Getting Shit Done Starts with the “P” in You

Your Responsibility for Getting Shit Done

The POSITIVE You

• Happy about life • Self-confident • Friendly

• Consistent • Giving

The PROFESSIONAL You

• Looks sharp • Acts mannerly • Self-assured • Positive

The PERSONAL You

• Self-education from dad, mom, spouse, friend

• Self-education from read, write, watch, attend, create, prepare

• The self-confident you • The happy you • The healthy you

• The enthusiastic you • The truthful you

The PRODUCTIVE You

• Know priorities • Allocate time

• Focus FREE of distractions

The PERSISTENT You

• Stays with the person until he or she agrees

• Embraces the process of VALUE follow-up

The PERSEVERING You

• Stays with the project until completion

• Stays with the goal until achieved

The PATIENT You

• Has a plan – sticks to it

• Follows up AND follows through

• Relationship driven, not just sales driven

The PROFITABLE You

• Conveys value that overcomes price

• Has social reputation • Has social proof

The PROSPEROUS You

• Looks the part, but isn’t obnoxious

• Stays humble • Chooses philanthropy

• Doesn’t squander money or health

The Post-It^® Note You

• By posting goals on your bathroom mirror, your most important goals and projects are ALWAYS top of mind

Justification for Procrastination

The PROCRASTINATIVE You

• I can do it later • Distractions • Poor choices

• Social influences • Peer pressure

The PESSIMISTIC You

• Limited self-image • Limited self-belief

• Negative surroundings • Negative choices

The PISSED OFF You

• Complaining about circumstances

• Complaining about job/business

• Complaining about family

• Angry at someone • Angry at work

• Angry at family • Angry at the world

Wanting to take an ownership position means having determined if are you buying or renting.

If I ask you to abuse a car, you have several responses… No, this car belongs to my friend. Hey, I own this car. Go ahead, it’s just a rental.

(Please give me a moral break, this is just an example, many people take the responsible position that the rental car belongs to someone else and they would treat it like they would their own.)

As a people we tend to abuse what we rent… and take care of what we own.

You are certainly not proud of what you rent… but you sure are of what you own.

Are you taking an ownership/equity position… or just paying rent?

If you don’t have an actual equity position now, you have to act like you do… or you never will.

Jeffrey Gitomer

Most people avoid responsibility and won’t take ownership

People reject or don’t want to deal with complaints or problems because…

they are unsure of themselves

they are unsure of their ability to handle the problem

they are afraid it will get them in trouble

they are afraid it will make them look bad

they are afraid it will look like it was their fault

they are afraid the boss will yell at them

they are afraid it will go on their record

they are afraid it will make them lose their job

they don’t want the hassle

they don’t like, or are afraid of conflict

they don’t think it’s their job

they lack motivation

they could get sued

they know they can’t fix it

(add yours)…

(add yours)…

How Responsible Are You?

Rate yourself

(1=never, 2=rarely, 3=sometimes, 4=frequently, 5=always)

	I take pride in my work.	1 2 3 4 5
	I finish what I start.	1 2 3 4 5
	I don’t pass the buck.	1 2 3 4 5
	I’m never late for appointments.	1 2 3 4 5
	I look for solutions, not problems.	1 2 3 4 5
	I don’t blame others.	1 2 3 4 5
	I always follow through.	1 2 3 4 5
	I am offering solutions, not stressing problems.	1 2 3 4 5
	I take notes to be sure I follow through.	1 2 3 4 5
	I follow up in writing.	1 2 3 4 5
	I always keep my promises and commitments.	1 2 3 4 5
	I always support my fellow workers.	1 2 3 4 5
	I get the job done on schedule.	1 2 3 4 5
	I willingly accept tasks and responsibility.	1 2 3 4 5
	I ask questions to be sure I understand.	1 2 3 4 5
	I am responsible for my actions.	1 2 3 4 5
	I admit when I am wrong.	1 2 3 4 5
	I always do what I say I’m going to do.	1 2 3 4 5
	I handle complaints/problems within one day.	1 2 3 4 5

How You Rate as a Responsible Person… Willing to Take Ownership

79-95 You’re Excellent

61-78 You’re Good 47-60 You’re Fair

33-46 You’re in need of training 19-32 Call you irresponsible

Good, better, best. Which one are you?

