LTM - 17. Your Greatest Obstacle

17. Your Greatest Obstacle
If I had to identify the single most important factor in personal
achievement, it would be discipline—the ability to do what you know you
should do even when you don’t feel like doing it. Discipline—lacking it
can be the biggest obstacle between your goals and your
accomplishments but having it is the ultimate accelerator of results.
Here’s what I mean. I started selling real estate when I was 23 years old.
Young and inexperienced, I was at a distinct disadvantage when going
head-to-head with experienced and successful Realtors. If given a choice,
why would anyone select an immature, unproven Realtor to sell their
home?
I knew something had to turn the tide in my favor. Of course, I focused
on all the LITTLE THINGS to make a good impression; however, the one
thing that turbo-charged my income more than any other single factor
was my self-discipline.
Every day I sat in my little cubicle. Struggling to breathe and my heart
beating out of my chest, I picked up the phone and made call after call.
Pushing myself out of my comfort zone, I kept making calls until I got
appointments. By the end of my first full year, I had sold over 60 homes
and earned over $250,000. While all the LITTLE THINGS I did played a
role in my success, nothing played a larger role than my discipline.
Employing discipline is the most difficult LITTLE THING to do
consistently, yet it brings the greatest rewards.
Ten Ways to Develop Discipline
1. Make a Personal Commitment. The first step in achieving any
goal is to make a commitment to become a disciplined person.
This commitment means you will become a do-it-now person and
that you will no longer procrastinate doing things you know you
should do.
2. Focus on Your Goals. Review your goals every morning before
you start your day. Pick a quiet place where you can concentrate
and visualize. Put yourself in a state of mind where you have
achieved your goal and let your imagination go. You’re basking in
the satisfaction of a job well done. What does it look like? What
does it feel like? That burning desire that comes from within to
achieve your goals will help inspire you to take action.
3. Do What You Don’t Want to Do First. As you plan your day,
block out time to do those things first that require the most
discipline. Whatever it is—prospecting, exercising, or cleaning
the house—do it first. You’ll be amazed at how the feeling of
accomplishment stays with you throughout the day.
4. Get Enough Rest. A good night’s sleep is essential to
maintaining a high energy level. You will sleep better if you avoid
eating or drinking before you go to bed.
5. Eat Right. Eating right helps to maintain focus and optimize
energy levels. Start your day with a breakfast high in protein and
low in simple carbohydrates. For lunch, avoid eating foods that
make you tired and, above all, don’t overeat.
6. Start Doing the LITTLE THINGS. Start becoming more
disciplined by doing the LITTLE THINGS you know you should do,
like making your bed, keeping your car cleaned, taking the
garbage out, and picking up after yourself. As you become more
disciplined in doing the LITTLE THINGS, you will become more
disciplined in doing the big things.
7. Make the Decision in Advance. If you are going to tackle an
important project in the morning, then don’t second-guess your
decision in the morning. If you make the decision to exercise
every morning at 6:00 A.M., then don’t allow yourself to question
your decision when you feel like sleeping in. The decision is
made; follow through with it!
8. Make It a Routine. Set up a routine for doing the things you
don’t want to do. If you are in sales, set up a routine to prospect
for new business every morning from 9:00–11:00 o’clock. If you
want to be physically fit, then make exercising a routine.
9. Get an Accountability Partner. Do you have a friend, spouse or
co-worker who shares a common goal? If so, agree to hold each
other accountable in doing what you both need to do.
10. Reward Yourself. When you do the things that require discipline,
recognize and reward yourself after you are done. If you just
finished a big project, dine at your favorite restaurant or do
something special to celebrate. If you have been disciplined over
an extended period of time, perhaps a weekend getaway would be
appropriate.
Consistent discipline in all areas of your life will yield multiple rewards
beyond increased productivity. You’ll feel more confident and more
motivated towards achieving your goals, and you’ll feel proud of the
person you are becoming. It doesn’t get any better than this—feeling that
you have done something you didn’t want to do but you did it anyway.
LTM Challenge
Over the next several days, be intentional about being more disciplined. If
you have neglected to return a call or an email, do it now. If you have a
project with an impending deadline, sit at your desk and get it done. If
there’s something waiting to be done at home, don’t procrastinate. From
this point forward, use positive self-talk and say, ―If I don’t feel like doing
it, then I must do it now!” Then, without further delay, do it.
One of the most important keys to success is having
the discipline to do what you know you should do,
even when you don’t feel like doing it.

