Category Archives: Goal Setting

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.

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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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Reflect and Plan!

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Do you take time to reflect on the past and plan for the future?  Or are you a person who seemingly does not have time to reflect and plan. Or a person who will not take time to reflect and plan.

We are now in the last month of quarter three for 2020.  Barely 4 months left to complete the year.  We have holidays and time off coming up. 

Are you reflecting and planning how to finish and complete your goals for the year? 

Easy to say, but with such a disruptive year that 2020 has been it can be easy to make excuses for not completing the year as expected.

Of course, we all are aware that there are many distractions and in many cases obstacles have been thrown at us that will prevent or make a different outcome for this year 2020.

I believe now and for the next few months each of us need to make time for reflection on the past and look hard at our futures.  This may be one of the best disruptive times in our lives to really think and plan for the future.  Certainly, with the disruptions and more home time, we can all carve our reflection and planning time.

20 to 30 minutes per day — Reflect and plan.  Do this daily through the end of the year and you will have created a habit that will benefit you for the rest of your life.  Be sure to take notes and keep them for review.

Good luck!

Join this site! — Let me know your thoughts and ideas.

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?

Selling is a 230-day walk in the park.

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The Selling year

1 Year                                                 365 days

weekends                                         -104 days

Holidays                                             -10 days

vacation                                             -10 days

Misc./Personal/Absence                 -11 days

Standard working days                  230 days

As a salesperson and then owner of a growing business I read and thought a lot about how to optimize selling time. Most sales trainers teach and talk about maximizing selling time and get as much time in selling during the eight-hour day as possible. 

I have observed that many sales programs do not really teach or show a daily plan for a real sales day. It is talked about, taught, and assumed the salesperson will develop and execute a daily plan.

I believe in building a daily process a daily “grind” that if performed repeatedly for 230 days will produce a year of great sales results.

During my selling career and for the salespeople I eventually hired for my company I built a system of daily behaviors based on points per behavior performed. The system is simple and set to develop salespeople over a three-year time frame depending on their sales proficiency. 

Continuous sales training, on how to sell, is a must. Continuous use and monitoring of the daily behaviors, the point system really does produce great results. 

However, I can attest to the fact that using and measuring a daily behavior program can be daunting and difficult to do for many wanna-be salespeople.

I owned an Aerospace Manufacturing business. Orders ranged from several hundred to a hundred thousand with most order sizes $5,000 to $15,000. Each salesperson was required to do $750,000 in the first year, $1,500,000 a second year, and get to $3,000,000+ in the third year. Continuous training, coaching, and measurement of daily behaviors was a highly successful formula for the salespeople that could grasp, understand, and do the process. We grew the company nicely year over year.

In another segment, I will discuss the simplicity and the reasons it is so hard for many salespeople to grasp.

Let me know if you are interested in further information.

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!

5 – Tips to keep your “GOALS” moving!

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Many people have stopped working on their Goals for year 2019. 

Hopefully you have made it easy to see your goals and review them for progress frequently.

Here are 5 tips to keep your goals moving for 2019:

  1. Make sure you have goals written down and easy to find.
  2. Look at your goals daily.
  3. Make time to work on your goals daily, even if you spend a few minutes.
  4. If a goal seems too hard, revise it.  Look at smaller parts of each goal to work on.
  5. Never give up! — Make 2019 your best year yet!

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!