Once you take responsibility for what actions you take and what you do to achieve. Are you the best at what you do?

Everyone wants success, but very few achieve the success they dream about. I’m on my journey just like you. In the process of studying, I came to a realization about personal achievement.

“Going for the gold” is wrong. Being the best you can be in order to earn the gold or get the gold is a surer path to success. What path are you on?

Jeffrey Gitomer

Personal achievement. Success. Fulfillment. Big words that every person seeks. “Get there by setting goals,” they say. “Wrong,” I say.

Now, I’m not saying don’t set goals. I am saying don’t set big goals and think that they’re the direct path to personal achievement, fulfillment, or success. They’re not.

I have found most people set their goals for the wrong things and reasons. The problem with “big goals” is that they are usually “big dreams.” And to further complicate the goal process – most goals are about “it” or “things” (material stuff like – big house, long vacation, million dollars, luxury car – the usual), not goals about “you” (personal achievement stuff like – college degree, promotion, physical fitness).

Most people with big material goals end up at low achievement, low self-esteem, frustrated, and cynical – or they just become complacent and accept their lot as mediocre. Why? And more to the point – what’s to ensure it won’t happen to you?

I’m sharing a personal achievement (secret) formula I accidentally uncovered. Discovering the formula was an accident – but there are very few accidentally fulfilled people. Success, achievement, and fulfillment are on purpose. The principles successful people execute and live by are the basis (foundation) for their success. I’m presenting the elements I discovered so that you may compare them to ones you execute on your own journey.

Why are some people able to achieve their goals and others not? Big question. Is there a formula to follow? I can’t tell you what will work for sure – there’s no universal law of achievement, no universal law of success. If there was, everyone would be successful.

It’s most interesting to me that the people who have “big money” as their ultimate goal, rarely attain it. – And those who have “being the best at what they do” or “love what they do,” almost always attain financial security. Why? They execute the elements of personal achievement.

There are elements of success, and degrees of achievement of success, tempered and limited by an individual’s desire, determination, dedication, and drive. It’s a combination of your persistence (never quit) and your positive attitude (I will get it because I believe I will, and I deserve it).

Jeffrey Gitomer

The other day on a radio interview, someone asked me if I had a success secret. “Jeffrey, how did you get to this position in sales? What drives you? Do you have a secret success formula?”

The question caught me off guard. Hadn’t much thought about my formula. Didn’t think I had one. I do have a philosophy, and I live my philosophy. Should I answer with that? No. That’s not a secret. So, I answered with one simple truth that I live by –be the best.

“When I found out I liked sales, I made one goal – be the best.” I said.

“When I discovered I liked writing, I made one goal – be the best. When writing led me to speaking and training, I made one goal – be the best. Last year, I began recording – the same goal, be the best.”

When I got off the radio show, I rushed to my laptop to capture the essence of what I’d said. As I developed the thought, I realized that there was an elemental process – a formula for personal achievement – best is just one element in the formula. And I figured I’d add the word “secret” to the formula so that it was more likely to be read. No one likes a formula – but a secret formula – now you’ve got something.

There are six parts (elements) to the secret of my personal achievement.

1. Vision.
2. Love.
3. Best.
4. Attitude.
5. Personal.
6. Student.

Best. The operative element of the secret is best. But it’s not the first element, best is element number three. If you find (do) something you love (the second element), and consistently strive to do your best, and be your best, all the goals about cars, vacations, houses, and the ever popular money, will appear.

The material things in life are a by-product of personal achievement. They are automatically attached to being and doing your BEST.

Jeffrey Gitomer

So the question is – what drives you to want to become the “best” at something?

Vision. The first element of the secret to personal (goal) achievement is to identify a vision and put it in front of your goals. Got a big goal? Sure you do, everyone does. The big question is – What’s before (in front of) your goal?

Do you have a personal vision that will drive you to achieve all your goals? Where do you see yourself?

Jeffrey Gitomer

Love. Last year I made an accidental discovery. It occurred when I examined all the elements of my career, and tried to structure some of my thoughts into a ten-year plan. I was asking myself “What do I do best? What do I love to do? Where have I been most successful? How do I want to spend the next ten years?” From those answers, I decided my success would focus around selling and customer service – writing, speaking, podcasting, and making videos. I love selling and the selling process, and serving is an extension of selling.

