Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life: How to Unlock Your Full Potential for Success and Achievement (18 page)

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THINK AND PLAN STRATEGICALLY

There are several concepts in personal strategic planning that can improve your results and change your life. As in everything, these are ways of thinking that lead to ways of acting more effectively.

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DRAW A LINE

The first concept is what I call “zero-based thinking.” Call a time-out in your life and work. Draw a line under all your current activities. Now, imagine that you are starting over. Ask yourself,
“Is there
anything in my life that, knowing what I now know, I would not get into
or start up again today if I had it to do over?”
This is one of the most important questions you will ever ask and answer.You can apply it on a “go forward” basis to each part of your life. Often the biggest problem in personal strategic planning is your attempting to make something work that you wouldn’t even get into in the first place if you had to do it over again.

Often when I consult with companies, they ask me for advice on how to increase sales of a particular product or service. I always ask them,
“Knowing what you now know, would you introduce this product
or service again today if you had it to do over?”
They often tell me that, knowing what they now know, they would never have brought it out in the first place. My advice to them is always the same: “Kill it.” One of the smartest things a company can do with a part of the business that is not working, and which has no future, is to discontinue it as quickly as possible. This applies to products, services, processes, methods of sale or advertising, investments, or any other area of activity that consumes time, money, or emotional energy.

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HOLD YOUR OWN FEET TO THE FIRE

If there is anything in your life or your work that you wouldn’t get into today, knowing what you now know, it is an excellent candidate for
creative abandonment
, for being discontinued altogether.

Is there any relationship in your life—personal or business—

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you had it to do over? If there is, your next question is,
“How do I get
out of this relationship, and how fast?”
Think about your business and your career. Is there anything in your work life that you wouldn’t get into again today, knowing what you now know? Is there any business process, procedure, activity, or expense that you wouldn’t start again today if you had it to do over?

Finally, think about your investments, not only of money, but also of time or emotion. Is there any part of your life that is drag-ging you down, causing you tension or stress, that you wouldn’t get into again today if you were starting over? Sometimes, the fastest way to change your thinking and your life is simply to question everything you are doing today that is making you unhappy. If it is not working, abandon it and do something else.

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YOUR MOST VALUABLE ASSET

Your most valuable asset is your time. It is also your scarcest resource. You have a limited amount of time, and once it is gone, it is gone forever. Time is essential to accomplishment. Time is perish-able. You cannot get more of it, no matter what you do. It can be said that the quality of your life is determined by the way you spend this precious resource.

Results and rewards, however you define them for yourself, are everything. Your ability to achieve the health, happiness, and prosperity you desire is the measure of your effectiveness as a human being.Your job is to use your minutes and hours more effectively to assure that you are achieving the greatest quantity and quality of the things you want in exchange for the time you invest.

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TRADING YOUR TIME

Everything in life is a trade of some kind. Overall, you trade your time for the results and rewards you want. You can tell what kind of a trader you are by looking around you and evaluating your current situation. Are you satisfied with the results of your trades in life so far?

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trade the same amount of time for $250,000 per year, even though they may be of similar age and intelligence, and have similar educations and backgrounds. But one of them earns 10 times what the other earns! Why is this?

In the simplest of terms, the one earning
more
thinks and acts differently from the one earning
less
. One person is a better “trader” than the other. One person has better information, continually upgrades his skills, starts earlier, works harder, and stays later. A good trader quickly develops the winning edge, and begins to pull ahead of the pack. Soon, he is working and earning at a far higher level than the people he started out with. This must be your goal as well.

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YOUR TIME IS LIMITED

You cannot save time. You can only spend it differently. Every part of your life today shows the results of how you have spent your time in the past. If you want to have a different future, you have to spend your time differently in the present. You have to change your thinking about yourself and how you use your time to get the things you want in life.

Time, in a way, is like
money
. It can be either spent or invested.

If you spend time or money, it is gone forever. You can never get it back. But it you invest your time or money wisely, you will get a greater return in the future. Personal strategic planning and thinking give you the tools to ensure that you achieve the highest return on time invested (ROTI). Put another way, it enables you to get the highest “return on life.”

Everything you do that requires your time represents a choice.

The choice is to use your time wisely or not. However you choose, the time will be gone forever. If you spend your time on one activity, you will no longer have that same quantity of time available to spend or invest in another activity. Your choices about how you use your time largely determine the quality of your life, both today and in the future.

You must be extremely jealous of your time. You must be adamant about not spending your time on activities of low value.

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longer represent the highest and best use of your time if you want to get the highest return on energy in your life and career. Zero-based thinking will help you to make better choices. It is a key thinking tool that can change your life.

