Success Stems from Doing RIGHT!

One of the most cliched, misunderstood and unaccomplished things in most individuals lives is understanding and pursuing what they deem to be success. Far too often, people appear to equate success to financial gains, sales volumes, revenues, income and/ or other material things, rather than delving somewhat more deeply and realizing that more must be involved, since so many financially successful individuals are still some of the unhappiest and least satisfied. Truly successful people are generally those who have developed and created a genuine and meaningful balance in their lives, and whose main motivations and motivators are directly related to a desire to focus primarily on doing the RIGHT thing.

1. True success doesn't merely appear or come to someone without taking some sort of action or following certain behaviors. It requires a proactive mindset, where one first reaches out, in an attempt to be realistic, rational, relevant, and best relate to the reality of the situation and the specific culture.

2. Nothing becomes meaningful unless we pursue every action and every component by commencing with a commitment to absolute integrity. When this is the actual focus and mindset, one becomes better capable of developing and continuing with an emphasis on an impactful ideology which begins with a focus on important ideas.

3. How can anyone consider himself successful if he doesn't either get others involved and to care more, or addresses factors bigger than oneself? Therefore, one needs to garner and gain support, and to generate greater support and supporters. Those who become great are those who refuse to settle for less than what can be done best and better, and thus seek personal and relevant greatness.

4. Never put an artificial cap on your capabilities! Strive for, and reach higher heights. Never underestimate the importance of proceeding with a synergy of head and heart, and the desire to seek to heal and help!

5. One can ever believe he has done all he can, or proceed with the philosophy that it is important to consistently try harder. Never believe it is okay to play fast and easy with the facts, but commit to always tell the truth. One can only become better informed if he begins with focusing on effective listening before he opens his mouth and begins to talk. Follow the adage that we were given two ears but only one mouth for an important reason.

Most of us claim that we strive for success, without ever introspectively analyzing what that means to us personally! Regardless of your personal definition, understand that it always stems from doing what is RIGHT!

Why Is Selling, Both, An Art and a Science?

When I first started in the investment and financial services field, more than four decades ago, the most productive representative in the company had a poster displayed prominently on the wall to his office that read, "Selling is like shaving. If you don't do it everyday, you're a bum!" The essence of that poster has remained "engraved" in my mind ever since, and that is, that yesterday's conquests are simply old news, and one must successfully do the same thing repeatedly in order to truly be a professional and an expert.

As I have trained many others in a variety of fields, including selling and marketing, training, management, leadership, negotiations, and many other areas since then, I have always incorporated the themes of everything in life being some sort of sales, and that effective selling is both an art and a science.

Whether you are a salesperson, yourself, or in a business which either markets a product, service, or their brand, etc, the principles of selling are important to understand. How few individuals actually take full advantage of these proven rules of selling, either because they weren't trained thoroughly, haven't committed to true learning, or believe they are "in sales" but not selling, it is essential for each of us, to realize these nuances!
 
Why do I call selling both an art and a science? A science is something rather precise, and proper sales technique is extremely regimented. The best salespeople use the same proven technique each and every time they give a presentation. Of course, after a while, it seems like it is second nature to them, but it is still a very exact, precise, thought-out and proven methodology.

On the other hand, two individuals can follow the same basic "scientific" technique, and achieve vastly different results. That is why I am stating that selling is also an art. The most effective salespeople relate well to others, and understand human nature. Many of the top salesmen of all time have stated that selling is only a small percentage technical, while being predominantly understanding human nature.

The most effective salespeople are friendly, without being phony, and professional without being starchy and stuffy. Effective selling requires a sales person to do his homework to understand the needs of the individual he is selling to, and tailoring his presentation to address the other party's "hot button." The "hot button" is that set of circumstances, wording, and motivation that gets the other individual's attention, and motivates them to action.

Few people are actually born salespeople. While some people are more extroverted than others, and some feel more comfortable in a sales situation, these behaviors can be trained and made part of anyone desiring to become a more effective salesperson.

Motivated individuals learn the techniques, practice them, and make them part of their own persona. I have trained individuals who began as the shyest, least articulate and outgoing individuals, and developed them into professional, talented and successful sales professionals.

Once someone learns all the techniques, and then combines those "sciences" with the "art" of understanding human nature, he can and will be an elite sales professional. That is, as long as he does it every day!

Why Happy People Gain Strength?

When someone is happy, he generates a feeling of joy and cooperation among those he comes into contact with. Contrast that with the impact made by someone who is joyless and negative, who seems to constantly sap the energy from everyone and everything he comes into contact with. The founder of the influential civic and philanthropic New York City organization, the Grand Street Boys, the late Judge Jonah Goldstein was fond of reminding others, "Happiness is the one thing in life that multiplies by division. The more you give to others, the more you have for yourself." However, happiness does far more than just that. It actually makes someone stronger and better. Francesca Reigler stated, "Happiness is an attitude. We either make ourselves miserable, or happy and strong. The amount of work is the same." Whether you simply want to be the happiest, you can be, or seek to improve your attitude, in order to be more successful in any business endeavor, think about how and why, it makes sense to be as happy as possible!

