Do You HATE YOUR JOB?

It seems like lately I’m getting a lot of requests, from the people I meet, to coach them on how to find and get a new job. I spent five years as a headhunter, prior to becoming a trainer and coach so I suppose people think I have a magic formula for career changers. Maybe it’s a sign of the times and the economy or perhaps it’s simply coincidence (something I don’t believe in) but for whatever reason, people want to know, “How do I figure out what to do next?”

There are two sides to this equation. The first is finding the “job” and the second is “getting” it. Here’s my best advice on the subject of finding a job:

Don’t try to find a job.

“What?” you might be saying. “I need to make money, Jeff. How am I supposed to do that without a job?”

I didn’t say don’t work. I suggest you don’t want to find a job. I understand that you need money to survive and thrive; I’m just suggesting that one more job isn’t going to be the answer. If you’d like to be more fulfilled and make more money, here’s the question I have people answer when they come to me for advice on this subject. “What would you do if the money didn’t matter?” Don’t get me wrong, I know that the money does matter, but that’s not the point. The “trick” is to find what you love doing and to monetize it. For example, if you like standing in front of an audience and being the center of attention, and you enjoy helping people; perhaps a career as a professional speaker is right for you. (Know anyone like that???) Do you love dancing more than anything else in the world? Maybe if you’re not good enough to make a living as a professional dancer you could still teach others to dance, or offer dance therapy classes, or something else that will help bring you money and allow you to “play” at your job instead of grinding it out, day after day.

How do you figure out what it is you want to do? Take an inventory of who you are and what you truly enjoy. So far no one has been willing to pay me to sit at the beach drinking martinis and eating sushi but I was able to figure out that I love being in front of an audience. I’m self-aware enough to know that I like being the center of attention. Fortunately, through my long experience in the world of sales I’ve found a topic I am able to speak about with expertise so am able to attract people who will pay me to do what I love doing. What is it for you? What do you know about yourself? What are you really good at? What do you really love doing? What would you do if the money didn’t matter?

Once you figure out what it is you want to do you need to find a way to make money doing it. That’s too broad a topic to cover here and even when you figure out what you want to do you still might need some help coming up with a way to make money doing it. A good coach can often help with that. (Feel free to call me if you need help with this. If I can’t help you I can usually recommend someone who can)

As for the second part of the equation, if you have decided that you do want a job how do you get one, I have lots of tips for doing great on an interview and can lead you in the right direction but this article is already too long so we’ll leave it for next time! (I have a document I can send you to help you prepare for an interview if you’re interested) In the meantime, feel free to call or write if you have any questions.

Make It Happen!

Jeff

Selling Lessons from Howard Stern!

You either love him or you hate him but either way you've got to admit that "shock-jock" Howard Stern, the self-proclaimed "King of All Media," is amazingly successful. Over the years he's gone from one radio station to another, steadily growing a legion of millions of rabid fans, and finally ending up at Sirius satellite radio with a Five Hundred Million Dollar 5 year contract. That's right, One Hundred Million dollars per year! Is he worth it? I don't know, but I do know one thing, Howard Stern can teach us all a few things about selling so if you want to increase the number and size of the sales that you're currently making, take heed to the lessons from the master!

1) Honesty - Howard has built his career on one main premise, honesty. He's brutally honest, some might say too honest sometimes, with his audience. On a daily basis (okay, four days a week) Howard gets on the radio and shares his innermost thoughts and feelings with his listeners. He tells them the truth of what's happening in his world. He shares stories about his parents, wife, friends and family. Often these are deeply intimate details like the time his (now) ex-wife had a miscarriage, things the average human doesn't share with the rest of the world. Howard has become known for being honest about all aspects of his life with his audience. What about you? Are you honest with your clients? Do you tell them the truth about your products or services? Do you give them realistic expectations or do you tend to over-promise and under-deliver? It's crucial that our prospects and customers view us as completely upfront and honest in all aspects of the relationship we share with them. My personal and professional experience is that people always appreciate it when you set expectations properly rather than promise the world and not be able to deliver. If you expect your customers to answer your questions (the KEY to selling - asking the right questions and getting good answers) honestly, doesn't it make sense that you should be honest with them?

