment should look).

Following a simple formula we have been able to help clients achieve business growth of up to 10 times in less than 90 days. The obvious question is how do you do it? What do you focus on to create this sort of business growth?

Well the good news is this ... there is only three things to FOCUS your attention on to grow your business. These three things are:

1/ ATTRACT More Leads - Your ability and your SYSTEMS for attracting new leads to your business will greatly determine your success in business. If you are not attracting leads to you then chances are good your business will not prosper and grow. When you have in place the right system to ATTRACT an endless stream of leads to you then you are on the right path to build a successful business. So the question then is this ... How many leads have you attracted to you this month? If the answer is not many then this is where you start ... put in place the SYSTEMS to ATTRACT more leads to you.

2/ CONVERT More Leads Into Clients - When you are attracting leads to you then the next step is to CONVERT those leads into paying clients. Again this requires a well thought out system ... its about designing your Marketing Funnel and the logical sequence of events you take your leads through so that they sell themselves on becoming your client. What are the steps in your Marketing Funnel that help leads sell themselves on becoming clients? What is your current conversion rate of leads to clients? If you do not know then it is costing you money and holding you back from growing your business.

3/ INCREASE Value Of These Clients - The final step to growing your business then is to INCREASE the value of each of your clients. There are many different strategies you want to consider here. One of the biggest mistakes I see Small Business owners making is that they don't package their products / services correctly and they don't value what they do sufficiently. In other words they are underselling their worth in the market place. You want to fix this asap. How can you increase the value of each of your clients?

If you are not getting the RESULTS you are looking for from your business then what you need to fix are these three key areas above. Now for the good news ...

You only need to make incremental improvements in each of these three areas to make substantial increases in overall business growth.

Let's look at an example for a moment of say a Business Coach with the following numbers:

- Number of Leads per month 50 (Of which 5 turn into genuine prospects)
- Conversion Rate 4%
- Number of Clients per month 2
- Value of Each Client $5,000

Therefore on these numbers this Business Coach would be doing appx $120,000 revenue per annum.

So what would happen if we focused on the 3 key areas and made a modest improvement of just 10% in these 3 areas? Well now the numbers look like this:

- Number of Leads per month 55 (Of which 5.5 turn into genuine prospects)
- Conversion Rate 4.4%
- Number of Clients per month 2.4
- Value of Each Client $5,500

Now the Business Coach has increased revenue to $158,400 which is an increase of $38,400. This is an increase in their business of 32%.

What happens if you developed the right SYSTEMS in each of these three areas, and implemented them with the right guidance and created a 30% increment in each of these three areas? Now it gets exciting ...

- Number of Leads per month 65 (Of which 6.5 turn into genuine prospects)
- Conversion Rate 5.2%
- Number of Clients per month 3.3
- Value of Each Client $6,500

This increases revenue now to $257,400 which is more than double the size of your business, or a 119% increase in your business. (Note: You may not be a Business Coach however the same principles apply).

So could you achieve an increment of 30% in the three key areas? Well lets look at this example ... is it possible to ATTRACT 15 more leads a month? Could you really improve your CONVERSION rate by 1.2%? Is it realistic to expect your client value to INCREASE by $1,500?

The answer to all of these questions is YES of course ... these are not dramatic increases. Combined though they can make a dramatic difference in your business results.

So if you are looking to increase your business right now and create greater success then what you will want to do is put all of your FOCUS on making incremental improvements in these three key areas of your business.

Be an Optimist at All Times by Brian Tracy

Everyone wants to be physically healthy. You want to be mentally healthy as well. The true measure of “mental fitness” is how optimistic you are about yourself and your life.

Below you will learn how to control your thinking in very specific ways so that you feel terrific about yourself and your situation, no matter what happens.

Control Your Reactions and Reponses
There are three basic differences in the reactions of optimists and pessimists. The first difference is that the optimist sees a setback as temporary, while the pessimist sees it as permanent. The optimist sees an unfortunate event, such as an order that falls through or a sales call that fails, as a temporary event, something that is limited in time and that has no real impact on the future. The pessimist, on the other hand, sees negative events as permanent, as part of life and destiny.

Isolate the Incident
The second difference between the optimist and the pessimist is that the optimist sees difficulties as specific, while the pessimist sees them as pervasive. This means that when things go wrong for the optimist, he looks at the event as an isolated incident largely disconnected from other things that are going on in his life.

See Setbacks as Temporary Events
For example, if something you were counting on failed to materialize and you interpreted it to yourself as being an unfortunate event, but something that happens in the course of life and business, you would be reacting like an optimist. The pessimist, on the other hand, sees disappointments as being pervasive. That is, to him they are indications of a problem or shortcoming that pervades every area of life.

Don’t Take Failure Personally
The third difference between optimists and pessimists is that optimists see events as external, while pessimists interpret events as personal. When things go wrong, the optimist will tend to see the setback as resulting from external factors over which one has little control.

If the optimist is cut off in traffic, for example, instead of getting angry or upset, he will simply downgrade the importance of the event by saying something like, “Oh, well, I guess that person is just having a bad day.”

The pessimist on the other hand, has a tendency to take everything personally. If the pessimist is cut off in traffic, he will react as though the other driver has deliberately acted to upset and frustrate him.

Remain Calm and Objective
The hallmark of the fully mature, fully functioning, self-actualizing personality is the ability to be objective and unemotional when caught up in the inevitable storms of daily life. The superior person has the ability to continue talking to himself in a positive and optimistic way, keeping his mind calm, clear and completely under control. The mature personality is more relaxed and aware and capable of interpreting events more realistically and less emotionally than is the immature personality. As a result, the mature person exerts a far greater sense of control and influence over his environment, and is far less likely to be angry, upset or distracted.

Take the Long View
Look upon the inevitable setbacks that you face as being temporary, specific and external. View the negative situation as a single event that is not connected to other potential events and that is caused largely by external factors over which you can have little control. Simply refuse to see the event as being in any way permanent, pervasive or indicative of personal incompetence or inability.

Resolve to think like an optimist, no matter what happens. You may not be able to control events, but you can control the way you react to them.

Action Exercises
Now, here are three actions you can take immediately to put these ideas into action.

First, remind yourself continually that setbacks are only temporary, they will soon be past and nothing is as serious as you think it is.

