Tag: mastery

A simple tip to lead to success

Have you ever been unsure of what you want to do, of what goals you would like to achieve? Or do you have a vague idea of “what you want” but are overwhelmed when thinking of how to get there? Here’s something you can work on every single day…

Go to bed smarter than you woke up.

Now, having more knowledge/information doesn’t guarantee success. But it is at least a step in the direction towards becoming an expert in your field. Once you have the information, you can act upon it.

So ask yourself when you wake up…What will you learn today? How will you improve your mind, your body, or your relationships in any way? There’s no such thing as equilibrium – just tiny adjustments, up or down/better or worse…will you improve yourself and your knowledge today? Or will you get worse?

Sales

Good salespeople have good answers. Great salespeople ask great questions. Ask open-ended questions and then repeat their answer back to them to get your prospect to feel understood. This also helps because it allows the prospect to clarify something you may have misunderstood or assumed incorrectly.

If you are confident in your abilities and are a good communicator (i.e., you listen well and know how to encourage others to give you more relevant information), you will do well in sales.

Sharpening the saw

Just like the analogy of “sharpening the saw,” you need to take time to sharpen your body and mind. Take the time to prepare for the future. When you a sharpening the blade of a saw, you may feel unproductive because you’re not actually “using” the saw to cut something down. But, in reality, you’re being extremely productive. Because of you being proactive in sharpening the saw, it ensures that when you do go to use it, it will be more efficient and cut more effectively with less energy being expended.

This is why it is important to work on “sharpening” your body and your mind. Eating healthy foods, working out, and stretching (which I enjoy the least, but need the most) are a few ways to sharpen your body. Reading, writing, drawing, painting, doing puzzles, building things, and meditating are ways you can sharpen your mind.

By working on yourself today, reducing your weaknesses or improving your strengths, you prepare yourself for the work of tomorrow to be easier. If your training is harder than the actual event, the event will seem easy to you and you’ll be able to perform better than the competition.

Being a specialist, not a generalist

You need to specialize, to master one thing before trying to become everything to everyone. If your business/company is mediocre at ten things, but not great at anything, the only time people will choose you is if it is convenient. Otherwise they will go to the specialist.

For example, say your best attribute is that your price is low. It’s low, but not the lowest (maybe it’s the third lowest in town). For those customers who only care about price, they’re not going to go to you. They will go to the lowest price in town. There is minimal benefit to being the third lowest competitor in town. Instead, what you’ve done by trying to out-Walmart Walmart is cut your prices to the point that you have no profit and no margin for error.

Choose to specialize. Once you become a master of one thing and you’re known for it, you can more easily retain customers looking for that and then slowly expand and try to capture another specialized market. But remember, when you expand, choose only one area at a time to grow towards and master that next area. You can never become everything to everyone, so don’t try to be.