I firmly believe the adage that when the student is ready the teacher will appear. This has happened to us all on countless occasions during our lives and often from the most unexpected of teachers.
It was my senior year at Sammamish High School in Bellevue, WA and I was preparing to take that next big step in many young peoples lives. I was looking into attending college and had begun the process of checking out schools and determining what kind of options that I had in front of me....
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The other day I was forwarded a wonderful question as a result of a recent phone call that I felt was appropriate to address in a post. It is my hope that this will be beneficial and provide some insight to all who read this:
“…how can we stay positive when we are around negative people, (specifically) family members and/or co-workers?”
Saving the best post for laugh. No, this is not a typo In Part 1 of this Inspiring Life series we discussed 3 Steps to an Inspiring Life, and in Part 2 we covered how we coach ourselves utilizing our Internal Coaching System (ICS). In this last part we dive into what it means to Fill your Daily Laugh Quotient.
...in sales, an objection is not a bad thing, it is an opportunity to better find the need of your client / prospect. For those who have been in sales long enough, you know that there is a system for each part of the sale that you must follow in order to make sales with regularity.
Here is the Cycle for Answering Objections:
In Part I: 3 Steps to An Inspiring Life I touched on what I like to refer as our Internal Coaching System. First of all, each of us has our own ICS. Think of it as an internal GPS System that helps us to move in the right direction, when we listen to it. Some call it intuition, others call it a gut-feeling. However you personally define it, the fact is when we have our ICS working at full capacity, life seems to be much easier and enjoyable....
How many of you would consider yourself a salesperson? My guess is about 1/3 of you have answered in the affirmative. So, for the others reading this let me rephrase my question: How many of you have to talk to anyone ever?
The point is that anything you endeavor to do requires some sale to be made. Whether you are a sales professional influencing a client to purchase your product or service, a manager encouraging a team member to buy into your company vision or even a stay-at-home parent convincing your child to eat their Wheaties you must be effective at selling.
How many of us have got to the end of a week, month or year and had the feeling Man, where did the time go? Or, you even had the thought Time sure does fly by when youre having fun? Well, Ed Cooke, considered a Grand Master of Memory according to World Memory Championship has an interesting take on the passage of time that I personally love....
How did you make your Dream Book? I have been asked that question so many times over the past 13 years ever since I designed “My Life Goals” Book and am surprised I didn’t think to post this sooner, but as they say “better late than never”.
Have you ever returned from a trip and found your home to be a disaster? Have you looked at the sink in your kitchen, piled with dirty dishes and told yourself “I really have to clean that” only to walk right past it? Is your office so cluttered with papers, post-its, bills and junk that you can no longer use that space?
How is it that the most successful people have gotten to where they are? Is it because they are smarter or more talented then we are? Do they experience success because they have more money? Maybe it is because they are better looking or they are just plain lucky? The stars always seem to line up for them?
I would suggest that the answer to that is a resounding NO!...
I believe laughter truly is the best medicine. Uncle Albert says it perfectly in Mary Poppins when he sings, “The more I laugh the more I fill with glee, and the more the glee the more I’m a merrier me.” Yeah, okay, I realize that’s silly but it’s true. I mean laughter makes you happy or at least it makes you happier than if you’re not laughing....
We are going to discuss sales self-talk or what I like to refer to as our internal coaching system. You know, what we say to ourselves has a powerful impact; not only in our business but our personal lives as well. It is pretty amazing, but we have the ability to mentally program ourselves to either succeed or fail based on the thoughts that we put into our head on a daily basis.
No, I did not do this for the reason you think I might be doing it! I don't even know how to play Texas Hold 'em so, let's just quell that idea right off... My goal was to simply see if I could, after 30 days of preparing, be able to memorize an entire shuffled deck of 52 cards in the exact order that I flipped them. I did give myself a few rules to follow as I made the attempt:
During a relatively recent trip to the Maya Riviera with some close friends, I was given the opportunity to participate in a scuba diving excursion in the cenotes (under water caves) and jumped at the chance.
Time Management. What an interesting concept. In many ways it doesn’t really exist because time continues, we can’t manage it. We can only use it. So, how do we insure that we are using it effectively?
