Continuing on with the lessons given to me over the years by my friend Zig Ziglar I want to deal this time with a challenge many people in many industries are facing every day. That is: "Should I keep doing what I'm doing or, is there a better way?"
The economy has been kicking our butt. What we are doing isn't working the way it used to. We'd better lower our prices, fees, commissions. Maybe I'm just not suited for this job. I'm going to try this or that.
Sound familiar? I have found myself in the same quandary several times over the years and have discovered some solutions that I would share with anyone in the same situation.
There is a country song I believe is entitled "Looking for Love in all the wrong places." In this day and age it should be changed to "Looking for Solutions in all the wrong places."
You have the solution. Just do these four things:
1. Settle In. I was at a meeting with other professional speakers. Tom Winneger made an interesting observation. He said that every single time he has gone from under his business 'umbrella' he's had to make a u-turn back to his core business. Always, he said, it ended up costing him time, money and energy that he could never seem to recover. So settle in to what you do and you will find that the moment you quit looking you'll discover everything you want is right where you are at.
2. Re-engineer your life. Take a look at want. Do you really need it? Take a look at what you spend. Can you cut that down a little? Take a look at the gifts your are going to purchase. How much happier are your children or grandchildren going to be with 4 presents instead of 3? Take a look at your time spent working to earn a living. Do you really need to be at every game or family function or can you make it up at some later date when it is more affordable? You get the point. Simply stated: Do a better job at budgeting your time, money and energy.
3. Add a little more to what you do. I've noticed recently that the formulas for success have never changed, no matter what one does for a living. What does change, however, are the ratios. The numbers. The degrees. Today you have to work a little harder, you have to work a little smarter, you have to be a little more skillful than you've been. It might take more contacts to find the same number of prospects. More prospects to make the same number of sales. More sales to earn the same amount of income. More skill to convince the prospect of the benefits of you and your company. Nothing changes but the numbers.
4. Give your worries to God. When a person is worried about paying bills he cannot be at his best. He will try to hard to produce. The harder you try to do something the further you push it away. Zig has said many times over the years how, since he's turned his 'life over to Christ' he has never worried again. So in keeping with the theme of the 16 lessons I've been given by Zig, here is Zigs Lesson Number 3: WHY WORRY, THATS GOD'S JOB.
Watch for Lesson number 4 next week.
Love.
Floyd
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