Once I realized that my choices were also my passion – the vision became clear. Having a personal vision, loving what you do, and striving to be your best, at the core, were the individual elements. But, unless you combine them and master them, you will never achieve best.

The rest of the elements are:

Attitude. Many people cheat themselves out of achievement and success by having the wrong attitude (element four). Ever hear anyone say, “they don’t pay me enough to….” Ever think it or say it yourself? Those are six words that will keep you mediocre. Don’t make the mistake of failing to be your best or do your best because someone isn’t paying you. Who are you cheating? Achievement is not about money – achievement is about best. If you don’t think they pay you enough, ask yourself what you’re worth.

Having the right attitude about money will make it happen faster than wanting lots of it.

Jeffrey Gitomer

Personal. So much has been written about goals that it has caused those dedicated to personal achievement to moan at the thought of another seminar on “Goal Setting and Achievement.” It’s not a matter of goals or no goals. Goals are a prerequisite for success – the question is what kind of goals? The secret of goals is to make them personal (element five) not material. Make goals about you, not about it.

Which is a more powerful driving force… to make your monthly quota, or be the best at sales? If you goal yourself to be the best, the quota is automatically achieved.

Jeffrey Gitomer

The other aspect of personal is based on athletics. Athletes are always striving to achieve personal best. Not to beat everyone else (although that’s a great accomplishment), just to beat their previous personal best. That keeps them going. It can keep you going too.

Student. I got clear vision in a Jim Rohn seminar. He said, “whatever you want, study it first. If you want to be a doctor, study medicine, if you want to be a success, hang around successful people and study success.” Rohn says, “Be a student (element six) first. And always be a student. Not just a father, a student father. Not a teacher, a student teacher.” Wow, what a powerful piece of advice.

From the day I learned my first sales technique (January, 1972) I wanted to be the best at sales. I’ve been studying sales for 40 plus years. That’s why it’s working for me. I’m not saying that’s how it works. I am saying that’s how it works for me. Follow the advice of Jim Rohn – be a student first. With all my heart, that’s how I believe it will work for you.

In the seminars I do, the best audience comment I get is, “Jeffrey loves what he does, and it shows.” If you love what you do, people will say it’s in your blood. And that blood-of-toil begins to manifest itself in your bank account.

Jeffrey Gitomer

Are you burned out or just hating it?

I just read an article about someone’s totally bogus opinion of “job burnout,” and it made me realize that some people actually are or think they are “burned out.”

A quick search on Amazon revealed 580 books that contain the title or address the subject of “job burnout.” Yikes!

The remedies the article I read proposed the answer: “do less and you’ll avoid burnout.” It recommended: avoid excessive workload, don’t be overly accommodating, avoid people who drain your energy, do not overwork yourself, and they threw in job disillusionment. In other words: You’ll still hate it, but you’ll hate it less.

Why do people claim that they’re burned out? It’s a self-inflicted thought-wound based on taking inappropriate action, the false feeling of being overwhelmed, stressed-out, having a negative work atmosphere in general, not really loving your job, not believing in what you do, and having a boss who is somewhere between a jackass and an idiot.

While burnout and stress are real, often they’re self-imposed feelings that can be overcome. Burnout manifests itself in your daily talk until it’s embedded into your psyche. Not good.

START HERE: Begin your self-actualization by asking reality-based questions of yourself. Write down the answers.

QUESTION ONE: Ask yourself how much you love your job.

QUESTION TWO: Ask yourself what’s the BEST part of your job.

QUESTION THREE: Ask yourself what you would rather be doing.

QUESTION FOUR: Ask yourself where you would rather be working that could afford you the same or better opportunity (not just money).

QUESTION FIVE: Ask yourself if the grass is really greener on the other side of employment.

Being or feeling “burned out” or “stressed out” is not a problem; it’s a symptom. “Why” you feel you’re burned out is the heart of the situation.

Once you ask yourself these questions, it’s time to DO SOMETHING POSITIVE ABOUT IT. Relief begins when you identify the “cause” and create your own answers. Your own truths. And change your thought pattern from burned out to ON FIRE!

Action one: Write down what you believe is causing the stressful feelings.

Action two: Write down what you believe the remedies could be.

Action three: Beside each remedy, write down what you or others could be doing.