2) Enthusiasm - When Howard reads a commercial it often includes him telling a story about how he used the product and how much he liked it. In fact, I recently heard him tell of a product he discovered that he was enjoying. The manufacturer of this product, a deodorant, is not an advertiser on his show but Howard shared his joy in using this product like it was something spectacular and something that everyone should be using. It's hard to get excited about deodorant but I couldn't wait to get home and check out the company's website after hearing Howard rave on and on about how great it was. The company called his show a couple of days later to say the product was selling out and that retailers were placing huge orders. Enthusiasm is contagious. Do you state the facts about the features and benefits of what you sell or do you share your unbridled enthusiasm? If you're not excited about what you're trying to sell, why would you expect your customer to get excited and do business with you?

3) Rapport - Listening to Howard Stern is a lot like watching the TV show "Seinfeld" for me. Again, you may not have been a "Seinfeld" fan but if you were you know that watching Jerry, George, Kramer and Elaine each week was like hanging out with old friends. You learned their personalities, their quirks, their likes and dislikes and what made them tick. You shared in their dating lives, their financial or job situations and everything that happened to them. Same thing with Howard. Listening to his show each day is like hanging out with your best buddies. Howard and Robin, Fred and Artie, Gary (his long-suffering producer) and the rest of the freaks on the show become a family to his listeners. We learn of their triumphs and foibles, their positives and negatives. We come to "know" them in a way that we do not with most "celebrities." I'd bet that almost any of Howard's listeners would jump at the chance to hang out with him in person, even though Howard describes himself as miserable and annoying to be with. We feel like we know and love him, like a best friend. Do you create relationship with the people you do business with? Do you share information about yourself or do you expect them to do so simply because it will help you to sell them? I can tell you from personal experience that my best customers learn about me and my life and I learn about theirs. If it's true, and it is, that people buy from people they like and trust are you doing everything you can to establish and nurture your relationships with your prospects and customers?

4) Humor - While many might disagree, Howard is (if nothing else) funny. You might not appreciate his sense of humor but he is a funny guy. He's vastly intelligent and understands what his audience is looking for and Howard attracts listeners (customers) with the same sense of humor that he has, sophomoric. Howard seems to be stuck at the age of about 16 or 17, when expelling gas was still among the funniest things you could imagine. (Yes, his audience is made up of far more men than women but women love him to!) He's clever and has a quick mind which is augmented by a staff of writers who think much like he does. He also appreciates the humor found is most of life and is often cracked up by what goes on around him. While I'm not suggesting you tell "fart jokes" to your prospects I am suggesting that a smile every now and then goes a long way. Lighten up and have a good time with the people you're trying to sell and there's a good chance that they'll lighten up too. When you make dealing with you an enjoyable experience you dramatically increase the odds of a sale.

I was recently wandering the frozen food aisle in my local grocery store and passing the ice cream I decided to pick up some Klondike bars, a type of ice cream. I got them home, stuck them in the freezer and a few days later I ate one. It was okay but I didn't love it. I remembered having Klondike bars when I was a kid and not liking them then either. "Why did I buy them?" I asked myself and suddenly realized that Howard had recently done a commercial for Klondike bars. Do you have that type of influence with your "audience?" Can you help them choose to buy products or services from you simply because you recommend they do? Whether you like him or not, take some lessons from Howard Stern and watch your sales soar!

Make It Happen,

Jeff

It Doesn't Matter What YOU Think

Provocative title, right? It can be taken many ways. Clearly, in terms of achieving goals and having the things you want in life your attitude and the things you think are extremely important. What I'm talking about here is that between you and your customer, it doesn't matter what you think. The only important thing is what your valuable customer thinks.