1. Why is it that some people seem to generally be in a good mood, joyful, positive and giving, while others seem to be constant sour pusses? It all relates to one's attitude. When someone approaches life with a positive attitude, he sees ways to get more things done, and achieved. Positive people tend to live longer, happier, more stress- free lives, and seem to have almost endless energy. On the other hand, when one decides, either consciously or sub- consciously to be joyless, they spend their time worrying about what might happen, or commiserating about what might have been. Rather than be grateful for what they have, they often exhibit pettiness, anger and jealousy. Often, these negative people seem to almost never even smile, and when they do, it appears to be more of a smirk or chuckle. than to give them any real joy. Joyless people spend more time being miserable, and thus often seem far more tired and irritable than happier individuals.

2. There is a scientific fact that it takes far more muscles and energy to frown than to smile. Even though nothing productive is ever produced by frowning, why is it that it seems that there are more frowners than smilers? The happier someone truly is (and that is far different than those that either pretend to be, or feign happiness), the more productive he invariably ends up being. In addition, who would you rather spend time with, someone that emits joy and happiness, or someone that emits a negative aura, that ends up bringing others around him down to his joyless level?

There have been many songs, courses, poems, etc. that warn us that it is better to be happy, yet so many continue to not heed the advice, and the obvious. The first, and perhaps most essential ingredient in success is to put yourself in a position to be successful, and that begins by being joyful and positive.

How Is Your Judgment?

How do you define judgment, and what factors do you consider most indicative and telling? What have you done to develop your wisdom, ability to analyze and interpret, judge situations, individuals, procedures, techniques and ideas? Do you enjoy being the decision maker, or would you prefer to defer that to others, and simply be a follower? Do you prefer to be a leader, trusting that you are more capable of making the best decisions, or do you doubt your own abilities and judgment? Do you judge situations and understand the possible ramifications and alternatives? Do you prefer to be proactive, or are you merely reactive? Do you plan sufficiently so that you can make decisions based on facts and reasoning, or do you wait, often procrastinating, and putting off making a judgment until you have to?

1. Judgment can either be good, bad, or somewhere in between. However, when someone simply waits and procrastinates, that is almost always an indication of far less than stellar judgment. Procrastination is generally an indication of either insecurity or fear. It takes courage, self confidence, and personal motivation to make a decision, but it also requires a commitment to training, learning, self improvement, and the desire to be the best that you can be, to actually show judgment.

2. Judgment does not mean that you must be the most intellectually gifted, although no doubt a certain level of intellect generally enhances one's judgment. However, often those with the highest IQ, and the most schooling and education, do not exhibit the greatest judgment. Great judgment also requires certain tangible, as well as certain intangible qualities. The tangible assets include learning, experience, focus, desire and motivation, as well as commitment. The intangible characteristics come from one's viable vision, and how that translates to actual goals, as well as the motivation to persist and persevere, and the courage to make well thought out decisions, when others often defer. Judgment is a combination of numerous characteristics, disciplines, beliefs, ideals, etc. However, for a judgment to be pure and positive, it also requires absolute integrity.

There has never been a truly productive individual who did not develop a methodology to enhance his abilities and judgment. It all begins with both knowing, as well as liking ones self. Judgment comes from someone being comfortable with his abilities, confident in his beliefs, and willing to openly examine any and all alternatives that might make him better.

Focus First on Value, & Sucess Will Follow!

How many times have you, or someone you known, insisted they their goal was to become truly successful, while often never really describing what success meant to them? Success is not something to be focused upon, but rather will come as a result of our attitudes, actions, how meaningful our visions and goals might be, our personal values, and especially, whether we prioritize providing value to others on a consistent basis. When we focus solely on our personal benefit, as well as the what's in it for me prioritization, we may observe short term or even intermediate term basis, but will almost never become truly successful. Success, in the longer term, is almost invariably based on the value that we provide to others as a result of our attitudes, efforts, and actions taken.

1. Step number one must always be to do the right thing! Unfortunately, however, far too few individuals permit themselves to objectively view their personal attitudes, and without knowing and understanding oneself, it is nearly impossible to become value - oriented. By providing value, you are able to motivate others to care more, do more, and become far more loyal and involved!

2. The next component of achieving true success is refocusing one's mindset from focusing on how much money or credit you'll receive on a particular deal or action, but rather seeking to provide real value. Doing this will indicate to others how much you care, as well as the fact that you are a quality individual of absolute integrity. The side effect of doing so is invariably that this value will make it far easier to develop referrals, repeat customers, loyal clients, motivated followers, etc. Providing value helps to create a stronger bond which attracts quality individuals to care more about what you say and do!

3. What value do you add, and how? Do you ever actually think about that, and if so, do you so as a primary action, or merely tangentially? What do you mean by this term? What steps do you take on a regular basis? Do you possess an attitude of constructively moving forward, or are you often doubtful? Do you see challenges, or is everything a problem to you? What actually motivates you, and why?