Action four: Write down the likelihood of these remedies occurring.

Action five: Write down your ideal job or career, and then write down what you have to do or learn to get there.

DECIDE if you are in or out. If in, rededicate yourself to personal excellence. If out – get out quick.

REALITY: Based on your present situation (family, debt, obligations) you may just have to endure it for a while, but if you have identified causes and remedies, calm begins to occur. You have it under control. You’re making decisions.

Your present circumstance has to be measured against your present situation and future hopes and dreams.

Here are a few suggestions for what will take you from “burnout” mode into a more positive and hopeful frame of mind:

1. 1. Start your day with the three most important things you want to accomplish.
2. 2. Cancel all stupid and time-wasting meetings.
3. 3. Stop talking about things that don’t matter, especially other people.
4. 4. Focus on outcome, not just task.
5. 5. Dedicate at least 15 minutes to thinking by yourself.
6. 6. Get rid of three major time wasters (attention diverters)
   • Facebook notifications at work (unless it’s business Facebook)
   • Personal emails and personal calls
   • Negative water fountain chit-chat
7. 7. Go home and read instead of watch. Start with The Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude.
8. 7.5 Review your accomplishments at the end of each day. Write them down. To both praise yourself and challenge yourself.

Re-start your personal fire. Give yourself a chance to become “BEST” at your job and your career. Never give in to self-defeat. Decide every day that you can only be your best by doing your best.

Become BEST not burned.

Jeffrey Gitomer

Start your day the night before.

Write it all down at the end of each day.

I’m asleep in 2 minutes or less every night; I wake up refreshed every day; I don’t “have to” drink coffee in the morning; I never worry about what I have to do, or what loose ends there are. I’m always prepared to start the day, and get my best ideas in the shower.

The secret? Three words: Write everything down.

I keep my phone and iPad by my bedside. Before I go to bed, I text myself everything I need to do, ideas I need to flesh out or expand, or problems I need to solve. Once I write everything down, my mind is clear.

Mental freedom is a wonderful thing. It creates opportunities not available to a cluttered mind.

It provides clear channels from the subconscious for solutions and new ideas, and it lets you sleep like a log.

I’ve been doing it for 45 years (yes, I started with a yellow legal pad).

It works.

Write everything down before bed… Wake up with answers.

Jeffrey Gitomer

You Must Have a Morning Routine

Wake up and smell the preparation…

For the past 25 years, I wake up in the morning and I immediately do one of five things – sometimes all five. I write, I read, I prepare, and that causes me to think and create.

It’s a fraction… and it has helped me DEFINE and BECOME who I am. It has given me 16 books, 2,500 speeches, and success in my genre beyond my expectations and dreams – and I believe the discipline of the process can do the same for you.

Write, Read, Prepare

               Think, Create               

Jeffrey Gitomer

Wake up and smell the success.

The 5.5 Gitomer Morning Principles

Write, Read, Prepare Think, Create

Daily

1. 1. Write
2. 2. Read
3. 3. Prepare
4. 4. Think
5. 5. Create
6. 5.5 Daily

Monday is the day where you get to wake up and say either, “Oh crap, it’s Monday,” or “Oh GREAT, it’s Monday.” I’m challenging you that it should be, “Oh Great, it’s Monday,” every day of the week. Every day of the week should be called Monday, because that’s the day where you have to get your ass in gear, make things happen, and get things done or you’re in trouble.

By mid week, if you don’t like what you’re doing, or if you hate your job, you call Wednesday “Hump Day.” It’s the dumbest expression I’ve ever heard. It means you’re all pissed off by Wednesday, and if you just make it two more days, you can get to the weekend party. Pathetic.

Where’s your drive for success and achievement? Where’s your drive for improvement and growth? “Hump day” should be called “losers day.”

This past weekend, I autographed 1,000 copies of my book, Truthful Living, while you were out getting drunk. It’s the first writings, the original writings, of Napoleon Hill. One hundred years old. It is published by Amazon.com, and I promise you this book is life changing. The lessons in the book were written 20 years before Think and Grow Rich and it is off the chart insightful, inspirational, and full of 100-year-old “new” ideas. It’s amazing.

