The Safari Called Life

by Dr. Denis Waitley

Many of my keynote presentations to major corporations have focused on my experiences in Africa and how they can be applied to our individual and collective performance in pursuit of excellence and quality of life. I view life as a way of traveling on a mysterious, ever-challenging safari, where the trail is blazed by our daily choices, actions and responses.

There is an oft-repeated cliché I have heard ever since I was a boy: “It’s a jungle out there!” Every television and newspaper headline seems to shout about the perils of existence. Bad news is always the special meal of the day, and because of the media’s increasing preoccupation with what’s wrong in the world, each generation believes it is living in the most difficult times in history. How are we to face our deepening feelings of apprehension and fear in view of increasing global unrest and insecurity? How can we achieve survival, success and serenity in this savage paradise called life?

What I have learned on my pilgrimages to Africa on safari can be applied to our own daily lives. Life in every environment today is a savage paradise—savage to the ignorant, uneducated, unskilled, prejudiced and ill-informed. But it’s a paradise to those who have learned to adapt to and manage change, remain flexible, unhook prejudices, view failures and mistakes as temporary detours and target corrections, and remain lifelong learners. Our safari guides were comfortable and at ease in the dangerous ecosystem of Africa. We, on the other hand, felt vulnerable, insecure and hesitant. We were the newcomers, the tourists. They were the guides, confident through training and experience.

In my book, Safari to the Soul, I mention another book that had made the same parallel as I had, entitled The Jungle is Neutral, written by Col. F. Spencer Chapman, an officer in the British army during World War II. Col. Chapman survived for four years as a guerilla fighter in Malaysia. Cut off from the outside world, which listed him as “missing, believed killed,” he was isolated deep in the jungle, undergoing ordeals such as few individuals have ever lived to document. He escaped twice from prison camps because, in his own words: “I needed to get back to my assignment!”

When questioned later about his adversaries being expert jungle fighters and the fact that he was up against scorpions, yellow fever, malaria, poisonous snakes, incessant rain, wild tigers, leeches and undergrowth so thick it can take four hours to walk a mile, these were Col. Chapman’s observations:

“I had my bouts with most of what you mentioned. Some of it I was prepared for. Some of it I learned on the job. I managed to get around by bicycle, dugout canoe, mostly on foot, and some of the time on my belly crawling through the jungle muck. The jungle provides drinking water, fruit and food, shelter, and plenty of places to hide. I also made friends with the tribal chiefs and natives who had lived there all their lives and who taught me coping skills.”

When it was brought to his attention that others who spent only days or weeks in the jungle swore that the jungle is hostile, cruel and vindictive, Col. Chapman answered resolutely: “To me, the jungle is neutral. It is your knowledge, attitude, skills and habits that see you through. The jungle is what it is. It doesn’t think. It is the backdrop for your journey. Your preparation, training, resourcefulness and dedication are what count.”

On your own safari in pursuit of your professional and personal goals, as you look forward to a new beginning and the climb to a higher level, where you have never journeyed before, remember that acronym called the “KASH-flow” of life.

K is for Knowledge. Invest fully in your lifelong learning. The shelf life of your formal education, with any and all of your degrees, is about 18 months. Every five minutes, there is a new scientific or technological breakthrough that upgrades or makes obsolete what had gone before. Knowledge is the new power and the greatest tool for combating fear and prejudice.

A is for Attitude. Examine your “why,” and compare it with those who are peak-performers in every business. View problems as opportunities to grow and understand that virtually every successful entrepreneur has been a problem-solver and risk-taker. Taking the calculated risk is what creates security. Seeking security, provided by others, is the greatest risk to your personal freedom and fulfillment. Your attitude is either the lock on or key to your door of success.

S is for Skills. Attend meetings and conference calls, and take advantage of every opportunity to gain insights and experiences from successful role models and mentors. We learn by observation, imitation and repetition. Model yourself after mentors with proven track records of success, whose character traits and personal lives match their professional accomplishments. Behind every world-class athlete, there is a world-class coach. The same holds true in every business arena. Surround yourself with winning coaches.

