THE 6 SKILLS FOR MAXIMUM ACHIEVEMENT

We are all “too busy!” We work hard, we have enormous “to-do” lists, and most of the time we feel slightly inadequate because at the end of the day, there is so much more to accomplish.
We return all the calls we can, and yet there are messages waiting on our desks. When it comes to email, our inboxes are always full. We attend the meetings, we do the paperwork, we run the errands, and at the end of the day, we try to spend quality time with loved ones. Sometimes it just seems like TOO MUCH! (Ever been there? Done that? Of course you have!)
So, in the midst of the “have-to’s,” what happens to our “want-to’s?” We want t o build our businesses. We want to exercise more, we want to take the kids to a ball game, and we want to relax! We want to make things better, buy a sailboat, take a vacation, read a book, or pursue a hobby. (Does anyone else miss the “old days” when fishing was a real option? How about gardening or flying a kite, or taking a nap?)
Now – just to rub salt in the wound – here’s the really painful part: High achievers DO the things we want to do! No one sees Donald Trump running to catch an elevator. Oprah Winfrey goes to the parties, has time to exercise (with her personal trainer) and vacations around the world. Bill Gates takes a vacation every 3 months! How do these super-stars do it?
The answer is super-productivity, what I call MAXIMUM RESULTS with minimum time and effort. What are the secrets? How (exactly) can we do it?
That’s our challenge, and fortunately, the answers are available. They are availab le to each of us and they can be learned. Now, I didn’t say they were “easy” or even “obvious.” But people have written about them. They have talked about them. Heck, they even offer seminars, and coaching is always available. Super-achievers are not different from us. There is no mystery.
But there are techniques. There are disciplines and practices, habits we can master to get super-results in our lives. This can be done, and it can be done by anyone who will put in the time, learn the techniques, change old habits for new, better habits, and create results they’ve always dreamed of. It can be done and you can do it!
To give you a preview, here are six of the basic elements super-achievers use to achieve MAXIMUM RESULTS with minimum time and effort:
1. Clear VALUES. They know what’s valuable, and what is trivial. They understand that some of our “have-to’s” are an illusion. Some things are not as important as they seem. The key is knowing what to do and what not to do.
2. Clear PRIORITIES. In any given moment, there is only ONE thing that deserves your time and energy. That ONE thing will bring results, that ONE thing will move you forward, and IT should be done. Everything else should be delegated or set aside.
3. Clear FOCUS. Whatever you do, do it with all your heart. Do it efficiently and skillfully. Super-achievers are not confused or distracted. They do not “multi-task” because they know human beings can only FOCUS on one thing at a time. Even in a world of distractions, you can do this!
4. Clear CHOICES. They know where their unique abilities should be applied and how to delegate everything else. They make decisions knowing they have limited time, energy and skills, and they make careful choices to get MAXIMUM RESULTS. You can, too.
5. Clear BOUNDARIES. Super-achievers are not interrupted. They do not work in chaos. They create Personal Eco-Systems™ that use their time, talents and skills to maximum advantage.
6. Clear OUTCOMES. They are precise about what they want, and settle for nothing less. They know exactly which results they need to move them forward, and they keep track. As Peter Drucker said, “what gets measured, gets done!”
There is no mystery to getting more done. Each of us has the same amount of time each day. We have about the same amount of energy, but fortunately, we all have enormous potential. The difference between the super-achievers and the res t of us is a set of skills! They know how to get things done, or in my favorite phrase, they have a “recipe” for success and we can all learn to use it!

