You can have a great desire to win in life, but if you are not prepared to act when your “chance” in life comes, your odds of winning are greatly reduced. The same holds true in sales,
leadership, athletics, parenting and many other aspects of life. Luck only comes to those who are out there making it happen and preparing themselves for that special moment. Branch Rickey once said that “luck is the residue of design”.

I leave you now to continue your preparation for the New Year and all the opportunities that are coming your way. Be open to all possibilities and most importantly, be prepared.

From all of us at Karr Associates, Inc., best wishes for a Successful 2005!!!

Well, this specialist I am referring to offers a different mindset. You see it in the closing line of his report to the referring physician… “Thank you for the privilege to participate in the caring of your patient”.

What a powerful statement! How many of us truly realize it is a privilege to serve our customers? How many of us take this privilege seriously and ensure the service rendered is truly the best we can offer?

Thanksgiving allows us to be thankful for a lot of things. While we are at it, let’s be thankful for the privilege our customers have given us to serve them and the value they place in our products and services.

You may wonder, what did the fish do while the water level dropped? They kept swimming lower and lower to stay in the water, until they had no where else to go. As for drugs, I still need to see the commercial again to get the point. But as to motivation, there definitely is a point to examine.

As you go through your daily routines, are you limited by self doubts? Do you not take risks because you are afraid of failure, and in some cases, afraid of success? Do you avoid trying new things because you are not sure they will work? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you are acting like the fish did in the commercial. People often get stuck and do not rise to greater heights of success because of their limiting thoughts. Think of your success as the water level in the fish tank. The more you let limiting thoughts get in the way, the more the water level recedes, as does your success. The less you pay attention to these limiting thoughts, the water level rises.

Can you just picture what life would be like if the water level keeps rising and rising forever?

Forget the B.S. and rationalizations as to why it can’t continuously rise. Just concentrate on what it will take to have your water level constantly rising on a daily basis. For one, thing, you will never run out of room. If it keeps continuously rising, you will wind up with a whole lot of room to play around in. In other words, the world will be yours.

Anyway, the key point of this message is what Jim Fannin teaches his clients. He says “superstars don’t think like everyone else The average person has 2,000 to 3,000 thoughts a day, and 60 percent of the average person’s thoughts are in chaos. The superstar has 1,100 to 1,300 thoughts a day. They eliminate worry, envy, jealousy, embarrassment and anger. The superstar thinks a lot less and holds a thought longer.” Fannin was asked if the slump was on A-Rod’s mind. He answered no. Maybe it was on the reporter’s and fans minds, but not on A-Rod’s.

Think about that the next time you lose a sale and see if you can spend less time blaming yourself and others. While it is great to post-mortem a sales call to see what worked well and what needs to be tweaked, it is another thing to get stuck in the quagmire of doubt, anger and embarrassment. Superstars know that mistakes are part of the growing process. They also know they are going to hit slumps. But what they really care about is keeping their eye on the most important goal, and that is winning. They do not concern themselves with all of the other minor details that take up energy, brain power and time, key ingredients they can be using on closing the next deal. They focus their energy and time on thoughts that are going to pay off.

One out of three kicks resembles what successful people go through every day. There are many failures along the way to success. However, it is only the wins that count. Question is, when it comes to “Showtime”, are you ready to perform? How many practice kicks did Vinetari take throughout the year to get ready for this one pressure packed moment?

Or, take Tiger Woods. If he wins a round by one stroke, it literally means taking home a winning check upwards of $1M vs. the golfer in second place who takes home 50% or less of Tiger Woods earnings. One stroke is all that separated these players.

But is it really one stroke? No! It is constant practice and training that gets you ready to successfully make the crucial putt or critical kick that will propel you into a champion and separate you from the rest of the field.

By reading this e-report, you are practicing your craft. But don’t stop here. Staying mentally fit to carry out your job and superbly perform your skills requires a keen determination and commitment on your part. What do you need to do to further hone your skills, ensure your success and not leave money on the table for your competition to steal? This is a question you must be asking yourself daily. The moment you stop asking this question and acting on your answers is the moment you have effectively stopped competing.

Let me make this real simple. Reasons 1-10: It’s all in your mind.

Warren Greshes, a colleague and motivational speaker, used to tell a story of when he sold in the garment industry. Everyone told him not to even attempt to sell in December because nobody buys in December. Of course, he didn’t listen to them and he sold a lot of stuff in December.

Today, we are all being bombarded by negative news headlines. Nobody is buying because they fear a terrorist attack. The government says the economy is strong, but nobody is doing anything. I have no business because the market stinks. We can stop right here. Let me
tell you why have no business. You have no business because you are not doing what it takes to get business.

