Point to Ponder

This quote provides a snapshot of my life, successes, and learning experiences. I have been fortunate to be given a good imagination and, by use and discipline, enhance it to the point where I can visualize and create projects mentally that take months to create and process in real time.

 

Our newly published Foundational Success: Building Blocks for Personal and Professional Success is a case in point. I was asked to sit on the CAPS  Foundation as a Trustee at our last CAPS convention in Toronto. I came up with the idea and registered the domain name that weekend. Then I got approval from our Foundation Board to go ahead and create the project. I approached a number of guest experts and authors (29 of them said yes) and we began working on it "... filling in here, adding a little there, altering this a bit and that a bit, but steadily building - steadily building". We hope you will check it out and and invest in your future by buying your own copy. As well, we hope you will pass the word along to your friends, colleagues, and family too.

 

This quote applies to what we have done with our Ideas @ Work! ezine since we launched it in April 4 years ago. We have made changes and improvements,changed delivery systems, purged our lists to ensure those who really wanted it were subscribed, and slowly added a personal element that so many of you have commented you like. Thanks for being with us on our journey. I am sure we will build a bit more as we explore in year 5.

 

This applies to my business as well. Over the past dozen or so years we have been building and learning and editing and adapting. In each case with a focus of improving what we do, enhancing what we bring to the table, and how we better serve our audiences and readers.

 

Along the way quite a few books and other products and services like Secret Selling Tips have been created and each 'new' adventure has taught us 'new' skills. 

 

My life, too, is no exception to the building process. There have been a lot of learning experiences, some very nice successes, and a few accolades and recognition along the way. There have been some serious challenges that caused me to re-think, refocus, and re-energize what I was doing. But, looking back...in each case we built on what we learned.

 

My life became more fulfilled when Irene and I reconnected; and as our relationship and friendship grew, so did I.  I am extremely blessed to have her as a partner in life and in helping me serve you.

 

I recently celebrated My Personal New Year in Cuba and took some time to reflect on the past 60 years. I also took some time to dream about the next 30 or so. I'll tell you more about it in subsequent issues.

 

Thanks for your support over this past year. I trust we have been able to bring some additional value into your lives, your careers, and your organizations.

 

See you next month.

 

Bob 'Idea Man' Hooey

Your self-concept is made up of three parts, each of which affects each of the others. Understanding these three parts enables you to put your hands on the keyboard of your own mental computer. When you learn to take charge of the development of a new and positive self-concept of selling, you can then control your sales destiny for the rest of your career.

Determine Your Direction
The first part of the self-concept is the "self-ideal." Your self-ideal largely determines the direction in which you are going with your life. It guides the growth and evolution of your character and personality. Your self-ideal is a combination of all of the qualities and attributes of other people that you most admire. Your self-ideal is a description of the person you would very much like to be if you could embody the qualities that you most aspire to.

Strive Toward Excellence
Throughout your life, you have seen and read about the qualities of courage, confidence, compassion, love, fortitude, perseverance, patience, forgiveness and integrity. Over time, these qualities have instilled in you an ideal to which you aspire. You might not always live up to the very best that you know, but you are constantly striving to be a better person in light of those qualities that you value so highly. In fact, everything that you do on a day-to-day basis is affected by your comparing your activities with these ideal qualities and your striving to behave consistently with them.

Clarity is Essential
Successful salespeople have very clear ideals for themselves and their careers. Unsuccessful salespeople have fuzzy ideals. Successful salespeople are very clear about being excellent in every part of their work and their personal lives. Unsuccessful salespeople don't give the subject very much thought. One of the primary characteristics of successful men and women in every walk of life is that they have very clearly defined ideals and they are very aware of whether or not their current behaviors are consistent with their idealized behaviors.

Set Challenging Goals
Part of your ideals are your goals. As you set higher and more challenging goals, your self-ideal improves and crystallizes. When you set goals for the kind of person you want to be and the kind of life you want to live, your self-ideal rises and becomes a greater guiding and motivating force in your life.

Your Future is Unlimited
Perhaps the most important thing for you to realize is that whatever anyone else has done or become, you can do or become as well. Improvements in your self-ideal begin in your imagination, and in your imagination, there are no limits except the ones that you accept.

What is your ideal vision of the very best person you could possibly become? How would you behave each day if you were already that person? Asking yourself these questions and then living your life consistent with the answers is the first step to creating yourself in your ideal image.

Action Exercises
Here are two things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action.

First, dream big dreams. Set big, exciting, challenging goals and ideals for yourself in every part of your life. Allow yourself to imagine a wonderful life ahead.

Second, think about how you would act if you were an outstanding person in every way. Then, practice being this person, as though you were acting a role in a play. You'll immediately notice a difference in your behavior.

April was a very interesting month.

• Started the month with a strategic planning weekend with the Town of Bon Accord council and senior staff. We worked on their Integrated Community Sustainability Plan and helped them rough out the document they will fine tune and send off to the Provincial Government.
• Irene and I finished Foundational Success and created the basic website to promote and host it for downloads. CAPS will provide the page where you can purchase it on-line and handle the finances. All of the proceeds, with exception of a small charge to handle credit card processing, will go directly to the CAPS Foundation.
• Had the 'pleasure' of sending the Canadian Government a decent 'donation' to help them in this challenging time. Guess last year was a good one after all.
• Wrote an article on hosting meetings at Spas and on Cruises for our CAPS Speaking of Impact Summer 2009 magazine. Researched, in part, in Cuba.
• Designed and placed several print advertisements for our Alberta Speakers and other joint venture speaker promotional sites.
• Co-hosted our Wild Rose Advanced Toastmasters club meeting on the 30th.
• Went back into the studio to film more video clips for our Secret Selling Tips and other projects. 

May looks to be a productive month ... we just keep building.