H is for Habits. By the inch, success is a cinch. By the yard, it’s hard. Break your major goals down into mini-goals and stair-step your way to the top by establishing a dynamic daily routine that eliminates time-wasting activities and maximizes performance-achieving activities. Remember, the more you train, the more you gain. Habits are like submarines. They run silent and deep. Repetition is the key. Habits grow, over time, from cobwebs into cables and then shackle or strengthen our lives. Practice makes permanent. Only perfect practice makes perfect. You don’t break habits; you replace them.

By using the KASH formula, you will increase your cash flow and your productivity, giving you more free time to go on safaris when and where you want. Instead of a tourist, you’ll become a tour guide, with a greater awareness of your environment, courage based on skills and training, and an attitude of confidence to turn every stumbling block you face into a steppingstone to success and fulfillment.

Life is a safari into a savage paradise. The quality of your journey will depend on your preparation, choices and responses. Become a guide, instead of a tourist!

Negotiating in a Nutshell

by Harvey Mackay



I got a phone call from a Fortune 500 CEO one week whom I had never met. After decades of begging the government to relax their regulatory grip and let his industry experience the joys of competition, his wish had been granted—and his bottom line had plummeted.

He wanted me to talk to his top executives for two hours and zero in on negotiating strategies.

A bit overwhelmed, I said, "I'm very flattered but, frankly, I don't know if I can talk for two hours on negotiating."

Then I realized I was actually negotiating with myself. As my brain finally reconnected, I cut myself off. "Well, let me sleep on it and I'll get back to you."

Later that evening, I began to write down some of my negotiating experiences and saw that my problem was going to be holding the speech down to two hours.

I'd already brushed up against the first and second laws of negotiating that morning in my conversation with the CEO.

1. Never accept any proposal immediately, no matter how good it sounds.
2. Never negotiate with yourself. You'll furnish the other side with ammunition they might never have gotten themselves. Don't raise a bid or lower an offer without first getting a response.

Here are some more rules of the road:

3. Never cut a deal with someone who has to "go back and get the boss's approval." That gives the other side two bites of the apple to your one. They can take any deal you are willing to make and renegotiate it.
4. If you can't say yes, it's no. Just because a deal can be done, doesn't mean it should be done. no one ever went broke saying "no" too often.
5. Just because it may look nonnegotiable, doesn't mean it is. Take that beautifully printed "standard contract" you've just been handed. Many a smart negotiator has been able to name a term and gets away with it by making it appear to be chiseled in granite, when they will deal if their bluff is called.
6. Do your homework before you deal. Learn as much as you can about the other side. Instincts are no match for information.
7. Rehearse. Practice. Get someone to play the other side. Then switch roles. Instincts are no match for preparation.
8. Beware the late dealer. Feigning indifference or casually disregarding timetables is often just a negotiator's way of trying to make you believe he/she doesn't care if you make the deal or not.
9. Be nice, but if you can't be nice, go away and let someone else do the deal. You'll blow it.
10. A deal can always be made when both parties see their own benefit in making it.
11. A dream is a bargain no matter what you pay for it. Set the scene. Tell the tale. Generate excitement. Help the other side visualize the benefits, and they'll sell themselves.
12. Don't discuss your business where it can be overheard by others. Almost as many deals have gone down in elevators as elevators have gone down.
13. Watch the game films. Top players in any game, including negotiating, debrief themselves immediately after every major session. They always keep a book on themselves and the other side.
14. No one is going to show you their hole card. You have to figure out what they really want. Clue: Since the given reason is never the real reason, you can eliminate the given reason.
15. Always let the other side talk first. Their first offer could surprise you and be better than you ever expected.

-- Harvey Mackay

The Entrepreneurial Spirit

by Tom Peters


Fred Karl, designer of the Viking Range and owner of the company said, "I was a weird kid. I began designing towns when I was 12." We all know that "weird" can be good, if we don’t judge others through our lens. Being weird increases creativity if we allow it to flourish. Fred Karl let his weirdness flourish abundantly.