I recently had an experience that humbled me and taught me a lesson. Those of you who have seen me work know that I tend to use a lot of humor in my presentations. I do so because I enjoy it, the people I'm working with seem to enjoy it and, in my mind, it's a way to keep you involved and to prevent you from getting bored while learning new techniques that might help you be more successful. This hasn't been a problem in the past. About a week ago, however, I actually lost an engagement I was very much looking forward to. Among the reasons my valuable ex-client gave me for choosing to not work with me further was that he felt some of my humor was inappropriate for his team.

Before you jump to conclusions, I didn't (and don't) use foul language or sexual innuendos during my presentations. But I did say some things that clearly offended this client. When the client shared his feelings with me I listened carefully, apologized and wished him the best. The truth of the matter, though, is that while listening to the things he felt were offensive my mind was saying, "Wow, how could you be offended by that? Are you nuts? Don't you have a sense of humor? Didn't you hear your entire sales team laughing along with me?"

Later, while thinking about the situation it suddenly dawned on me. Like everyone else in the world, I do the things I do because those things make sense to me. I dress a certain way, speak a certain way, train a certain way. To some extent it's true that you can't please everyone and it's also true that while I'm a good fit for most organizations I might not be a good fit for everyone.
But it's also true, and far more important to realize, that it doesn't matter what I think. The important thing is what this customer (and all customers) thinks.

I feel the humor I used was funny and completely appropriate. Does that matter? Not one bit. I still lost the gig and while, typically, no one customer makes my month or year I greatly value and appreciate everyone who does business with me. What matters here is that my customer didn't find my humor appropriate. To me, it's not about the money. Losing the money wasn't very important, you can always make more money. In fact, I didn't charge the client. What was important was that this customer felt let down and, to me, that's completely unacceptable.

So how does this apply to us as salespeople? How often do we sit across from prospects and clients in a selling situation and think to ourselves, "This person doesn't know what they're talking about. I hope this jerk will stop talking soon so that I can dazzle them with my brilliance." I suggest that by having this type of mind-set we often talk ourselves out of business, simply because what we think (even to ourselves) usually gets expressed in some way.

In order to be more effective sellers we have to be better listeners. Part of listening means turning off our inner conversations. You know, the little voice inside your head that's whispering to you almost constantly while the other person is talking. To be a more effective listener we need to come from the fact that the most important person in the sales relationship is the customer. They've got a situation, problem or need that you might be able to help with, fix or fill. If we listen through the filter of, "I hope they stop talking soon because I don't really care what you think, I just want to show you what I've got," we'll miss what the prospect or customer is saying.

By practicing turning off that inner voice and realizing that the customer has the most important things to say to us (how we can help them and how we can sell them) we'll deepen our relationships, be better listeners and close more business. Tough lesson for me to learn but it's the tough ones that make us stronger and better!

Make It Happen,

Jeff

Look for the Fish That Are Biting

We salespeople are optimists! I like being optimistic and having that quality is one of the things that allows us to do our jobs well. Let's face it, typically more prospects say, "No," to our offering than say, "Yes." Unless you have a better than 50% closing ratio you hear the word "No" far more often than "Yes." If we weren't optimists, believing that everything will work out fine, we couldn't do our jobs very long in the face of the massive rejection most of us salespeople face each day. That's where the problem lies. The same optimism that makes us believe that "Yes" is right around the corner often blinds us to when people are saying "No" and we end up chasing every prospect equally. In a perfect world (one without clocks) that would be fine but in this world we have a limited amount of time. Unfortunately most salespeople act as if time is unlimited.

Since it's a given that we only have so many hours each day and each week that we can do what we do (sell) we need to find a way to make the most of every minute and highly respect the fact that we can only work with so many prospects at any given time. We also need to figure out how to decide which prospects are worth pursuing and which aren't. We need to know when "No" means "No" and when it means, "I need some more reasons to buy and then I might become a customer." One of the things that makes this difficult is that we salespeople are generally very likeable and people don't like to say "No" to us. They'll use different words and methods for saying "No" so that they don't offend us but we salespeople take those words to mean "Yes."

