Personal Growth Is Key In Building Your Success

Most people get up in the morning and work on improving their position at work or on their companies. It is only natural that we get caught up in what has to be done to move a project forward. Activities I call working in your business instead of on your business. These activities have you working in your job and not on your job. Activities that are task related and will keep you in a worker bee mode. Who really has time to do more?

We as humans also need to work on what makes us efficient and happy. I can not over emphasize how important it is to do a personal check-in on a regular basis. When you do not book or scheduling ME TIME you can soon lose track of your dreams and goals. When you are submerged in task related activities you lose the ability to look around the corner. Successful business people often employ personal coaches. They know the importance of personal performance. You may think successful leaders are already at their pinnacle, but intelligent leaders know they need to be constantly improving. When you are the front-runner and innovator you set the standard for all others to follow. When you set the standard it is not about price. Your competitors and followers will have to compare themselves to you to market their products.

In one of my favorite books "The Science Of Getting Rich", Wallace Wattles the author insists that to become truly rich you must live life on the creative plane and not the competitive plane. For if you earned it on the competitive plane you can also lose it on the competitive plane. When you create you have the opportunity to improve the life of others without the haggle of price. Wattles expresses the importance that the purchaser's life has been enhanced by more than the price of the product or service you sold them.

The importance of personal growth will do the following things for your life.

• Personal growth will create an ability for you to be unique. You are creating the opportunity to stand out. If you walk and talk like the rest of the world you will have to earn your way in what I call "Hand To Hand Combat". That is the competitive plane. Your life will ebb and flow as does the market you do business in.
• When you take the time to make yourself better you will start to work smarter. Yes the early bird gets the worm. Be cautious not to be just doing just more of what you are doing for burnout will soon follow.
• Through personal growth you will get to know your strengths and weaknesses. You can improve on the weaknesses you have or find someone to work with who has strengths in that area.
• When you take the time to study and improve on yourself you will become a thinker. When we think, we are creating opportunities that become indelible on your mind. Opportunities that will set you apart from the field.

When you take the time to work on you, the picture becomes clear. You now have in your mind the way to move forward in a positive manner. Those thoughts of second guessing your decisions will vanish. You will create a confidence in yourself that will be visible by all you interact with. When you express yourself in that manner it removes question of your knowledge and capabilities. Things will begin to flow your way. Invest the time to make yourself better. By doing so you will be in control of your life instead of life being in control of you. Book an appointment with yourself today. You will be thankful you did.

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Finding Success - How to Conquer Fear of Failure

Overcoming the fear of failure is one of the toughest things we will have to do in life. It will come in many forms and at different times. It's the biggest cause of call reluctance with sales people and the biggest obstacle in employee performance. What if they say no? What if I mess up? What will my friends think of me if I screw up?

Lets be honest. We all want to succeed. We all want the admiration of our colleagues and our friends. However this validation and admiration we desire must be earned. There is no silver bullet. It's easier for some than others but everyone must at some point push through what they do not want to do. If it was easy we would all be doing it. There is no single recipe for success.

I was fortunate to learn about dealing with failure at an early age. Failure to me was not winning. It was not until later in life that I came to understand that being around the top was good too. Having been a competitive ski racer and sailor I was motivated by winning. I learned that when we went to the results board at the end of the day every one looked to see where they placed. The second place you looked was to see who won. No one looked at who was at the bottom first, or in fact at all. Headlines on the sports page of the news paper don't read. "John Doe Came in Last." If you were on the bottom, odds are you were the only one who noticed. Yes it hurts but there is only one way to move up the leader board. That's through hard work, practice and persistence.

I will pass along these few steps that should help you get past the fear of failure. 

• The first part of getting past the fear of what will happen if the potential customer says no. Well it's part of the job. Everybody does not say yes. It's about the product or service you are selling or promoting and not about you. Can you increase your performance with practice and good coaching. Yes. Simply put. Get it in your head that what is happening to you happens to everyone. Others don't share or broadcast their losses either. They learn from them.
• What will happen if we didn't quite get it right at work. Well, if we have a nurturing and mentoring boss they will likely help you though what has happened. Lets remember that their success is somewhat tied to yours. The key here is to ask for help. Asking for help is a sign of strength and not of weakness. Express to them that you want to be better. Who in their right mind is going to say no?
• If you are unable to get to the space of having self-confidence I suggest you find a coach who will help you get there. I have used a coach numerous times in my life. Many of my readers know I have a had a few hits in my life. I got through them all and some times I needed help. There is no sin in that. They helped make me stronger.

Take action now to get past these feelings of fear. Anxiety can do all kings of crazy things with your mind. To move forward in achieving your goals you need to have a clear mind. Focus is not a buzz word. It is for real. You can only reach for what is clear in your mind. What happens in the process of getting there is just that. A process. Don't beat yourself up. You have what it takes. Being your own biggest cheerleader is a good place to start.

Becoming Successful in Life - The Importance of Listening

Before you say, "come on Paul. I know the importance of listening. I suggest you stop and really take notice of the time you're talking instead of listening. I can tell you from experience as a sales leader and manager, the best sales people are listeners. They listen for the clues and what we call buying signals. The same can be said in life outside of sales.

It takes more than being a good listener to be successful. It's very important you ask the right questions. One of my favorite sayings is. "Answers rarely appear on their own. Answers only come after you have asked a question". One tip I use when I ask questions is to wait until the individual has finished what they were saying and count to three. This will seem like an eternity but you will get better at it with time. The purpose for this is, the individual spoke about what first came to their mind. It is after this dead air that the individual will come out with more information after they had a chance to think about it deeper. This is when the real good stuff comes out. We provided them with the courtesy to finish their thought. When we listen we project trust. When there is trust, they will tell us more.

How many times in your life have you heard someone say. I can never remember names. I believe the issue is that these people are not listening. What is taking place is they are thinking about what they are going to say next. Well guess what! When your thinking about what you will say next, your not listening effectively. If you start to listen intently you will remember their name. If you listen intently you project that you really care what they have to say. If you listen intently they will tell you more than they would otherwise have said.

What does all this have to do with being successful you ask? When we are talking we are expressing what we already know. When we are listening we have the opportunity to gain knowledge. Knowledge is power. Knowledge helps us with making sound decisions in life and business.

In my opinion there are four ways to gain knowledge.

1. To be an apprentice and gain experience working beside a master.
2. Go to school. Guess what happens in school? 80 to 90 percent of the time is spent listening.
3. Read about things that will expand our knowledge and provide you with expertise. Because you want to!!
4. Listen intently from those who have knowledge and most importantly take notes when you have a chance following the conversation. Writing helps us to retain what we have heard. Think of the things we have written on napkins during a lunch meeting. Do you get my point?

In many of my recent articles I have been writing about maintaining a positive attitude. To have a positive attitude you need to be conscious of your thoughts. The same applies to listening. Slow it down and be conscious of the questions you ask and how you listen. You will find it amazing what you will learn. To be successful in life you need to be forever learning and expanding your knowledge. Being thirsty for knowledge will water the seeds of success.