Second, look upon each problem as a specific event, not connected to other events and not indicative of a pattern of any kind. Deal with it and get on with your life.

Third, recognize that when things go wrong, they are usually caused by a variety of external events. Say to yourself, “What can’t be cured must be endured,” and then get back to thinking about your goals.

— Brian Tracy

Einstein's Formula for Success by Ron White

Albert Einstein had a formula for success. Can you believe that? One of the greatest minds of all time developed a math formula for success! I suggest you read this carefully—this may be the most important math equation you will ever see.

Einstein said, “If A equals success, then the formula is: A=X+Y+Z.
X is work.
Y is play.
Z is keep your mouth shut.”

Einstein no doubt had an excellent sense of humor. Let’s look at the 3 variables in this equation. They are:
1. Work
2. Play
3. Keeping your mouth shut!

1. Work: Albert Einstein had a tremendous work ethic and because of that gave more to society and modern science than any person in recent times.

2. Play: Einstein, however, did not work 24 hours a day and made time for fun and relaxation. His idea of fun may have been different than yours, but that doesn’t mean it still wasn’t play.

3. Keeping your mouth shut: Finally, my favorite part of his success formal is to keep your mouth shut. I genuinely believe that the person who talks the least says the most. A friend of mine complains that the woman he is dating talks too much. I don’t know how to break the news to him; however, the problem is not that she talks too much. It simply is the fact that he is irritated that he isn’t able to talk. Now, let me just say this is not a generic man and woman statement. I am speaking about a specific person that I know. His desire is to constantly talk and because he likes to talk so much, he will talk in circles. If you let him talk long enough he will repeat the same thing three times and then contradict himself. His desire is not to hear but to be heard.

Albert Einstein, on the other hand, had nothing to prove. He felt no need to be the “Chatty Cathy” he could have been with his knowledge. It wasn’t important to him to talk to everyone he met and talk over their heads to demonstrate his IQ. Instead, he learned the value of quietness and solitude.

Shift your mindset from being a talker to a listener. It has been said that you can make more friends in five minutes by becoming interested in others than you can make in five years of trying to get others interested in you! How do you become interested in others? You ask questions and then keep your mouth shut!

Dale Carnegie wrote a best-selling book titled How to Win Friends and Influence People. One of the key premises of this book was that everyone’s favorite subject is actually themselves and that the sweetest sound to their ears is the sound of their own name. Einstein knew this and realized he could influence others by choosing his spots to speak and validating others by extending them the courtesy of listening.

— Ron White

What Makes Some Sales People So Successful?

By Jim Klein

Can you imagine closing sales with less resistance from the
prospect? Wouldn't it be amazing if more of your sales
presentations ended with "where do I sign"? Can you remember a time
when you closed a sale with very little effort?

In the next few minutes you are going to learn exactly why you make
a sale and why you don't. I'm going to challenge your current beliefs
about why things happen the way they do.

There are Universal Laws that govern The Universe. These basic
principles have been around since The Creation. Universal Laws
apply to everyone, everywhere. They cannot be changed. They cannot
be broken.

One example of a Universal Law is the Law of Gravity. The Law of
Gravity says that if you fall off of a building, it doesn't matter
if you're a good person or a bad person, you're going to hit the
ground.

Another Universal Law that governs The Universe is the Law of
Attraction. The simplest way to explain this law is "like attracts
like" or "you get what you put your energy and focus on, whether
wanted or unwanted".

Some ways of expressing The Law of Attraction are:

Birds of a feather flock together

What you sow, you reap

What you put out you get back

What comes around goes around

Grasping a better understanding of how the "Law of Attraction"
works is the first step in creating a life beyond your wildest
dreams. And that includes closing sales and making more commissions
with less effort that you ever thought possible.

To understand the Law of Attraction you first need to understand
that at a basic level everything including you is made up of
energy. And Energy attracts like Energy. I know this whole
discussion may be beyond the scope of anything you've ever thought
of before, however, I urge you to continue reading so you can see
that whatever you think about is working in your life and you have
the power to change the results you are getting.

All energy vibrates. Everything has a unique frequency. Remember
everything is Energy, including your thoughts and feelings. When
two vibrations are resonating at the same frequency, they are
attracted to each other.

Let me explain by using an example of an experience you may have
had in your own life. Have you ever thought about a person you
hadn't seen or heard from in a long time and feeling what it would
be like to talk to them? Then before long they call you or you see
them?

You are attracting a situation that is in resonance with how you are
feeling or the frequency or vibration you are in at that time. The
Universe will respond in this way every time without fail. And it
does so whether the feeling is good or bad.

So how can you use The Law of Attraction to close sales?

Most salespeople are spinning their wheels and expending to much
energy chasing prospects who are not a vibrational match for their
product or service.

Wouldn't it be nice if you knew the effort you were putting out
would attract the prospects who would be ready, willing and able to
buy from you?

Of course it would.

You see many salespeople have limiting beliefs about what is
possible or necessary to be a success in sales. They think that you
have to work hard or be lucky or be in the right place at the right
time. However, these are all limiting beliefs. And when you think
in this way you will attract to you the people and circumstances
that match these limiting beliefs.

In order to close sales you have to change what you are thinking and
feeling about your sales. If you are thinking and feeling that you
don't have enough sales, the vibration you are sending out will
attract to you more of the same and you will not have enough sales.

However, if you come from a place of feeling that you already have
the sales, then you will attract what you are thinking or feeling
and you will close more sales.

Think of how you feel when you make a sale. The excitement, the
joy, the sense of accomplishment. Now stay in that feeling or
vibration and you will attract more sales that will match that
feeling.

Become aware of how you are thinking and feeling at all times and
when you find yourself slipping back into your old bad feelings,
decide at that moment to change it and feel how you feel when you
make a sale.

Spend time at the beginning of your day and especially take time
before you pick up the phone or go out on appointments and
visualize how you want things to turn out. Remember to not only see
it but feel how it will feel.

Many salespeople work on autopilot thinking they don't have any
control over what happens. However, I'm here to tell you that you
are responsible for every thing that happens not only in your sales
but other areas of your life as well.