LTM - 16. Accept Responsibility

16. Accept Responsibility

You alone are in complete control and responsible for the decisions you

make and the actions you take; for your success or failure; for your

happiness or discontent; for your present circumstances and your future.

This bold statement is not intended to frighten or threaten, but rather to

empower you.

How we handle responsibility for our decisions and our mistakes is a

direct reflection on our character. It’s easy to see early on in life who gets

it right and who doesn’t.

Consider the youth soccer player who always blames the team’s loss on

the coaches, the officials, and the other players. Or, the young

professional with a poor performance record who insists that it’s always

because of something beyond her control.

At the other end of the spectrum is the group of boys confessing to the

neighbor that their baseball put a dent in his car rather than running away,

or the husband who humbles himself before his wife and children and

apologizes after having lost his temper.

Universally, people who accept responsibility for their actions command

greater respect and have a stronger influence. Those who pass the buck or

make excuses eventually lose the trust and confidence of others. This is

particularly true when that person has assumed a leadership role. No one

wants to follow leaders who are unwilling to accept responsibility for

their actions.

 

Here are three actions you can take to accept personal responsibility when

something has gone wrong:

 Reflect. The first step is to conduct a self-examination to

contemplate your action or decision. Before you can make

anything right or apologize for a mistake, you must have a clear

understanding of where you went wrong.

 Learn. When you make a mistake or experience a failure,

consider what can be learned. Some of life’s most valuable

lessons come from the things we have done wrong.

 Change. Self-examination and learning by themselves are not

enough. If you are serious about accepting personal responsibility

and the benefits that come along with it, you must also commit to

follow through with change. Continue what’s working and change

what isn’t.

LTM Challenge

From this day forward, will you commit to accepting responsibility for

your actions and decisions?

A good place to start is by accepting responsibility in the following areas:

 The circumstances of your life today

 The state of your marriage

 The condition of your financial status

 The quality of your relationships with your children,

co-workers, and friends

 The plans for your future

Assuming full responsibility for your life

and everything in it

is evidence of your character and

your desire to achieve your personal best.

LTM - 15. Turn Off the Noise and Think

15. Turn Off the Noise and Think

In today’s fast-paced electronic world, the need for quiet time has never

been more crucial. The number of interruptions and the resulting stress

coming from texts, calls, emails, and social sites has increased. And, of

course, we have an endless supply of addictive options at our fingertips

to fill our heads with chatter.

If you want to advance your life forward, it’s absolutely critical that you

block out time to turn off the noise so you can think and process

information in silence.

If you want to make sensible life-planning decisions—the kind of

decisions that allow you to move ahead in life—you need quiet time to

think and process everything going on in your life.

Perhaps it’s your desire to build a stronger relationship with your spouse,

significant other, or a friend; or that you want to be a more

understanding parent. I assume you want to enjoy a successful career

and that you want to make enough money to stay out of debt and enjoy

the good things life has to offer.

If these things are important, then ask yourself: How much time have I

spent in the last month quietly thinking about these issues? How can you

say something is important, yet not allocate quality time without

interruptions to think about it and make thoughtful decisions as to how

you can improve that area of your life?

If achieving your goals is really important, then you must make it a

priority to block out time and turn off the noise so you can sort out

what’s going on in your life and make good, course-correcting decisions.

Let me offer a few suggestions:

1. Start your mornings by sitting in silence. Rather than watching

the news, reading the morning paper, or turning on your

computer, find a quiet place to sit and contemplate the issues

you’re facing.

2. While driving alone, turn off the music and talk shows. Turn

your car into a think tank where you process life and make good

decisions.

3. Go for a daily walk and leave the music at home. Almost all of

my major decisions are made on long walks. Before going on a

walk, select a topic you want to think about, and then consider

these three questions:

 What’s going on? Think about the subject you have selected.

 What are my options? Consider all available options for

dealing with the situation.

 What’s my plan? Make a decision on what you will do and

when.

