Four More Words That Will ‘Shape’ my 2014

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Last year I posted four words on my bathroom mirror: FINISH, WRITE, SHAPE, and YES.

Based on last year’s success, this year I decided to create two four-word categories. One for achievement and one for improvement. Not ‘goals’ in the sense that you may be thinking about – rather intentions that I consciously and subconsciously work on every day, and build success all year long.

By posting the words on my bathroom mirror, I consciously see them each day, and subconsciously think about them and act on them regularly. Because they’re right in front of me every morning and every evening, they are inescapable mental confrontations. Oh, and the process works.

After I explain each achievement and improvement word I have selected for this year, I’ll provide a lesson that you can incorporate into your life as you select your word or words. The lesson is the motive behind the word so you can use the same principle as you generate your words.

Last week I wrote about my four words on achievement. They were: ADVISOR, DIGITAL, POWER and TIME. (If you missed it, you can get both parts by entering the words IMPROVE ACHIEVE in the GitBit box at www.gitomer.com.)

This week it’s four words about improvement. Improvement means GET BETTER at what you’re already doing. If you’re looking to start something new, and make it happen, that’s achievement. For example, when you want to achieve your sales plan, you must improve your sales skills, presentation skills, or your networking skills.

On the improvement side of life, my four words are:
INSTAGRAM – BLOG – SHAPE – BEST

INSTAGRAM – It’s the new Facebook. Thousands of teenagers are abandoning Facebook every hour and refocusing their social efforts on Instagram. Interestingly, Microsoft Word, the word processing program I use to write with, thinks Instagram is a misspelled word. That’s a pretty good indicator of where Microsoft is in the social media world: nowhere. You have to figure there’s got to be a pretty good reason Facebook paid a reported one billion dollars for Instagram. For you as a salesperson and/or a business person, there’s got to be a pretty good reason as well.

Here’s what I intend to improve this year: I already have a business and personal account. My personal account is jeffreygitomer. My business account is gitomer. I want to let my family, my customers, my friends, the readers of my books, the followers of my blog, the subscribers to my YouTube channel – all of my social connections – have a chance to view me as a person and as a business person. And you need to consider the same. Every day or so I post a picture to my personal account. And every day it is my intention to post one meaningful quote on my business account. My intention is to give my followers something to think about, something to learn about, something to smile about, and something to replicate. I try to be both a lesson, and an idea.

LESSON: All of your connections both business and personal need to see your human side, and her intellectual side. There’s an opportunity in Instagram for you to create a leadership position.

BLOG – I intend to make my blog much more personal this year. On salesblog.com (pretty good URL, eh?) I’ll be posting on-the-road insights from my travels, kitchen thinking, morning thinking, ideas I captured from reading, and the most important ideas I’m capturing from and for my daughters and granddaughters.

LESSON: A blog is a place to document and expose. When you put yourself out on the Internet, blogging is the best way to be found. Hundreds of millions of people have jumped on that bandwagon and will stay there. The key to blogging is consistency. At the moment I post two or three times a week. You should begin by doing the same. Just a paragraph or two, but make sure they contain keywords that others can find as they search about you, your products and services, and your company.

SHAPE – Last year I failed to lose the weight I promised myself I would. This year I have a personal trainer and a new eating habit set in motion. My mantra will be better health leads to increased wealth.

LESSON: I didn’t achieve my goal. I didn’t follow through on my own intentions. But the lesson is not failure. The lesson is persistence. Just because I didn’t do it last year, doesn’t mean I won’t get it done. If you don’t meet a goal, if you don’t achieve your intentions, keep moving baby!

BEST – One thing that the BEST people I know have in common – they’re all seeking to become better. My best skills on the business side of my life are: selling, speaking, writing, humor, friendliness, and creativity. The reason I’m excellent at those skills is that I seek to become better at them every day. My driver is very simple, I just ask myself this one question: Am I doing the best I can right now?

LESSON: Ask yourself this question after EVERY meeting, phone call, project, and social and social media outreach: Is this the BEST I can do?

Hopefully the words I have chosen for improvement and achievement, and the lessons I have provided, will inspire you to write and define your words for the year. Interestingly, you most likely mentally know what they are, but have yet to bring them to the visual surface as Post-it Notes on your bathroom mirror.

Want both columns and my bathroom postings from last year? Sure you do! Go to www.gitomer.com and enter the words IMPROVE ACHIEVE in the GitBit box

Reprinted with permission from Jeffrey H. Gitomer and Buy Gitomer.