Quotes of the Week
"Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now."
-- Goethe
"Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?" -- Mary Oliver
“Entrepreneurship is a state of mind, a can-do attitude, a capacity to focus on a vision and work toward it.”
-- Barry Rogstad
"If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he had imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours."
- - Henry David Thoreau

TO MAKE MORE, SERVE MORE

Recently, I talked with an entrepreneur whose business that has stopped growing. His sales, production and profits have all been flat or falling in the past 18 months, and he's feeling desperate. He feels the pressure of "having" to make more money!
He told me he's tried giving his staff more training. He's tried giving more incentives (bonuses) and he's fired some of his poor performers. Now he's talking about "having" to raise prices because he just can't "live on what we're making."
You can imagine how our conversation went. I pointed out that the market place never lies. We may not like the message it sends us, but our customers never lie to us. If sales are flat, it's because our customers no longer feel we are giving them the "bargain" they want.
It is true that part of the problem may be marketing. He may need to find ways of letting more of the right people know that he and his services are available (reaching too few or the wrong people is always a problem) but for the most part, his problem seemed to be that his potential customers no longer see him as a resource.
Our customers "want" stuff. They want more and better service. They want to enrich their lives. They want help in achieving their goals, both personal and in business. People will always buy goods and services if they believe the purchase will serve them, and if they can get it at a price they are willing to pay.
To make more money, you've got to do a better job of serving people. When your customers understand you are eager to help them get what they want, and will do it at a price they are willing to pay, your success is assured.
To make more money, find a way to provide more and better service.

DISCOVER AND BE WHO YOU ARE

In a famous speech, Dr Martin Luther King, Jr., dreamed of a day when we would judge others "by the content of their character." I think it was Dr Joyce Brothers who said, "character is what we do when no one can see us." I've always liked that!
As a society, we don't talk much about character any more, except around elections. A hundred years ago, schools spent time teaching "morals" and "upright living." Today those things are not allowed, much less emphasized. As a result, I often wonder if the "content" of character is changing.
I also note how little time most of us get to ourselves. A hundred years ago, most people were often alone. True, the cities were crowded but most people got some time alone every day. Farmers and many shop owners worked alone. People walked or rode horseback. Since there were no lights or electronic diversions, people went to bed when it got dark.
Today, we crave information and entertainment. We have our iPods when we exercise. We have the radio in our cars. The television is on even if no one is watching. We Twitter and email and text or call each other constantly. For many people, dialing their cell phone is an essential part of starting their cars.
All of that leads to this: Time alone may be a good thing and a forgotten art.
I'll go further, time alone may be required to know ourselves well. Of course we also discover parts of ourselves in our interactions with other people. We learn about our values or tastes every time we go to a restaurant, meet new people, choose a movie or argue with a friend. A huge part of "who we are" is who we are with people! We are social creatures and we "find ourselves" in connection with other people.
But we are also individuals. In many ways, we are flying solo. As the old saw goes, we come into this world alone and we go out of it alone. I suspect time by ourselves, when "no one can see us" gives important clues to our character.
These past ten days, it's been interesting to notice what time I went to bed and what time I got up in the morning. It's been interesting to notice what and how I ate, whether I washed my dishes, and whether I shaved in the morning. Did I exercise? What shows did I watch when I didn't have to negotiate with anyone? How much did I work and how much did I spend? Was being by myself lonely or peaceful, or something else?
Who we are when no one is watching tells us a lot about our "true selves."
I think this has both spiritual and profound practical applications.
On a philosophical level, wise people from Socrates to Shakespeare, to Mother Theresa advised that the unexamined life is not worth living. They've suggested that we know ourselves first, then be true to who we are. They recommended times of contemplation, times of solitude, times of meditation. Wise folks have encouraged solitary walks, times for retreat, times of fasting. Jesus is reported to have spent forty days alone in the wilderness.
We are different people when we are alone. We discover things about ourselves that are often hidden in the noise of society. On a purely theoretical level, I suspect time alone is a good thing.
And on a practical level, we need time, peace and quiet to make good decisions. It is not only teenagers who face peer pressure when making important ethical, personal and business decisions. How often have you been "talked into" buying something you didn't want or doing something you regretted? We've all done that.
We've all felt times of confusion, pressure or distraction and exclaimed, "I need time to think!"
When we are bombarded by external stimulation we discover the part of ourselves that is very smart, that can multi-task, handle enormous amounts of information and enjoys music, news and entertainment. That part is good! But constant stimulation also deprives us of another part of ourselves, the part that enjoys a sunrise, a good book, or giving thanks.
I recommend time alone. Obviously, some people enjoy more alone time than others, but I suspect we all benefit from at least some time to discover our own thoughts, our preferences, our "self." Schedule a weekend alone at a favorite cabin or resort. Once a week, turn off the iPod and go for a quiet walk or have lunch in a local park, alone. Journal in the mornings or turn off the television, go outside and watch a sunset or the stars. All alone, you may find a really interesting person and discover something of your true character.