In closing, I know a lot of this may seem a little out there.
However, that is because not many sales trainers are teaching this
way,because they don't understand it or maybe they think you won't.
Now you can continue doing things the way you been doing them and
you'll continue to get the results you've been getting. Or you can
give it a try and see what happens.You have nothing to lose and
every thing to gain.

Developing and maintaining the proper mindset is key to being a success in sales or anything else for that matter. The top salespeople spend time developing and maintaining that attitude. That's why I have developed a new program called, "The Mindset Secrets Of Six Figure Sales Professional".

In this new program you will get the tools and strategies necessary to take you from an average salesperson to top producer. I am introducing it at an unbelievable introductory price.

So get your copy before I come to my senses and raise the price.

http://fromtheheartsalestraining.com/mindset-secrets.html

See you next week.

Make it a GREAT day!

Discover the Magic in your Marriage

Richard Eyre Linda Eyre July 17, 2009

Family and relationship experts Linda and Richard Eyre have co-authored more than 30 books, including New York Times best-selling Teaching Your Children Values and The Book of Nurturing, and are frequent guests on Oprah, Good Morning America and Today. Married for 40 years, they have raised nine children. They describe each year as “better than the last.” SUCCESS sat down with the Eyres to learn how they keep the magic alive.

Is there a secret to a lasting marriage?
Yes, and it is one word: commitment. The stronger the commitment, the better the chance a marriage will have in enduring the challenges and buffering the conflicts that all marriages experience. The commitment must be strong enough that bailing out is never an option.

How can couples keep the romance alive with the frenetic schedule of kids, work, upkeep of the house and errands?
Two thoughts on this one: First, continue the courtship. We try to go on a date every Friday night. We have done it since we were married. If something else is scheduled on Friday, we shift it to another night of the week. We go alone, we talk, we share, we express love in the same romantic ways we did when we first fell in love. Things like flowers, poetry and spontaneous surprises should be involved. Once a month, our date is called a “five-facet review” because we go to a restaurant and spend the entire evening brainstorming about each of our kids. How is Josh doing physically? Mentally? Emotionally? Socially? Spiritually? We take notes. We always hit on a couple of key areas to concentrate on during the month ahead, and we nip problems in the bud. Working together on our greatest stewardship—our kids— draws us closer together as a couple and as a partnership.

Second, we have a weekly Sunday session, as we call it. It’s our planning and scheduling time when we work out the week ahead, and it also includes what we call testimonies, when we both take five minutes or so and express our feelings for each other, for life, for the kids. It’s like a weekly formal declaration of our love and commitment to each other.

How can married couples improve communication?
Sunday sessions and weekly dates help a lot, but we are both amazingly strong-willed and opinionated. It is at times when we disagree, which is frequently, that we need our best communication. We have what we call the paraphrase-back rule—before one of us can make the next point or argument, he or she must first paraphrase or repeat back the point just made to the other person’s satisfaction. Then we can make our point. This defuses disagreements pretty fast, and hones the quality of empathy, which is the most important tool in a marriage.

It’s not about never disagreeing; it’s about how we handle disagreements. A marriage counselor we met on a plane said, after 35 years of practice, she had discovered three kinds of marriage that were conflict-free. The first, she said, was where one of the parties had died. The second was a marriage where one partner was so totally dominating and the other such a complete doormat that there could never be disagreement. And the third was where the two lived such totally separate lives that there was never enough overlap for a conflict. Disagreement, well-handled, is what produces marriage synergy.

What are some of the common ways couples begin to drift apart, and how can they get back on the same path?
If there are not regular, scheduled times to be together and to communicate and plan together, drifting is guaranteed to happen.

Another way we try to stay on the same page is to think of our relationship as two very important and equal general partnerships. The inner partnership is all about the kids, the house and all that goes on inside. The outer partnership is about the businesses, the finances and the causes we are involved in outside the home. In our case, as we write books together, additional coordination, communication and synergy always take place.

By the way, it is not a bad idea to do a little writing together in any marriage—to write up a little document of your parenting philosophy and of your communications techniques. Co-authoring things, even private documents, draws people together.

Money is one of the most argued topics in marriages. How can couples harmoniously manage money in a marriage?
Share everything. Have no secrets. Do joint, not separate, accounts. Plan together. Make finances a part of the Sunday sessions and the weekly dates.

What are the best ways couples can keep magic in a marriage?
You have to work at magic! The best way we know is to actually set relationship goals. Most people set goals only for their achievements and accomplishments, such as career goals, money goals and weight-loss goals. It doesn’t occur to us that we can have relationship goals because relationships are too hard to quantify or to measure. But, in fact, a goal is a clear vision of how you want something to be in the future. So, we both write a description of our relationship five years out. We each do this separately, and we do not share the descriptions with each other. These represent our ideas of what our ideal relationship could be, and instead of waiting for the other person to do something about it, we both work at it in our own way, reading the description or relationship goal often, as each of us unilaterally tries to bring the relationship closer to that ideal.

If a couple is contemplating separation, how would you advise them to reconsider?
View separation as a last resort. Think of it as amputation—something to not even consider until all other options and remedies are tried. When you have an infection or some kind of a dysfunctional malady, you try to heal it or cure it first. You cut it off only when all else fails.

The first thing I would prescribe is a relationship restructure, wherein proactive steps are taken to rebuild the relationship from the ground up. The tools would be the five-years-out relationship description, the weekly Sunday sessions, the Friday date night and the monthly five-facet review discussed previously.

Too many relationships just become what they are through neglect and reactivity. Make yours what you want it to be through attention and being proactive. Bottom line: The magic comes from hard, mental work.

Dream Torture by Denis Waitley

Perhaps the greatest torture that could be devised would be for us to be forced, in our later years, to watch a continuously repeating movie of the lives we could have led, had we dared to believe in and pursue the dreams and goals that were available and attainable in our lifetime.

DON’T BE A SPECTATOR
While we all say we don’t have enough time to do justice to our goals and dreams, each of us has all the time there is. None of us really has a time-management problem. We really have a dream- and goal-focus problem. We spend too much energy worrying about the things we want to do but can’t, instead of concentrating on doing the things we can do but don’t. It is the regret for something we did or didn’t do yesterday and the apprehension of what we can’t do tomorrow that are the biggest energy drains on our lives.