Karl’s headquarters for Viking is located in his home town of Greenwood, Mississippi. Karl has restored old buildings to house his operations, so not only does his product, the Viking Range, generate income for the small Mississippi town, Karl is revitalizing the town through his restoration work. He remembered a bustling place in the '60s that had "gone way downhill" by the time he returned there after a tour of duty in Vietnam. The little town of Greenwood, previously sustained by the cotton industry, wasn’t ever going to be the same. But Fred Karl saw the possibilities and brought all his talents to bear to create a new Greenwood.

Fred Karl designed the first Viking Range for his wife and hoped that he would sell 1,000 a year; now he sells that many in a week. Just like most startups today, he had little money. Fred Karl bartered his building design skills to obtain office space to work in. The local people called the new range Fred was designing his "Stove Project." What kept his spirit going was the encouragement from the town—support he knew he wouldn’t get if he moved to a big city. That little "Stove Project" eventually became the big business of Viking Range.

Feeling a little weird lately? Take time to see where your passion and entrepreneurial spirit is calling you. Even in corporate America, the entrepreneurial spirit must remain alive. That spirit can solve the toughest of corporate problems, if only we let it.

-- Tom Peters

Problems Are a Normal Part of Change

by Denis Waitley



When asked, “How do you develop mental toughness in life?” my response might sound negative at first. I answer, “Always be prepared for a surprise. The surprise might be a negative surprise. Something is going to happen in your day, whether you are late because you got stuck behind a train or your car had a flat tire—something is going to happen. And the key is your ability not to take mole hills and look at them as mountains.”

Problems are a normal part of change. Things are changing so rapidly that there are going to be problems you face. So you must look at failure as an event, not as a person. I’m not a failure. Maybe I’ve had a failure or a temporary inconvenience. I’ve had a stumbling block, and the idea is to turn the stumbling block into a steppingstone, and step on it instead of stumble over it. So look at failure as the fertilizer of success.

Fertilizer stinks, it smells. You see that guy putting it on his lawn and you say, “Wow, that guy fertilized his lawn.” You fertilize your mistakes. You don’t wallow in them, lay in them, roll in them; you pick yourself up off your mistakes and learn from them. You try not to repeat that same thing again. But you look at it as a temporary inconvenience, as a detour—a detour in life—not as a failure.

—Denis Waitley

You Need More Weight

by Ron White

How do you build muscle?

If you answered, “Exercise,” then you are partially right. For the most part exercise is not what builds muscle. Exercise maintains the muscle you have already built, yet it only actually builds muscle when that exercise goes into uncharted territory.

“You need more weight.”

That is one of my best friend’s favorite things to say when we work out. If I am lifting 225 pounds on the bench press and there is no struggle, he is the first to either add more weight or demand reps. I used to say, “No man, I want to control this weight first. I want to do 8 solid reps of 225 before I move on to something else.” His reply would be, “Are you here to build muscle or maintain what you have?”

My particular goal at the time was to build muscle, so I would (knowing he was right) reluctantly say, “Build muscle.” His matter of fact retort was, “Okay, then you need more weight or more reps—maybe both.”

You see, when lifting weights your muscle is built when it goes beyond its comfort zone or literally stretches beyond what you have done before. If I had lifted six reps and I was spent, I also knew that there was no way my set was over. Just as I am about to give up, I hear the voice spotting me blurt out, “One more… come on… it is all you… one more… you got it… push it up.” My friend, Brian, will consistently push me to do one more than I would if he wasn’t there, and that is why when I work out with Brian my muscles are consistently in the growth zone.

If you are doing a set of 10 reps and are spent—you will get 90% of your growth if you do an 11th or 12th rep. The first 10 are maintaining what you have. The final two are the growth reps—these are the reps where you stretch yourself.

I have found that success in life is very similar to building muscle in the gym. If you are doing what you are comfortable with or can do easily you will never grow. You will never expand to reach your full potential. Growth only occurs in life when you are pushing yourself to something new. This could mean learning a foreign language, learning to play an instrument, conquering your fears or pursuing your life-long dream of building a business, writing a play, authoring a book or talking to people you normally would shy away from.

