4 Healthy Obsessions

Can Obsession Be Healthy?

YES! While the word "obsession" is rarely used in a positive way, becoming obsessed with communication, psychology, education, and relationships is what we most need to succeed in business, and in life! At STAYSUCCESSFUL, our sole focus is accelerating, continuing, and growing the success of our clients. By helping the already successful salesperson, business owner, business professional, executive, and team, we clear the path despite a challenging (and ever-changing) economy. While these times may seem extraordinary, and indeed they are, we must never lose our tireless pursuit of excellence, and these 4 obsessions will help!

Communication - a vital organ of success

Effectively conveying your message is paramount to achievement in business. Clear, concise communication is a necessary skill for profitable word-of-mouth marketing, more commonly known as business networking. Less is more. Verbal vomit, a technical term for over-speaking your welcome, is a sure way to lose the valuable attention (and time) of those who most need to know who you are, and what you do. Be specific about who you want to meet. Educate briefly on how you can help them. Differentiate your company, products, services, and acumen distinctively. Motivate your network passionately to trust you, introduce you, and refer you over the competition. How well you practice is how well you play, and how well you play is displayed in the number high quality introductions you achieve, and the number of qualified referrals you receive. Think about it!

Psychology - your mindset is the fuel for bodily action

Someone once correctly said "the mind is a terrible thing to waste", and we could not agree more! Nothing creates waste on your brain (and poor performance) more than self-imposed negativity. Starting positive is one way to ensure a successful day, week, month, and life. How do you do it? Reflect upon your best success. How did you do it? Remind yourself continuously of the steps involved in your best success, and they will become habit. Put more focus on enhancing your strengths, and just enough focus to address your weakness. Speak the language of success, hope and possibility within your client and business success stories. Also, consider who's talking favorably about you – and share it! Who’s had success with you - share it! Keep your mind in shape, think about the value you provide, and your positive energy will resonate.

Education – the continual process of learning

You can teach the old dog new tricks! OK, okay – we are not suggesting you’re a dog or that you are old; however, are you eager to learn new methods, tactics, and tools? To the point, if we humans were more like our K9 friends, we'd be so much better off. Why? Dogs are driven (and perform best) with routine; whereas humans are driven by habit. If we humans could bring more positive routine into our lives (and less bad habit), especially in the area of self-education, we'd be eager to: read more about our field, listen more to experts in our field, speak more with others about our field, and innovate more to grow our field. How are you "sharpening your saw" as Stephen Covey would say? Articles, blogs, CD's, books, podcasts, seminars, colleges & universities, and trainings are available. Become obsessed to develop the habit and routine of self-education!

Relationships - the foundation of a successful life
Connected or disconnected – which one are you? The answer lies in the level of knowledge that you purposefully gather about every relationship in your Rolodex. "I have thousands of contacts in my Outlook, ACT!, or database" is a commonly heard statement. OK - but how many relationships do you have? The advent of Google, Facebook, and Twitter have us falsely believing that we are truly connected, when in fact, we are genuinely disconnected. Disagree? Good! Try this exercise: open your database – proceed to the letter S – select the first name in your S section and answer these 5 questions: What is this person’s primary goal for 2009? What accomplishment are they most proud of from 2008? What interests does this person have beyond their work? What skills does this person have beyond business? This is called the GAINS Profile, and was introduced by Dr. Ivan Misner, Founder & Chairman of BNI. If you are like most, many of these items are not known to you. How connected you are is more about what you know about who you know, than the number of people you think you know. It is also about your ability to refer qualified opportunities and solutions to your network via meetings, phone calls, and email. Think about it! If you are not certain, or feel that you could use a refresher on your network, or networking skills, then tune in to www.getconnected10.com, and join us for International Networking Week (www.internationalnetworkingweek.com) in 2010. Plan now, save now, and invest in yourself!

I challenge you to become obsessed with communication, psychology, education and relationships. It will change your business, and your life!