BABY STEPS ARE THE KEY TO ACHIEVEMENT

Too often we talk about what we are going to do while, in fact, we do very little to make our dreams come true. We talk and dream and plan. We budget and visualize. We do everything, in fact, except take action.
We all know that only action changes things. One of my favorite slogans is that "Nothing changes until something changes." I love that even a small step in the right direction can have huge implications! And, I love the reminder that only action will make our dreams come true.
We are blessed to live in a time when we can have or do just about anything we can imagine. You can go to law school or medical school--yes, you could! You can make a fortune, travel the world, raise happy children, run for office, publish a book, start a business or become a hermit and live in the woods. If you can imagine it, you can DO it!
The only catch is that you have to actually make it happen.
I see at least three popular tools for avoiding the uncomfortable necessity for action. They are good tools, but we mis-use them to stay safe, remain comfortable, and wonder why our dreams don't come true.
First, we set too many goals. Now, I'm a huge fan of goal-setting and I even wrote an ebook about the process. I use goals in my business and personal life, and I encourage my clients to set goals, so don't mis-understand me here.
The problem is that we set goals instead of taking action. We plan and talk and set dead-lines when we should get to work and "go for it." Getting fit isn't a goal! It isn't a long-term project, it's a process. It's about walking around the block, skipping desert or whatever is right in your situation. Never set goals when it's simpler and more appropriate to take direct action!
Second, we wait for the right time. Again, "there is a season for everything under heaven" and timing can make a huge difference. But we mis-use that truth when we refuse to take action because we are waiting for a "better time" or for the moon and stars and our checkbook to be in alignment. It's an excuse! There will never be a magical "right time" to start a business or start a family or start saving.
The time is now! Take action, do what you can, move in the direction you want to go. Stop procrastinating and move it!
Third, we look for "leverage" so we can make big, dramatic progress. Now, of course big steps are wonderful! They are exciting and leverage can make everything easier. No one doubts that! But that is no reason to avoid doing what you can, where you are, right now.
In fact, often the "big steps" turn out to be scary and then we find even more reasons to avoid them.
In most things, I'm a huge fan of "baby steps" and have written about taking the smallest, safest, least dramatic step you possibly can, so long as you take it today. Take small steps, just take them!
Find and use a goal-setting routine. Goals are vital to your long-term success! Just don't get so lost in the process that you forget to look up, get up, and get going! The same is true of timing and taking huge, bold steps when you can.
Action always speaks louder than words or plans or goals. Action gets things done. Take small steps, but take them today. Call someone. Read something. Open a savings account. Invest a dollar, take a walk, talk with your kids. Whatever it is, just do it! Before bed this evening, take some measurable, positive step (no matter how small) in the direction you want to go. Then tomorrow, do it again.