Growth in life is going to come when you are pushing yourself to lift the weights of life that you can only lift with a spotter. This means you should not be afraid to team up with others and rely on them in your effort to grow. If you are going to build muscle in the gym, you are going to need to do two things: #1 Lift more weight; #2 Have a spotter. The answers for success in life are very similar. Sometimes a spotter in life could be a personal life coach. There is absolutely no doubt that they will push you to lift more weight and be there to spot you when you feel that you can’t get the weight off your chest.

Go for more weight this week and get yourself a spotter!

—Ron White

The Butterfly Effect

by Ron White

It was 1960 and meteorologist Edward Lorenz was working in his lab. He was entering data into his computer in the hope of modeling weather patterns when he stumbled upon a theory that is known as “The Butterfly Effect.” He was entering wind speed, air pressure and temperature into three separate equations that were linked in a mathematical feedback loop. This equation allowed Lorenz to predict weather patterns.

One day Lorenz was in a bit of a hurry and opted to take a shortcut when entering the data. He rounded the numbers to the nearest one thousandth rather than to the nearest one millionth (for example, .407 instead of .407349). As a scientist, he knew this would change the result; however, he expected only a minor change. Lorenz was astounded to discover that this tiny change made a profound impact on the final resulting weather pattern. This discovery led Lorenz to ponder: Does the flap of a butterfly’s wing in Brazil cause a tornado in Texas? Thus, you have “The Butterfly Effect” theory.

This theory has been applied to all areas of science since Lorenz’s 1960 experiment.

What does it mean for your life?

It means that every decision or action that you make—no matter how small—could potentially dramatically alter the course of your life. My life, as I am sure is the case with yours, is a testimony to “The Butterfly Effect.” When I was 12 years old, I met a friend named Brian in P.E. class. More than two decades later, Brian is still my best friend. At the age of 12, Brian had a thirst for learning and studying (the other 12-year-olds called him a nerd), and he was a fitness fanatic. He still has these qualities, and because of our friendship they rubbed off on me. At the age of 18, I needed a job and he secured me a job where he worked as a telemarketer. My third day on the job, I made a telemarketing call to someone in the seminar business. He thought I was a good telemarketer and offered me a job over the phone.

Did you follow that?

You might read my books or come hear me speak because I was offered a job at the age of 18 from a seminar company. I would have never been offered that job if Brian hadn’t gotten me the telemarketing job, and Brian would never have known me if we hadn’t met at the age of 12 in P.E! I have an insatiable desire for learning that began at age 12 and have developed into a fitness fanatic as well. Most of the major events in my life can be traced back to a conversation in a gym more than two decades ago—that is “The Butterfly Effect.”

ACTION POINTS
- Realize that “The Butterfly Effect” is very real and small decisions or actions can make a huge impact on your life.
- Take responsibility for your decisions, actions and friends—even the tiny decisions—realizing that they can dramatically alter the course of your life.
- Understand the importance of attention to detail. Years before 1986, the smallest flaw was overlooked in a Space Shuttle O-ring. That flaw led to a horrific “Butterfly Effect”—the deaths of seven astronauts years later in January 1986.
- Do not allow “The Butterfly Effect” to paralyze you in inaction. Instead, use it as the spark of motivation to fan the fire of action, realizing that you control your destiny even in the tiniest of ways.

—Ron White

The Secret of Time

by Jeff Olson

There is a tide in the affairs of men
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries —William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar

So you walk a little today, get your heart rate up a bit, you lift a few weights, you eat a little differently, then tomorrow morning you wake up and look in the mirror… and see the same old flubber. You have to be pretty well along the path to see any significant results. What keeps you doing this simple thing, day after day?

Will power! It’s like my dad (mom, teacher, boss, older brother, minster, self) always told me… I just need more will power.

Really? I don’t think so. (A friend of mine used to say that people on diets who complain that they lack will power are usually suffering more from a lack of won’t power!) Will power is vastly overrated. For most people, will power ends up looking and feeling like some sort of grim self-tyranny, and involves creating an elaborate, artificial reward-and-punishment system.

Do you want to change? If so, I can show you how to tap into the most powerful force for change there is. Would you like to know what it is? Are you ready? Here it is: TIME.

Position your daily actions so time is working for instead of against you. Because time will either promote you or expose you.

