Smile
It takes 13 facial muscles to smile, 47 to frown. Evidently, some people don’t mind the extra work! If you smile long enough, you’ll come up with a reason. Is a bird happy because he sings or does he sing because he is happy? Act and the feelings will follow. The late Harvard Professor and father of American Psychology William James wrote: Action seems to follow feeling, but really action and feeling go together; and by regulating the action, which is under the more direct control of the will, we can indirectly regulate the feeling, which is not. In short, develop the habit of smiling four times an hour….just because.
Show Up Early, Stay Late
An airplane goes full throttle until it gets to 30,000 feet. Then the pilot backs off. If he didn’t he would burn up the engine or use up his allotment of fuel. When starting out your career, go full throttle. The late, great businesss philospher Jim Rohn said: A young person brand new to sales can make up in numbers what she lacks in skill. My first year in sales, I worked 70 to 80 hours a week. I went full throttle. My close ratio was only 25%. However, I was proposing five agreements a week. Twice as many as my peers. I ended the year at 150% of sales plan. My Sales Manager was delighted. The next year I began to really study the art and science of selling. I asked 20 successful sales professionals in my industry 20 questions. The answers applied change my close ratio to 50%. I worked about 50 hours a week that second year. I kept studying sales books, going to seminars, listening to audio programs while I drove and worked out. My third year my close ratio jumped to 75% and I was 300% of plan, while working about 35 hours a week. You get the idea. At first, in any new endeavor, go full throttle until you get to 30,000 feet.
Stretch Your Comfort Zones and Volunteer
The worst advice I ever received from someone that was older than me at age 18 was, “Never volunteer for anything.” In my experience, we all need to do the exact opposite. The question I have asked and answered for the last 20 years is How can I increase the quality and quantity of my service to others? I often write that question down in my journal. I sit and THINK on paper. Some days I come up with twenty answers, others days just a few. Most people are in a rut. A rut is a coffin with the ends kicked out. Say YES to requests, especially when you are new to a job. Go the extra mile with a smile. You will learn so much. Keep track of what you learn in a journal. Get FROM the day, not just through it. Get FROM the project. Keep stretching yourself in lots of little ways. Drive a different way home. Eat left handed. Let someone else choose the movie. Read a different magazine. If you read novels, pick up a biography.
Update Your Goals On Your Birthday
Why my birthday? You ask. It’s easy to remember. If you don’t update your goals, you run the risk of flattening out, losing your drive and energy. In high school, my magnificent obsession was basketball. When someone asked me what I planned to do after graduation, I said with confidence and naivite, “Play college basketball!” Guess what? I accomplished that goal. After one year of junior college, I flattened out, lost all my drive and energy and left. I joined the Air Force by default. If you asked me what happened at 19 years of age, I answered, “Beats me.” You see, I goal set TO and not THROUGH. I didn’t think past one year. Most people don’t. In 1971, the Miami Dolphins lost to the Dallas Cowboys in the Superbowl. When a reporter asked All-Pro linebacker Nick Buoniconti (who was told he was “too small” to play in the NFL at 5’-11” & 220 pounds) why his Dolphins lost the Superbowl he replied, “I don’t know, we goal set all year long to GET to the Superbowl.” The reporter replied, “You mean you didn’t goal set to WIN it?” Stunned, the former Notre Dame grad said, “My gosh no….” The next year, in 1972, the Miami Dolphins went 17-0 and won the Superbowl. You see, if we don’t update our goals each year, we run the risk of flattening out. Update your goals on your birthday.
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