About the Author

Jeffrey Gitomer is the author of The Sales Bible, Customer Satisfaction is Worthless Customer Loyalty is Priceless, The Little Red Book of Selling, The Little Red Book of Sales Answers, The Little Black Book of Connections, The Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude, The Little Green Book of Getting Your Way, The Little Platinum Book of Cha-Ching, The Little Teal Book of Trust, The Little Book of Leadership, and Social BOOM! His website, www.gitomer.com, will lead you to more information about training and seminars, or email him personally at [email protected].

The Advisor’s Corner – How Do I Deal with a Calendar Full of Meetings?

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How Do I Deal with a Calendar Full of Meetings?Question:

How do I deal with a calendar full of meetings that are wasting my time?

StrategyDriven Response: (by Roxi Hewertson, StrategyDriven Principal Contributor)

I love meetings… when and only when they produce something useful. When they don’t, I stop going. Seriously, I gave up useless meetings just like I gave up greasy food, cold turkey, so to speak!

Dave Barry once said, “If you had to identify, in one word, the reason why the human race has not achieved, and never will achieve, its full potential, that word would be ‘meetings’.” Well, lousy meetings anyway.

Indeed, there are great meetings and important ones I’d never want to miss. People need to congregate and exchanges things. We need to network, learn, collaborate, decide, discuss, chew on ideas, mind-meld, team-build, brainstorm and have fun together. There are plenty of fabulous reasons why people should have meetings, gatherings, and get togethers.

Yet, we have a serious meeting epidemic in this country. This is not my opinion; it’s a fact. Smart people study this stuff, and the reality is, we have been meeting for more hours each and every year since they started keeping track back in the 1950’s. It’s a bit like global warming – it creeps up on you and before you know it, your life is one big meeting desert or tsunami or both, at the same time, in the same meeting!

Email didn’t fix it. Whiz-bang meeting software didn’t fix it. Today, you can just throw on a t-shirt, sit at your computer, and be in a meeting with virtually anyone, anywhere, anytime. Yes, it’s a short commute, and convenient, but now instead of commuting, you are simply in another meeting. How’s that working for you?

There is a whole planet full of people suffering from bad meetings. You’d think it was contagious. Well, you’d be right. The way meetings are run in your organization IS a result of your internal culture, meeting protocols, and the meeting skills of the person running them. Every new person coming into the system generally conforms to those norms. So… ask yourself, “How healthy and productive is the meeting virus I am passing around?”

For those meetings you attend but don’t run, remember, it’s YOUR calendar. So take control of it. The next time you are about to agree to a meeting, try asking yourself these 5 questions:

  1. WHY are we having this meeting; what is the goal; what are the deliverables?
  2. WHOSE meeting is it?
  3. WHAT kind of a meeting do we need to have? In person, on the phone, virtual, standing up, off-site, formal, informal, etcetera.
  4. WHO should be there? Why?
  5. WHAT are our meeting ‘norms,’ and do I like them? If not, why am I going to this meeting and/or what am I going to do about it?

Once you decide, yes, you need a meeting, you need a purpose and an agenda. Every item on your agenda should have one of three purposes or a combination of them or it shouldn’t be there at all.

Information – Discussion -­ Decision

Information: no more than 20% of any meeting should be spent on information sharing – there are plenty of other and cheaper ways to share information other than meeting time.

Discussion: means getting input and ideas, hearing from the people in the group. Make sure you have a method to do that well.

Decision-making: use best practices and ask all the important questions when a decision needs to be made

Take control of your life and work by taking control of the time you spend in meetings that don’t matter, and making the time you do spend in meetings an investment that DOES matter.

About the Author

Leadership authority Roxana (Roxi) Hewertson is a no-nonsense business veteran revered for her nuts-and-bolts, tell-it-like-it-is approach and practical, out-of-the-box insights that help both emerging and expert managers, executives and owners boost quantifiable job performance in various mission critical facets of business. Through AskRoxi.com, Roxi — “the Dear Abby of Leadership” — imparts invaluable free advice to managers and leaders at all levels, from the bullpen to the boardroom, to help them solve problems, become more effective and realize a higher measure of business and career success.

The StrategyDriven website was created to provide members of our community with insights to the actions that help create the shared vision, focus, and commitment needed to improve organizational alignment and accountability for the achievement of superior results. We look forward to answering your strategic planning and tactical business execution questions. Please email your questions to [email protected].

