Complacency is the Gift to Your Competitors in 2017

When you were younger and pictured yourself at this point in your life, did you picture the life you are living right NOW?

You work hard every single day, maybe each day even harder than the last…so do your efforts match what you have to show for it?

“The primary reason for failure is that people do not develop new plans to replace those plans that didn’t work.” (Napoleon Hill)

Success is goals and all else is commentary. This is the great discovery throughout all of human history. Your life only begins to become a great life when you clearly identify what it is that you want, make a plan to achieve it and then work on that plan every single day.

Once upon a time, there was a major technical problem at a nuclear power plant. This malfunction was slowing energy generation and reducing the efficiency of the entire operation. As much as they tried, the plant’s engineers could not identify and solve the problem. So they brought in one of the nation’s top consultants on nuclear power plant construction and engineering to see whether he could determine what was wrong.

‘The consultant arrived, put on a white coat, took his clipboard, and went to work. For the next two days, he walked around, studying the hundreds of dials and gauges in the control room, taking notes, and making calculations. At the end of the second day, he took a black felt marker out of his pocket, climbed up on a ladder, and put a large black “X” on one of the gauges. “This is the problem,” he explained. “Repair and replace the apparatus connected to this meter, and the problem will be solved.” He then took off his white smock, drove back to the airport, and flew home.

The engineers disassembled the apparatus and discovered that, sure enough, this was the cause of the problem. It was soon repaired, and the plant was back up to full capacity. About a week later the plant manager received a bill from the consultant for $10,000 for “services rendered.” The plant manager was surprised at the size of the bill, even though this was a multibilliondollar facility and the problem had been costing an enormous amount of money in lost generating capacity.

After all, he reasoned, the consultant had come in, stood around for a couple of days, written a black “X” on one of the gauges, and then returned home. Ten thousand dollars seemed like a high fee for such a simple job.

The plant manager wrote back to the consultant, “We have received your bill. Could you please break down and itemize your charges? It seems that all you did was to write one ‘X’ on a single gauge. Ten thousand dollars appears to be excessive for this amount of work.” Some days later, the plant manager received a new invoice from the consultant. It said, “For placing ‘X’ on gauge: $1.00. For knowing which gauge to place ‘X’ on: $9,999.”

This simple story illustrates the most important single principle of success, achievement, and happiness in life. Knowing where to put the “X” in each part of your life is the critical determinant of everything you accomplish. This “X” is your focal point. This is the one thing you can do in that area, at any given moment, to get the best result possible.

Your ability to choose the correct time, place, and activity to place your “X” on has a greater impact on your life than any other factor.

UNOLOCK YOUR FULL POTENTIAL

Every great man has become great, every successful man has succeeded, in proportion as he has confined his powers to one particular channel. – Orison Swett Marden

You can dramatically improve the overall quality of your life far faster than you might think
possible. All you need is the…

Desire to change.
The decision to take action.
The discipline to practice the new behaviors you have chosen.
And the determination to persist until you get the results you want.

REFOCUS

Decide exactly what you want in every key area of your life.

As I grew up I discovered that I was responsible for my life, and for everything that happened to me. I learned that this life is not a rehearsal for something else.

This is the real thing.

In every study of successful people, the acceptance of personal responsibility seems to be the starting point. Before that, nothing happens. After you accept complete responsibility, your whole life begins to change.

What do you Want?

Start off by Idealizing. Imagine that there are no limitations on what you can be, have or do.

Imagine that you have all the time and money, all the friends and contacts, all the education and experience that you need to accomplish any goal you can set for yourself.

Imagine that you could wave a magic wand and make your life perfect in each of the four key areas of life. If your life was perfect in each area, what would it look like?

1. INCOME – how much do you want to earn this year, next year and five years from today?

2. FAMILY – what kind of a lifestyle do you want to create for yourself and your family?

3. HEALTH – how would your health be different if it was perfect in every way?

4. NET WORTH – how much do you want to save and accumulate in the course of your working lifetime?

Write it down

Your goals must be in writing.

They must be clear
Specific
Detailed
And measurable.

You must write out your goals as if you were placing an order for your goal to be manufactured in a factory at a great distance. Make your description clear and detailed in every sense.

Set a deadline

Your subconscious mind uses deadlines as “forcing systems” to drive you, consciously and unconsciously toward achieving your goal on schedule. If your goal is big enough, set sub-deadlines.

If you want to achieve financial independence, you may set a 10 or 20-year goal, and then break it down, year by year, so that you know how much you have to save and invest each year.

If for some reason you don’t achieve your goal by the deadline, simply set a new deadline. There are no unreasonable goals, only unreasonable deadlines.

Select your number one, most important task for each day

Set priorities on your list using the 80/20 Rule.

Ask yourself this question: “If I could only do one thing on this list, which one activity is most important?”