A dream is your creative vision for your life in the future. It is what you would like your life to become. A goal is what, specifically, you intend to make happen. However, many individuals become spectators, resigned to experience success vicariously through others’ accomplishments. They can see success for others, but they can’t imagine it for themselves. Dreams and goals are previews of coming attractions in your life. You can be the script writer, the star and the producer of an Oscar-winning epic life or an extra in a “B” movie that someone else wrote and directed for you. Which is it to be?

STAY FOCUSED ON YOU
Make certain that your goals are not measured in comparison with others’. Avoid the tendency to measure your own progress by looking over the fence at greener pastures. There are many others who have started a little earlier than you, and you may become discouraged if you see them harvesting success when some of your seeds are barely in the ground. Comparison rarely benefits anyone. You’ll always be able to find someone smarter, younger, older, wiser, richer, more clever, better looking, or working harder or more effectively than you are.

When you make comparisons in which you place yourself beneath others, you’re in for a discouragement that will keep you procrastinating, and perhaps even from seriously pursuing your goals. You can also find others who don’t measure up to what you have become or are aspiring to be. Avoid the tendency to compare yourself with them as well. You will lower your goals and settle for average when you could have excellence. You may come to think that you deserve more success than others or that success lies ahead for you no matter what you do. Both are false assumptions.

Success isn’t a pie with a limited number of pieces. The success of others has very little bearing on your own success. You and everyone you know can become successful without anyone suffering setbacks, harm or downturns. Neither is your success measured by what others say or accomplish. Only you can truly define your success, and only you can measure it.

-- Denis Waitley

This Week's Jumpstart

In my work with Olympic athletes, astronauts, top business executives and other winners, I’ve discovered that most of them have approached their success in 90-day seasons. In many areas of life, 90 days is regarded as an appropriate growing cycle. The business world operates on a quarterly basis.

The sports world, to a great extent, operates on a seasonal basis in which the majority of league games are played during a 90-day cycle, not including post-season playoffs.

The academic world, in many universities, is set up on a quarterly basis, with the fourth quarter usually being summer. Even academic institutions that operate on a semester schedule usually have nine-month terms, or three quarters of the year spent in class.

I’ve found a 90-day cycle of success to be a wonderful unit of time. It’s a time period that is long enough to plan for, begin, work hard at, and accomplish certain objectives. At the same time, it isn’t a year from now or forever. It is a short enough time to generate a sense of urgency. One of the problems with focusing on monthly goals is the gap in a month caused by events and holidays.

Tax time in April. Vacations in June, July or August. Christmas and other religious holidays, the World Series, the playoffs and the Super Bowl. These gaps present a problem in any given month. To sum up the concept of the 90-day season of success: It is a long enough period of time to accomplish something significant, yet it is a short enough time that there is urgency to act now.

Your 90-day season of success will build your motivation because, often, yearly or five-year goals are so distant that it’s easy to get discouraged and give up on them in frustration. When your goals are proximate and positively pressing, you’re more likely to muster the motivation necessary to achieve them. Before you begin your next 90-day success season, take an evening to go through the following exercises. To do this, I recommend you download the text from this newsletter, and block out some time for yourself when you’re alone and can think without being interrupted.

Exercise 1: Review your life-forming goals, and update your personal mission statement for your life or career.

Exercise 2: Take 15 minutes and write down your most important priorities personally and professionally for the next 90 days. Get your calendar and planner out, and start sequencing your action steps. Write down a list of to-dos, phone calls, e-mails and appointments you need to make.

Exercise 3: Now review your list from Exercise 2, and spend another 15 minutes adding things to that list that you want to do for your own personal entertainment or enlightenment.

Exercise 4: Take five minutes and record three things that tend to slip through the cracks in your professional life. Then do the same exercise for your personal life. These are things that you always mean to accomplish, but somehow never get around to doing.

Exercise 5: Create your “Seasonal Success Focus.” Review the specific goals and images of achievement you want to accomplish during the next 90 days in order to further your life’s mission. As you write these goals on paper or in your electronic diary, put a short statement as to the major benefit of accomplishing these goals.

Once you have done this review, determine what the present reality is—where are you right now in relation to the accomplishment of these goals.

This week, start thinking about your goals as “quarterly quotas.”

-- Denis Waitley

Momentum Breakers vs Momentum MakersDr. John C. Maxwell

A train travelling 55 mph on a railroad track can crash through a 5-foot thick steel-reinforced concrete wall without stopping. That same train, starting from a stationary position, won't be able to go through an inch-thick block in front of the driving wheel.

It is never the size of your problem that is the problem. It's a lack of momentum. Without momentum, even a tiny obstacle can prevent you from moving forward. With momentum, you'll navigate through problems and barely even notice them.

As a leader, your responsibility is to understand momentum, to get it moving for your organization, and to sustain it over time. Momentum can be tricky to comprehend, though, often appearing elusive and intangible. In this article, my goal is to give you handles so that you can better recognize how to generate momentum in your workplace. To help you grasp the concept of momentum, I'll outline ten momentum breakers alongside ten momentum makers.

Momentum Breakers and Makers

Momentum breaker - double-mindedness
Momentum maker - focus

By creating and following a clear and focused vision statement, a leader develops momentum. A leader drains away momentum by shooting at nothing or attempting everything.

Movement causes friction. When you paint a target for your team, you'll likely encounter resistance. As a leader, you can't restrict yourself by living inside of someone else's comfort zone. Great accomplishments require leaders to fix their gaze beyond what's easily attainable.

Momentum breaker - the past
Momentum maker - the future

An organization picks up steam when its leaders point to a better tomorrow. Momentum breaks down when leaders preoccupy themselves with the past. Or, as I've heard quoted, "Losers yearn for the past and get stuck in it. Winners learn from the past and let go of it."

Many people have powerful dreams. However, most don't realize that the viability of their ideal tomorrow is based on what they do today. The difference between a dream and wishful thinking is what you're doing now. Practice today what you want to be tomorrow. If you do it well enough, someday you may arrive at your dream.

Momentum breaker - individualism
Momentum maker - teamwork

If you want to kill momentum, then insist on doing things by yourself. Momentum grows through team victories in which numerous people can claim to have played a role. The level of celebration on a team depends upon the level of participation.

Momentum breaker - critical attitude
Momentum maker - constructive attitude

Tennis great Chris Evert said it best, "The thing that separates good players from great ones is mental attitude. It might only make a difference of two or three points over an entire match, but how you play those key points often makes the difference between winning and losing."

