Thursday, June 12, 2008

Become Your Best You

For all of you in sales, (that's everyone), check out this newsletter from Jim Meisenheimer:

Reinventing Yourself

Reinventing yourself! Why not become the salesperson you always wanted to be?

Well you're probably thinking that's easier said than done. Of course. But why not try?

Why keep your head draped over your shoulder always looking behind you?

You are responsible for the life you have. I mean really. You're the result of all the choices you ever made. Don't like where you are, start making better choices. And maybe that means making some changes in your life and your work.

Reinventing yourself as a salesperson is serious business. It's not easy and it's also not impossible - that's the good news.

Ralph Waldo Emerson once said "Insist on yourself, never imitate." Being yourself makes you authentic, it really does.

Let's get back to reinventing yourself. Where do you begin?

First - start my establishing some unreasonable goals personally and professionally. That should shake up your thinking.

Look - quit playing it safe. Stretch your thinking, stretch your imagination, stretch your creativity, and stretch your knowledge base. And while you are at it, remove the word "Impossible" from your dictionary.

When it comes to your goals make them lofty. Why settle for less when you can accomplish so much more?

And here's another thing don't make things more complicated than they are.

Here's the plan.

Find your passion! If you love your work, then it's not work! Life is too short to spend it doing work that you don't like. That's a bad choice.

Establish unreasonable goals. Aim for the stars. Instead of watching shooting stars, shoot for the stars. The thing about goals is they can be very motivating and uplifting - especially when they're in writing, very specific, and include completion dates.

Allocate your time and energy according to the priorities you've established. Right now it's noon and I haven't looked at my e-mails yet, because my highest priority today was to finish this week's newsletter. The e-mails will still be there when I look at them later.

Finally, as you begin reinventing yourself consider reconnecting with people you value the most. Here's how you can do it. Create a written list of the 25 people who you value most in your life. Once a month contact everyone on your list. Call them, send an e-mail, send a handwritten note, send a postcard when you're traveling, send a fax, or send a small gift.

Not only will you feel good, so will the people on your list who you value most.

Three cheers for reinventing yourself and reconnecting with the people you value most.