BEFORE YOU ASK. FIVE STEPS TO SAILING YOUR SUCCESS SLOOP

Often I buy a book because its title attracted me. One such book, “First You Have to Row a Little Boat,” caught my attention. The title revealed what the book was about, crawling before walking, walking before running. Placing fundamentals first is another way of saying, first things first.

As humans, we often believe that we can skip the fundamentals and become a success overnight. People become frustrated when they fall short or fail to reach their goal. Look at every day, week, month, a year as an opportunity to improve yourself; for self-improvement benefits you and the people around you.

I have never sailed a boat—little or big—but I have experienced attempting to overlook the fundaments and the small steps and try to get to the final goal. When we underestimate the steps involved in growing, the example of planting seeds comes to mind. There seem to be five essential and sequential steps required to produce a flower or to develop personal success.

STEP ONE. Plant the seed in fertile ground. Don’t be surprised when the weeds of defeat and discouragement spring up among your seeds. Goal-minded people know to expect and plan for adversity.

STEP TWO. Fertilize and water. The flower doesn’t appear overnight. Don’t become discouraged and quit. Like learning to row a small boat, success takes time, hard work, and concentration.

STEP THREE: Embrace change. Give the seed time to grow. Have faith and the hope of your future and don’t accept the criticism of others. Then one day you, like the little plant, will burst forth into a new environment. Like the planted seed, you want to grow into something majestic.

STEP FOUR: Concentrate on doing the first three steps, and you will reap the fruits of success. Appreciate and celebrate your success.

STEP FIVE. Replant. Look for future growth. There are greater things ahead. The seed of one success replanted carries within it the seeds of the next.

Success begins with successfully rowing a little boat or planting seeds. Sow the seeds of hard work and learn the fundamentals—determine your goal, focus on achieving it—you will excel. Start small, practice, and you will get a flower or sail a Sloop.

SUCCESS AND THE OLD ROUTINE OF SETTING NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS

“The new year stands before us, like a chapter in a book, waiting to be written. We can help write that story by setting goals.” —Melody Beattie

I am not a fortune teller. But I can see clearly that every action carries within it two possible outcomes: success or failure. It’s that simple. People prefer success. I don’t think I have met anyone whose goal is to fail. But failure happens. It is our response to failure that determines whether we become successful or not. It is strange to write “success” and “failure” in the same sentence. But, Winston Churchill did when he wrote, “Success is going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.”

When successful people fail, they learn from the experience and then move on—the wiser—to try again. They don’t look at the failure as final; they see it as a learning experience. Malcolm Forbes wisely wrote, “Failure is success if we learn from it.”

Today, I want to suggest eleven ideas for obtaining success in the New Year.

• Determine where you want to be at the end of 2016. If you know your goal, you can then work backward setting the small, specific, and well-planned actions to achieve the goal. Know why—the specific purpose—you want to accomplish your goal and move toward the goal with each action step. The pull of your vision will keep you moving in the right direction.

• Establish accountability. You have to say, “I got this one.” Accept responsibility and accountability for your actions. While others may help you, the buck stops with you. The key is to have a proactive rather than a reactive mindset. Staying focused on the goal helps ensure what is supposed to happen, happens.

• Expect and prepare for the unexpected. Peter’s Law states, “The unexpected always happens.” Before finalizing your 2016 goal, conduct a “What if” exercise If this happens, I will do this. When “stuff” happens, you won’t be caught off guard.

• Manage your time. The odds say you’re going to have 24 hours, so make all 1,440 minutes count every day. Successful people stay focused on their goals, but they also don’t spend all their time on work. Strive for balance. If you complete your goal and still empty, you invested too much time in the wrong project.

• Develop a can-do attitude. Without this, there is no success. A positive attitude generates genuine enthusiasm and is the critical ingredient in success. Without a positive attitude, it is almost impossible to develop an inner drive toward achievement and success.

