The Practice of Discipline

The Practice of Discipline
By: Brian Tracy

Discipline yourself to do what you know you need to do to be the very best in your field. Perhaps the best definition of self discipline is this: “Self discipline is the ability to make yourself do what you should do when you should do it, whether you feel like it or not.”

It is easy to do something when you feel like it. It’s when you don’t feel like it and you force yourself to do it anyway that you move your life and career onto the fast track.

What decisions do you need to make today in order to start moving toward the top of your field? Whatever it is, either to get in or get out, make a decision today and then get started. This single act alone can change the whole direction of your life.

Seven Steps to Success
There is a powerful seven step formula that you can use to set and achieve your goals for the rest of your life. Every single successful person uses this formula or some variation of this formula to achieve vastly more than the average person. And so can you. Here it is:

Decide What You Want
Step number one, decide exactly what it is you want in each part of your life. Become a “meaningful specific” rather than a “wandering generality.”

Write it Down
Second, write it down, clearly and in detail. Always think on paper. A goal that is not in writing is not a goal at all. It is merely a wish and it has no energy behind it.

Set A Deadline
Third, set a deadline for your goal. A deadline acts as a “forcing system” in your subconscious mind. It motivates you to do the things necessary to make your goal come true. If it is a big enough goal, set sub-deadlines as well. Don’t leave this to chance.

Make A List
Fourth, make a list of everything that you can think of that you are going to have to do to achieve your goal. When you think of new tasks and activities, write them on your list until your list is complete.

Organize Your List
Fifth, organize your list into a plan. Decide what you will have to do first and what you will have to do second. Decide what is more important and what is less important. And then write out your plan on paper, the same way you would develop a blueprint to build your dream house.

Take Action
The sixth step is for you to take action on your plan. Do something. Do anything. But get busy. Get going.

Do Something Every Day
Do something every single day that moves you in the direction of your most important goal at the moment. Develop the discipline of doing something 365 days each year that is moving you forward. You will be absolutely astonished at how much you accomplish when you utilize this formula in your life every single day.

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Action Exercises
Here are two things you can do to put these ideas into action immediately.

1. First, decide exactly what you want, write it down with a deadline, make a plan and take action – on at least one goal – today!
2. Second, determine the price you will have to pay to achieve this goal and then get busy paying that price – whatever it is.
   

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   Brian Tracy is the most listened to audio author on personal and business success in the world today. His fast-moving talks and seminars on leadership, sales, managerial effectiveness and business strategy are loaded with powerful, proven ideas and strategies that people can immediately apply to get better results in every area. Join Brian’s Free Email Newsletters. Copyright © 2001-2007 Brian Tracy International. All Rights Reserved. www.briantracy.com

Tags: Motivational, Self Improvement, Success Advice, Success Articles

Kind Words Say so Much!

“Kind words do not cost much. They never blister the tongue or lips. Mental trouble was never known to arise from such quarters. Though they do not cost much yet they accomplish much. They make other people good natured. They also produce their own image on men’s souls, and a beautiful image it is.”

~ Blaise Pascal

Technorati tags: Positive Quote, Winning Attitude, Kindness

Three Skills to Improve Conversation

Three Skills to Improve Conversation
By: Brian Tracy

One key to becoming a great conversationalist is to pause before replying. A short pause, of three to five seconds, is a very classy thing to do in a conversation. When you pause, you accomplish three goals simultaneously.

The Benefits of Pausing
First, you avoid running the risk of interrupting if the other person is just catching his or her breath before continuing. Second, you show the other person that you are giving careful consideration to his or her words by not jumping in with your own comments at the earliest opportunity. The third benefit of pausing is that you will actually hear the other person better. His or her words will soak into a deeper level of your mind and you will understand what he or she is saying with greater clarity. By pausing, you mark yourself as a brilliant conversationalist.

Ask Questions
Another way to become a great conversationalist is to question for clarification. Never assume that you understand what the person is saying or trying to say. Instead, ask, “How do you mean, exactly?”

