CHAOS VS ACHIEVEMENT

We all want lives of achievement, health, happiness and
some measure of wealth. We want the "good life!" And yet,
the vast majority end up leading relatively average,
middle-class lives. How can this be? How can so many of the
world's most educated people end up working paycheck to
paycheck?
I think the answers are pretty simple.
Most of us were never taught HOW to create and live a great
life! We don't study this in school. We admire people who
have done great things, but no one coaches us, no one shows
us the way. And so we stumble. We struggle. We are
ambitious, educated people and we do the best we can, but
without the basic formula, too often we get only average
results.
So, I want to share with you two of the most important
formulas I know. I teach these to my coaching clients and I
want to share them with you. My price? If you find them
helpful, I ask that you pass them on to at least two other
people. Forward this email, or print it out and mail it to
two friends. I hope you're willing to do that.
The first is what I call the formula for chaos. It goes
like this:
      Impulse  +  Opportunity  =  Chaos
Every day, we all have impulses to study or to spend, to
work or to watch television. Impulses are merely ideas that
pop into our brains and momentarily catch our attention.
The problem is that they are relatively random and too many
are based on casual appetites or fleeting temptations.
There's nothing bad or wrong with our impulses, but there
is nothing inherently good or trustworthy about them,
either.
The problem comes when our impulses get matched with
opportunity for instant gratification. Here's how it works.
Consider the impulse to spend, combined with a credit card
in your wallet. Too often, the result is unplanned debt
that becomes a problem. Or how about the impulse to watch
television, combined with a big new flat-screen TV? Too
often, the result is wasted time. You see the pattern?
Impulses happen. When we surround ourselves with
opportunities for instant gratification, the result can be
a life lurching out of control.
Now, consider another formula, the one for achievement.
Here it is:
      Desire  +  Discipline  =  Achievement
"Desire" comes from Latin words that mean "of the father."
Our deepest desires represent our true longings, our
mission or purpose in life. When we are clear about our
real DESIRES and combine them with an orderly and
disciplined life, the results can be astonishing!
Jonas Salk had the DESIRE to prevent polio and the
DISCIPLINE to do the research, study his notes and make the
discoveries. The results changed the world. Mary Kay Ash
had the DESIRE to help single moms like herself, and the
DISCIPLINE to find a way. She had no money (she started
with $500) and no business experience, but she pressed
forward. She changed an industry and helped millions of
women in the process.
Random impulses in a world of careless opportunity too
often lead to chaos, debt, and disaster. Knowing your
deepest DESIRES and matching them with even minimal
DISCIPLINE, however, is the recipe for achievement. When
Stephen Covey talks about "starting with the end in mind,"
he's talking about being clear about your desires. When we
talk about written goals, we're talking about strong
desires. When you know what you truly want, and go after it
with discipline and determination, the results are
astounding.
That's the formula for achievement!

STUDY YOUR DATA

I'm often called in to consult or coach with business
leaders who are confused, even terrified by what they
perceive to be a terrible business situation. Maybe sales
are down even though they've added more sales people.
Perhaps production costs are up and profits are plummeting.
Sometimes key people are leaving, and they don't know why.
Granted, sometimes the answers are hard to find and we have
work to do, but often the answers are readily available.
Often the answers are sitting right on their desk in the
form of numbers they haven't bothered to analyze.
Every business has a small number of critical
"measurables." For a therapist, these include the number of
clients, the average length of treatment, and the number of
new referrals per month. With just those three numbers, you
can pretty well predict the future of any clinical
practice. Obviously, the cost of rent, staffing and many
other numbers are also helpful, but those three tell you
most of what you need to know.
In other businesses, the variables will be different, but
they ALL need to be studied.
I once worked with a large, regional landscaping company.
For them, the key variable was the ratio of total monthly
revenue divided by total payroll. That single number said
volumes about the over-all health of the company.
Whatever your key variables, study them! Too often managers
and CEO's get so caught up in planning for the future and
putting out daily "fires" that they forget to crunch the
numbers. I believe in numbers! Study them. You can learn a
lot from a few key numbers, and make adjustments
accordingly.

