Category Archives: Goal Accomplishment

Tips to Become & Remain a Lifelong Learner in 2023

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Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Many people graduate, leave school and stop learning.

They don’t read books and they get set in their ways and routines.

As an observer of people near and around me I have found this idea of not learning fascinating and hard to believe.

In essence, if you quit thinking about your education on graduation day how are you going to keep up with this wonderful world, we live in?

I believe that basically, no one quits learning. The learning process goes on every day.

We all get and buy new products and services and need to learn how they work to use them and function with them.

But that’s not real learning as I want to show in this article.

You may have loved school, but the thought of taking more classes or getting another degree seems daunting, especially with the demands of daily living.

To be a continuous or lifelong learner, there are many ways to gain knowledge, expand your skills, and add to your wisdom. You don’t have to drop everything and go full-time back to school.

There are many ways to add to your professional career and expand your own personal life knowledge.

Professional knowledge:

In today’s world, we can’t stand still. Many jobs are changing quickly, and may not even be the same job one or two years from now.

So, it is important to learn more on-the-job skills to move your career forward and become a more valuable employee.

Here are a few ideas:

  • If offered, go to training classes. Your employer may even pay for some that you find.
  • Go online and find related courses that are offered at low cost and sometimes even free.
  • Ask fellow employees for help. Ask what their advice would be to get and stay current on the job.
  • Ask your boss and coworkers for feedback. What else do you need to do or learn?
  • Learn to write and eventually publish a white paper or book on a subject you are knowledgeable about. Just learning and researching for you paper or book will increase your knowledge.

Personal knowledge:

Don’t forget to work on your personal knowledge base. Too many of us don’t expand our personal knowledge base and have to rely on others for help.

Don’t just relax in front of the television.

Use some of your leisure time for meaningful activities, Expand your personal knowledge base.

Here are a few ideas:

  • Read books about your personal and periodically put in a good fiction novel. Begin by setting a daily reading goal start easy with 5 pages per day.
  • Improve your vocabulary. Set a goal of learning one new word five days per week. Look for free apps that will provide you with a daily word.
  • Learn a foreign language. Start with a free app on your phone and practice a few words or lines daily. Being bilingual can help boost memory.
  • As you look for new things, thoughts, and ideas experiment with them. See if there is something worth your time to do and learn.
  • Find and start a new hobby. This can be rewarding and really expanding in your knowledge base and learning new things.

Start small and see if these ideas are good for you. If not think about other ideas that fit your world.

Are they fun to do as you are becoming a continuous and lifelong learner?

This is easy to say and most likely hard to get started.

Find a challenge that interests you both Professionally and Personally and get started.

Keep it simple but just start doing some deliberate learning every day. Measure your progress and watch yourself grow and change.

For more tips let me know at [email protected].

Thank you for reading this article.

To read and access my other posts and to have access to thousands of other posts, consider becoming a Medium member using this link.

Goal Setting – 95%+ People Do Not Write Their Goals

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Image by Rosy – The world is worth thousands of pictures from Pixabay

3 Things need to be completed for 2023.

It is reported that 95+% of people going into a new year do not have written measurable goals.

We all have heard this bit of wisdom, yet we still do not have written goals.

Begin now to look toward goals for 2023.

Do these three things during December, and you will be part of the 5% of people who have written goals.

1. Set an appointment time with yourself, 30–60 minutes. Get a blank paper or a blank computer screen and begin writing your thoughts and ideas for accomplishment next year. This first attempt at goal setting doesn’t have to be neat — take time to think about and write your ideas, thoughts, and expectations for 2023. The first attempts are pretty messy and unorganized. Then put this information away for a few days (Be sure to put it in a place to easily find it).

2. Set another time with yourself for 30–60 minutes and get your first list and notes out. You will be surprised at the progress you will have already made toward thinking about and planning for next year. Review your first session, subtract, add, and modify your original list and notes.

3. Set a 3rd time with yourself near the end of December. Many people tell me they like doing this during the holiday season when not working and can really spend time thinking about wants and goals for next year. Make this list as neat and useable as you want. Put your list in place to retrieve it often. Do not be afraid to change, delete, or add goals; this is a work in progress, and it may never be complete.

Doing this every year and setting up a tracking system, and measuring progress ensures that you will see goals completed.

You will do and accomplish more.

Try for yourself and get into the 5% group of people who write and strive to achieve their goals.

Let me know if you would like a template and sample goal review. [email protected]

Thank you for reading this article.