Momentum breaker - tradition
Momentum maker - creativity

Don't tear down the fence until you understand why it was built. At the same time, relentlessly question the logic, "that's how we have always done it." What worked in the past may be outdated and could hold you back in the future.

Momentum breaker - apathy
Momentum maker - passion

Passion energizes your talent and rubs off on those around you. If you have courage, then you will influence people based on your passionate convictions. If you lack courage, then you will only influence people to the extent of your comfort zone.

Momentum breaker - dishonesty
Momentum maker - character

Character is the sum total of our everyday choices. It cannot be built overnight. A trustworthy leader has a much easier time generating momentum than a leader with a reputation of being manipulative and deceitful.

Momentum breaker - conformity
Momentum maker - change

As John F. Kennedy said, "Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth." Sticking with the status quo won't create an ounce of momentum. Although it's difficult and may demand sacrifice, change is required to build momentum.

Momentum breaker - ingratitude
Momentum maker - gratitude

As a Chinese proverb states, "Those who drink the water must remember those who dug the well." No one can claim to be self-made. Whatever accomplishments we attain in life have connections to the goodwill and support of those around us. When we express thankfulness for the benefits bestowed upon us by friends and colleagues, then those people are more apt to aid us again in the future.

Momentum breaker - indecision
Momentum maker - action

I am never overly impressed with idea people. Anyone who takes a long shower can come up with a good idea. I'm impressed with a person who has the tenacity and discipline to make ideas happen.

I've seen many leaders break the momentum on their team by succumbing to the paralysis of analysis. Leaders have to act with incomplete information. You can never know all of the variables. Momentum and risk go hand in hand. As a leader, if you always play it safe, then you'll never inspire excitement in those you lead.

Closing Assignment

I'll leave you with a simple assignment. Assess your personal momentum. Are you speeding through the obstacles in your life or struggling to surmount even the smallest problems? What is responsible for your momentum or lack thereof? Do you recognize any of the momentum makers or breakers in your personal leadership?

About

John C. Maxwell is an internationally recognized leadership expert, speaker, and author who has sold over 16 million books. EQUIP, the organization he founded has trained more than 2 million leaders worldwide. Every year he speaks to Fortune 500 companies, international government leaders, and audiences as diverse as the United States Military Academy at West Point, the National Football League, and ambassadors at the United Nations. A New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Business Week best-selling author, Maxwell was named the World's Top Leadership Guru by Leadershipgurus.net. He was also one of only 25 authors and artists named to Amazon.com's 10th Anniversary Hall of Fame. Three of his books, The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, Developing the Leader Within You, and The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader have each sold over a million copies.

The Principle of the Objective

By: Brian Tracy

Learn from the Lessons of History
The concepts of military strategy have been studied and written about for more than 4,000 years, going back to the early works of General Sun-Tzu in China more than 2,000 years BC. These principles of strategy that have been developed and perfected over the centuries have direct applications and implications for strategic thinking, both personally and corporately.

Decide In Advance What You Want
The most important military principle is the Principle of the Objective. This principle requires that you decide in advance exactly what it is that you are trying to accomplish. What exactly is your objective? In my experience, fully 80% of all problems in personal and corporate life come from a lack of clarity with regard to objectives and goals.

Clarity Is Critical
Clarity of objective precedes all other elements in strategic thinking. Here are some questions that you can use over and over again to focus and clarify your objectives. The first question is, "What am I trying to do?" The second question is, "How am I trying to do it?" The third question is, "What are my assumptions?" And the fourth question is, "What if my assumptions were wrong?"

Question Your Assumptions
Having the courage to ask these questions, and to question your assumptions, both spoken and unspoken, is a key mark of the superior person. Sometimes individuals avoid questioning their assumptions for fear that they will have to change their minds or do something other than what they started out to do. However, false assumptions lie at the root of almost every failure. The only way that you can root out these wrong assumptions is by carefully analyzing them and discussing them, and then by demanding proof or evidence that these assumptions are still valid.

Project Forward In Your Mind
Another method for clarifying your objectives is for you to project forward and look backward. In other words, imagine that you have already achieved the objective that you are working toward. Project yourself forward in your mind and then look back to the present day, to the present moment. What do you see? What changes could you make looking back from this imaginary perspective of hindsight? This is a key peak performance thinking technique.

Determine Why You Want It
The final part of clarifying your objectives revolves around your identifying the reasons why you want to achieve this objective in the first place. Why is it important? Is it still as important as when you started off? Is this objective more important than any other objective that you could be working on? It is essential that you be clear about the answers to these questions.

Action Exercises
Here are two things you can do immediately to apply the principle of the objective to your personal and business life:

First, take out a piece of paper and answer the question: "What am I trying to do?" What are your goals? What are your objectives? Why are you doing what you are doing in the first place? Is this the very best use of your time and energy?

Second, question your assumptions. What things are you assuming are true about yourself, the people around you and the situation? What if one of these assumptions turned out to be false? What changes would you have to make if you found that your most cherished assumptions were not based on reality, or were contradicted by facts?

From Making a Living to Creating a Lifestyle by Jim Rohn

After having struggled for so long, it took a shift in attitude for my family and me when success started to happen. When I started making a little extra money at age 25, Schoaff taught me to also let it serve as a new inspiration for lifestyle. Take my family to dinner after I’d had two or three pretty good weeks and it looked like it was going to continue. I would say, “Today we get to order from only the left-hand side of the menu, we don’t have to look at the right-hand side”. Didn’t cost much, just a little extra. But you can’t believe the effect on the family, wow, that these are new days.

It’s called changing your life as well as changing your skills and earning more money. It’s best to invest some of that early money in lifestyle. Go to the movies. Take two vacations instead of one. Just some little extra things that now the family gets inspired by this new commitment to earning more and becoming more and learning more, taking some night classes, whatever you have to do. Now you make it more worthwhile for the family by thinking of lifestyle changes that now become very exciting. Go to the concerts. My parents said don’t miss anything. Don’t miss the play, the music, the songs, the performances, the movie—whatever is happening.