The first thing you should understand is that "No" is a gift. When a prospect tells you they're not buying, and they really mean it, they've given you the gift of time. If they really aren't buying you can shake their hand, tell them you've enjoyed meeting them and would love to do business with them anytime they're ready and you can move on to another prospect that might actually buy from you. In other words they give you time to go find a fish that might bite. I love when I get a real "No" from a prospect. I don't like it as much as I like "Yes" but "No" is a very close second. What I don't like, and try my best to avoid, is anything other than "Yes" or "No." Things like, "I need to think it over," or "I need to speak with my partner." (my accountant, the committee, etc.) These are the things that steal your time and your attitude and often mean you're not getting the sale but the prospect just doesn't want to use the word "No."

It's the same whether your selling your product or setting (selling) the appointment. You want to look for the fish that are biting. If you saw the movie, "The Perfect Storm," you'll remember that the fisherman on the Andrea Gale weren't having much luck. Their captain decides they should head someplace else. Why? Because he knew that it was foolish to fish where the fish weren't biting and it was far smarter to fish where they were biting. (of course it's a good idea to avoid being in the middle of three storms colliding while you're fishing but that's another story) It sounds so simple but take a look at the prospects in your current pipeline. How long have you been "chasing" them? What's your typical sales cycle? How far past your typical sales cycle are you? (the likelihood of closing a deal decreases dramatically the further you exceed your typical sales cycle) Are they returning your phone calls? Are they stalling you? ("Call me next week, month, quarter, century) If you're chasing the fish that aren't biting and devoting the same amount of time and attention to them as the fish that are biting (returning your calls, setting next action steps with you) you're not investing your valuable time wisely.

Not closing enough business? Perhaps you're spending too much time working with fish that aren't biting. Try another vertical. See if previous clients are ready to buy again. (previous or existing clients are generally far easier to see than someone who hasn't done business with you before) Fill your pipeline with new prospects while keeping your eyes and ears attuned to the signals that mean "No" and be sure to fish where the fish are biting!

Make It Happen!

Jeff

Just Be Yourself

I just got back from a bike ride along the ocean and while riding I "people-watch." Living in a beach community you get to see lots of different types of people, especially when the weather's nice as it is now.

I was noticing the amazing variety of people today. Men, women, kids. Some riding bikes. Some faster than me and others that I left in the dust. Some jogging, some running, some walking. Women in full makeup and high heels as well as others in workout gear and sweating up a storm. Fat men with their shirts off (ugh) and young guys with buff bodies that make me ride a little faster and longer so that I, too, can have abs that others can see instead of only in my dreams.
For now, my abs are hidden by a layer of...well, we don't have to go there. The point is each of the people I noticed today were being themselves and I was being myself. I didn't need to be anyone else and neither did they. So, what does this have to do with selling?

For years I've attended seminars and read books and newsletters (I still do) in order to learn what's out there and help improve myself. I can't tell you how many workshops I've attended that teach how you to figure out what "type" of person/buyer the prospect is and how to adjust your selling style to match their buying style in order to improve the odds of getting a sale.
One organization calls them Bosses, Users, Gatekeepers and Supporters. (BUGS) Another calls them Drivers, Analyticals, Amiables and Expressives. The list goes on and on. Supposedly, if you figure out what "type" your prospect is you can then change who you are or how you sell to better accommodate the way they like to buy. BUNK!

Just like I don't change who I am when I am riding my bicycle, I don't change who I am when I'm selling. I suggest that people, including your prospects, can "smell" a phony a mile away and changing who you are or how you are being with them will set off alarms in their heads. It's kind of like dating. (in fact, a sales call is very much like a date) If you meet someone and are on your best behavior, acting like the person you think they'd like you to be, you're going to be in deep trouble later on when you start acting like who you really are. If you like to eat ribs with your fingers (is there any other way?) would you use a knife and fork on a date so that the person sitting across from you doesn't see you getting bbq sauce all over your fingers? Probably not, so why would you act differently with a prospect just because of what type they are?