I want to talk to you about how to get ready to catch fire on any day of the week, Monday, Sunday ... Well Sunday Chick-Fil-A is closed, you have a real problem there, but any other day of the week, any morning of the week, you need to be able to wake up and feel great about what’s going to happen, feel amazing about what’s going to happen, and start with a morning enthusiasm and optimism that focuses on yourself. It’s about what you do in the morning to kick your own ass down the road to success, happiness, wealth, and fulfillment.

It’s a personal message.

For 25 years, this I what I’ve done every morning. I wake up in the morning and every day I read and/or I write and/or I prepare. Or some combination of all three. I’ve only been doing that for 25 years, so I don’t know if it’s working yet. I’m going to do it another 25 years and then that’s it, I’m going to quit.

When you read, write, and prepare, it automatically takes you to the next level of thinking and creating, because it forces your juices to shift into a higher gear.

Jeffrey, do you need a cup of coffee to do that?

Eh, sometimes I have a cup of coffee, sometimes I don’t, but after I’m ready to create, not before... Sometimes I wake up and I’m so full of ideas, I sit down in my PJs (ok, undies) and start going through my ritual. Other days, I will shower and get dressed and sit down to do the ritual, but I ALWAYS do the ritual.

The challenge is... I’ve just given you the five elements of my personal success – read, write, prepare, think, create. Now what?

I’d like to break it down: For the first time ever you will get a feeling for what it’s like to be self-motivated and self-inspired on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. There is no Hump Day.

That is correct. Never been written about before. I’m going to reveal secrets about what I actually do sitting in my chair.

It’s called a fan chair, which is interesting because I’m my own biggest fan, but this is the answer:

Make a selection of what to read (just read a few pages), so you might want to read something on attitude or you might want to read something on sales techniques. Pick five pages from The Little Red Book of Selling or The Little Gold Book of YES Attitude, or take an old book like I do. I’ll take out Napoleon Hill’s How To Sell Your Way Through Life, and I’ll pick out a few pages and read them, or I’ll pick my favorite attitude book by Orison Swett Marden, He Can Who Thinks He Can, and read from it.

You can get all these books now. People are reprinting copies in paperback that you can buy for $10 to $15. Go on eBay or search on Google and look for attitude books and look for old sales books and buy a couple of them and read them. Start your success library. Anything by Elmer Leterman, anything by any of the masters, the Dale Carnegies of the world, the Samuel Smiles, the Robert Colliers, the Orison Swett Mardens, and of course any of the Napoleon Hill books. Read a few pages a day, not every once in awhile, EVERY DAY.

OUTCOME: You’re going to find that you start your day with a positive mindset.

DANGER: Eliminate the television part of your morning, “who got beat up in a parking lot or who got bombed or what burned down or who’s arguing with whom or which guy’s a liar and which guy’s not a liar”... Let me give you a clue, they’re all liars.

The bottom line is, I don’t pay attention to that crap. I pay attention to me, the most important person in my world, and I want you to pay attention to you, the most important person in your world.

RULE ONE OF MORNING: Allocate your time and carve out your space.

RULE TWO OF MORNING: Select your books, audio, or video.

I have my own space in my office, which is in my home. I’m fortunate to be able to have that. Actually, I created my own “fortunate.” You need your own space. Go to your best space, and get out your computer. You can even read stuff online if you choose to, because a lot of the stuff is already there. So if you don’t have the book, you don’t have to buy the book. You can just search for something on Google or something on YouTube, maybe even watch a self-help or attitude video.

The next thing I do is write. I might write down a couple of ideas or thoughts that I have while I’m reading, because sometimes reading inspires me to write. You? Last year I wrote another book on sales, called Jeffrey Gitomer’s Sales Manifesto. It’s a book about how to make sales for the next decade.

Last year I finished the book based on Napoleon Hill’s first writings (from 1917 – 20 years BEFORE Think and Grow Rich). This historical book is called Truthful Living. It contains 23 of Hill’s original lectures and letters about attitude, belief, and achievement. In Truthful Living, I wrote an introduction to each chapter, and “How to Implement This into Your Life” at the end of each chapter. And I had to put some annotations in each one so you could reinterpret them for the 21st Century.

RULE THREE OF MORNING: Write thoughts and ideas.

For the past year I have been writing my ass off – and the result is mental clarity beyond anything I have ever experienced.