4. Block out a period of time and go to a quiet place. Turn off

your phone and thoughtfully review what’s going on. Consider

all the options available for how you should handle the situation

on your mind.

5. If you have a major decision to make, block out a day. Get

away from your home, and go where you can think in peace and

quiet. Consider all aspects of your decisions: pros, cons, risks,

rewards, options, and outcomes.

When you make it a priority to block out time in your busy schedule to

sit in silence and think about your life and where you are going, you will

immediately begin to see the benefit of quiet time.

LTM Challenge

Will you agree to test the principles and strategies outlined by finding 15

minutes today to sit in silence and think about an important decision you

need to make?

If you want to make life-guiding decisions that will help

you achieve the things that are truly important to you,

turn off the noise and think.

LTM - 14. Get Creative and Think Outside the Box

14. Get Creative and Think Outside the Box

Do you ever run out of good ideas, or go around in circles trying to come

up with a solution for a simple dilemma? I am going to share with you

the best technique I know for stretching the mind to come up with new

and fresh ideas—from finding a babysitter on New Year’s Eve to

choosing the right name for a new business venture. Implementing this

strategy has forced me to be creative and innovative when it would have

been easier to take the standard approach.

Most people probably consider fewer than five possibilities when

exploring their options—the ones that immediately come to mind. The

problem with this basic approach is that you are limiting yourself by

only considering a few familiar choices. If you want to open your mind

to a new world of options, you must start to think outside the box.

The next time you need to solve a problem or explore a better way to do

something, compile a written list of 20 options—not 5, 10 or 15. Push

yourself to come up with 20! The first five things you think of will be

the tip of the iceberg. They’ll probably be the same five things everyone

else would think of in a similar situation because they are the most

obvious answers. The key here is to stretch your mind. You will struggle

getting up to 13 or 14, but your biggest breakthrough will come when

you push yourself to 18, 19, and 20. It is often in those final three ideas

where you find the hidden jewels.

Some examples of how you can apply this way of thinking:

 Evaluating where you want to move

 Selecting the location for your next family vacation

 Considering restaurant options for a special occasion

 Contemplating your career options

 Finding ways to cut expenses

 Distinguishing yourself from your competitors

 Looking for new strategies to drive sales

 Providing a higher level of service to your customers

 Choosing different incentive programs for your sales team.

Here’s a true story that illustrates the power of creative thinking. A

couple’s 20th anniversary was approaching and the wife felt like she and

her husband had grown apart. Bound and determined to prove her love,

she made him an anniversary card listing all the reasons why she loved

him. It became quite difficult after #8, but she stuck with it and made it

to 20. Reviewing all the reasons she had compiled, she realized she

loved him more than she thought! They will celebrate their 34th

anniversary this year.

LTM Challenge

The next time you have to solve a problem or think of a better way to

accomplish something, sit down with pen and paper and make a list of

20 options. Don’t stop at 17. Push yourself to 20.

The intense focus will open up your mind and force you to think of

things you normally wouldn’t have considered. It won’t be easy, but you

might just have fun in the process.

Is there anything going on in your life right now where you can apply

the strategy outlined in this lesson? If the answer is yes, grab a pad of

paper and a pen and get started.

To be creative, go where you have never been.

Expand your mind to new ideas,

opportunities, and a fresh way of thinking.

Only then will you discover

a new world of possibilities.

KH

Cute!

LTM - 13. The Value of a Mastermind Team

13. The Value of a Mastermind Team

The concept of a mastermind group was first introduced by Napoleon Hill

in the 1900s. In his timeless classic, Think and Grow Rich, he described

the mastermind principle as follows:

No two minds ever come together without thereby creating

a third, invisible, intangible force which may be likened to

a third mind. . . . When a group of individual minds are

coordinated and function in harmony, the increased

energy created through that alliance becomes available to

every individual in the group.

Over the last 20 years I have been honored to serve on boards of multiple

companies. Some of my fellow board members were younger than I and

some were older. Some were men and some were women. Some

represented the United States and some represented other countries.

Everyone brought something special and different to the table.