Don't get me wrong, if your prospect talks slowly and thinks slowly and you're a fast talker it's probably wise to slow down a little bit when dealing with this particular person. But changing your entire style and personality? Silly.

The fact is that buyers buy two things: relationship and value. I've dealt with value in this column before and will most likely deal with it again soon, as it is so important. Relationship is equally important. People buy from those they like and trust unless they have no choice, which isn't usually the case. How can you have a relationship based on like and trust if the prospect isn't getting to know the "real" you?

If you are a heavy drinker or drug user I'm not suggesting you should be drink or be high on sales calls but I do suggest you Just Be Yourself. People will either like you or not. Typically salespeople are "people" people. One of the traits of most great salespeople is their "likeability" factor. The "greats" are almost always the type of people that others immediately like. By being yourself, instead of worrying about what "type" the other person is, you can develop a real rapport which can lead to like and trust and, hopefully, a long-term profitable business relationship.

Forget all that other stuff. Just Be Yourself. You'll have more fun and close more business.

Make It Happen!

Jeff

Negotiating - The Golden Rule

One of the aspects of selling I get asked about on a regular basis is negotiating. "How can I negotiate more effectively?" "What do I need to do to make sure I get my price?" (or as close as possible) "Given that the people I'm negotiating against have often been trained in negotiating techniques what chance do I have of closing a profitable deal?" These, and other questions, are posed to me on an almost daily basis so I'm going to give you my very best advice regarding negotiating.

DON'T.

Well, that was simple, wasn't it? That's right. My very best advice regarding negotiating is, "Don't do it." Don't negotiate. Ahhhhh, I can hear you right now saying, "But Jeff, I live in the real world and in this world you have to negotiate." Well, ducky, I live in the real world too and I don't negotiate. For sure I don't negotiate my price. Let me explain why.

I offer a service. Training, seminars, keynote speeches, consulting. My time is valuable, just as yours is. My services are valuable too. Just as your products or services are. I gave a lot of thought when I decided how to price my services. What is the value of my time and teachings? What is the "going" rate for similar services. How much money do I need to earn to be profitable? After careful consideration I came up with what I felt was the "right" price. It's a price that's fair and reasonable. (it turns out that my price is now too low for what I offer and I'll be raising my rates soon but that's another story) It's a price that when clients pay it to me I feel I've been fairly compensated for what I've delivered. It's a price that when my clients pay it to me THEY feel like they been treated fairly and received excellent value. So, if all those things are true, why would I ever negotiate?

One of the things you need to understand is that it's human nature to want to receive a fair deal. It's also human nature to want to receive the "best" deal you possibly can. But you also have to understand that a question regarding price (which usually sounds like this - "Can you do any better on the price?") is often just a question. It doesn't necessarily mean that if you don't do better on price that the prospect won't buy from you. Unfortunately, most salespeople don't think that way and as soon as they hear a price question they automatically drop their price. Dropping your price isn't negotiating, it's discounting. If you want to consider dropping price as negotiating then understand it's the weakest form of negotiation and it's what the weak salesperson does first.

Why do people try to negotiate with you but not when they buy tickets at the movies? Why do prospects expect a better price from you but not at the grocery store? We could go on with examples all day long but the reason is simple: At the movie theater the price is the price. Same thing at the grocery store. Did you see the movie "Borat?" In the movie the star goes into a hotel to book a room. When the front desk clerk gives him the nightly rate Borat makes a counteroffer. The clerk explains that the rate is the rate. Why should your rate be subject to negotiating? (mine's not) We train our customers how to buy from us. If we let them know that we'll discount once, they'll expect a price reduction every time they buy. Better to train them to buy on value so that price isn't a concern.