THE SECRETS TO WEALTH

Recently, a round-table discussion with people whose net worth ranged from "comfortable" to approaching a billion dollars. All of them have achieved significant financial wealth, and all of them have done it on their own. There was no inherited money in this group. I asked them what they did to accumulate money, and for advice to pass along in TIPS. Here are the results:
1. Save 10% of everything you make, no matter what. The amount they recommended varied slightly, but they were unanimous: Live within your means and save money every month.
2. Invest for the long haul. They pointed to Warren Buffet and noted that he buys and holds a stock for 20 years or longer. Invest in things you understand, and hold on!
3. Avoid debt. They talked about raising capital for their businesses (sometimes borrowing from investors), but insisted that personal debt be eliminated. One woman said, "consumer debt is devastating. If you want to achieve financial wealth, kill your credit cards." Another added, "no car or boat or anything else is worth the cost (financial and emotional) of borrowing money."
4. Crunch the numbers. They talked about doing their financial statements "every month, no matter what." Another added, "Only the numbers tell you how you're really doing; you've got to watch them like a hawk and use the information every day."
5. Have a plan. They expect their investments to grow steadily over the years (not over-night), and they plan accordingly. They emphasized setting 20, 30, even 50-year financial goals.
6. Know that money is one way of keeping score, but it's not the game itself. Money comes from investing or creating or doing something other people value and will pay for. They emphasized that "it's fun to have nice things" but noted that the money was secondary to doing "interesting things."
All of them had stories of starting out with school loans, small children, a "stuffy little apartment," working for minimum wage or eating "lots of macaroni and cheese," and yet knowing that they could "achieve some measure of success." Now, they've done it, and so can you. We can learn from the experts!

THE COMPLEX SALE TODAY

The Sale is More Complex Today
The entire process of selling today is more complex than it has ever been before. It used to be that we would make a single call on a single buyer who would make a single decision on our product or offering. In this simple form of selling, we used the attention/interest/ desire/action (AIDA) model of sales presentation and focused intensely on numerous different ways of closing the sale. Then, once we had made the sale, in many cases we never saw the customer again.
Everything Has Changed
Today, however, everything is different. Today we must make multiple calls, an average of five or six, in order to make the sale. We deal with multiple decision makers in an organization, each of whom can influence the purchase. Much of the sale takes place when we are not present. Sometimes we never even meet the final decision maker who signs the check. And it is not unusual for a sale to be derailed at the last minute by something completely unexpected.
The Competition is Fierce
If that weren't enough, there is more competition than ever before and it is more determined and resolute than it has ever been in the past. Not only must we compete on the basis of price, quality, services, capabilities, financing and warranties with many other vendors of our product or service, but we must also compete with every other vendor of every other product or service who is striving to get the same customer dollar that we are after. Our competitors are extremely determined, driven the same as we are by tight markets and careful customers. They are committed to starting earlier, working harder, and staying up later thinking of ways to take our customers away from us.

Customers Are Overwhelmed

Our prospective customers are beset on all sides by every conceivable sales offering. Because they are drowning in details, options and choices, they are in no hurry to make up their minds. With markets changing and contracting, the amount of discretionary funds they have available has shrunken and they are more careful today than they have ever had to be in the past.
The Key to Profitability
The purpose of a business is to create and keep a customer. If a business does this in sufficient quantity and with proper cost controls, it will make a profit. The profit is the result of creating and keeping customers efficiently.
Create and Keep Customers
As the president of your own professional sales corporation, your job is to create and keep customers as well. And just as a company must continually restructure and redesign its product and service offerings to satisfy the changing tastes of a demanding and competitive customer marketplace, you as a salesperson must constantly upgrade the quality and sophistication of your sales procedures and approaches if you are going to create customers in sufficient quantity.
Action Exercises
Here are two things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action.
First, be prepared to make multiple calls on a customer to close a large or complex sale. Plan your sales work systematically so you always have a new reason for calling back.
Second, think continually about how you have to change and improve your selling and your offering if you want to succeed in a tough market. Work on yourself every day and never stop getting better.