I discovered that what seemed logical to me might not be logical to

others, and I learned to respect the differences. The value that comes

from bringing together a diverse group of people to discuss ideas, set

goals, and make decisions became evident, and I have become a firm

believer in the synergistic power inherent in the mastermind principle.

Launching the Little Things Matter blog is a perfect example. Here’s a

glimpse of my mastermind team and the process we implemented.

Step 1. Know the purpose and plan.

Before forming this team, I put together a document with all my

thoughts, ideas, and goals. It was important that I clearly

understood and articulated what I wanted to accomplish before

involving others in the process. After selecting my team

members, I scheduled our first meeting and put together an

agenda.

Step 2. Lay the foundation.

During the first meeting I reviewed my goals and plan with the

team and sought their feedback on each point. This allowed me

to gather the views from each person as I walked through the

key components of my strategy.

 

Step 3. Work in harmony.

In the two subsequent meetings we reviewed the goals and plan

for the website design. This included the sample design layouts

that my son-in-law Josh gathered. We then reviewed the

marketing brief my son Gerrid designed, the identity package

my daughter-in-law Jessica created, the Podcast plan my

daughter Hannah helped design, and finally the roll-out plan I

proposed.

Step 4. Continue consulting the team.

I continue to confer with my team members on a regular basis,

and I am confident that the success of my blog

(littlethingsmatter.com) is truly a result of the collaborative

effort of my mastermind team.

LTM Challenge

Now it’s your turn. The next time you have a project or business concept

that could benefit from diverse points of view and experiences, I

encourage you to form a mastermind team. The collaborative effort of the

team will empower you to make better decisions, expand your horizons,

produce a better project, perform above par, and succeed beyond your

expectations. While you will seek feedback from the team, remember that

you are the leader and you must be the one to run the plays.

If you want to improve your decision-making,

you would be wise to put your ego on the shelf

and seek counsel from those you respect.

LTM - 12. Making Tough Decisions

12. Making Tough Decisions

In the course of our lives we are faced with many important decisions. Do

we leave a secure job with an established company to take a higher

paying job with a new start-up company? Should I invest in starting my

own business? What home should we buy? Do we relocate to another

city? Do I stay in a difficult marriage? How should I invest my savings?

The outcome of any of these decisions will play a vital role in your

success and happiness. Make the right decision and life is good. Make

the wrong decision and things can get ugly in a hurry.

Ten years ago, I attended a leadership event where a former President of

the United States was interviewed. He explained how he makes his most

difficult decisions. Of all the decision-making processes I have learned

about and implemented, this one is the best.

A President’s Process for Decision-making

 Seek wise counsel. When he had a critical decision to make, he

brought together the highest-ranking, most valued members of his

team, including outsiders who had the greatest insight into the

situation.

 Understand the facts. With this group, the key facts of the

situation were clearly outlined so he and everyone on his team

would have a complete understanding of the challenge at hand.

 Discover all options. On a large board, the team listed every

realistic option available to addressing the situation.

 Reduce the options. After considering all available options, they

narrowed the list down to the best and most obvious choices.

 Explore the pros and cons of each option. The team then made

a list of the pros and cons of each option. After completing this

step, the top two or three options became clear.

 Focus on the cons. They dissected and discussed each con (not

the pros). The President wanted to have a plan in advance for how

he and his administration would handle each of the potential cons

if and when the situation would arise.

 Make the decision. After going through this process with his

most valued advisors, the President removed all emotions and

made his decision based on the facts.

The President was asked, ―Do you look for consensus among the

members of your team in making these types of critical decisions?”

He acknowledged he would always seek consensus among his team. He

said, ―If I bring together my best people and go through this process, I

would like for us to collectively agree on the best solution.”

Since listening to this interview ten years ago and incorporating the steps

outlined, I have made very few bad decisions. This decision-making

strategy combined with my life experiences have taught me the

importance of seeking wise counsel, to plan for the worst-case scenario,

to remove all emotion from the process, and to make decisions based on

facts and logic.

LTM Challenge

Good decision-making is similar to learning any new skill—the more you

practice, the more proficient you become. While many of your decisions

may not require seeking advice of others, at the very least I encourage

you to consider all your options and the pros and cons of each. If you will

carefully consider the pros and cons of any decision you are making and

remove your emotions, you will make better decisions.