What you want to get really good at is defending your price. You must be able to explain to your prospect, in a way they'll relate to and understand, why your price is fair and reasonable. You must get very good at showing the value of what you're selling. People buy value and relationship, not price. What is the value of owning your product or service? What benefits will your prospects receive when they become your customer? How will it improve their life, business, profitability, etc? When you've done a good job of selling you've carefully pointed out the value and if you've done that the price question ("can you do any better?") is usually simply that. A question.

Now, since I do live in the real world I understand that you might not be in a position where you won't discount so here are some tips for better negotiating if you must.

1) Never give anything up in a negotiation without getting something back. If you give up something without getting anything in return you're discounting, not negotiating.
2) Know your walk-away point. Before negotiating effectively you must know the point where if it's one penny less you'll walk away from the deal.
3) Be willing to walk away. If you're not willing to walk away from the deal you can't negotiate effectively. This means you must have a full pipeline of prospects you're working with so that no one deal is too important. By having many opportunities to work on at any given time no one deal will run your life.
4) Know what you can add-in that will cost little or no money. For example, when I train salespeople I often include a follow-up session over the phone. While my time is valuable and worth money it doesn't cost me very much to do a follow-up session but my client receives great value from it. Before I'd ever drop price I'd offer to include an extra follow-up session or two. My client wins and so do I. That should be the goal of all negotiations, the client and you must both win.
5) Give the client a good reason to pay you your price. A while back I had a conversation with a prospect regarding training his team. It was a fairly good sized deal and I wanted to close it. When I gave the client my pricing he asked if I could do better. I explained why I was charging what I was charging. He asked again if I could do better. I explained, "Yes, I could chop $4000.00 off the price but let me ask you this: When I'm standing in front of your team and training them, would you like every thought in my head to be focussed on delivering the material in a way that they'll understand it and be able to implement it immediately or do you want the little voice in the back of my head to be whispering to me, "They chewed you down $4000 on price?" The client said that the initial price I gave him would be fine and the deal closed. Whenever you want someone to do something for you (in this case pay me my asking price) show them why it's good for them. (in this case paying me my full price allowed me to focus 100% on his sales team)

Here's another thought for you...when someone substantially drops their price to me I feel like they're a thief. I bought a snowblower a few years ago. I went to a local store and inquired about a model they had on the floor. I was told the price would be $600. I asked the owner if he could do any better and after a few seconds he replied, "If you buy it right now I'll give it to you for $450." I shook his hand a left the store without buying the snowblower, drove to Sears and bought one there. Why? If he could that quickly shave $150 off the price then he was ripping me off at his asking price of $600. What if I hadn't asked if he could do better and had accepted his asking price of $600? I don't do business with thieves.

Get good at defending your price and you'll find that you'll end up negotiating more effectively. You'll be happier, your company will be more profitable and your clients (if they're anything like me) will probably feel like they've been treated fairly.

Make It Happen!

Jeff

It Takes Work!

A while back I was having a conversation with a business associate who, by most people's standards, is very successful financially. We're talking about a guy who is definitely one of the top 2% of earners, the kind of money that most people only dream of. During this particular chat we started talking about work in general and I made the offhand comment, "Hey, it's tough to make a living." My associate replied, "Jeff, it's not hard at all to make a living, but it takes work to get rich." I thought about it for a moment and realized that he had said something profound. It takes work.

In my business I get to meet a lot of people on an almost daily basis. Salespeople, sales managers, vice presidents of sales, presidents and CEOs. Often I'm asked, usually by salespeople and their direct managers, how they can make more money. My answer is, "It takes work." You see, I've discovered something interesting over the last few years. Almost everyone wants to be rich but very few are willing to pay the price. Whether you want to be rich or just make more money than you do now, IT TAKES WORK!