Who would like to spend less time on the phone and experience the same amount of results in your business or better? Anybody interested in how you can have more clients eager to hear from you? What about increase your sales from where you are currently? Anybody want to increase your income by an additional 10% this coming year?
So, what is the "And" Principle? This is a common question I am asked whenever I bring up the idea that anyone who wants to truly hit their goals can make it happen with a couple simple adjustments to their business and by applying the "And" Principle.
"Shall I compare thee to a summers day?" ...Probably not, but I think you're nice! ... One of the goals I set for myself this year was to stay better connected with my friends. With Texting, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr, Linkedin, blogging & Google+ you would think that would be easy, right? Well, if I just wanted to "like" a post or forward a tweet or ask for a reference than I believe there are certainly enough options at my disposal. It seems that all these awesome modes of staying "connected" have actually caused the opposite to occur in my life.
"But, if I can't have seconds, how do I overeat, get super bloated, burp all night and feel generally disgusting?" Over the years I have grown accustomed to the habit of asking for seconds or grabbing that extra handful of chips and on many occasions experienced the exact scenario described above.
Save on what is not important so you can invest in what is[/tweet] This lesson is something I seem to relearn over and over again. This need to "save" money always tends to follow the belief that I don't have enough. Whether I didn't have enough to pay my bills, to purchase that amazing trip to Australia and swim with the Great White Sharks or order that authentic Star Wars Han Solo DL-44 heavy blaster pistol (It was the side arm of choice for smugglers and bounty hunters alike) each caused me much stress.
"What gets measured accurately improves." I heard this simple phrase several years ago from my good friend Roger Seip, author of Train Your Brain for Success and have shared it many times to my clients, friends and anyone who would hear it.
Sometimes, in life, you just have to take one for the team... Well, being the team player I am and because I care about my readers I decided take this challenge head on!! Now, no one could blame me for sleeping on the job! Oh, the things I do for you all... So, when deciding to become a mini Rip Van Winkle I had to determine what the most accurate amount of hours were adequate for me considering my age and level of health.
"Why the hell is my skin so red & dry?" This question I pondered several months ago as I stared at myself in the mirror on a fine spring morning. My skin was unusually red and dry that day and I couldn't figure out what the issue was. Now, if I took a moment (at the time) to notice the many bottles of diet soda lining my recycling can, I shouldn't have had a problem coming up with a good answer.
You have to understand that what I have recently accomplished is a minor miracle!! Yes, yes it is true, I was able to successfully remove diet soda (all soda for that matter) from my day to day activities for over 30 days! I say this is miraculous because I cannot remember a time, in recent history, where I was strong enough to pass on the carbonated goodness of this aspartame laced and phenylalanine filled beverage of choice! With all the studies linking diet soda to so many various potential side effects it seems that it would make sense to just call it quits on my potassium benzoate and phosphoric acid craving. I mean, when you find out that, according to NaturalNews.com and PubMed.com aspartame eventually breaks down to formaldehyde in your liver you'd think it would be a no brainer, right?
"Hi, my name is David Shoup and I am a candyholic!" Apparently, I am not alone. According to Dr Mark Hyman evidence shows "that people can be biologically addicted to sugar in the same way we can be addicted to heroin, cocaine as sugar stimulates the brain’s reward centers through the neurotransmitter dopamine exactly like other addictive drugs."
"I ate how much?!" This was my reaction after the first week of my 30 Day Experiment: Food Journal. I had no idea I ate so much until I spent a month diligently charting everything I was putting into my mouth. A bag of chips here, a cookie (or 4) there. It is amazing how often I found myself snacking between meals and not always the healthy kind of snacking. "It's okay, because I have a fast metabolism".
For my next installment of my 30 Day Experiment I chose to eat a salad every day for the entire month of April. I am not sure about you all, but for me, the thought of eating "rabbit food" everyday was a daunting task considering my propensity for foods consisting of meats and breads (ie: pizza, burgers, sandwiches etc...), where the only vegetables I ate with regularity were tomatoes and potatoes in the form of ketchup and french fries.
Music has an unbelievable power to inspire and motivate us. We have all had moments in our life when a song has picked us up off the ground and got us back into the game or at times has taken us from good to great in business, family or personal lives.