What keeps you on the path is your Slight Edge philosophy, which includes your understanding of the secret of time. Knowing the secret of time, you say: If I stay on this road long enough, I’ll get the result I seek. It’s not a question of your mood, your feeling or your attitude. And it’s not a question of will power. It’s a question of simply knowing.

When you enter a darkened room, why does your hand reach out for the light switch? Because you know that when you hit the switch, the light will go on. You don’t have to give yourself positive self-talk about how you really ought to hit that light switch, or set up a system of rewards and punishments for yourself around whether you follow through or not with hitting the light switch. You don’t need any rigmarole; you just hit the switch. Why? Because you know what will happen.

You know.

It’s the exact same thing here; you walk a little every day, lift a few weights, eat a little better, and leave the penny in the purse (hit the light switch) because you know it will make you healthy and wealthy (the light will turn on).

It’s the exact same thing, no different—except for one thing, and that is time.

—Jeff Olson

Acting on Your Dream

by Les Brown

I have not often admitted this, but I was inspired to become a public speaker by perhaps the worst motivational speaker I’ve ever heard in my life.

This fellow is still working, surprisingly, so I won’t give his name. He was the opening speaker in a seminar I attended early in my speaking career and he nearly closed the show early with his monotone, unenthusiastic presentation. As he spoke, the room grew as quiet as a graveyard between funerals.

I went to sleep to be awakened by what could only be called courtesy applause for his presentation. You could make more noise clapping with one hand. After the less-than-stirring speech, I leaned over to the guy sitting next to me and said, “That was really boring.” And he said, “You should be so boring for the kind of money he makes.” The fellow told me this terrible speaker was making $5,000 for each terrible speech.

After hearing how much money a really bad speaker could make, I decided it was time for me to go after this dream. A few days later, I caught a Greyhound bus from Miami to Orlando where I’d signed up for a seminar for beginners held by the National Speakers Association. It seemed like the bus ride took weeks. I know it took every last dollar I could scrape together. And so I was road-weary but eager to hear some inspiring, motivational and dynamic speaking when I finally took a seat at the event. But who should walk out to lead the first session but that same terrible $5,000-per-speech speaker? I could not believe it!

All that time on a stinking bus, stopping in every one-horse town between Miami and Orlando, to hear this guy again? I nearly got up and walked out. By the time he’d gotten halfway through his speech, nearly half the audience had fled. But I stayed on until the bitter end and the speaker’s parting shot, as it turned out, was worth the price of admission. He obviously had noted the exodus of the audience and the drooping eyelids of those who remained because, as he built up to his anticlimax, he stopped suddenly, looked out at the remaining numbers of aspiring public speakers and said, “You know, the only reason that I am standing up here and you are sitting down there is that I represent the thoughts that you have rejected for yourself.”

I don’t know about the other dozen or so people in the audience, but Mr. Monotone hit me right between the eyes with that shot. It was true. He had acted upon something that I had only dreamt of doing. I’d spent years dreaming of becoming a public speaker. But dreaming was all I had done. This guy may not have had any talent for it. He may have been the most undynamic public speaker in history. But he was up there while I was still dreaming. And so that is how I became motivated to start a new career by perhaps the worst motivational speaker I have ever heard.

—Les Brown

Three Keys to Greatness

by Jim Rohn

Some years ago I went into the studio and recorded a 56-minute video for teenagers called Three Keys to Greatness. Although my focus was for teenagers, the principles I shared certainly apply to adults as well.

Recently I was asked to list these three things using one to two sentences for each. Now for your benefit here they are again.

1) Setting Goals. I call it the view of the future. Most people, including kids, will pay the price if they can see the promise of the future. So we need to help our kids see a well-defined future, so they will be motivated to pay the price today to attain the rewards of tomorrow. Goals help them do this.

2) Personal Development. Simply making consistent investments in our self-education and knowledge banks pays major dividends throughout our lives. I suggest having a minimum amount of time set aside for reading books, listening to audiocassettes, attending seminars, keeping a journal and spending time with other successful people. Charlie “Tremendous” Jones says you will be in five years the sum total of the books you read and the people you are around.