IT TAKES WORK to get up in the morning and adjust your attitude. Most of us wake up in a fog, stumble into the bathroom to take care of our morning business and then stumble down the hall to the kitchen where we brew up our first cup of coffee of the day. While downing that brew we think about how we'd rather be sleeping late, taking the day off, relaxing and enjoying life and generally start to dread the day ahead. Instead, this is time I suggest that would be better spent consciously creating the coming day, but IT TAKES WORK. Conscious creation of the coming day is exactly what it sounds like: creating your day. Instead of drowning in the muck of what's ahead you think about how thankful you are to be alive. How wonderfully the day is going to go. How happy you're going to be. How you're going to be a positive influence on others and how they're going to respond to you positively. How the things you think about and the actions you take are all going to work out beautifully. You visualize the sales calls you're going to go on and see the prospect reaching across their desk, smiling, to shake your hand as they say, "Yes, I want to do business with you." Conscious creation works, but IT TAKES WORK.

For salespeople, and I say this often, among the most important things you can do each do in order to insure your success is making sure you've got a pipeline filled with prospects. For most of us this means you need to prospect every day but, for most of us, this is a dreaded activity. It's also the one thing that solves almost every sales problem. Not enough in the pipeline? Prospect more. Not enough money coming in? Prospect more. Not closing enough business? Prospect more. Customers negotiating you down to nearly unprofitable levels? Prospect more. (so that you can negotiate from a position of strength - see last month's newsletter for more on this subject) For nearly half the questions I'm asked my answer is prospect more, but IT TAKES WORK.

As a sales trainer I work with salespeople and their managers sharing techniques and processes that can help them be more successful. I'm often asked, before being hired, about R.O.I. My answer, to the chief sales guru at the prospect company I'm talking with is always the same, "I can't guarantee any return on investment. I wish I could but I don't know what your sales managers and salespeople are going to do with the information I share with them once I leave. I'll do everything in my power to give them the tools they need to get more appointments and close more business than ever before but they have to implement those tools and IT TAKES WORK." IT TAKES WORK to actually pick up the phone and make cold calls. IT TAKES WORK to implement new techniques. IT TAKES WORK to try new things as opposed to doing what you always do. IT TAKES WORK.

How many of us have attended a seminar, read a book or a newsletter listened to a CD and learned something new that sounded like a good idea but never put it to use? (if you're not raising your hand right now you're a liar!) Most people I know have invested in a tape or CD series to improve or change something in their lives but they never listen to them. Is it because they don't want to? Is it because they are not interested in improvement? Did they just want to throw some money out the window? Probably not. I recently invested over $200 in a program designed to help you read substantially faster than normal. (the average person reads about 300-500 words per minute - this program claims to be able to get you to read as much as 25,000 words per minute!) It's been sitting on the floor near my desk for over a month. Because I don't want to read substantially faster? Because I don't think being able to read more books and newspapers would help me be more successful? Because I like reading slowly? No. The reason I haven't gotten past the first lesson is IT TAKES WORK.

I could go on and on with examples that would cause you to say, "Yeah, I've done that too." Want your relationship with your spouse and children to be better? IT TAKES WORK. Want your dog to be well trained? IT TAKES WORK. Want to have a better body? IT TAKES WORK. Want to have more money, more security, more success, more happiness, more of anything? IT TAKES WORK.

Here's my suggestion: Sometime this weekend take 30 minutes for yourself. Grab a piece of paper and write down all the things you're committed to. If you have a list of goals that you wrote out at the end of last year, or the beginning of this one, that would be a good thing to have for this exercise too. Take a look at your goals and see how far you've advanced toward reaching them. Acknowledge yourself for the things you've accomplished and the progress you've made. Make a list of the things you still need to do in order to reach the rest of your goals. Write down the actions you need to take, the people you need to contact, the books you need to read or anything else you need to do in order to make your life into what you want it to be. Now write down your commitments to those actions. Make promises to yourself. And then, KEEP THOSE PROMISES.

You can create the life you want, the health you desire, the relationships you dream of and the success that's avoided you most of your life (as if success didn't want to hang out with you) but IT TAKES WORK!

Make It Happen,

Jeff