Post words. Achieve big. Build success. Day-by-Day.

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Last year I posted four words on my bathroom mirror: FINISH, WRITE, SHAPE, and YES.

My results?

  • I finished the 21.5 Unbreakable Laws of Selling.
  • I wrote 1,000 words a week and documented hundreds of ideas.
  • My shape is still plus 20 pounds, so that word will remain this year.
  • I maintained my YES! Attitude, but seeing the word every morning and evening in my bathroom mirror helped.

Not bad achievement results – but still being 20 pounds overweight shows a flaw in my self-discipline. Not good.

Based on last year’s success, this year I decided to create two four-word categories. One for achievement and one for improvement. Not ‘goals’ in the sense that you may be thinking about. Rather, intentions that I consciously and subconsciously work on every day to build success all year long.

By posting the words on my bathroom mirror, I consciously see them each day, and subconsciously think about them and act on them regularly. Because they’re right in front of me every morning and every evening, they are inescapable mental confrontations. Oh, and the process works!

After I explain each word I have selected for this year, I’ll provide a lesson you can incorporate as you select your word(s). The lesson is the motive behind the word so you can use the same principle as you generate your words.

On the achievement side of life, my four words are:
ADVISOR – DIGITAL – POWER – TIME

ADVISOR – I launched the Gitomer Certified Advisor program in the fall of 2013. Instant success. I’ve certified more than 100 advisors. They’re independent businesspeople who are now marketing their sales and personal development services using my intellectual property, both online and in the classroom. In 2014 I will intensify the program and the process until there are 500 certified advisors globally.

LESSON: Once you have a successful idea, program, game plan, or process – strengthen it. Pick an achievement target, and figure out what you have to do weekly to make it a reality. What’s one word that describes your biggest achievement target?

DIGITAL – Convert all paper, CD, and DVD to digital. Create financial and distribution opportunities ONLY available to digital information dissemination. The world is not quite ready for all digital, but I will be.

LESSON: Don’t stay attached to old technology or products even though they have brought success and profit in the past. Companies like Yellow Pages, Blackberry, and AOL have buried themselves by not advancing soon enough. Companies like Amazon, Zappos, and Apple have marched to the head of the class by innovating BEFORE the market did, and they set the standard for others to follow. When someone says, “It’s just like an iPad” – what they’re really saying is, “iPad set the standard.” I want someone to say, “I’m just like Gitomer.” What’s one word that describes the standard you are trying to set?

POWER – This year I intend to capitalize on the convergent power of reputation, brand, intellectual property, and online distribution. Content is more than king. It is desired and bought by those in need. And with online, on-demand video, concentration on marketing and distribution are on the top of my list.

LESSON: Your experience has given you both success and expertise. What expertise and success can you combine that will give you a market-dominant opportunity? What’s one word that describes what you’re trying to capitalize on?

TIME – My most precious resource – and yours! This year I intend to take control of it and make it my own. Not manage it, rather allocate it to things I WANT to do, rather than things I HAVE to do. I want to write, speak, travel, learn, read, and have meaningful family time. It’s the subtle difference between ‘spending’ time and ‘investing’ time. I have written about time allocation before, now it’s a matter of taking ownership of it.

LESSON: Wasted time is at the top of lost resources for most people. Don’t let that be you. In 1889, Orison Swett Marden wrote, “Do not realize the immense value of utilizing spare minutes.” What’s a word that offers you greater investment in your most precious, non-recoverable resource?

Hopefully the words I have chosen and the lessons I have provided will inspire you to write and define your words for the year. Interestingly, you most likely know in your mind what they are, but have yet to bring them to the visual surface as Post-it Notes on your bathroom mirror.

On the improvement side of life, my four words are:
INSTAGRAM – BLOG – SHAPE – BEST

Next week!

Reprinted with permission from Jeffrey H. Gitomer and Buy Gitomer.

About the Author

Jeffrey Gitomer is the author of The Sales Bible, Customer Satisfaction is Worthless Customer Loyalty is Priceless, The Little Red Book of Selling, The Little Red Book of Sales Answers, The Little Black Book of Connections, The Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude, The Little Green Book of Getting Your Way, The Little Platinum Book of Cha-Ching, The Little Teal Book of Trust, The Little Book of Leadership, and Social BOOM! His website, www.gitomer.com, will lead you to more information about training and seminars, or email him personally at [email protected].

What are you doing this week? Don’t waste the opportunity.