8 PUBLIC SPEAKING TECHNIQUES TO WOW YOUR AUDIENCE

What is the goal of professional speaking?

The goals of professional speaking are to entertain, inform, inspire, and to get the audience to take action.

The truth is, in order for your presentation or speech to have its greatest effect you need to be able to entertain and wow your audience.

I’m going to give you 8 ways that I use in my speeches to keep my audience on the edge of their seats until the end of my talk.

1) Say Something Right Off The Bat That Connects to The Audience

Let me give you an example of how I open a talk, and you know I’ve given over 5,000 talks and seminars. I almost always open with the same words.

I say, “Congratulations for being here. This means that you are in the top ten percent of adults in our society today.”

I say this in Russia, I say it in China, Finland, Canada, and I say it in Atlanta.

“You are among the top ten percent of adults in our society today.”

“Why is that?”

“It’s because you’re here.”

“You see, only the top ten percent of people in any society ever come to a seminar like this to learn how to be better in some way. The other 90 percent always have a reason for not being here.”

Then I’ll ask, “How many of you know people who could have been here but had an excuse for not coming?”

Everybody in the audience nods and visualizes and thinks of the person who’s not here, who is usually not a very successful person.

Then I tell them that the fact they are here means that they are in the top ten percent.

And by the way, how can you tell who a person really is?

How can you tell what they believe in, what their goals are, and what their hopes, dreams and values are? Can you tell by what they say? Is it what they hope or wish?

No.

It’s only what they do. The fact is that you are here. You’ve taken the actions to be here, and that means you’re in the top ten percent.

Then I’ll say, “Many of you are thinking that if he knew how much money I’m making, he wouldn’t say I was in the top ten percent.”

“Maybe not, but remember that it doesn’t matter where you’re coming from. All that really matters is where you’re going.” 

“And where you are going is determined by what you are doing in the moment. And the fact that you are here means that you intend to have a great future. Remember that future intention determines present action.”

That’s how I start off.

I’ll even say that I’m going to share some ideas with them, that are practiced by the top ten percent of people in this field. I’ll tell them that these ideas can help them to move ahead faster than they ever imagined possible. Then I launch into my talk.

Listen to how Steve Jobs connects to his audience almost immediately in his 2005 Stanford Commencement address.

2) Connect with Emotion

Sometimes when I’m talking to my audiences I will say, “Tell me, what percentage of people’s thinking is emotional, and what percentage is rational or logical?”
And people will guess for a while, and then they’ll finally say, “Oh, well it’s ten percent logical and 80 or 90 percent emotional.”
I tell them no.
People’s thinking is 100 percent emotional.
What does this mean?
This means that people think emotionally, and justify logically.
The subconscious mind, and our emotions actually function at several thousand times the speed of logic.
For example, you may meet a person and instantly like them. You may find later that there are a lot of reasons for you to instantly like that person. Your emotions acted like a switchblade, instantaneously, but your logic followed after and you figured out the reasons.

3) Tell The Audience How Good They Are

Throughout the talk I will loop back and say.
“Because you’re in the top ten percent, you know this…”
“People in the top ten percent like yourself do this…”
“People who aspire to be in the top ten percent set goals or manage their time this way.”
So I’m always linking back and telling them that they are in the top ten percent and that’s how good they are. Now that’s one way to make it entertaining and enjoyable, because people will all smile and feel happy.
They’re thinking…
“Boy, this guy’s really smart. I didn’t even realize I was in the top ten percent until he told me.”

4) Link Back to Your Opening During Your Speech

Starting with a strong opening line or a really good story that you can link and hook your whole talk back into, is very, very powerful.
And I’ve done this year after year.
More on storytelling to come…

5) Relate To The Audience’s Self-Interests

What motivates people to be really interested in your talk, aside from the subject, which many of them may have to be there for?
Many people have told me that they were forced to come to my seminar. They didn’t want to come, because they didn’t think they would learn anything.
So they weren’t there because I was such a wonderful person. They were there because they had to be.
The question you have to ask is, what are the motivations that you need to appeal to so that they will really listen?
Truthfully, I’ve found is that one of the great motivations is self-interest.
That’s why I ask how many people would like to double their income.
They all raise their hands spontaneously.
Then I say, “Well, in the time we spend together I’m going to give you several ways that you can double your income. These are ways that have been tested and proven by people all over the world. They’ve done these things over and over, and I’ve used them myself to go from from rags to non-rags. I’ll give you those same ideas. Would that be a good use of our time together today?”
And they all say yes, yes.
I have their total interest.
If you’re speaking on golf for example, you ask if they would like to reduce their score by five strokes, every single game consistently.
“Well I’m going to show you how to do that using psychological and physical techniques.”