3) Financial Planning. I call it the 70/30 plan. After receiving your paycheck or paying yourself, simply setting aside 10 percent for saving, 10 percent for investing and 10 percent for giving, and over time this will guarantee financial independence for a teenager.

If a young person, or for that matter an adult, focused on doing these three simple things over a long period of time I believe they will be assured success!

—Jim Rohn

Class

by Zig Ziglar

From time to time someone gives another individual the ultimate compliment by saying, “You are a class act,” or by describing a specific behavior by saying, “That’s class.” From time to time a master of ceremonies will introduce an individual by saying, “If you go to the dictionary and look up the word ‘class,’ you will see a picture of your speaker this evening.”

A person with class is an individual of integrity, someone you would love to have as a parent or child, a friend or a neighbor, a mentor or an advisor. In short, class identifies a person who is “top drawer,” one who goes the extra mile by being gracious to everyone who courteously serves them.

I love the description given in comments made by Bill Daniels who said that “class is something you choose for yourself. It’s competing honestly, confronting problems head-on, taking accolades with grace and humility and not knocking your competitors. If you have class you’re loyal to both yourself and to those around you. Class is born out of self-respect and a healthy respect for others. Everything in this world is not always attainable. Fortunately, class is.”

Class is the coach who gives every child on the team his turn “at bat” without regard to the youngster’s ability or the won-lost record of the team.

I encourage you to identify someone who is a class act and use that person as a role model. The individual might not be rich and famous or even brilliant, but a person of class is one we can all aspire to be. Take the class approach and I’ll SEE YOU AT THE TOP!

A Little Equation that Creates Big Results

by Chris Widener

The purpose of man is in action not thought - Thomas Carlyle

Often people will ask me how I get so much done in my life. They wonder at how I am able to accomplish so many things. The answer is found not in what a great person I am, but in an equation I came up with a few years ago and remind myself of on almost a daily basis. And when I live this equation out, it produces big results. What people don't seem to grasp is that this equation will work for anybody! Anyone can see results in their life if they will live it out!

This little equation, when it is understood, and acted upon, is perhaps the most powerful equation there is in regard to long-term achievement and accomplishment. Yet, this is not a complex equation. In fact, it is rather simple. So what is it?

Your short-term actions multiplied by time equal your long-term accomplishments.

If you want to see change in your life, see big results, the first thing you must do is change your current actions. Otherwise the old saying becomes a reality: "If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you always got!" But if we change our actions, we will see different results!

Most people want to accomplish a lot in their lives. Yet very few actually do. Why is this? It is because what they believe will equal their long-term accomplishments is wrong. Here are some of the things that people believe will create great accomplishments for them:

Beliefs
Vision
Big dreams
Ideas
Ideals
Values
Desire

The truth is that while these things are very important, they are not enough in and of themselves. We need to have the above underlying all that we do, but we need to actually do something! And this is where most people stop. We need to take action on our dreams and beliefs every day.

Here are some examples of how this works.

Who loses weight? The one who knows all about the benefits of exercise or the one who walks three miles a day?

Who retires early? The one who dreams of a house on the beach, or the one who invests $300 a month?

Who writes books? The one who desires to become a best-selling author, or the one who gets up early and writes for half an hour a day?

Who has the best marital relationship? The one who knows how much spending time with their spouse can improve their relationship, or the one who sits down and talks with their spouse every night?

Who makes the most sales? The one who believes they can become a great salesperson, or the one who makes 10 sales calls a day?

I think you get the point. When it all comes down to it, we must act upon our vision, beliefs, and ideals or we won't see them come to fruition. I see too many people who know what is right, but don't ever do anything about it. Imagine what a difference we could make in our own lives and the lives of others if we would simply begin to act upon on our beliefs!

When I get to the end of my life, I want to know that I have done all that I can to make this world a better place and to enhance the lives of those around me. I want to know that I gave it my best shot. And I am sure that you do to.

I remember reading an interview with an author who has written numerous books that have sold in the tens of millions. They asked him how he did it. His answer was that he got up every morning before anyone else in his family and wrote, long hand, with a pencil, for an hour. Then he quit and went about his day. But his short-term actions piled up. 7 hours a week. 30 hours a month. 365 hours a year. After a while, he had lots of books!