When I started making some extra money, I opened up an account for my wife and I called it the “No Questions Asked Account.” I said, “Here is the checkbook for a new account and it’s called no questions asked. I’ll just keep putting money in there and you spend it for whatever you wish.” It was life-changing. It wasn’t a fortune. But she didn’t have to ask for money anymore. I could sense that it was a little embarrassing at times when she had to ask me for money. I thought, that’s not good, so the first time I get a chance, here’s what I’m going to do. And sure enough, I did it. The “No Questions Asked Account.” You can’t believe what that did. It was absolutely amazing.

With that little extra money, work at creating lifestyle. Social friendships, church, community, country. All those things that make a composite of our overall life. Start furnishing that with new vigor, vitality, money, whatever it takes to expand your life into what I call the good life as well as economics.

And it doesn’t always take a lot of money. How much is a movie? Even for a person of modest means. $8 or $10? It might cost $60 million to make it and it only costs $8 to see it.

When I discovered those kinds of concepts at age 25 you can imagine it was hard for me to sleep nights that first year. I got so excited about changing everything. And one discipline leads to another. One change leads to another. Feeling good about yourself and starting to make the turn to do something you’ve never done before, then it starts to work, wow, and then you get excited about changing other areas of your life as well.

Now after you have made your fortune, the money and extravagance might not seem as big a deal. And fortunately you can then create even more powerful opportunities, in particular, opportunities for benevolence, philanthropy and giving.

Now I’m certainly not saying to focus only on external pleasures and rewards. Your relationships, health and spirituality are all of more consequence.

But in the beginning, when the rewards of your hard work begin paying off, make sure and treat yourself and those closest to you to a new world of lifestyle and celebrations.

To Your Success,
Jim Rohn

Seven Keys to High-Energy Living

By Brian Tracy

Energy is a key luck factor. For you to be at the top of your form, to be action oriented, fast moving, and extremely productive, you have to have high levels of physical and mental energy.

For you to be able to take advantage of all the possibilities around you, and to have the continuous enthusiasm that keeps you and others motivated and moving ahead, you have to organize your life so that you feel terrific about yourself most of the time.

1. Eat the Right Foods
The first key to high energy is a proper diet. To perform at your best, you must eat the right foods, in the right balance, and in the right combination. Your diet has an inordinate impact on the amount of energy you have, how well you sleep, your levels of health and fitness, and your performance throughout the day and into the evening.

2. Watch your Weight
The second key to high energy is proper weight. Proper weight is essential for health, happiness, and long life. Being slightly under your ideal weight is best. As they say, you can never be too rich or too thin. If you are not happy with your current level of physical health, you need to set specific goals for yourself for the weeks and months ahead.

3. Exercise is Essential
The third key to high energy is proper exercise. The best activity for high energy and physical fitness is aerobic exercise. This type of exercise requires that you get your heart rate up into what is called the training zone three times per week. This training zone is about 120 to 160 beats per minute, depending on your age. You then keep it there for at least 20 minutes or more each session.

4. Get Lots of Rest and Recreation
The fourth key to high energy is proper rest. You need an average of seven to eight hours of sleep each night to be fully rested. You need to take off at least one full day each week during which you don't work at all. You should take regular mini-holidays of two or three days each, every couple of months. You should take one and two week vacations each year when you relax completely and get your mind totally off your work.

5. Develop a Positive Mental Attitude
The sixth key to high energy is the elimination of negative emotions. This can be the most important thing you do to assure a long and happy life. Your ability to keep your mind on what you want and off of what you don't want will determine your levels of health and happiness more than any other decision you make.

6. Start a Personal Mental Fitness Program
The seventh key to high energy is for you to go one a 21-day positive mental attitude diet, one day at a time. Resolve that, for the next 21 hours, you are going to keep your mind on what you want and keep it off the things you don't want. You are going to think and talk positively and optimistically about your goals, other people, and everything that is going on in your life.

7. Become a Personal Powerhouse
The more you practice the health habits we have talked about, the more energy and vitality you will have. The more you keep your conversation focused on your goals and on the things you want, the greater the amount of strength and power you will feel. You will be more alert and aware. You will feel more positive and action oriented in every situation.

Action Exercise
Resolve to become intensely action oriented from now on; whenever you get a good idea or something needs to be done, move quickly.

6 Steps to Make Your Sales People Better by Sam Manfer

How would you rate the skill level of each of your sales people? What are you doing to improve each person’s skill level? In other words are your sales people as good as you think they should be and if not, what are you doing about it.

Sales goals are made or missed because of management. Good managers keep their fingers on the pulse of business. They know what to expect and if those standards are not being met, they takes actions to make their salespeople better. Better means selling more, but selling more requires improving sales people’s selling skills.

Here's the process I used to coach sales managers:

1. Rate each of your sales people on a scale of 1 to 5 (1 - lowest level).

2. Write down the strengths and weaknesses of each of those people. I. E. for the weaknesses what knowledge, ability, attributes, skill, etc. does this person have to attain to become a better sales person? What’s keeping him or her back? What strengths is this person lacking?

3. On a totally separate piece of paper list all the skills, knowledge, attributes, abilities that you would expect for a level 1, level 2, level 3, etc. Some skills will progress with each level, and others may stand alone in at a particular level.

An example of a progression is: Level 1 -- No knowledge of industry; level 2 -- learning the industry; level 3 -- knows jargon, needs, and some of the players; level 4 -- well versed in the industry, knows most of the players, know basic and complex issues and opportunities; level 5 -- respected in the industry by associates, clients and those outside his or her company.

An example of a standalone is: level 3 -- ability to consistently ask for commitment.

4. Now, look at the strengths and weaknesses of each sales person. Compare those to the characteristics for the level you chose for that person. You'll notice you missed some characteristics that define the level and didn't include some for the person.

For example, Joe is a level II and has trouble learning the issues and concerns of the prospects he interviews. However, when you are preparing the level characteristics, you left out "probing prospect to learn issues and concerns". Similarly, level III requires the ability to introduce new ideas to the prospect, so as to entice him. Yet when you listed Joe's weaknesses, you forgot "ability to expose and entice".

5. Redo the levels and redo the salespeople's weaknesses, incorporating the characteristics that you missed in each. This will give you a more complete description of the levels, as well as a better listing of the individual's weaknesses.

Now that you have both your standard and a list of the missing attributes, abilities, skills, etc. that are required to get a particular sales person to the next level, you basically have that sales person's development plan.