This is the most powerful question I’ve ever learned for controlling a conversation. It is almost impossible not to answer. When you ask, “How do you mean?” the other person cannot stop himself or herself from answering more extensively. You can then follow up with other open-ended questions and keep the conversation rolling along.

Paraphrase the Speaker’s Words
The third way to become a great conversationalist is to paraphrase the speaker’s words in your own words. After you’ve nodded and smiled, you can then say, “Let me see if I’ve got this right. What you’re saying is . . .”

Demonstrate Attentiveness
By paraphrasing the speaker’s words, you demonstrate in no uncertain terms that you are genuinely paying attention and making every effort to understand his or her thoughts or feelings. And the wonderful thing is, when you practice effective listening, other people will begin to find you fascinating. They will want to be around you. They will feel relaxed and happy in your presence.

Listening Builds Trust
The reason why listening is such a powerful tool in developing the art and skill of conversation is because listening builds trust. The more you listen to another person, the more he or she trusts you and believes in you.

Listening also builds self-esteem. When you listen attentively to another person, his or her self-esteem will naturally increase.

Listening Develops Discipline
Finally, listening builds self-discipline in the listener. Because your mind can process words at 500-600 words per minute, and we can only talk at about 150 words per minute, it takes a real effort to keep your attention focused on another person’s words. If you do not practice self-discipline in conversation, your mind will wander in a hundred different directions. The more you work at paying close attention to what the other person is saying, the more self-disciplined you will become. In other words, by learning to listen well, you actually develop your own character and your own personality.

Action Exercises
Here are two things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action.

• First, make a habit of pausing before replying in any conversation or discussion. You will be amazed at how powerful this technique really is.
• Second, continually ask, “How do you mean?” in response to anything that is not perfectly clear. This gives you even more time to listen well.

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About Brian Tracy:

Brian Tracy is the most listened to audio author on personal and business success in the world today. His fast-moving talks and seminars on leadership, sales, managerial effectiveness and business strategy are loaded with powerful, proven ideas and strategies that people can immediately apply to get better results in every area. Learn more by visiting www.braintracy.com

Technorati tags: business advice, sales, brian tracy, sales and marketing, personal advice

Time Savers

By: Dr. Donald E. Wetmore

In my Time Management seminars which I have conducted for more than 100,000 people from around the globe, I show people how to get more done in less time, with less stress; to help them have more time for the things they want to do in their work and business lives.

If you can recapture a wasted hour here and there and redirect it to a more productive use, you can make great increases in your daily productivity.

Here are five of the techniques I share in our Time Management seminars, each one of which will help you to get at least one more hour out of your day of additional productive time.

1. Maintain Balance. Your life consists of Seven Vital Areas: Health, Family, Financial, Intellectual, Social, Professional, and Spiritual. You will not spend equal amounts of time in each area or time every day in each area. But, if in the long run, you are spending a sufficient quantity and quality of time in each area, then your life will be balanced. But ignore any one of your areas, (never mind two or three!) and you will get out of balance and potentially sabotage your success. Fail to take time now for your health and you will have to take time for illness later on. Ignore your family and then may leave you and cost you a lot of time to re-establish relationships.

2. Get the Power of the Pen. A faint pen has more power than the keenest mind. Get into the habit of writing things to do down using one tool (a Day-Timer, pad of paper, Palm Pilot, etc.) Your mind is best used for the big picture rather than all the details. The details are important, but manage them with the pen. If you want to manage it you have to measure it first. Writing things down helps you to more easily remember all that you need to accomplish.

3. Do Daily Planning. It is said that people do not plan to fail but a lot of people fail to plan. Take the time each night to take control of the most precious resource at your command, the next twenty-four hours. Plan your work and then work your plan each day. Write up a To Do list with all you have to’s and all of your want to’s for your next day. Without a plan for the day, you can easily get distracted, spending your time serving the loudest voice rather than attending to the most important things for your day that will enhance your productivity.

