Holmes on The Inevitable

“The mode in which the inevitable comes to pass is through effort.”

–Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. (1841–1935)

American judge

(REMINDER: Clocks and watches should be ahead one hour as of yesterday morning in North America.)

Do your actions…

  1. create a positive buzz about you and your work?
  2. make others want you as a part of their team?
  3. make your employer cringe at the thought of losing you to a competitor?
  4. make your customers excited about referring you to their colleagues?

You want your actions to scream value without the need for you to say a word. This is where you want to be – with those in your company and industry – and with those to whom you’re selling.

This is what creates true economic and job security – the value you and your team create for others.

This is care (what it’s all about).

When you have the opportunity over the next few days, set a reminder to review these four questions at the end of each month. Then, give yourself a little (objective) attention by reviewing them and creating an action plan to improve in each area where you feel you should.

Easier said than done… still needs to be done.

Maugham on Enjoying More

“Excess on occasion is exhilarating. It prevents moderation from acquiring the deadening effect of habit.”

–W. Somerset Maugham (1874–1965)

English writer

highest paid author in the world during the 1930s

What if you checked email only 3 times a day?

Since November 2010, we’ve been doing this as a team at JustSell to see if it helps us.

The rules…

Check and handle email upon arrival then check and handle email at lunch. Check and handle email after 4 pm. At home, check it all you’d like (but hopefully that won’t be more than once a day).

Here’s what we’ve learned so far…

  • We recognized our addiction to checking email (and cheated ourselves occasionally).
  • We identified how it became a default task (automatically checking it when returning from a discussion, meeting, trip to the bathroom, etc.).
  • We saw how we sometimes used it to hide out from our more important work (“If I’m addressing email, I’m doing something. It may not be the most important thing in the long term but at least I’m of use at this moment.” – Do you see the problem with this thinking?).
  • We learned that our email could wait* and that as the day came to an end, we were more productive and happier. (Although the first few days were very uncomfortable and had us oddly distracted by our lack of distraction.)

It’s cwazy**…

Why is it that we would allow ourselves to be distracted from what we rationally know to be our more important work that gets us closer to our goal of making good things happen?

Hayes on Rust and Rest

“If you rest, you rust.”

–Helen Hayes (1900–1993)

American actress

Academy, Emmy, Tony, and Grammy winner

Today is 20% of your salesweek.

Two salesdays are 10% of your month.

To have only two ‘slow days’ each month is equivalent to having one full month of ‘slow days’ each year.

In sales, we can’t allow slow days – it directly impacts our income (and our company’s income).

Imagine if your income reflected your slow days… and know that in the long run, it probably does.

52 salesdays remain in the quarter. Tic toc.

(who should you remind?)

TBIF

(too bad it’s Friday – the last sales day of the week)

_____