The Five "D's" You Want to Achieve in Life By Thomas B. Hughes

Dreams

What is your dream? Everyone has at least one. You were born with the ability to dream. Some people never go for their dream. They are not committed to achieving their dream.

Others may start on the path to achieving their dream, but those they count upon for support - friends, family, teammates, and/or co-workers tell them their dream is too much work, too hard, too silly.... so they abandon their dream.

Still others begin the journey only to have detours get in their way.... and they give up. They are willing to settle for "good enough," however "good enough" never is. And then there are the dreamers who are willing to do WIT -"whatever it takes" to achieve their dreams.

Why dreams are important:

• They provide us with the passion necessary to reach our goals

• They give us direction

• They give us hope

• They grab us and move us

Discipline

For me, when I was coaching, the word Discipline was quite simple. My players understood that discipline meant they were where they were supposed to be, when they were supposed to be there, doing what they were supposed to be doing. In other words, discipline means doing the right things at the right time and for the right reasons.

And it doesn't matter - professional, businessman, teacher, student, athlete - discipline should hold the same meaning. Be accountable for your actions. Be on time for meetings, practice, appointments.

Carry out your assignment to the best of your ability - without excuses. Own up to mistakes and failures, and resolve to improve your performance - and then take the action necessary to do so.

Desire

"The starting point for all achievement is desire. Keep this constantly in mind. Weak desire brings weak results, just as a small amount of fire makes a small amount of heat." -- Napoleon Hill

Just what is it you want out of life? The dictionary defines desire - to wish for; to want something very strongly. There is an old saying, "if wishes were horses, beggars would ride." Wishing for something is not enough. You have to want it, being willing to work for it, be willing to do whatever it legally takes to achieve it.

Last night must have been Will Smith night on TV. It seemed that every cable channel had Will Smith in a movie. But I settled on one movie for the umpteenth time - "The Pursuit of Happyness." The movie was inspired by the real life story of Chris Gardner.

Gardner was a struggling salesman. His girlfriend walks out on him, leaving him with his 5 year old son, and his desire to be a success. Gardner lands a position as an unpaid intern in the highly competitive stockbroker training program.

Evicted from his home, Gardner and his son are forced to sleep on the street, in public shelters, and in a locked Metro station bathroom. His desire to succeed and the love of his son helps Gardner succeed, eventually owning his own company.

Dedication

"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Dedication is the price you pay to get what you want. It is the amount of time you are willing to work on something to achieve your dreams. It's easy to dream - we were all born with the ability to dream.

And, it is easy to start to take action towards reaching your dream. But that's where the successful people separate themselves from the not-so-successful. The not-so-successful people look for excuses why they can't do it. They give up or they give in.

Successful people know that in order to finish first, you must first finish. They have a stick-to-it attitude. They understand that their mental and physical resources are much greater than they can imagine.

"Others can stop you temporarily. Only you can do it permanently." -- Edge Keynote

Determination

"The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a man's determination." -- Tommy Lasorda

If you are a basketball fan, you probably have heard the name, Bill Bradley. Or, maybe you have heard of Senator Bill Bradley (N.J.). Prior to his All-American and All-NBA fame, Bill Bradley developed a work ethic and a willingness to pay the price to achieve his dreams.

Bradley was a deadly shooter - but that did not come automatically to Bradley. After basketball practice, Bradley would stay behind to work on his shooting - making 15 shots in a row from five spots on the floor.

If he missed one shot, anywhere on the floor, he would begin his routine all over again. He would not leave until he made 75 shots in a row. This shooting regime accompanied Bradley to Princeton University and to the New York Knicks. But where did he develop such drive and commitment?

He attended basketball camp that was put on by professional basketball player, Ed Macauley. Macauley lectured to his campers, "When you're not practicing, somewhere someone is. And when the two of you meet, given roughly equal ability, he will win." Bradley took that to heart - hour after hour, shot after shot. For his four year high school career, Bill Bradley scored over 3,000 points.

"I found that I could find the energy... that I could find the determination to keep going. I learned that your mind can amaze your body, if you just keep telling yourself, I can do it, I can do it, I can do it!" -- Jon Erickson
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Tom Hughes is a coach, educator, author, and motivational speaker. You can visit his website at www.motivationnmore.com

-what were the key lessons you got from the ideas above?

*brought to you by GoalsSuccess.com

Goal Setting for Salespeople: The Problem With Affirmations By Mike Brooks

To start with, let me ask you the most important question of your sales career: Do you have an affirmation card, a few sentences or a paragraph, that describes in detail the feelings and emotions that you will have once you have accomplished your current financial goal?

And if you do, do you have it on you right now?

Most sales reps, managers and business owners will answer no to that, and that’s too bad. Without a doubt, the most important determinant to your success is what your belief and expectation of your success is. Every sales rep already has an image of what their results are going to be, a number, if you will, of how much they are worth and how much they are going to earn, and it is that image that will always determine your results.

Not the economy, not your leads, not your territory or the price of your product. Rather, your belief and expectation of your performance is the biggest predictor of your results. What you believe will happen, happens. What you think about all day long becomes your reality. If you don’t believe me, ask yourself this:

Isn’t it true that what you are currently thinking about all day long, in every area of your life, is exactly how your life currently is? Think about your weight, your income, your success, your relationships – aren’t they the mirror image of what you think about all day long?

Of course they are. That’s why the only way to really change anything in your life is to first change how you think about it. There are hundreds of great books about The Law of Attraction, and I recommend you buy some of them and read and apply the truth immediately, but the bottom line is that until you change your currently dominate self-image or picture, your results won’t change.

And that’s where affirmations come in. The proper use of carefully crafted affirmations can and will change your image, your actions and your results faster and more effectively than any other tool you have access to. The problem is that most people give up on affirmations because of one big mistake they make at the beginning:

They set their goals too high and because of that, their affirmations are unbelievable. The fact is, most people who write affirmations make them so unrealistic that their subconscious minds reject them and so they feel they are just lying to themselves, and, in a sense, they are. That’s why they stop using them after just a few days.

For example, if you make $2,500 a month in commissions, and you read a book on sales or goal setting and affirmations and get fired up and think you can make $5,000 or $7,500 the next month or two, chances are you will have some self talk that says, “Who are you kidding?” And it is that voice that will win out and in short order you will go back to earning your old self-image of $2,500 a month.

The solution is to make incremental increases that you can truly believe in. For example, can you actually see yourself making $3,000 a month, or $3,300 a month? Which amount truly feels like a realistic (and yet still stretches you a little) goal that you can really believe in? Once you determine what truly feels achievable, set a goal around it and begin affirming how it feels now that you’re earning that amount.

This is the proper use of affirmations and you will go much further by setting realistic goals and then achieving them. In three or four months, you can revise that goal higher because the more you achieve the more you will believe you can achieve.

If you have given up on affirmations because they never worked for you, then revisit them today and develop ones that you can believe in. Then begin using them immediately. Remember, the fastest way to change your results is to change your image of what is possible for yourself, and using affirmations, properly, is the most effective way to do that.
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Mike Brooks, Mr. Inside Sales, works with business owners and inside sales reps nationwide teaching them the skills, strategies and techniques of top 20% performance. If you're looking to catapult your sales, or create a sales team that actually makes their monthly revenues, then learn how by visiting: MrInsideSales.com

-Do you have any affirmations which you have used with great results that you would like to share?

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