Some questions as we leave:

What long-term accomplishments do you want to see come to pass?
What short-term actions will you need to do over time to see them come to pass?
What will you do today to begin seeing your dreams come true?
What will you do this week to see them come true?

You can have an awesome future, filled with great achievements and results if you begin today to take action and make it a reality!

One more time, so you can plug it in, memorize it, and live it.

Your short-term actions multiplied by time equal your long-term accomplishments.

-- Chris Widener

Create your vision. Prepare your plan. Build your team. Lay the foundation and construct the life you have always wanted.

Move Out of Your Comfort Zone

by Brian Tracy

Any change, or even an attempt to change anything you are doing, makes you uncomfortable. By attempting to change, you move out of your comfort zone. You feel increasingly uneasy. You experience stress and tension. If the change is too extreme, your physical and mental health can be affected. You will experience sleeplessness, indigestion, or fatigue. You may react with impatience, irritability or anger. You will often feel as if you are on an emotional roller-coaster.

Raise Your Internal Standards

So if you want to sell more and earn more, you must increase your self-concept level of income. You must increase the amount you believe yourself capable of earning. You must raise your aspirations, set higher goals, and make detailed plans to achieve them. You must begin to see yourself and think about yourself as capable of being one of the highest earning salespeople in your field. You must take charge of developing a new self-concept for sales and income that is more consistent with what you really want to accomplish.

Build Your Self-Concept Level of Income

Your self-concept determines your levels of performance and effectiveness in everything you do. In sales, you have a series of mini-self-concepts that govern every activity of selling. You have a self-concept for prospecting, for using the telephone, for cold calling, for making appointments, for qualifying, for presenting, for answering questions, for closing, for getting referrals, and for making follow-up sales. You have a self-concept of your level of product knowledge, your personal management skills, your level of motivation and for the way that you relate to different types of customers. In every case, you will always perform in a manner consistent with your self-concept.

The Key to Peak Performance

Wherever you have a high self-concept, you perform well. If you enjoy working on the telephone, you look forward eagerly to telephone prospecting and selling and you do it well. If you have a high self-concept for making presentations or for closing sales, you feel comfortable and competent whenever you are doing them.

Wherever you feel tense or uneasy in selling, it means that you have a low self-concept in that area. You do not feel comfortable when you are engaged in that activity. You probably avoid that activity as much as possible.

This is normal and natural. The only question is, “What are you going to do about it?’

Action Exercises

Here are two actions you can take immediately to get better results.

First, set a goal today to become one of the highest earning people in your organization. Then, back your goal with action by committing to becoming very good in every area of selling.

Second, see yourself, imagine and visualize yourself as if you are already very good at what you do. Create within yourself the feeling of success and accomplishment. Remember, as within, so without!

-- Brian Tracy

Zig Ziglar on Integrity

Major surgery requires not only a skilled surgeon, but also a number of skilled assistants to make certain that everything happens as it should. They function as a team. No one person, regardless of how brilliant he or she is, could pull off a major operation alone.

A new head nurse was starting her first assignment in a major medical center. She was in charge of all the nurses on the operating room team. She had full responsibility for performing all the duties nurses perform. When the surgery was complete, the surgeon said, "Okay, it's time to close the incision. I need the sutures."

The new head nurse responded, "Doctor, you used twelve sponges; we've only removed eleven." The surgeon assured her that all of the sponges had been removed and he was ready to suture. She replied, "Doctor, you used twelve sponges; only eleven have been removed."

With a bit of irritation in his voice, the doctor said, "I will accept full responsibility." The nurse's temper flew and she apparently stomped her foot and said, "Doctor, think of the patient!"

When she said that, the doctor smiled, lifted his foot and revealed the twelfth sponge. He looked at the nurse and said, "You'll do." Her integrity had been tested; she passed with flying colors.

The question is, how many of us, under identical circumstances, would have risked offending the surgeon, remembering that there was a possibility we had miscounted? But this nurse felt the patient's life and health were at stake and she, without hesitation, did the right thing. Over the long haul, that's the best way to get to the top and stay there.

-- Zig Ziglar