4. Prioritize It. Your To Do list will have crucial and not crucial items on it. Despite the fact most people want to be productive, when given the choice between crucial and not crucial items, we will most often end up doing the not crucial items. They are generally easier and quicker than crucial items. Prioritize your To Do list each night. Put the #1 next to the most important item on your list. Place the #2 next to the second most important item on your list, etc. Then tackle the items on your list in order of their importance. You may not get everything done on your list, but you will get the most important things done. This is working smarter, not harder, and getting more done in less time.

5. Control Procrastination. The most effective planning in the world does not substitute for doing what needs to be done. We procrastinate and put off important things because we don’t sense enough pain for not doing it or enough pleasure to do it. To get going on something you have been putting off, create in your mind enough pain for not doing it or enough pleasure to do it. I prefer the pleasure approach. Take a procrastinated project and turn it into to a game. Work with one thing in front of you at a time so other things won’t distract you. (“Out of sight, out of mind.”) Break it down to little bite-sized, manageable pieces. Get it started, take the first step and you will likely continue it to completion

About the Author:
Dr. Don Wetmore is a full-time professional speaker who specializes exclusively in the topic of Time Management. He conducts his nationally acclaimed Time Management Seminar throughout North America and Europe for people who want more out of life in less time, and with less stress. His seminars are witty, fast paced, and filled with practical, common sense ideas and tools. One of the country’s leading experts on this topic, he is the author of “Beat the Clock!”. To invite Don to speak at your next event, you may contact him directly at: ctsem@msn.com 

How to Succeed in Business

How to Succeed in Business
By: Brian Tracy

Build Your Own Business
The high road to becoming a self-made millionaire in America is starting and building your own business. But this is not as easy as it sounds. Most businesses started by inexperienced people fail. Probably the primary reason why people don't start businesses is because they're afraid that they're going to lose their money and for good reason. 99 percent of businesses started by people lacking business experience fail within the first two or three years.

Why Businesses Fail
And why is that? It's because they don't know how to succeed. They haven't the slightest idea how to make a business successful. They may have an idea for a product or service, but they don't know all the things that they need to know to run a successful business.

Why Businesses Succeed
However, surprisingly enough, 80 percent of businesses started by experienced businesspeople succeed. Now why should this be so? The reason is because experienced businesspeople know what to do. They know how to purchase their products and their services. They know how to negotiate with their suppliers. They know how to raise money. They know how to negotiate leases. They know how to sell and to market. They know how to manage their finances. In other words, experience is the key. In order to start your own business and succeed, you have to learn how.

Competence Makes The Difference
Now according to Dunn and Bradstreet, 96 percent of businesses in America that fail, fail because of what is called "managerial incompetence". Managerial incompetence means that the people running the businesses don't know what they're doing. And here are the two critical areas of managerial incompetence that cause business failure. First is sales and marketing. 48 percent of businesses that fail in America fail because the business cannot sell enough of its products or services. Very few businesses fail when they have high levels of sales and revenues coming in.

Control Your Costs
The second reason that businesses fail, 46 percent, is because of poor cost control. They may be selling enough on the front end, but they're losing so much on the back end that they go broke anyway. Sales and marketing, financing and cost control, both require experience. And if you're serious about becoming financially independent, you have to learn how to do both of these.

Put Luck On Your Side
You must learn the skills you need to be successful. Business success is not a matter of luck. Business success is a matter of application. It's a matter of ability. It's a matter of experience and skill and intelligence, and wonderfully enough, you can learn what you need to know to be successful. And you can start by learning through on-the-job training, which is called OJT. Most successful businesspeople become successful because they get all their training by working for someone else.

Action Exercises
Here are two things you can do immediately to make sure that your business succeeds greatly:

• First, take the time to get the knowledge and experience you need in business by working for someone else where you can learn a lot in a short period of time. Go to work in an area in which you are interested and learn everything you possibly can.
• Second, read and study in business, especially entrepreneurial business, all the time. Read one or two business books per week and read every business magazine that is published on your subject. Never stop learning and growing.