• Have an innovative spirit. Always look for ways to innovate and improve every single activity you engage in.

• Keep your knowledge current and your skills marketable. Engage in continuous self-improvement. There is no substitute for knowledge and ability. The person who continues to improve both his/her knowledge and occupation skills will be ready when an opportunity presents itself. Reading for personal growth is a part of the successful person’s life.

• Be a problem solver. Evaluate the facts to discover the camouflaged solution hidden within the problem. Discover new and innovative ways to remove obstacles and accomplish your tasks. Don’t be known as a problem conveyor; be recognized as a solutions ambassador.

• Never lose sight of the goal. Engage in activities that advance you to your goal and avoid activities that detract you from your goal.

• Focus on results, not on being busy. Develop the ability to get things done; to achieve goals. Never confuse activity with results. Spend time on the activities that matter most to you.

• Celebrate and have fun. Make sure you balance a strong work ethic with a timely victory celebration. Your goal should be to celebrate the results, not the activities. An old sports maximum challenges athletes to run through the tape and then celebrate. But not before.

Over the years, big changes have occurred in the way we conduct business, and it occurs to me that even with all the changes, there remain two success truisms. First, no matter the economic climate, organizations make room for people who help them grow the top line and maximize the bottom line. Second, individuals are responsible for their success.

I don’t know whether you make New Year’s Resolutions or not. If you do, you can save time and include several of these success ideas in your 2016 goals list.

SIX BUSINESS TIPS LEARNED AT YARD SALES

“There is much more opportunity than there are people to see it.” — Thomas Edison

If there’s a better example of capitalism than a yard sale, I haven’t seen it. These events reflect two fundamental business truths. First, anything is worth what someone will pay. Second, one person’s trash is another person’s treasure.

Yard sales are conducted in every city and every neighborhood because they are popular. It is estimated that over 60-million people go to a yard sale every year. That’s a lot of people searching for diamonds in the rough.

I’m a yard sales junkie, but I don’t buy much. I think a lot of people are lookers and not buyers.  You read about people who find rare items at yard sales; however, I find mostly old clothes, old tools, used dishes, and old people.

It seems that about 80 percent of the items are trash, not treasures.  Twenty percent have some value. This breakout is in line with the Pareto 80/20 principle that is popular with business. For example, 80 percent of a company’s sales and profits are created by only 20 percent of its customers.  This 20 percent group is valuable.

I doubt many yard sales shoppers recognize Pareto’s principle, but business leaders can use the 80/20 principle to identify and focus on the 20 percent of their customers that provide 80 percent of their sales. Focusing on the vital few pays big dividends.

I don’t remember my first yard sale, but I have gone to a lot of them. I do remember six business principles played out at these yard sales.  

1. Products. Have products people want. Put products that are only trash in a dumpster. Be careful what you see as trash because someone else may view it as a treasure.  P.T. Barnum said, “There is a sucker born every minute.” Business leaders know, you can’t build a successful business based on attracting “suckers.” You can’t sell bad stuff and then expect good things to happen.

2. Pricing.  The price of an item is what someone is willing to pay. Publilius Syrus, a first century B.C. Roman philosopher, remarked that “A thing is worth whatever the buyer will pay for it.”  Today, that pricing principle remains true but with a qualifier— a thing is worth whatever the buyer will pay for it, and the competition will allow.

3. Advertising. Several good yard sale signs strategically placed directing prospects to your address does wonders for improving traffic flow. The same is true of a well-constructed sales presentation: A solid presentation will have strategically placed benefits to direct the prospect toward action steps and the close.

4. Product positioning. I notice the successful yard sale operators display some of their interesting items at the entrance of their driveway to act as a magnet to attract people.  Business leaders position their product/service, so they stand out above and beyond the completion.