Your life is a reflection of all your decisions—

big and small, serious and insignificant,

short-range and long-range.

 

LTM - 11. Our Lives Reflect Our Decisions

11. Our Lives Reflect Our Decisions

One of the most noteworthy and accurate statements of human

achievement ever articulated was a statement made by Jim Rohn.

Success comes from making a series of good decisions

over time, while failure comes from making a series of

bad decisions over time.

After more than ten years of thinking about this statement and watching it

play out in the lives of people I know, I am convinced that our lives are

indeed a mirror image of our decisions.

Every day we make hundreds of little decisions which I call ―Either–Or‖

decisions. Most of these types of decisions may seem inconsequential at

the time, but every decision—no matter how small—leads us closer to or

further away from our goals.

Either–Or Decisions

 Do you get up early enough to properly prepare for the day, OR

do you sleep in and then rush out the door?

 Do you exercise as you had planned, OR do you blow it off

because you don’t feel like it?

 Do you make food choices to improve your health, OR do you eat

whatever you want?

 Do you pick up the coffee mug sitting on the table, OR do you

leave it for someone else to clean up?

 Do you control interruptions to improve productivity, OR do you

allow people and things to divert your attention from your

responsibilities?

 Do you demonstrate respect by letting people finish their

thoughts, OR do you interrupt?

 Do you have a positive attitude even when things don’t go your

way, OR do you moan and groan?

 Do you genuinely apologize when you are wrong, OR do you

water down the apology by making excuses?

 Do you smile and say, ―Good morning,‖ to your co-workers, OR

do you pass quickly to your desk?

 Do you compliment someone for a job well done, OR do you

think they don’t need it because they are just doing their job?

 Do you think about what you want to say before speaking, OR do

you let the first thing that pops into your head pop out of your

mouth?

These little decisions and hundreds of others matter. Your life today is the

result of the quality of the choices and decisions you’ve made up to this

very moment. Our decisions determine our physical and mental wellbeing.

Our finances are what they are because of our decisions. Where we

work and what we earn are the outcomes of our decisions. The strength of

our relationships with friends, siblings, parents, and spouse is directly

related to the decisions we have made.

Bottom line: everything we have or don’t have and who we are as human

beings have been determined by our decisions.

Even though you may choose to avoid accepting responsibility for where

you find yourself today, the truth is that you are where you are based on

your decisions; there’s no one else to blame. You’ve been in the driver’s

seat. If you want to change your course, it’s time to take control and learn

to make different choices and better decisions.

Good Places to Start the Big Change

 Accept responsibility for your decisions and stop blaming others

for where you find yourself today.

 Become aware of the decisions you are making every day and

start making decisions consistent with the person you want to

become.

 Believe in yourself and your ability to make good decisions.

 Start small. Do the LITTLE THINGS right. Make good Either–Or

choices.

LTM Challenge

All positive change begins with awareness. If you find your ship in rough

seas, turn off your autopilot. Start being aware of all the little decisions

you are making. Remember, the outcome of your life will be largely

determined by the moment-to-moment decisions you make each day.

Don’t allow yourself to think something doesn’t matter. Everything

matters.

The hundreds of little decisions you make each day

will influence every part of your life.

LTM - 10. Stretch Your Comfort Zone

10. Stretch Your Comfort Zone

People are hardwired to search for comfort; therefore, much of daily life

is centered on familiar patterns and habits. While operating in your

comfort zone feels good, you are not going to advance your life forward

unless you have the courage to push yourself outside your comfort zone.

Think about it. Your comfort zone is where everything feels familiar,

safe, and secure, where you know what to expect, and where you are

content with the status quo. How can you reach greater heights personally

and professionally if you aren’t stretching yourself and growing on a

regular basis?

Best-selling author Brian Tracy said, ―Move out of your comfort zone.

You can only grow if you are willing to feel awkward and uncomfortable

when you try something new.”

Denis Waitley, another best-selling author and consultant, has trained

numerous U.S. Olympic athletes. He said, “To achieve your dreams you

must break out of your current comfort zone and become comfortable

with the unfamiliar and the unknown.”

It’s time to get uncomfortable. Let’s begin by doing some self-evaluating.

