Ever hear the expression; “I’m a jack of all trades”?  I cringe whenever I hear someone bragging about knowing everything.  It’s obvious they’re not committed to excellence.

Being the jack of all trades is precisely the problem with the way most people attack their professions.  They feel as though they have to know everything about everything related to their job.  What ends up happening is that they become their own worst enemy.  They are good at lots of things but have mastered none, and therefore never come close to reaching their full earnings or happiness potential.  These people do 10,000 things 10 times.

On the other hand, the most highly successful people in any profession master the fundamentals.  They focus their attention on doing the dozen or so core fundamentals 10,000 times.  They master the core of their vocation that makes them exceed what would be considered the peak for most.

The best strategy for you is to go out and study the most successful leaders in your chosen field, and find out exactly what they are continually focusing on and mastering.  There’s usually between 10 and 20 core strategies that, when mastered, sky-rocket their results. 

The best part of is, their success is completely duplicatable.  Learn from their mistakes.  Learn their success strategies.  Cut down the learning curve.  Master what they continue focus on day-in and day-out. 

Michael Jordan said it best when he talked about mastering the fundamentals being the secret to his success.  Dribbling the ball on every square foot of the court, shooting tens of thousands of free throws, lay-ups, and jump shot from the exact spot every time.  Everything begins with the fundamentals and branches out from there.

Do you have a weekly sales kick off meeting? 

I don't mean an elaborate over-the-top production, but rather a structured uplifting meeting that focuses on your teams goals for the week and celebrates victories from the past week?

It doesn't matter if you’re working for yourself or your sales team numbers in the hundreds or thousands.  Every team is broken down into divisions, so you can easily manage the process.

It's one thing to set goals for the year, quarter and ultimately the month as company.  It's an entirely different animal altogether to drill down even further and breakdown by the weeks and days.  Anyone can check in once a month and either praise or punish performance, but real leaders, real sales superstars need constant reinforcement and feedback.

They need to feel apart of something bigger than themselves. They need recognition on a regular basis, and the really competitive ones need effective coaching when they're not firing on all cylinders. 

Those not meeting expectations need consistent coaching and feedback, and it’s better to address specifics immediately rather than once a month.  And for these team members not performing, being apart of an upbeat environment surrounded by those who are winning, may be all the advantage they need.

Here are the 4 essential steps to structure a simple, yet effective weekly kick-off meeting:

1.      Schedule the start and stop time for every Monday morning
2.      Keep the meetings short, less than 20 minutes
3.      Have a set agenda (my recommendation):
         a.       Set the tone - play upbeat & inspirational music
         b.      Stretch & get your team movingReview & celebrate last week's successes
         c.       Share successful strategies
         d.      Give rewards if applicable
         e.       Go over this week's expectations
         f.       Congratulate & thank everyone - even the under performers
4.      When the meeting is over email all team members a follow up & thank them again

If your team is spread out throughout the globe you can still meet in smaller groups or via web conference. Technology today takes away that excuse.

Start your Mondays off on the right foot.  Set the positive success mood for your sales team and company for the week and the future.  You will be rewarded with greater sales, a tighter cohesive team, more loyal employees, happier clients and lest we all forget, bigger bottom line profits.   

If you really want 2012 to be your best year ever, you must ask yourself this question.  What am I absolutely committed to doing differently this year from last year to achieve my goals and make 2012 the best year of my life so far?

Forget worthless resolutions and empty New Year’s promises to yourself.  I mean, with deep sincerity, what behaviors and actions are you willing and capable of changing to make this happen?  All of us are capable and have the ability to achieve great things, but very few make the commitment to do so.

Start by asking yourself exactly what you want and why you want it.  When do you want to accomplish it by?  What must I do differently?  Who must I become to set myself up for massive successes?

It’s not who you are as a person.  It’s who you must become, what behaviors support your goals, and what type of person achieves the goals you’re after.  

Commit to being this person every single day.  Read and re-read these attributes every single day.  Vince Lombardi said it best; “Practice doesn’t make perfect.  Perfect practice makes perfect.” 

Perfect practicing the person you must become to achieve your goals, and you will be infinitely closer and on a far easier path to achievement.  Don’t be guilty of insanity.  Choose and take action on a different path. 

What are your new year’s resolutions?  Actually, who cares?  New Year’s resolutions are a waste of time, and are fruitless.

How many times have you vowed to go to the gym everyday and get in shape, make more money, get out of a destructive relationship, or in a positive and loving one for that matter?  

New Year’s resolutions don’t work because they are hollow.  Sure people have the best of intentions, but they have no structured plan and no emotional drive behind their desires.  Worst of all they set themselves up to fail by setting ridiculous resolutions based on the pressure of the moment and fueled by alcohol.

The best approach would have been to already sit down and outlined exact results you want, why you want them, and a solid plan to go out and achieve.  If you haven’t done that make it an absolute must on your schedule and add the following 12 commitments for the New Year:

1. Get up 1 hour earlier every day, and read something positive or that will improve your life
   
2. Get some form of exercise every day, even if it’s just walk around the block and up and down the stairs at lunch time
   
3. Sign up for a one seminar or class per quarter to engage your profession deeper
   
4. Volunteer in your community a couple times throughout the year.  Your soul will thank you.
   
5. Find 5 customers you’ve ticked off and make peace – bring them referrals and business.
   
6. Commit to making 100 new contacts within the next 30 days or whatever number makes sense for your business
   
7. Cut out the junk food during the week and put the right fuel in the tank, so you have the reserves to achieve your dreams. It’ll also help with that whole “I’m going to lose 10 pounds” goal.
   