Yes, times are different. It’s not as easy to sell as it was in the go-go years. Instead of people calling you, you now have to reach out to them. In my business, instead of looking at 100 talks per year, we probably look at 50 talks per year because the market is down. That doesn’t mean I have to make less money. It just means I have to reposition myself and offer value to clients in other areas such as consulting and assessments.

Since reality tv is really popular, let me give you this reality check. Business is great these days! You first have to believe that so you don’t get stopped by the negative statement that no one will buy from you today. Once you believe this, the next thing you must do is open yourself up to the opportunities out there and figure out how you can take advantage of them.

For example, companies made money by selling us e-mail software that allows us to blast our marketing messages to thousands of people instantaneously. Now, all of a sudden, we are all bombarded by hundreds of e-mails we call spam. The companies selling the e-mail blasts are feeling the crunch because it’s not working as effectively as before. Why, because somebody else saw the opportunity and came up with a spam filter software package. Now you can filter your e-mails and get rid of the spam just as instantaneously as it was sent to you. But wait, it gets better. If you still insist on sending your marketing message and want to barge through the spam filters, you can now run your e-mail through a spam checker that will tell you what words and phrases you will need to change in order to get by the spam filters.

Get the point? People are making money today. It all has to do with your mindset. If you feel the market is too depressed and nobody is buying, then you are right. Who will buy from you with that attitude? But if you realize there is money to be made, then all you have to do is find the right opportunities. Don’t get stopped by the naysayers. I hate to leave money on the table for my competition.

This experience alone would stop most people from moving forward and motivate them to crawl into the smallest hole possible where nobody can find them. Not Ellen. She kept plugging along in good humor (being a humorist helped see the light side of the situation) and eventually landed her talk show which dramatically turned her career around. If you have watched her show, you can see she truly is in her element. She uses her amazing wit and improvisational skills that ultimately keeps the attention of the audience and makes for interesting interviews.

Whether or not you are a fan of Ellen DeGeneres, you should at least be impressed with her attitude. Her story is similar to all successful people in history. We all suffer defeats. In fact, we all suffer more defeats than successes in a lifetime. But, it is the successes that we remember most. And it is our failures that get us ready for success. So, don’t hide from anything. As we start the new year, go on and let it all hang out. There is nothing like the sweet smell of success. Just ask Ellen DeGeneres.

Now, be honest. How many New Year’s Resolutions have you made and how many of these actually happened? I’ll answer this for you, very few, if any. Now why is that?

A New Year’s Resolution without commitment is simply an empty promise. A New Year’s Resolution without personal accountability of making it happen is setting you up for failure. A New Year’s Resolution is also an opportunity of selling yourself short. Let’s face it. If you recognized in October that something different needs to be done in your life, why wait to New Year’s Day to start the implementation? Obviously it was not that important to you to start immediately. So, why do you now think you are going to start this amazing process on Jan 1?

There is ONE New Year’s Resolution I do believe in and urge all of you to undertake. Yes, I have dwindled down all of life’s issues to one resolution and if you really take this on, you will achieve exponential success. Here is your one and only New Year’s Resolution:

The moment you recognize an issue that needs to be addressed to achieve a goal in life, immediately identify the required actions and hold yourself accountable to carrying out those actions.

That’s it! This is the only New Year’s Resolution you need. Carry this one out on a daily basis and everything else will fall into place for you. You would make Maurice Bendahan proud to see you will be living your life to its fullest potential and exhausting yourself practicing youth.

Happy New Year!!!!

Charles Bronson taught us that success can come at anytime as he drifted from the Pennsylvania coal mines into Hollywood stardom. Katharine Hepburn made us realize how far a “forthright, free-thinking, iron-willed individual” can really go in this world. And, in the tribute by Henry Winkler to his friend John Ritter, we learned that “John got by with one simple rule, and that was to do your best and really enjoy the journey.”

All of the above mentioned stars have one thing in common, they continuously strived to better themselves and their performances. And it shows through the incredible impacts they have made in our lives.

The take away message is to just continue your journey of improving yourself, living life to the fullest and enjoying the ride. If you are committed to this process, you too will leave behind a legacy that will have truly impacted the lives of others. It’s all within your grasp and power.

To our friends mentioned above and in the words of Bob Hope, “Thanks for the memories”. We will never forget you.

What I have found that works most of the time is to stop thinking about the block and just start doing it. Before you know it, your energy starts to rise, and you get into the task and just do it. This way you know it is going to get done. The other way, thinking why you can’t do it, will only lead to more depressed thinking with little or no action and no results. It then becomes a self fulfilling prophecy.

Guess what? This is exactly what I did to write this piece. My mind started going down the road of how tired it is and that it was not in the mood of writing about motivation. Just starting to write about this concept led to this piece and the job is now done.

Next!!!