6. Build an action plan for each person to progress to the next level. In other words, what will you (or someone else) do to show the sales person how to attain the skills or overcome the weaknesses; what does the sales person have to do; when will it be accomplished by and; how will you know (the metric) that the sales person has attain the skill or overcome the weakness.

Although this six step plan sounds like a lot, it’s really very simple. By selecting a level for each person and defining his or her weaknesses, and then separately determining skills for each level, you'll easily be able to build the perfect level description and see the development issues for each individual. Then you'll know exactly what you'll have to do to help that person improve. You'll also realize very quickly what’s holding the sales person back from selling more.

More importantly it provides you and your sales person, a great communication tool. Your expectations and development requirements for this individual will be defined, direct and systematic. There will be no misunderstandings and these development plans will help your sales people improve quickly. So try it, and I guarantee you'll be pleased with the outcome.

Remember, if you want better (more sales), sales people, you've got to improve their sales skills levels. If you, the manager, don't build and enforce the plan for an individual’s improvement, it will not get done. Few salespeople try to improve themselves. They have to be motivated (pushed and directed) by their management.

Sales goals are made and missed because of sales managers.

Create That Winning Feeling by Bob Proctor

I believe we would all agree that having a winning feeling is prerequisite to achieving outstanding results. A person can’t possibly expect to win if they’re constantly focusing on failure! The real secret here is to capture that winning feeling of success as often as you can to create the environment necessary to succeed.

If you’ve been a little down in the dumps, feeling insecure or perhaps not feeling as confident in your ability as you’d like, I have a great tip for you. My suggestion to anyone looking for a success track to run on, or to a person who is looking to get back on one, is to start capitalizing on short-term victories. That means specifically focus on tasks you can achieve daily. The principle is to start with an adversity over which you can succeed, and gradually take on more and more difficult tasks. Nothing succeeds like success.

Another technique used by many people in developing or maintaining a winning feeling is what we call the reflection method. Think back during a time where you were really successful at something… we all have times to which we can relate. It could have been a sale, a particular speech, a school play, or standing up to the town bully. Each one of us can reflect back on a moment in time to recapture that winning feeling.

Professional sports coaches often replay winning games of the past for their team prior to a big game to stimulate and create a winning feeling!

Years ago, a good friend of mine had left his job and a company that he had worked with for many years. He was one of the top VPs with his company and had done extremely well. He had left because he wanted to start his own business. I told him he could use one of our offices until such time as he was ready to open up his own office.

In any event, I happened to be in the office one afternoon and Grant, who normally was very upbeat and positive, was really having a difficult time. After a few moments of small talk, it became apparent what the problem was. Grant had hit the terror barrier and the possibility of starting his own company was overwhelming him… he just didn’t think he could do it. Here’s a man who had risen to the top of his field, made a high six-figure income for years… and yet was still having doubts as to his ability to start his own company.

I asked Grant to go home, get a notebook and start to write down all of his accomplishments, as far back as he could remember. The look on his face was priceless—I’m sure he thought I’d lost my mind. I told him that the accomplishment could be small or large… it didn’t really matter. The point was to focus on something positive. I still remember him asking, “Well, what if I only fill half a page.” I just smiled and asked him to do his best and start writing.

Monday morning came and Grant was back in the office with a notebook full of accomplishments. I smiled and said, “You must have been fairly confident, you picked up a good sized notebook!” We both had a good laugh. Grant went on to build a multimillion-dollar financial planning company and later franchised the operation to extend across Canada and the United States!

This is a great exercise for anyone needing a bit of a boost. What would give you a winning feeling of pride and satisfaction? Remember… a winning feeling is a confident feeling and one that forgets misses, and reinforces successful attempts.

— Bob Proctor

Your Achievement Quotes

INFLUENCE/ASSOCIATION

"Be careful the environment you choose for it will shape you; be careful the friends you choose for you will become like them." —W. Clement Stone

"Why do people accept the opinions of others about themselves as truth? Who is going to live the rest of your life anyway? Now THAT is TRUTH!" —Doug Firebaugh

"Life is too short to spend your precious time trying to convince a person who wants to live in gloom and doom otherwise. Give lifting that person your best show, but don’t hang around long enough for his or her bad attitude to pull you down. Instead, surround yourself with optimistic people." —Zig Ziglar

"Surround yourself with people most like the person you want to become. Stay away from anyone who can or will bring you down." —Tom Hopkins

INNOVATION

"The functions of the executive are innovation and marketing. How much time do you spend on each?" —Brian Tracy

"Anything WOW! breeds loyalty." —Jeffrey Gitomer

"We are more ready to try the untried when what we do is inconsequential. Hence, the remarkable fact that many inventions had their birth as toys." —Eric Hoffer

"Remember that the six most expensive words in business are: 'We've always done it that way.' —Catherine DeVrye

INTEGRITY/HONESTY

"Loyalty is something you give regardless of what you get back, and in giving loyalty, you're getting more loyalty; and out of loyalty flows other great qualities." —Charles "Tremendous" Jones

"Promises should not be lightly given unless we want them to be lightly received." —Denis Waitley

“No pleasure philosophy, no sensuality, no place nor power, no material success can for a moment give such inner satisfaction as the sense of living for good purposes, for maintenance of integrity, for the preservation of self-approval.” —Minot Simons

"Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful." —Samuel Johnson

The Magic Is in You by Vic Johnson

"When he realizes that he is a creative power, and that he may command the hidden soil and seeds of his being out of which circumstances grow; he then becomes the rightful master of himself." —As a Man Thinketh

While reading an old classic, The Message of a Master by John McDonald, I was rocked by an incredibly insightful passage: “The cause of the confusion prevailing in your mind that weakens your thoughts is the false belief that there is a power or powers outside you greater than the power within you.”

Stop and think about that. What keeps us from attempting greater things—from reaching for the brass ring in our life? What makes us take that great idea that could make our family financially free and bury it underneath a lot of reasons why it’d never work? What stops us from that career change that would result in working in a profession we could really enjoy, and could get passionate about?

There’s only one thing that EVER stops us from forward momentum and McDonald nailed it: “The false belief that there is a power or powers outside you greater than the power within you.”