5.  Timing. The best product selection is early in the morning. But the early bird also pays the higher price. The lowest prices come with reduced selection late in the day. From the seller’s perspective, the best profit opportunity is early before the “treasures” are gone. Astute salespeople learn from this “early/high”, “late/low” phenomenon: call on the highest priority customers first and early. Save your later, more unproductive time for the 80 percent who provide 20 percent of your business. Get the “treasure” before going after the “trash.”

6. Interact with the people. Successful yard sale operators greet, engage, and are helpful to shoppers. Successful business leaders don’t operate from a desk; they engage employees, customers, and suppliers to discover what’s on their mind.

If you don’t stop yard sales, get outside your box and attend several this weekend. You may find a business strategy treasure.

 

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The Case for Sir Isaac Newton and His Three Laws of “Personal Success”

Asked to explain the source of his scientific greatness, the great British mathematician and physicist, Sir Isaac Newton confessed, “I do not know what I may appear to the world; but to myself I was like a boy playing on the seashore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.”

If Newton acknowledged to only touching the shoreline of truth, what can we say today about the degree of our commitment to success? Is there an ocean or sea of success opportunity that lays undiscovered before us, while we occasionally find a smoother pebble or a prettier shell?

Born in England in 1643, Newton was raised by his grandmother. (Grandmothers are often the major influence on their grandchildren’s values). Newton worked his way through college. (A important value; work).

While Newton was in college he was writing his ideas in a journal (Note taking is very important; a pencil is better than a long memory). Newton had new ideas about motion, which he called his three laws of motion. Understanding these laws and their application to personal success will aid in the on-going preparation for personal and professional success.  

Newton's First Law of Motion: This law is often called: the “Law of Inertia.” It states an object at rest will remain at rest unless acted on by an external force.  An object in motion continues in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an external force.

• What does this mean? This means that there is a natural tendency of objects to keep on doing what they're doing. All objects resist changes in their state of motion. In the absence of an unbalanced force, an object in motion will maintain this state of motion.

• What does this mean for you? People keep on doing what they’re doing in the absence of a powerful positive incentive. If you rest on your laurels you will remain resting unless acted on by an external force. Often, this external force is called,  a “Wake Up Call” and can result from: Unemployment, Underemployment, Competition, and/or Change— either internal or external

Newton's Second Law of Motion: Acceleration is produced when a force acts on a mass. The greater the mass (of the object being accelerated) the greater the amount of force needed (to accelerate the object). This is commonly stated as force equals mass time acceleration.

• What does this mean? Heavier objects require more force to accelerate.

• What does this mean for you? The longer you are comfortable with your status and set in your ways, the more positive incentive is needed to move you.

Newton's Third Law of Motion: For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

• What does this mean? Whenever an object pushes another object it gets pushed back in the opposite direction equally hard.

• What does this mean for you? When you attempt to improve yourself there is an equal and opposite reaction that works to keep the status quo or equilibrium. An example of this is Homeostasis described as a tendency to move to equilibrium and away from change back to the former status.

Newton’s Three Laws of Motion Applied to Personal Success

• People keep on doing what they’re doing in the absence of a powerful positive incentive.

• The longer people are comfortable with their status; the larger and more positive incentive is needed to move them.
• When people attempt to improve themselves there is an equal and opposite reaction that works to keep the status quo or equilibrium.

Success Summation

SUCCESS THOUGHT: Be open to new ideas and look for opportunities that often lay undiscovered because you are hectically engaged in doing what you have always done. Don’t be fooled into believing that you will achieve something new while engaged in old activities. Look for ways to apply Newton’s Three Laws of Motion to help you with your on-going self-improvement.

SUCCESS QUOTE: “If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants.”

 SUCCESS ACTION: Today, look past the smoother pebbles and prettier shells and see the great ocean of opportunity that lies before you.

 

BOOK REMINDER—My book, Mentor In The Mirror is available on Amazon, iBooks and Barnes & Noble. Go to my website: www.wanenalls.com for additional information and a review of the book.