Do you avoid doing things you know you should do because they make

you feel anxious and awkward, nervous or fearful? What are they?

Contemplate how your life could change if you ventured into the

―discomfort zone.‖ Would you feel better about yourself? Would you

become more respected by your peers and colleagues? Would you have

more self-confidence?

Your first step on the road to greater achievement focuses on the LITTLE

THINGS you know you should do but don’t feel at ease doing. If you push

yourself to do the LITTLE THINGS that thrust you outside your comfort

zone, your confidence will begin to grow.

As you build your self-confidence in doing the LITTLE THINGS, you

slowly build your confidence to do the bigger things. It works this way

for all of us. We start, one step at a time, building our confidence by

successfully completing smaller tasks first.

An experience my son Jake had is a perfect illustration. Jake’s first job

was a bagger at a local grocery store. Jake is an introvert. He is especially

shy around strangers. One day I challenged him to start being friendly to

the customers whose groceries he bagged. The first day he talked to two

customers, the next day five, the next day ten, and by the sixth day he

talked to 50 people. Each day Jake told me about his results and I could

sense his confidence was growing. One day a head cashier told him he

was very good with people—a compliment Jake thought he would never

hear anyone say.

Like Jake, when you first step outside your comfort zone you’ll likely

feel nervous and perhaps even fearful. But unless you are doing

something dangerous or risky, nothing bad is going to happen to you. To

the contrary, that knot in your stomach is your signal that growth and

opportunity lay ahead.

So feel the fear and do it anyway. Dale Carnegie said,

Do the thing you fear to do and keep on doing it . . .

that is the quickest and surest way ever yet discovered

to conquer fear.

LTM Challenge

Identify one of the LITTLE THINGS in this book where your growth has

been limited because you have remained in your comfort zone. Start in

just one area and as you build confidence in the first one, select a few

more LITTLE THINGS where you can break down your barriers and

improve. Then fire yourself up and do it without further hesitation!

The periods in life when you experience

the greatest growth and advancement are when you

do what you have never done,

go where you have never gone,

push yourself harder than ever before,

and do what’s uncomfortable.

LTM - 9. Commitment Gives Power and Purpose

9. Commitment Gives Power and Purpose

Think of at least one major accomplishment in your life that has made

you proud of yourself. Do you have something in mind? Now, think of

the initial commitment you made when you started. On a scale of 1-10,

how committed were you?

During my career, I have worked alongside thousands of people ranging

from Little League ball players to CEOs of billion-dollar companies. One

of the things I have learned is that there is a vast difference between

Improving Your Life One Thing at a Time. 27.

simply desiring something and being committed to achieving something.

When you just desire something, you do it only when circumstances

permit. When you commit, you accept no excuses, only results.

A commitment is a binding pledge that obligates you to assume a position

or carry out a course of action. Making a commitment to what you do—

whether in your personal life or your professional life—is one of the most

fundamental principles of success.

Commitments are powerful because they influence how you think, how

you sound, and how you act. Unlike a half-hearted hope or best shot,

making a commitment means that you try harder, look for solutions when

faced with obstacles, don’t look back, and never consider quitting as an

option.

Whether it’s a relationship or marriage, job or career venture, fitness or

health, or a personal improvement goal, the temptation to give up will

arise. You must anticipate it and make yourself a promise that the feeling

of wanting to quit will not overpower your commitment. Unfortunately

most people quit when they feel like quitting, which is why they seldom

succeed at anything.

One of the keys to fulfilling your commitments is not to undertake more

tasks than your available resources justify. The number of opportunities

and decisions we’re faced with on a daily basis increases all the time.

Given the limits of your time and attention, you’ll need to be selective

about to whom and to what you commit. It’s simply not feasible to do

everything you would like. You must decide what is truly important to

you and commit only to those things.

LTM Challenge

 Make the decision today that you will never again start a project

to which you are not fully committed. Do your research. Know

what you are getting into in advance. Consider the obstacles you

will face. Then, with your eyes wide open, set your goal, make

your commitment, put together your plan, and don’t allow excuses

to enter your mind.