To read and access my other posts and to have access to thousands of other posts, consider becoming a Medium member using this link.

Are you really results oriented?

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Salespeople must be results oriented.

I read an article and do not remember the author’s name, but he said had a written statement on his desk “Results are the only excuse for activity.”

This statement would seem to be crystal clear, but few people are committed to a results-oriented lifestyle and I have seen salespeople over and over again who are not results-oriented. 

Many people are satisfied with their activity and best effort, they do not work toward real results.

To stay results-oriented ask yourself this question, “What am I really trying to accomplish?”

Far too many people talk about how hard they work, how many hours they spend working, how many miles they travel, and how hard the job is, and they expect appreciation and reward for this activity, regardless of the outcome.

These same people rarely talk about what the objectives of their efforts need to be. They never really talk about what results are expected.

I have witnessed salespeople do everything they can do except selling.

For sure, there is a lot of activity.

They work on lists of potential customers, go throughout the organization reviewing current customer orders, do paperwork such as daily planners, expense reports, etc., etc.

In the sales world, this is known as non-selling, non-pay time activities.

Salespeople need to understand that the only benefit of activity is to find a way for the desired result of sales and selling and getting more orders.

Activities that are important for creating sales must be completed every day.

Every day a salesperson needs to ask the question,

“What am I really trying to do today?”

The job of a salesperson is easy to describe. The number one priority of every salesperson is bringing in sales.

Strive every day to figure out how nonessential activity is being substituted for results.

Learn how to identify behaviors that need to be completed every day to produce sales.

Stop wasting time on nonessential activities.

Truly successful salespeople figure their numbers out and create daily habits to be sure that the habits are performed.

I am creating a white paper that describes the daily required habits of salespeople to perform their job.

Many companies do not have training on what a salesperson should do daily to be successful.

Thank you for reading this article. If you would like more information on what a salesperson should do daily — Let me know.

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Daily behaviors for sales success need to be taught and coached!

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Last week I discussed the simplicity of the daily selling “Grind”!  Many salespeople will not do daily behaviors. Doing and tracking is hard. A lot of salespeople get little or no training in selling behaviors. I have met, hired, and fired salespeople who are afraid of the accountability a system creates. 

The best most productive and highest paid salespeople are lifelong learners.  They embrace continuous sales training and get onboard with daily behaviors; they understand the power of doing the numbers every day.  A day missed is potential lost sales.

I believe many people think sales requires an inordinate amount of time.  Daily phone cold-calling, fitting as many appointments in as possible, working 12, 15, 18 hours per day.

Depending on your goals and the goals of your organization you can set up a daily set of behaviors that produce desired results and work 8 hours or less and be very productive. 

Do daily numbers go home every night and know sales and goals will happen.  Work a little harder the week before a vacation and go away knowing everything is still happening and sales will continue.

However, from experience I have seen many salespeople who just cannot get into the daily habits and they fail to make their goals and sales happen.

I tell every new salesperson what to expect and that there will be great sales training, continuous sales training, and a minimum set of daily behaviors.  The daily behaviors are recorded tracked and accountable, for continued employment.

I usually get feedback and sometimes push back on this.

What are your thoughts?

Positive thoughts become positive actions!

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Trying times!  Everything can – and will – change! 

Do your part – Make small positive acts and actions today.  Positive thoughts do become positive actions!

Memorize several positive mantras, release old, negative thoughts that may plague you.  

Your attitude and lifestyle will improve.

Start by taking a minute before using affirmations – SCR – Slow down, Calm, Relax.  Then start and repeat an affirmation. 

Here are a few affirmations I have recommended and used:

  1. “I am not afraid to take small risks in life.”
  2. “I see opportunities everywhere.”
  3. “Every day I am grateful for my life!”
  4. “I believe I can succeed in anything I set my mind to.”

Use these, combine them or write your own.  Repeat them at least once every day.  Spend 1 to 3 minutes repeating your mantra.  If possible, do this 2 or 3 times per day.

The more you use affirmations the more old beliefs will fade away.

Here are some more positive thoughts to go along with you daily:

“If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or objects.” — Albert Einstein

“An attitude of positive expectation is the mark of the superior personality.”– Brian Tracy

“It’s most important that you surround yourself with positivity always, and have it in your mind at all times.”– Tyler Perry

Stay safe!

Doing business with the government?

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Does your company do business with the government? 

I did with my last company and have started doing government contracting with the current company I work with. 

