Many of the communications you receive this time of year are Holiday greetings filled with discounted offers to buy.

This is not.  Rather, it’s my wish for you – a wish of hope, love, thanks and gratitude.  There is so much wrong in the world, and yet there is so much more that is right, otherwise there would be nothing left.

I’m truly grateful to be connected to you, in a relationship with you – even though we may have never met in person, and grateful that we have the privilege to positively impact others through our personal and professional lives.  I’m so grateful that we have opportunities that most don’t, and hopeful that we can create similar opportunities for those less fortunate.

Thank you for the opportunity to grow our professional and personal lives together.  Thank you for spreading your message and positively impacting others.

I always reflect this time of year, and give thanks and gratitude for everything in my life.  I invite you to do the same.

• What and who are you truly grateful for?
• What opportunities and challenges are present that you’re grateful for?
• Who do you love, and who is truly special to you?
• How can you show your love, appreciation and gratitude to affect others?
• What can you give of yourself to help those less fortunate?
• Who sacrificed for you?

Answer these questions and you will understand the spirit of the season, and really set yourself up for success.  It’s about what you give, who you become, and what impact you create – not what you expect to get.  That’s where your real success is.

For those of you who celebrate, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!  For those of you who don’t, Happy Holidays.

When you work with high achievers, it’s easy to spot similarities.  One similarity common to all high achievers is they obsess over what they really want.

I don’t mean they have an elevated interest.  They have an absolute, deep-in-their-core, all-consuming obsession.  It is there sole focus, where every resource they have, every thought, every free moment is dedicated to making it happen.

It doesn’t matter if it’s leading their team effectively, crushing a huge sales goal, or transforming their body.  Whatever it is, they devote all of themselves to it.  Napolean Hill said it best, “we become what we think about all the time.”

I see this in myself and my clients too.  Virtually everything in my life I’ve accomplished has come from first obsessing over it.  

What is it you want for the rest of the year?  What will you obsess over, and spend every spare moment working towards.  The more you obsess, the more actions you’ll take, the more plans you’ll execute, and the more success will come your way.  To give your obsession a tangible plan, follow these 8 steps:

1. Decide exactly what it is that you want to accomplish before the end of the year and write it down

2. Write out exactly why, your reasons – no one else’s.  Make them deeply personal to engage all of you

3. Write out every obstacle you can imagine would come up, no matter how large or small

4. Write a plan to mitigate each of them

5. Write down absolutely every action step you can think of that will move you closer to achieving your outcome

6. Schedule them

7. Read this plan every morning, every night, at lunch, at breaks, and at every free moment

8. Enjoy your obsession and the success soon to come

Decide what you really want for your business and life, and go for it.

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.

One of my early mentors had a plaque hanging in his office that read, “Success is the result of Good Judgment.  Good Judgment is the result of Experience.  Experience is the result of Bad Judgment.”

I must have looked at that sign for months before I realized that it was true in every area of life.  What is bad judgment?  Is it a series of failures, or as Thomas Edison say, a series of successful ways not to achieve our desired outcome?

So, if we’re on the road to success, you should welcome whatever results you achieve and learn and adapt your approach from them.  It doesn’t matter if you’re in sales, management, a parent, etc.  What does matter is that you don’t repeat the same mistakes over and over; otherwise, you’re just committing insanity. 

You can’t manage and improve what you don’t measure, so here’s my recommendation to you: 

1.       Keep a journal or notepad with you at all times.

2.       Every time you make or attempt to make progress towards any goal, write down your outcome.

3.       Record your results and your approach. 

4.       Notice what and how you’re getting. 

5.       Didn’t get what you want, change your approach, but make sure you record it so you don’t make the same mistake twice. 

Now, from your recorded results you should have a solid journal full of strategies on how to accomplish a great number of outcomes.  Use these to propel your successes.  Oh, here’s one last tip if you’re in sales building relationships (and aren’t we all?) – Nothing says I love you more than either padding someone’s wallet or fixing problem for them. 

Look through your journal and see if you have discovered any possible solutions to a problem a client or prospect is facing and go help them solve it selflessly.  They’ll pay you back many times over in thanks.

Use your bad judgment to your advantage to achieve your success and help others along the way.  Give selflessly to others and you’ll build value far beyond what your competition could ever dream of.