About Brain Tracy:
Brian Tracy is the most listened to audio author on personal and business success in the world today. His fast-moving talks and seminars on leadership, sales, managerial effectiveness and business strategy are loaded with powerful, proven ideas and strategies that people can immediately apply to get better results in every area. Learn more by visiting www.braintracy.com

Tags: motivation, self help, business training, business advice

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Follow That Dream!

Follow That Dream

I once knew a teenager who was so keen to be a good cabinet-maker that he tried everything he could possibly do to obtain an apprenticeship with someone reputable so he could learn the trade from the best available person… and a great idea that was.

However, the real shame of this situation was that this young guy had such a good nature that he unfortunately found people who would take advantage of that nature, and in short, they ripped him off for a long period of time. There were always wonderful explanations for why his pay wasn't in the bank; always very clever excuses that would keep him hanging onto their promises that the pay would be there the next day, or next week, or soon anyway…

He struggled through three or four years of these no-good businessmen ripping him off – morally, spiritually and financially; but all the while he was learning about life, and holding onto his dream of becoming a great tradesman one day.

Eventually he broke away from these shameless characters and found a company where he would at least start to learn something about becoming a tradesman by beginning to build furniture; handcrafted, exquisite timber furniture in fact.

He would spend his weekends and spare time building this magnificent furniture for his family to proudly display in their homes, and they did just that because they were so proud of him and his new ability, despite everything that could have dampened his spirits… but fortunately didn't. Was he bitter?… No. Did he give up?… No.

After some time of gaining these skills and showing those around him that he had extraordinary abilities because of his passion for what he was doing, he then found a local kitchen manufacturer willing to 'give him a go.' Finally, the chance to start to become what he had dreamed of being… a cabinet-maker.

He not only showed that he was highly-skilled at making kitchens, but he developed the skills required to make and install some of their 'special orders.' Those one-off special orders that took dedication and perfectionism to take them to completion. He developed a reputation within the company for doing this, and started to be given the larger contract fit-outs in major clubs, up-market homes, and shopping centres.

Now he was starting to fulfill his dream; now he was being allowed to show his talents and abilities; now he was being valued and recognized for who he was.

After a few years spent honing his skills and abilities, he decided that he would take that HUGE plunge that many of us have made, and start his own business. He did so about four years ago. With minimal outside help or advice, he started Nichols Kitchens and Joinery, working out of his back shed. Within a very short period of time almost all of his business was coming to him via referrals; word of mouth by his customers to their friends and families. Other kitchen companies would out-source to him whenever they needed special help. Award-winning builders were now getting their kitchens made by him, knowing that the quality was always 100%, and that they could rely on him.

This is a long way from being the young teenager with a dream.

Through his courage and determination (and wonderful nature) and with support from his wife Kylie, Rod Nichols stood in front of a packed auditorium on the shores of Lake Macquarie and received the Business Person of the Year Award, as part of the Australian Community Business Awards.

After 14 years of hard work; hard lessons; and sheer determination in following his dream; he was finally receiving his reward for his efforts.

Well done Rod Nichols!
I applaud you for your accomplishments, and I am also very proud to be your step-father.

I would also like to give recognition to the importance of the encouragement and support Rod received from his family during all the tough times. From his mother Sue, his brother Geoff, and his wife Kylie… They all deserve a round of applause too!

I dedicate this story about following a dream; with courage, determination and persistence; to a wonderful young man, Rod Nichols.

I hope that this story may encourage someone out there who may just need a supportive 'shove' towards what seems to be an illusive dream at the moment.

Go on – you can do it!

About the Author

Phil Evans
© People Stuff 2005

Remember – "What other people do or say is their stuff; how we react is our stuff."

Phil Evans is a Motivator, Business Coach and Inspirational Writer based in Australia. You can visit his website at: www.peoplestuff.com.au or feel free to email Phil with your comments on his story at: phil@peoplestuff.com.au

Tags: motivational, self, help, quotes, inspiring, thoughts, wisdom