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The week between Christmas and the New Year is the biggest opportunity of your career. And your New Year’s Eve plans are in the way of next year’s success. It amazes me how much “prep time” goes into “What are you doing New Year’s Eve?”

The week after the New Year will be a ‘slow one’ at best.

Below are a few things to ponder, list, write about, and maybe even take action on as you head into the unknown of next year…

NOTE: It’s unknown what will happen in THE world, but YOUR world is a lot more ‘knowable, definable, and actionable.’

And rather than me telling you what to do, let me share with you what I intend to do and you can make your own plan from there.

I am going to continue to expand on my “four words” from last year. My words from last year (posted on my bathroom mirror) were FINISH, WRITE, SHAPE, and YES.

My results?

  • I finished the 21.5 Unbreakable Laws of Selling.
  • I wrote 1,000 words a week and documented hundreds of ideas.
  • My shape is still plus 20 pounds, so that word will remain this year.
  • I maintained my YES! Attitude, but seeing the word every morning and evening in my bathroom mirror helped.

Not bad achievement results – but still being 20 pounds overweight shows a flaw in my self-discipline. Not good.

This year’s words are divided into two categories – achievement and improvement.

On the achievement side:
ADVISOR – DIGITAL – POWER – TIME

On the improvement side:
INSTAGRAM – BLOG – SHAPE – BEST

I’ll define those eight words next week. Hopefully they’ll inspire you to write and define your words for the year. Interestingly, you most likely mentally know what they are, but have yet to bring them to the visual surface as Post-it Notes on your bathroom mirror.

The balance of this week and next will be spent (actually invested) by thinking about, doing, and documenting the following:

  • Making one plan to make a longtime dream a reality. For me, it’s traveling to The Great Wall of China.
  • Solidify one big idea. My big idea for 2014 is the continuation and solidification of the Gitomer Certified Advisor Program. It will emerge in 2014 as the premier independent licensee program in the world.
  • Intensify the improvement of your major strength. More and better writing for me.
  • Celebrate life and plan a few celebrations. Several on the list – follow my Instagram: @jeffreygitomer for continued details – and inspiration for you.
  • Celebrate family and plan a few celebrations. August in Paris! Getting to know my family below the surface. Spend less time in idle chit chat and more time talking about life and intentions.
  • List grateful acts of 2013. My brother’s continued hearing recovery. My health. My partner Jessica for her untiring dedication to the financial health of our business. My children, grandchildren, and extended family. My dedicated staff of smart, real-world people.
  • List cool things that happened. Some of mine were: 50-year high school reunion, lifetime achievement award from Haddonfield High School, the fourth summer trip to Paris in four years, launch of GitomerVT.com, launch of my Gitomer Certified Advisor Program. ACTION: Listing your cool things will make you happy and proud, and provide inspiration for this year’s cool things to be achieved.
  • List intentions for 2014. What are you REALLY gonna do? Beyond goals and resolutions, your intentions are the key to successful achievement outcomes.
  • Read one book a month. Start with these two: The One Thing by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan and The Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. ACTION: Read on a Kindle app and learn my secret of faster reading.
  • Write 1,000 words a week. My weekly column, Sales Moves, enters its 22nd year. I’ve written and published more than a million words. (The average business book is 50,000 words.) ACTION: Wake up and WRITE.
  • Think by yourself for ten minutes a day. Make a hard appointment for yourself. NOTE: You can combine thinking and writing!

My list of things to do between now and the New Year should keep you busy, productive, and inspired to achieve more this year than you did last year. It’s not just a goal and it’s not just a resolution; it’s your intention, your drive, your work ethic, and your consistency that will create genuine achievement.

Happy New Year!

Free GitBit: My secret for reading faster with greater comprehension is here can be found at www.gitomer.com. Enter the word READING in the GitBit box.

Reprinted with permission from Jeffrey H. Gitomer and Buy Gitomer.

About the Author

Jeffrey Gitomer is the author of The Sales Bible, Customer Satisfaction is Worthless Customer Loyalty is Priceless, The Little Red Book of Selling, The Little Red Book of Sales Answers, The Little Black Book of Connections, The Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude, The Little Green Book of Getting Your Way, The Little Platinum Book of Cha-Ching, The Little Teal Book of Trust, The Little Book of Leadership, and Social BOOM! His website, www.gitomer.com, will lead you to more information about training and seminars, or email him personally at [email protected].

Still making goals and resolutions? Why?

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Holy frijoles, 2013 is over! How did you do? How did those resolutions and goals you made at the end of last year work out?

