Successfully Living Your Dreams

As a child I never required much sleep, and when I did sleep I had vivid dreams. I remembered a lot and learned that my biggest problems in life were solved while I slept.

Fast forward many years full of multi-tasking, playing many roles and wearing many hats.

Although we know sleep is a major part of our lives, researchers and doctors understand little about sleep and what it does for us. Of course we do know that sleep has many health benefits and getting a good night’s sleep is the key to feeling energized every day.

But to me sleep is much more than that – it is more effective than brainstorming, meeting with others to solve problems ~ it is the vehicle I use to make it all work.

• Keep a note pad by your bed to write notes down in the night
• Take time every night to think about your problems before you go to bed, as you will be amazed at how you will find solutions
• Drink plenty of water to stay hydrated as this helps your thoughts

For those of you that travel, don’t let jet lag become an excuse ~ when you log over 150,000 miles a year like me, I can’t afford to “take take time to acclimate” myself ~ I get about 10 minutes.

Doctors say the body takes about 1 day per hour of change to adjust. There are no techniques to speed up that process, but that doesn’t work when you fly all the way to Dubai from LA and need to go to work the next day. My tips:

• Get plenty of sleep on the plane (helps if you get upgraded)
• Take some sort of sleep aid during those long flights – even Sleepy Time works
• Set your watch to your new time zone the minute you get on board
• Drink lots of water
• Get as much sunlight as you can when you arrive
• Try Melatonin which helps you adjust
• Establishing good sleep habits will really pay off when you travel. If you have trained your body to fall asleep quickly and stay asleep, you will have a much easier adjustment to the new time zone
Just remember to keep a journal next to you to note your dreams. Some of my dreams have really come true and there is nothing better than living your dream!

Greetings in July!

We are more than half way through the year and it is time to freshen up our skills. Here are some quick tips to make sure you power through the rest of the year:

• Remember to really get to know your clients and show how much you care – don’t wait for the festive season to say thanks for the business
• Keep asking good questions – never assume you know everything – Be Curious
• Don’t procrastinate – get out there and make some sales calls
• Mirror your clients style
• Show how much you want the business
• Under promise – over deliver
• Be quick, nimble and fast – faster than your competition
• Protect your “net” of business – be protective about your clients
• No problem = no profit
• Love this job – or get a new one
• Hard work = improved results
• Never settle – our past success guarantees us very little
• Watch what you talk about in public – who knows who is listening
• Become a subject matter expert – know your customers business
• Continue studying your craft to gain confidence – it shows
• Start talking face to face or at least on the phone to clients – let everyone else hide behind email

Too Many People Think They are Experts!

I am amazed at how many people think they are experts when in reality they don't even have a clue. I just laugh at the amount of know it alls out there. You may think that I am one of these - but if you knew me well you would know that I am always open to learning and receiving feedback. Remember I am a trainer & speaker and get evaluated every day. My life revolves around 1 to 5!

So what is my gripe about now? Recently I have bumped into some sales professionals in our industry who think they have it all going - and when push comes to shove, they fail miserably. Why would anyone try to act like this? Why would you pretend you are the biggest, the best and untouchable, when you need the feedback and training more than some of the newer and younger team members.

The time has come to wake up and realize that whatever got you to this point - your degree in business from 1974 or your past jobs is meaningless today unless you continue to change and learn.

So welcome to a new day and welcome to reality! Those that think they know it all need a big wake up call.....