 Create a Commitment Statement for each of your goals. Take a

weight-loss goal as an example. ―I commit to do whatever it takes

to lose 10 pounds in 3 months. No matter what obstacles arise

and even when I feel like quitting, I will exercise and eat healthy

so I can reach my goal.” Write your Commitment Statement on

an index card and read it every day.

The only way you will enjoy a long-term relationship with someone

is if you are committed to that relationship.

The only way you will enjoy a successful career

is if you are committed to it.

The only way you will enjoy life’s journey

is if you are committed to making the best of it

and living life to its fullest.

LTM - 8. Create a Well-Developed Action Plan

8. Create a Well-Developed Action Plan

Just as you would not be successful in building a home without a set of

blueprints, it’s doubtful you would be successful in achieving any

significant goal without an action plan. A well-developed action plan

clarifies everything you need to do to achieve your goal, outlines a

prioritized sequence of steps, and serves as a method for measuring your

progress.

I would like to share with you two personal examples that demonstrate

the connection between a well-thought-out, written action plan and the

achievement of a specific goal.

My Plan to Earn $400,000

In January of 1989, I set a goal to earn $400,000 by selling residential

real estate. In reviewing my sales numbers from the previous year, I

determined that if I wanted to make $400,000, I would need to sell 117

homes at an average sales price of $115,000.

My first step was to concentrate on identifying potential home sellers.

Based upon my previous year’s prospecting results, I would have to meet

with 252 prospective sellers over the next 52 weeks to reach my goal,

translating into five appointments a week or one per business day. My

record-keeping from the previous year helped me assess how many phone

calls I needed to make each day in order to schedule one appointment.

By the end of the year, I had met with 250 prospective sellers—two short

of my goal, and I had sold 115 homes—two short of my goal. However,

due to appreciation in the market, my average commission was slightly

higher than the previous year and I earned $401,000.

If I had started out the year by saying, ―I want to make $400,000 and I

will work hard to do so,‖ do you think I would have accomplished my

goal? No way! If I did, it would have been pure luck. Do you want your

success left up to luck or a well-thought-out plan?

The key to my real-estate action plan was an itemization of daily

activities. By tracking my results, I knew where I stood relative to the

weekly goal. When behind schedule, I picked up the pace.

The key here is to realize when you are off track before it’s too late to

change your course.

My Plan for the Blog—Little Things Matter

I start every new project with what I call a ―brain drain.‖ This is a list of

everything I can think of that will go into developing, launching, and

implementing the project. After a complete brain drain, I organize my

list, set priorities, and assign deadlines to the key elements.

Launching the Little Things Matter blog (LittleThingsMatter.com) was no

different. My list included major categories such as website design,

podcasts, potential profit centers, budget, business formation, social

media, an organized list of LITTLE THINGS, and marketing.

Within each category, I listed sub-categories. For example, the social

media category incorporated the following activities: learn from and

follow experts in the field; join Twitter; get an Avatar; establish my

Facebook page; complete my profile in LinkedIn, and learn proper

protocol in the social media sector.

Once I was satisfied with the action plan, I reviewed it with the team I

had selected for this project. Based upon their suggestions, I refined my

plan and began to execute.

The end result: I launched my blog just as I had planned and the results

have exceeded my expectations.

LTM Challenge

What’s your plan?

Take the concepts I have shared with you and put together a prioritized,

daily action plan to achieve the goal that is most important to you. Once

you have drained your brain and created your prioritized plan, identify

five people who have been successful doing what you plan to do and ask

them to review your plan and offer feedback.

Once your final action plan is broken out into daily activities, get started.

Be disciplined and be sure to track your results. From time to time, share

your progress with your mentors or members of your team and continue

to seek their advice.

To achieve any important goal, you must first develop

a prioritized, daily action plan. Then, using your

self-discipline, execute your plan with excellence.

Bitty G

This reminds me of my son bitty Guido.  
He will rewind and rewind this movie and laugh his head off.
I have no idea where he learns these things.

Sent from my iMickey! 8(; - )
⁰●⁰. ⁰●⁰.⁰●⁰.⁰●⁰.⁰●⁰.⁰●⁰.⁰●⁰.⁰●⁰.⁰●⁰          

Halloween treats

Just in time. I bet these are delish!

Cupcake

I would so love these.
Thank you.