As I once heard a speaker say, “The magic is in YOU!” As James Allen tells us, once we realize that we can create our circumstances, then, and only then, are we truly the master of our life and our destiny.

Regardless of your particular spiritual beliefs, you may find these words from the Gospel of John very enlightening, “He that believeth in me, the works that I do, shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do.” That would indicate to me that we are already “endowed” with the power to do amazing things—far more amazing than most of us will ever attempt—if we’d only understand and BELIEVE that the power is within, not without.

And that’s worth thinking about.

— Vic Johnson

One Thing by Ron White

"Everybody I know says that they need just one thing... what they really mean is that they need just one thing more." —Rich Mullins (Singer/Songwriter)

"The trouble is not getting the man that you want. The trouble is wanting the man once you get him!" —Elizabeth Taylor, after her 7th marriage

Do you remember the success of the Interstate Department Store? No? Well, don't feel alone because I don't remember either. However, have you ever heard of Toys R Us? Guess what? It is the same store. The success of Toys R Us occurred when they chose to focus on ONE THING: toys.

How about 7Up? In the late 1970s, they had a 7.5% market share with one flavor of cola drink. Then they couldn't resist the lure of line extensions and, before you knew it, they had several flavors and a market share of 2.5%.

The lesson is: if you attempt to become everything to all people, you will surely only succeed in becoming nothing to everyone. In your personal life, you know the temptation. You know the temptation of always desiring what is on the other side or what you don't have. So you drop what is in your hand to grab something else—only to later wish you could have what you used to hold. This analogy could pertain to relationships, where you live, or even a career.

The trick to life is not getting what you want. It is wanting it once you get it. The challenge is to focus on one thing. I have a friend who has five or six great ideas to make money. Which one will succeed for her? As her friend, I hope one does. But, in my heart, I know that none of them will because she can't select ONE THING and focus on it. Therefore, all her ventures are doomed.

There is something to be said for the power of focus. In business, remember that IBM used to own the word computer. They no longer do and part of that is because they got into every business you can think of. Toys R Us owns "toys," FedEx owns the word "overnight." It is about ONE THING when it comes to branding.

In life, you will not find contentment by bouncing from one situation to the next. That will only come when you are able to rest and focus on ONE THING. Decide what is important to you and focus on that ONE THING for a successful business or life. Yes, there will be rough roads, but I assure you that the answer is not in the other hand.

Action Points:
1. Examine your life and ask yourself if you are focused.
2. Ask yourself what you could eliminate in your life that is simply a distraction
3. Question your desires to see if they are only a result of wanting what you don't have or a genuine issue that you are willing to make your long-term focus.
4. Remember the lesson of Toys R Us: Line extensions don't ensure more success—focus does.

-- Ron White

How To Reactivate Past Clients by Rod Moore

Why have I placed a huge pile of cash at the top of this article?

Well for two essential reasons really:

1/ Because I want to get your ATTENTION and cash usually does the trick, and ...

2/ Because I want to alert you to the fact that right now you are probably missing out on huge piles of cash that you could easily be attracting into your bank account.

No doubt you have heard the saying that it is five times easier to sell to an existing client than to find a new client, right? Have you ever stopped to ask why this is the case? Its simple ...

Existing clients have already overcome their fears of doing business with you and have developed a level of trust in you and your business.

Fear and a lack of trust are two key reasons why prospects do not turn into clients. You have to overcome these two obstacles to bring people on board as clients. This is perhaps one of the most challenging aspects of marketing.

So it always amazes me when a business will go to all that trouble to develop a new client only to then completely forget all about that client after the initial transaction. It just seems ludicrous to me that you would invest the time, money and effort into finding a prospect and developing them into a client to then let them wander off never to be spoken to again.

You should keep in mind my golden rule of business success ...

'Never let a customer or client forget you!'

It doesn't take much to keep your happy customers and clients coming back to you again and again. When they do the profit margin is substantially higher than if you have to drag out a new client from a list of cold suspects.

So here are five strategies to bring your past clients back for more so that you fully monetise the value of each client:

1/ Reactivation Letter - This is simply sending all of your past clients who you haven't heard from or dealt with in the last six months or more a letter to say that you miss them. There are a number of variations on this theme however the general idea is just to be back in contact, apologise for not being in touch for awhile, and let them know you value them as a client and would love to see them back. This particular strategy works well in transactional type businesses and can be adopted to practically any type of business.

2/ Exclusive Irresistible Offer - Give them a reason to come back. The easiest way to do this is to create exclusive irresistible offers just for past clients. Make them an incredible offer that they can not refuse just to get them back doing business with you. Once they are back in the fold as a happy paying customer or client they are far more likely to continue.

3/ New Products or Services - Sometimes your customers or clients just simply get bored. They move on because you are just peddling the same old stuff over and over to them. It is really important to keep developing new products, new services, new ways of bundling your products and services together. This way you always have a reason to go back to them.

4/ Client Appreciation - You should value your clients and show them that you value them. One of the best ways to do this is to use the Client Appreciation strategy. This can take many different forms but one of the best ways to do this is to hold a Client Appreciation Seminar complimentary for your clients and past clients. Invite them all along and provide real value to them. You will be amazed at how they will respond and how their enthusiasm for doing business with you will be re-ignited.

5/ Say Thanks - We live in a fast paced world where few people take the time to simply say thanks. Most customers and clients feel unappreciated which is why they wander off over time never to be heard of again. Why not send them a simple hand written card to let them know you are thinking of them and to say thanks for having been a client. At the very least this will help maintain top of mind awareness with them.

These are just a few simple ideas to get you started. There are of course many other ways to reactivate past clients. The key is to maintain regular contact with them, continue to add value to them through the relationship you have with them, and continue to offer them different products and services.

You do not want to be like the Personal Trainer I spoke with recently complaining about how hard it is to get clients. When I quizzed her about how many clients she had in the past she said probably close to a hundred or so over a few times. I asked how she maintains contact with the past clients to which there was silence on the phone. It hadn't occured to her that those people where likely still overweight and unfit and desperately needing her help.

When was the last time you spoke to all of your past clients or customers?

What strategies can you put in place today to reactivate them?

If you do nothing then you are leaving behind large amounts of cash that could easily be flowing through your business. After all there is no point marketing for new clients if you can not take care of the existing and past ones.