THIS IS YOUR TIME TO BUILD

What are you building this summer? My hunch is that the numbers are going to suggest the recession is coming to an end, or at least moderating, and that strikes me as being sort of like "spring."
During the "winter" of a recession, things are hard for most people. True, some people adapt and find ways to do just fine in spite of poor economic conditions, but for most of us, this has been a time of anxiety, doubt, and uncertainty. The banks haven't been lending. Housing prices, retirement plans and employment all took a big hit last year, and many of us have struggled with declining sales in our businesses.
But my hunch is things will look much (or at least somewhat) brighter in the months ahead. What are you doing to be sure you benefit from that?
To use a farming analogy, spring is a time for faith and hard, hard work. In much of the world, spring doesn't look very promising. Sometimes it's still cool or even cold. It rains too much, the fields may be flooded or still have snow in places. Even if the birds are coming back and the days are getting longer, when you look out the window or walk through barren fields, it doesn't look very hopeful.
And yet, it's a time to plan and work. It's a time borrow money, buy seed, tune up the tractors and tillers, and get busy! Something like that is called for in our own businesses and our own lives.
This week, we've had a crew excavating soil, trenching, pouring concrete and building a "stem wall" to support a new addition to our home. After months (years?) of dreaming and talking, we finally got down to actual planning. We talked with contractors, got estimates, and made decisions. We signed a contract and this week some hard-working guys started moving dirt, making a mess, and telling me this was all preparation for really good things down the road. In fact, they promise me that before I know it, some very nice things are going to happen!
I'm always struck by how long the "preparation" takes, compared to the actual construction. This small crew of four guys has accomplished amazing things! After talking and dreaming for months and years, these four guys moved tons of soil, leveled a slope behind our home, trenched and laid drainage pipe, built forms and poured concrete, laid block, and prepared to do the framing next week. And they did all that in four days!
For me, the lesson is obvious and rather humbling. I have dreams and "plans" for my business and my life that I've contemplated for ages. I've been waiting for the "right time" and some of these ventures have taken "forever" to get off the ground. What the crew demonstrated this week is that once I commit to ACTION, big things can happen very, very quickly.
What action have you been putting off? What dreams and hopes and "plans" have you been sitting on? Whether it concerns your business and career, your family and personal life, or your health and spirituality, NOW is the time for action.
My personal hunch is that the economists and government officials are going to tell us the "recovery is coming slowly" or that the "numbers are only starting to turn around," but like the farmer comparing what he sees on the calendar with what he sees out the window, NOW is the time to move forward.
If you invested in the stock market in early March, when things seemed darkest, you may now have a very respectable gain. In our case, it took courage and almost a sense of recklessness to go ahead with plans we've talked about for so long, but in just four days, amazing things have happened! The farmers who plant in the cold and rain of spring are most likely to have the bumper harvests in the fall.
The lesson is obvious. What are you building this year? I suspect NOW is the time to prepare. NOW is the time for action, for risk and optimism. NOW is the time to shake off the doldrums, pessimism and fear of recession in favor of action to make your dreams come true. Remember the saying, "the early bird gets the worm?" Be one of the early birds. Build your business, go after your dreams, achieve your goals. I think a year from now you'll be glad you did.

Quotes of the Week
"Follow your bliss." -- Joseph Campbell
"The greatest thing in the world is to know how to be one's own self." -- Montaigne
"Happiness is that state of consciousness which proceeds from the achievement of one's values." -- Ayn Rand
"Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now."
-- Goethe

BE A DOCTOR OF SELLING

Three Keys to Building Relationships
Top sales professionals see themselves as "Doctors of Selling." They see themselves as professionals, well educated, acting in their "patient's" best interest, and bound by a high code of ethics.
The medical process is the same everywhere. Whenever you go to any doctor, of any kind, for any condition, he will follow the three part sequence of examination, diagnosis and prescription.
Begin With a Thorough Examination
Just as a medical professional would never think of treating you without following these three steps in order, you as a doctor of selling, would never allow a customer to force you to sell without your going through your three stages as well. This is as applicable to selling magazines door-to-door as it is to selling oil tankers to Exxon.
In the examination phase, you ask excellent questions, carefully prepared, in sequence, which are geared to give you a thorough knowledge of the patient's condition, or the customer's situation.

Diagnose the Customer's Need Accurately

The second phase is that of diagnosis. In the diagnosis phase with a customer, you would repeat back the results of your examination and double check to be sure that the symptoms that you had detected were the real symptoms being experienced by the patient. You would ask additional questions to confirm and corroborate. You and the patient would mutually agree that this diagnosis seems to be an accurate description of the condition or problem.
Make the Right Prescription
Once this mutual agreement has been reached, that a treatable condition exists and that you have identified it accurately, you can move on to phase three. This is the prescription phase, where you show the patient (customer) that your product or service is the best available treatment, taking all the factors of the patient's situation into consideration for the ailment that you have diagnosed. You show that, on balance, what you are suggesting is the best of all possible solutions.
Professionals who sell in the way that doctors treat patients find that their sales activities proceed far more smoothly and result in better sales in less time.
Action Exercises
Here are two things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action.
First, take the time to do a thorough examination by asking excellent questions and by listening carefully to the answers.
Second, repeat back and check your diagnosis with the customer so that you both agree on the need or problem - before you recommend a solution.