8. Have coffee or lunch every day with a different prospect.
   
9. Finally start using LinkedIn the way you know you should be.  It’s an unbelievable business resource and tool.
   
10. Post, read and visualize your goals at a minimum every week if not every day.
    
11. Practice technology etiquette – stop texting when talking, stop taking calls during meetings, stop surfing online when you’re talking on the phone.  Simply put, pay attention and give your undivided attention.  So few do.
    
12. And lastly, reward yourself for accomplishments.  Otherwise, what’s the point?
    

Resolutions are ridiculous, so don’t waste your time.  Commit to a real plan, and the 12 commitments listed here.  Your life will skyrocket. 

There’s roughly 33 days left in 2011.  What will you do to maximize your results?  Will you fall pray to the holiday laziness, and buy into what your potential customers and colleagues excuses are? 

You know the ones I’m talking about.  Those people that tell you to call them after the holidays, or those that use the holidays as an excuse for their failures. 

Get real, there’s really only two major government holidays left.  Two days out of 33.  Let’s maximize the other 31 days to the best of our ability. 

If you want to increase your happiness, sales, wealth and influence, here’s a 12 step strategy to not only set yourself up for success the rest of this year, but to arm yourself to crush 2012.

1.       Raise your personal standards for how you’re going to live your life and build your business.

2.       Wake up an hour earlier each day. Read something short & inspirational, get some form of exercise – even if it’s just a walk around the block, and then re-write your goals & your daily action plan every morning.  This one will be your toughest, and likely the one most quit following through on.  Huge TIP – it’s the most important one of all!

3.       Stop using 5 different time management and CRM systems.  Pick one, commit to it, and make it work.  You can master one to your benefit, or be a slave and a failure to all 5 – you choose.

4.       Schedule block time for your action items, meetings, prospecting, and so on.

5.       Commit to connecting & building 100 new relationships in the next 30 days.  It’s easier than you think.

6.       Read two books to improve your skills and knowledge base

7.       Go find a sale or relationship you screwed up and fix it, or at a very minimum make peace

8.       List every last conceivable resource you have, and write out a plan to maximize each of them to build your business.  Some of them may seem insignificant to you, but to others they may make all the difference in getting a deal done.

9.       Run a 10/10/10 campaign.  If you don’t know what one is, call me and I’ll walk you through it.

10.   Send out a hand written note to all of your new contacts.  No one else will, and they will never forget it.

11.   Every night before bed, reread your goals and visualize them.  Your brain will come with creative ways to achieve them while you sleep

12.   Finally, while everyone else is out getting drunk and over-indulging this holiday season, do something constructive to improve someone else’s life.  You’ll be rewarded.

Success isn’t hard.  Sales aren’t hard.  Life isn’t hard.  Building effective teams isn’t hard.  Follow this 12 point plan, and you’ll see how much easier it is to win.

 How do you determine how you are getting from point A to point B when you’re driving your car?  Do you have a roadmap or GPS that guides your every turn?

Your life is no different.  If you don’t have a course charted, you are never going to get where you want to be.  Goals are your internal GPS, or stated better, Goals are your Pathway to Success.  

What Pathways have you created?  See, the single biggest problem with goals is that everyone knows you’re supposed to have them, write them out and review them.  But how many people actually do?  If you believe the statistics less than 3 ½% of the population actually has written goals that are reviewed regularly.  

That means that most people are driving through life living someone else’s plan.  Is there any wonder then why the wealthiest 2% of Americans control over 80% of our country’s wealth?

I’m not here to tell you how to structure you life.  I am here to tell you that if you want more than you have now professionally and personally, then it’s time you started copying what the most successful people do.  

There are lots of goal programs to choose from, and they all work if you apply them.  Just get started!  The best programs go beyond the typical goal structuring mechanics and apply real emotion to them.  Emotion is where the drive comes from, not some structured sentence.  If you want in depth advice on how to really structure and create goals that drive you, call me.  For now, this is how to start if you don’t have your GPS set:

• Write a paragraph about exactly what you want out of life, in every area of your life.  Be very specific and give your results a timeline.
• Write out exactly what you’ll receive emotionally, physically, spiritually, and financially by accomplishing your goals.  Be very specific and create some real joy and happiness.
• Write out everything its cost you by not taking action.  Be very specific and create some misery.
• Write down 3 action items for each area of your life that you have a goal for and schedule them – literally write them into your calendar as though it’s an appointment you cannot miss.
• And if you really want to maximize your success rate, find someone who’s already accomplished what you desire and copy their success strategy.

Goals are your Pathway to Success, and if you don’t have them written out and review them on a regular basis, you’re driving blind through life.  You need them for your internal GPS, or you will be living someone else’s life.  Start living the life of your dreams.  Go out and make it happen.