6) Entertain Your Audience With Stories

The key to entertaining an audience is stories. Stories are the most important part of a good presentation.
You can tell very short stories, and they can be your stories or someone else’s stories.
If it’s your personal story, that’s even better.
But if it’s someone else’s story that is just fine.
Start by saying, “I heard a story just the other day.”
And then you tell the story.
Or, “Let me tell you a story,” or “This is something I heard recently that really moved me.”
Whenever you start to tell a story, the whole audience pays 100 percent attention.
When you’re giving facts and figures and details and strategies, methods and techniques, they will pay a certain amount of attention.
But when you tell a story they will listen intently.
And if you can design your talk around three stories, you’ll be amazed at the response.

Design Your Talk Around 3 Stories

When you think about your talk, remember that “Less is more.”
This should be the basic structure of your talk:

1. Your opening.
2. Your 3 key points.
3. Your close

You have a strong opening, first key point, and then a story.
Transition, second key point, and a story.
Transition, third key point, and a story.
Summarize, and then a close.
The stories link it all together. And you can tell stories that are inspiring, or emotional; that make people feel very strongly. You can tell stories that are motivational; that have to do with greater success and achievement as the result of persisting.

7) Appeal To Patriotism, Loyalty or Personal Gain

You can appeal to certain motivations to gain the attention of your audience.
For example:
“Our country is going through great difficulties today and I’m going to give you five things that we have to do to make America once again the land of the free, the home of the brave, and full of opportunity for you, and me, and for our kids.”
So you have to ask yourself what are the motivations of the people in your audience.

8) Tell the Audience EXACTLY What They are Going to Gain

The great motivation is a desire for gain.
If you can convey to them that they’re going to gain things from your talk, like time, money, or greater success or prestige in any area, then they will be listening and they’ll want to know how they can do that.
A wonderful way you can open a talk, by the way, is you can say “There are three things you need to do if you want to double your income in the next 12 months.”
Then you pause.

The Power of the Pause

When you pause, do you know what happens?
Before you keep reading, watch this video on the power of the pause:
People lean forward and say to themselves, “I wonder what it is. They wonder what the three things are.”
Then you say, “The three things are these. You have to be able to do this, and this, and this.”
And then the question they ask in their mind is “I wonder how to do that.”
Now it’s almost like fishing…
You just reel them in.
Using any of these tips can help you entertain an audience throughout your entire presentation, no matter how long it is.
What do you think?

REPLICATE YOURSELF

One of the key distinctions between creating your own job
and building a business, is the ability to have other
people do your work for you. This isn’t about “cloning” but
about building a team to run your business, serve your
customers and help you (and themselves) make money.
Most professionals run their “practice” as a small business
for tax and accounting reasons, but in fact they have a job
they created for themselves.  The may enjoy not working for
a corporation, but they still have to show up and do the
work in order to get paid. If they take a week off, the
income stops.
Fortunately, more and more professionals are training
others to do much of what they used to do themselves.
Attorneys use legal assistants, and physicians and dentists
use more (and more highly trained) assistants all the time.
The most successful sales professional I’ve coached is a
real estate agent with a personal staff of 4 people who
work for HER, not for her broker. In many cases, her staff
can close sales while she is on vacation.  Her commissions
continue even if she is on the beach!
Successful business people learn to delegate. They hire
experts who can strengthen and diversify the office. They
understand that training and leading a team will always be
more profitable than doing it by yourself.
Learn to delegate. The key to building your business is
almost never “doing” more; it’s hiring and supporting great
people. Sometimes the key is working with a great coach who
can help you see the road ahead and smooth out the “bumpy
sections.”