THE TIME TO USE YOUR PERSONAL POWER IS NOW!

Most of the world's truly great people will be forever unknown. You and I will not hear of them and no one will write their biographies. Fortunately, fame has nothing whatever to do with greatness.
Sure, like most people, I love watching Oprah Winfrey and am inspired by her story. It's fun to watch Donald Trump or Bill Gates, although neither of them started in what most of us would call poverty. Perhaps the greatest recent example is President Obama. As a toddler, few would have predicted his current job title.
But most of us will never be famous and it's unlikely anyone will write our biography. And that has nothing whatever to do with "greatness!" All of us want to achieve. Whether our goals are to make more money, to have more time with loved ones or to achieve some other goal, the thing TIPS subscribers have in common is the desire to do, have and become more. How do we achieve that?
We all have greatness within us. Every one of us is born to make a difference, to play our part, and transform our corner of the world. We all--every single one of us--has the potential to live with joy and gusto and greatness. Why do so many of us settle for small problems, and small lives?
I think too many of us fail to grab hold of our personal power.
Because we are not "powerful" on the world stage, we forget that we have tremendous power in our choices. We may not be rich or famous but we have the power to live with dignity and integrity and ambition. We have the power to smile, to try, to persist. We have the power to read and learn, and to pick ourselves up and try again, perhaps in a new and smarter way. We have the power to be loving, to be kind, and the infinite power to create.
We have the power to decide how we live our lives.
My sense is that it helps to have a big dream. My father always told us that if we were going to dream, we might as well dream BIG dreams. I think it matters what we expect in life. I think it helps to imagine the best and focus our thoughts, our attention and our intention on big dreams.
But I also think it's vital that we not be distracted by our own dreams. It's helpful and fun to aim for the sky, so long as we realize that even the biggest dreams happen one step at a time. Donald Trump's fancy skyscrapers are build one rivet at a time. Oprah built her empire one interview, one decision at a time. "A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step."
Both Nelson Mandela and Marianne Williamson have been credited with the insight that our greatest fear is not that we are powerless, but that (in fact!) we are powerful beyond measure. Whoever said it first, I think it's true.
You are powerful beyond measure! You have the power to change your world any time you wish. Use your power! Get up a bit earlier, or work a bit longer, stand a bit taller. Give a smile to someone who needs one. Put legs under your dreams and make them happen.
High achievers use their personal power. They get up early. They exercise. They make key phone calls. They read great books. They monitor their time, their nutrition, their investments, their relationships. And so can you! These are the pesky "little things" that create big results!
Use your power every single day! Write a note or call a friend. Do it today, not tomorrow or "someday." Use your power to take a hike, read a story to a child or make one more sales call. Today, set aside an hour to read a book, practice a new skill or take a mentor to lunch. Today, initiate some action that, if repeated over time, will take your life in the direction you want to go.
For the month of August, promise that you will use your power every single day. Choose a few key areas and commit that each day you will take the ordinary actions that will move you forward. Remember the cliché that "mighty oaks from tiny acorns grow?" The world's strongest athletes started with a few sit-ups or push-ups. The world's great fortunes often began with one small investment. Use your power! Whatever you have and wherever you are, begin and persist.

Quotes of the Week
"We have to do the best we can. This is our sacred human responsibility." -- Albert Einstein
"Some men see things as they are and ask why. Others dream things that never were and ask why not."
-- George Bernard Shaw
"Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go." -- T. S. Eliot
"Freedom is actually a bigger game than power. Power is about what you can control. Freedom is about what you can unleash." -- Harriet Rubin