While most people might claim that they hope to either be a success or have success, few ever take the time and effort to consider what that means to them. Unless success becomes a byproduct of your actions and efforts, and unless value and values are your primary motivations, any success realized will be more fleeting than enduring.

6 Reasons Why We Interrupt Others

Although nearly everyone realizes that it is rude, impolite, inconsiderate, and generally counter - productive to interrupt someone else, most of us find it extremely challenging and difficult to avoid this urge or tendency. When we fail to let someone else complete his thought, idea, concept, or perspective, our actions are generally interpreted by that individual as being thoughtless, uncaring and insulting, even if that is not out intent. Think about it - how does it make you feel when you are the one that is being interrupted? The concept of this article has applicability to a number of circumstances, including: 1) Our personal lives/ interactions; 2) How we relate/ interact with co - workers, employers, etc; 3) How we relate to those we seek to lead; 4) How we interact/ relate, to clients, patients, etc. Regardless of your personal priorities, or area, addressing these principles, should be of assistance!  Each of us should strive to attempt to avoid this tendency, and perhaps by considering these six reasons that we behave and proceed in this manner, might assist us in overcoming that temptation or behavior.

1. Narcissistic/ self - absorbed: Have you also observed that we appear to be living in an increasingly narcissistic society? While the mindset of it's all about me, might, at times, serve ones personal interests and focus, it often creates a scenario where we become unwilling to pay attention to the needs and perspectives of others. This factor aligns with the tendency of many to adopt as their favorite sound both their own voice/ opinion, as well as hearing their name.

2. Bored/ disinterested: The reality is often that we just don't really care what is being said or talked about, and we are hoping to end that discussion or change its direction. One can't impactfully fake that he cares when he is bored, so perhaps there is a need to address becoming somewhat more calm and patient.

3. Lack effective listening skills: Learning more about what others think and becoming more open to viewpoints and opinions (other than your own) takes a degree of discipline, training and learning. Each of us need to discover why we possess two ears and only one mouth.

4. Rude: Either we don't realize, or we just don't care, that when we interrupt someone else, we are treating that individual rudely and being inconsiderate. Perhaps the best way to overcome this is to adopt the essential philosophy that I refer to as ZTL (zip the lip).

5. Don't realize we're doing it/ habit: Perhaps because we have behaved in a certain manner (interrupting) for so long, it becomes simply a bad habit!

6. Lack of training/ learning/ understanding: Nearly anything worthwhile that we do requires learning and discipline. Since the tendency to interrupt others might often be the easy way, then unless we focus upon the reasons why we should approach things in a different manner, we end of falling into worse habits.

While these six are merely some of the reasons, they indicate why we should try to avoid the tendency to interrupt. Are you ready, able and willing to do so?

Why True Success Only Stems From Doing RIGHT?

One of the most cliched, misunderstood and unaccomplished things in most individuals lives is understanding and pursuing what they deem to be success. Far too often, people appear to equate success to financial gains, sales volumes, revenues, income and/ or other material things, rather than delving somewhat more deeply and realizing that more must be involved, since so many financially successful individuals are still some of the unhappiest and least satisfied. Truly successful people are generally those who have developed and created a genuine and meaningful balance in their lives, and whose main motivations and motivators are directly related to a desire to focus primarily on doing the RIGHT thing. Whether you are in the not - for - profit, or corporate worlds, whether you are a manager, leader, independent contractor, or employee, the basic concepts regarding true success, apply!
 
1. True success doesn't merely appear or come to someone without taking some sort of action or following certain behaviors. It requires a proactive mindset, where one first reaches out, in an attempt to be realistic, rational, relevant, and best relate to the reality of the situation and the specific culture.

2. Nothing becomes meaningful unless we pursue every action and every component by commencing with a commitment to absolute integrity. When this is the actual focus and mindset, one becomes better capable of developing and continuing with an emphasis on an impactful ideology which begins with a focus on important ideas.

3. How can anyone consider himself successful if he doesn't either get others involved and to care more, or addresses factors bigger than oneself? Therefore, one needs to garner and gain support, and to generate greater support and supporters. Those who become great are those who refuse to settle for less than what can be done best and better, and thus seek personal and relevant greatness.

4. Never put an artificial cap on your capabilities! Strive for, and reach higher heights. Never underestimate the importance of proceeding with a synergy of head and heart, and the desire to seek to heal and help!

5. One can ever believe he has done all he can, or proceed with the philosophy that it is important to consistently try harder. Never believe it is okay to play fast and easy with the facts, but commit to always tell the truth. One can only become better informed if he begins with focusing on effective listening before he opens his mouth and begins to talk. Follow the adage that we were given two ears but only one mouth for an important reason.

Most of us claim that we strive for success, without ever introspectively analyzing what that means to us personally! Regardless of your personal definition, understand that it always stems from doing what is RIGHT!