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THE PARETO PRINCIPLE

Another important strategic planning concept is the 80/20 Rule, the “Pareto Principle,” which Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto wrote about in 1895 in Switzerland. This rule says that 80 percent of your results will come from 20 percent of your activities. If you make a list of 10 tasks that you have to do in the coming day, two of those items will be worth more than the other eight items put together.

But the 20 percent of activities that account for most of the value in your work are invariably the most difficult and challenging tasks. The 80 percent of activities that account for only 20

percent of your results are usually fun and easy. Being human, you have a natural tendency to do the
easy
things, even though they are not particularly valuable or important. To get the most done and the greatest results from every minute invested, you must
resist the temptation to clear up small things first
. You must discipline yourself to keep your energies focused on the one or two things that you can do that are more important and valuable than anything else.

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MARKETING

YOURSELF STRATEGICALLY

As the president of your own personal services corporation, you must consider the
four strategic variables
in marketing yourself and your services. Your effectiveness in each of these four areas will determine your income and your future. They are: (1)
specialization
; (2)
differentiation
; (3)
segmentation
; and (4)
concentration
.

These four activities are central to every business and to the success of every product or service offered by any business anywhere. All business growth and profitability are the result of per-ccc_tracy_6_90-117.qxd 6/23/03 2:48 PM Page 113

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forming well in each of these areas. Problems with sales and profitability are the result of a weakness in one or more of these areas.

Each of them applies to you and your career, as well.

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SPECIALIZE IN YOUR FIELD

Specialization
means that you decide exactly what it is that you are going to do, and
do well
, in your field. Successful people in every field specialize rather than generalize. They
focus
their time and talents rather than trying to do too many things. They work to develop a reputation for being very, very good in a specific area. They don’t try to be all things to all people or jacks-of-all-trades.

A successful business may specialize in a particular type of customer or in a specific market. It may specialize in a particular product or service for that type of customer. A successful salesperson will specialize in selling a particular product or service to a particular type of customer. A successful person in any field will spend more and more time doing fewer and fewer things that are of higher and higher value in a specific area.

What is your area of specialization today? What will it be in the future? What should it be if you want to move to the top of your field? What could it be if you were to stand back and imagine that you have no limitations, and that you could be excellent at any skill, or in any market, that you desired?

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SET YOURSELF APART

The second strategic variable in your business or career is
differentiation
. This is the key factor that determines the success of most sales, marketing, and business growth. This is the primary determinant of success in your career.

Differentiation is defined as the way that you separate yourself from everyone else in your field who is offering something similar.

Your area of differentiation is, in reality, your
area of excellence
, your area of uniqueness, your unique selling proposition. It is what gives you a competitive advantage over others in your industry.

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THE KEY QUESTION

Imagine if a very important prospective customer were to ask you,

“What is it about your product or service that is different, better, and superior to any other similar product or service offered by any other company in today’s market?” How would you answer? If you had to explain how and why your product or service is superior to that of your competitors, what would you say?

Many salespeople, and even business owners, are not sure about the answer to this question. But you must be absolutely clear about your competitive advantage if you want to make more sales in an increasingly competitive market.

As an individual, doing personal strategic planning for your own career, you must ask this question of yourself. What unique skills do you have that make you superior to anyone else offering to do the same job that you are doing? What skills would it be
useful
for you to have? If you are not currently excellent in your field, what steps do you need to take, beginning immediately, to get yourself to the point where you stand out from everyone else?

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Identify Your Ideal Customers

The third strategic area in business is that of
segmentation
. This requires that you divide your markets and customers into segments.

You do this by identifying those customers who can most benefit from your area of specialization and your competitive advantage within that area.

In segmentation, you identify your
ideal
customers. Who are they?

Where are they? What do they have in common? What are their ages, incomes, education levels, backgrounds, positions, experiences, and so on? Today, more and more marketing is focused on
niches
and
micro-niches
. Sales and marketing are increasingly personal and individual, aimed at tightly defined groups of prospective customers with special qualities and characteristics.Who are your ideal customers?

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CONCENTRATE YOUR ENERGIES

The fourth strategic variable, perhaps the most important of all in sales and marketing, is the principle of
concentration
. This is your ccc_tracy_6_90-117.qxd 6/23/03 2:48 PM Page 115

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ability to focus all of your energies and resources on those specific customers or markets where you have the greatest chance of success in the shortest period of time.

Your ability to concentrate single-mindedly on your highest-value opportunities will do more to increase your return on energy than any other factor. Concentration is a key success principle in every field.

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SUCCESS VERSUS FAILURE

Dun & Bradstreet has been tracking the results of successful and unsuccessful businesses for more than 50 years. Not long ago, it put all of its research on failed businesses into a computer. The data showed that businesses fail because of “low sales.” Businesses succeed because of “high sales.” Everything else is commentary.

As the president of your own company, engaged in personal strategic planning for your career, your job is to ensure the highest level of sales of your personal services that you can possibly achieve.