Think about the word resolution – the root word is resolve. What was your 2013 resolve? What got in the way of achievement?

Personally, I am against traditional resolutions and goals.

And if my thinking bugs you, don’t be too concerned, you’ll soon be receiving a barrage of offers from various ‘experts’ encouraging you to achieve goals this year and have your ‘best year ever’ – the very same goals you didn’t achieve last year.

Most resolutions and goals set for the New Year are never achieved. Reason? They’re set emotionally and they’re set without an understanding of the circumstances around the goal. Better stated: Your circumstances.

For your 2014 (and all years to come) I have created an easy-to-understand, ‘achievement opportunity’ formula. Once you read it, and a few of the details, you will at once see where your achievement opportunities are, how they may fit into your life, and how you can use this formula to make this coming year a raging success.

Here’s my formula: Situation + Opportunity + Objective + Why + Plan + Intentions + Responsibility = Favorable Outcome.

STOP BEFORE YOU START: Don’t make any resolutions for the future until you have defined your present situation.

IDENTIFY YOUR BIG PICTURE: What’s going on in your life and your career right now? What’s going on with your family, your money, your health, and your happiness? Will your present situation help you achieve and encourage you to achieve? Or will it be a barrier to achievement? What are you seeking to accomplish in 2014 and what is your real resolve to make it happen?

WHAT CAN BE? Identify, in writing, your opportunities. Think about the opportunities that might change or enhance your present situation. What triggers are you hoping to pull this year? What mountains are you hoping to climb? What hurdles are you looking to leap over (without knocking them down)?

Look for opportunities in places you may not be thinking about:

  • Key relationships
  • New social media strategies
  • Trends in your business
  • Technology shifts
  • Apps
  • Blogging

I think it’s also important to separate family opportunities from business and career opportunities. Make sure you have a list for both.

Once you know where you are (situation), and you have identified how you can get from here to there (opportunity), then I recommend you make a 90-day game plan to achieve at least ONE of your opportunities. Not a goal, an opportunity. January, February, March. Document why you want it, what you have to do to make it happen, and what you’re hoping the outcome of that plan will be.

Here are some details of the achievement plan and process:

  • Describe WHAT the opportunity is, the OBJECTIVE that the opportunity creates, and WHY you want to take advantage of it and/or achieve it.
     
    A NOTE ABOUT YOUR ‘WHY’: All too often ‘why’ you want something is left at a superficial level. ‘To make more money’ or ‘to support my family’ or ‘to grow my career’ – those are ‘surface whys’ and may not provide enough incentive to achieve. Once you identify the surface why, ask yourself why again and again until the real why appears. “Why do I want to make more money?” “Why do I want to support my family?” “Why do I want to grow my career?” Second and third levels of ‘why’ will provide the real incentive to achieve. Try it. You’ll be amazed at your own answers.
  • Write a brief, 90-day plan of action. It can be a few short paragraphs or even bullet points. Writing the plan helps clarify your thinking, and solidify your determination to take action.
  • List and describe your DAILY INTENTIONS. What do you plan to do every day to make this opportunity to achieve a reality? Beyond resolution, it’s your resolve combined with your hard work.
  • Figure out the DAILY DOSE. What do you have to do each day to keep the momentum rolling?
  • Come to the realization that in order to achieve, you must take total RESPONSIBILITY for the actions, the results, and the outcome.
  • Describe the OUTCOME in more detail than you described your 90-day plan. Make sure the ‘after achievement’ is clear.

And then the hard part – do it!

Here’s my formula again – try it, it works: Situation + Opportunity + Objective + Why + Plan + Intentions + Responsibility = Favorable Outcome.

Follow my formula and my concepts, and you’ll take your achievement to a new level – a success level you’ve never attained before. I hope you do.

Happy, healthy, wealthy, fun filled-family holiday season and New Year!

Reprinted with permission from Jeffrey H. Gitomer and Buy Gitomer.

About the Author

Jeffrey Gitomer is the author of The Sales Bible, Customer Satisfaction is Worthless Customer Loyalty is Priceless, The Little Red Book of Selling, The Little Red Book of Sales Answers, The Little Black Book of Connections, The Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude, The Little Green Book of Getting Your Way, The Little Platinum Book of Cha-Ching, The Little Teal Book of Trust, The Little Book of Leadership, and Social BOOM! His website, www.gitomer.com, will lead you to more information about training and seminars, or email him personally at [email protected].