There is a very large “RIVER” of bids coming out daily. Once you figure out what you can sell to the government learn the process and get going.

Many people talk with me about how hard or how easy it is to begin selling to the government. I have helped several companies get started. The process is not complicated. However, it does take consistent effort, daily oversight and certainly work.

Now is the time to find new markets to help bolster your year!

If interested — Contact me, let’s talk.

Easy to do! Easy not to do!

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Habits/Goals/ Behaviors seem hard to start and in too many cases hard to stop.

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The following quote is from Jim Rohn (American entrepreneur, author, and motivational speaker) –

“We’ve all heard the expression, ‘An apple a day keeps the doctor away.’  Well, I’ve got a good question for you:  What if it’s true?  Wouldn’t that be easy to do—to eat an apple a day?  Here’s the problem:  It’s also easy not to do.”

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I have a belief, that we all can start a new habit/goal/behavior, and we can all set the process as easy as possible for achievement.  However, as Jim Rohn pointed out eating an apple a day is easy to do, easy to measure and easy to accomplish, but it’s also easy not to do. 

Over the past years, I have posted thoughts about setting goals.  I try to help set a foundation for others to get in the goal setting habit.  Easy to do! Easy not to do!  Less than 5% of people actually set and write goals down. 

As a longtime member of Toastmasters, I remember a speech given about goals.  I can’t recall the speaker’s name, but it did stick with me. 

The speaker said, start your habit/goal/behavior journey small.  Pick one item to accomplish over a period of time — make it a 12 month period.  Track your progress daily.  If you miss a day or two don’t worry just keep going.  I thought this was pretty simple basic — but, why not give it a try and get going.

At the time, I wanted to increase my daily reading habit.  I thought reading 10 pages per day was doable — hoping to read about 10 books that year.  It worked!  Today I have a sustained reading goal of 15 pages per day, I’ve read a lot of books over the years.  

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“But as Jim Rohn would say, “What’s simple to do is also simple not to do.” The magic is not in the complexity of the task; the magic is in the doing of simple things repeatedly and long enough to ignite the miracle of the Compound Effect.”

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Begin now and have great satisfaction of accomplishment for 2020!

According to Jim Rohn, philosopher, Life is a collection of …..!

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Life is a collection of experiences, people met, and books read – according to – Jim Rohn. Have you heard of and followed a great life and business philosopher – Jim Rohn? 

I have read his books, articles, listened to tapes and attended his seminars. 

One article captured my attention and prompted a change in my behavior many years ago.  Jim Rohn talked about the habit of keeping a daily journal.  However, he didn’t portray it a standard sit down once a day and write in your journal. He described his previous habit of writing things down continuously all day long, so he wouldn’t forget the thought of the moment. He wrote on scraps of paper, napkins, post notes anything he could find. Then he had a drawer or desk top of papers he couldn’t or didn’t get organized.

We all want to remember and save ideas of the moment. Get a great idea in your head and decide to write it down later. Many of us either forget all together or don’t feel it important later on, or like Jim Rohn we have a great collection of paper scraps with notes.  That was me.

Jim Rohn thought it best to journal, in a sense, all day long. I didn’t ever see an explanation or example of his journal style, but I did see another person that kept a notebook at his side all the time to just jot down notes of the moment.

Many years ago, I decided this was something worthwhile and started carrying a spiral notebook with a daily date for the two open pages and began writing whatever thoughts I had that seemed important to keep. Some days hardly anything some days filled both pages. 

My books are messy and not organized. I do manage to get on paper thoughts that I don’t want to lose. Then periodically I review the books to see if there is still something I want to pursue.

I sometimes listen to people who want to start journaling but don’t really know how. 

Let me say that because of Jim Rohn I now have books of my life experiences and I attest to – Life according to Jim Rohn is the sum of experiences you have, people you meet, and books you read.

Start keeping a running daily book of life and you will be astonished at how you and your life can be changed and influenced.

Make 2019 your best year yet!

A sales tracking system completed daily = Sales Success!

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Do you have a sales process and daily system for generating business?  I do!  I have developed and use a sales process involving daily point accumulation.  Diligently follow a selling process and create sales.

Daily point accumulation allows for measurement and tracking of the sales process.  Daily work on this process coupled with good sales training creates a dynamite selling opportunity — almost guaranteed (Some sales people just don’t get it!)

Do you have a process and training to keep your sales group on Track?

Make 2019 your best year yet!