Whatever you answer to that question, put a number “1” next to that activity.

Then, ask yourself, “If I could only do one other task on this list, which one task would be the most valuable use of my time?”

Then write a number “2” next to that task.

Keep asking this question, “What is the most valuable use of my time on this list?” until you have your seven top tasks, organized by sequence and priority. The rule is that each minute spent in planning saves 10 minutes in execution.

Here is another question you can ask, “If I could only do one thing all day long, which one activity would contribute the most value to my work and to my goals?”

Focus and Concentration are the keys to success.

Focus means that you know exactly what it is that you want to accomplish and concentration requires that you dedicate yourself to doing only those things that move you toward your goal.

Whatever You Concentrate On Grows

YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE

Implementing this simple formula is largely a matter of personal choice. It is very much up to you.

No one else can make this decision for you, and nobody can make this decision other than you. Among the most important personal choices you can make is to accept complete responsibility for everything you are and everything you will ever be.

This is the great turning point in life

The acceptance of personal responsibility is what separates the superior person from the average person. Personal responsibility is the preeminent trait of leadership and the wellspring of high performance in every person in every situation. Accepting complete responsibility for your life means that you refuse to make excuses or blame others for anything in your life that you’re not happy about.

Unfortunately in life today we see excuse making to be an art form. Then each day the excuse changes and the finger continues to point in another direction. Someone told me once…that when you have one finger pointing at someone, you have four pointing back at you.

Say right now I AM RESPONSIBLE I AM RESPONSIBLE I AM RESPONSIBLE

If you did this, you’re probably saying that this felt good.

You refuse, from this moment forward, to criticize others for any reason.
You refuse to complain about your situation or about what has happened in the past.
You eliminate all your if-onlys and what-ifs and focus instead on what you really want and where you are going.

This decision to accept complete responsibility for yourself, your life, and your results, with no excuses, is absolutely essential if you want to double your income and double your time off.

If you are not happy with any part of your life, say, “I am responsible” and get busy changing it. If something goes wrong, accept responsibility and begin looking for a solution.

If you are not happy with your current income, accept responsibility and begin doing the things that are necessary for you to increase it. If you are not happy with the amount of time you are spending with your family, accept responsibility for that and begin doing something about it.

When you accept responsibility, you feel personally powerful. Accepting responsibility gives you a tremendous sense of control over yourself and your life. The more responsibility you accept, the more confidence and energy you have. The more responsibility you accept, the more capable and competent you feel.

You do not escape responsibility by attempting to pass it off onto other people. You are still responsible. But you give up a sense of control over your life. You begin to feel like a victim and see yourself as a victim.

You become passive and resigned rather than powerful and proactive. Instead of feeling on top of your world, you feel as if the world is on top of you. This way of thinking leads you into a blind alley from which there is no escape. It is a dead end road on which you should refuse to travel.

SOCIAL MEDIA WILL PLAY A ROLE

Daily activities separate successful social media marketers from their peers.

More than 90 percent of marketers indicated that they use social for marketing and that social media marketing is important for their business. Sales teams said using social helps them reach their sales goals, consumers use social to research products and more than 30 percent of all web traffic is driven by the top eight social sites. Indeed, social is an important part of doing business on the Internet.

Just like goal setting, social media will play a role in your success. Never before has this opportunity been afforded to you and your business. The ability to brand you and your business or career, utilizing social media strategies and tactics. This can take you to a whole new level.

Take Action! Start – Focus

Life happens to us all…then we wake up and say where did the day, month and year go?

However, most won’t follow through, like most won’t follow through on the goals that they set. There will be plenty of excuses, and we’ll be having this same conversation next year as we enter in 2018.

Make 2017 the year!

Make the determination, develop the habits to pull away from the competition.

Decide what Social Media Platforms to Focus On. How much to post each day. What content will I provide that resonates with my target audience.

How consistent will I be each day to brand myself and company?

B2B Strategic Goals

B2C Strategic Goals

FINAL THOUGHTS

Resolve in advance that no matter what happens, you will never give up.

Persistence is self-discipline in action.

Each time you persist and overcome the inevitable failures and disappointments you will experience, you become stronger and better. You develop stronger and deeper character. You increase your self-esteem and self-confidence. Your goal is to eventually become “Unstoppable.”

About Blair

Blair Evan Ball is a Social Media Coach and founder of Prepare1, a company that works with businesses, individuals and non-profits. He is a former executive with a Fortune 50 company, and his national division did $1Billion in sales annually.

Blair has written three e-books: Facebook for Business Made Easy, Facebook Pages for Business Made Easy, and WordPress Blog Setup Made Easy.

Blair also educates, trains entrepreneurs and business professionals how to amplify their brand, increase revenues, and raise more funds.

The Race is ON! – Get into the Game and WIN!