The Napoleon Hill book, Truthful Living, is a personal development adventure in awareness. Just the full-page quotes in this book are absolutely off the charts. Here’s one: “If you want favors, bestow favors. This is in accordance with the law of harmonious attraction through the operation of which we get exactly what we give.” We get exactly what we give. Love that kind of stuff. This is another classic quote: “Big pay and little responsibility are circumstances seldom found together.” Woo! So your job is to TAKE RESPONSIBILITY and succeed. Anyway…

Just realize in this morning ritual/routine that you have an opportunity and a responsibility to read, and then be inspired to write. Maybe write a couple of tweets, maybe write something that your customers need, maybe write something of value, maybe write something humorous, maybe write something that someone would consider cool enough to re-tweet or repost or send to someone else. Put it on your Facebook, put it on your Twitter. You can even take your writings and video them. You can write them down and then you have them on your laptop or you have them on your computer screen somewhere. Read it into a video, and post it up on your Facebook or post it up on your Twitter.

Or you could watch TV, like a fool.

We did a live video post on Twitter. We did one on Instagram last week. We’re live on Facebook every week. And you’re not... You wake up in the morning all pissed off about the fact that it’s raining, or that it’s too hot out today. It’s going to be 95 today. Who gives a shit what the temperature is outside? It has to be 72 and sunny in your head every day, no matter what the outside weather is. Otherwise you’re not really inspiring yourself (jacking yourself up) to have a great day. You’re already pissed off about something before you even start.

Read something that’s positive and then write or record something that’s positive, got it? And then prepare. You prepare for your day, or you prepare for your client, or you prepare ideas. You prepare questions that you’re going to ask. Whatever you’re going to do that day, you have to prepare for the day. I’ve been preparing for a long time, because I do seminars, maybe 50 or 75 of them a year in various places around the country or around the world, and I have to prepare. Sometimes I’ll prepare into the night, I’ll prepare until one o’clock or two o’clock in the morning, and then wake up at six to finish preparing for my talk at eight.

RULE FOUR OF MORNING: Get ready. And get ready some more.

I understand preparation as well as anybody on the planet, but I’m challenging you that if you are not fully prepared (ready) in the morning for everything that’s going to happen to you during the day, you’re going to have a bad day or at least a bad episode during the day, because you’re unprepared. Interestingly, unprepared goes all the way over to a speech that you’re going to give. “I’m afraid to give speeches, Jeffrey. I’m uncomfortable.” No no, you’re unprepared. Most of the people who give talks are more worried about what they wear than what they say.

I don’t worry about what I wear. Ever. I don’t want people to pay attention to what I’m wearing. I want to look nice, but I want people to pay attention to what I’m saying, what I’m thinking, what they’re hearing, and how they can write that down and turn it into action and turn it into money… and so should you.

NOTE WELL: Everything that you do in the first hour of your day determines the outcome for the rest of the day, so it’s reading, writing, and preparing.

Write, Read, Prepare

               Think, Create               

I’m going to go deeper. Note that there’s a line drawn there in this fraction. Underneath read/write/prepare are two new words, think and create.

What are you thinking, and how is that thinking affecting you and affecting what you read, affecting how you react to what you get, what you read, what you need to do? Think about what it is that’s happening to you, and how are you creating new ideas and new questions for your customers? The creativity part can be taught. Creativity is a science. It’s not, “Well, that guy’s real creative.” No no, creativity is a science, people have written books on it, and you can learn it by reading and taking action.

Or, you can watch TV, Netflix, Hulu, or Facebook, yada yada.

Go get Michael Michalko’s, Thinkertoys, his first book, and Cracking Creativity, his second book. Then buy Edward de Bono’s, Serious Creativity. Those three books were my foundational books on learning creativity. They teach you how to think differently, observe differently, and how to outthink everybody else. Creativity is the foundational, the fundamental, the key piece in your skillset that’s missing. And you think, “Well, I’m not very creative.” Don’t blame it on yourself. Go get a book on creativity and start to read about it.

Start with Thinkertoys, by Michael Michalko. It’s on my recommended reading list on my website, gitomer.com. I promise you creativity will become more clear. Reading this book is like your mom is holding you in the palm of her hands and teaching you about creativity. It’s so fundamental. It’s so easy. I read this book in 1994, and it was eye-opening, mind openingly unbelievable. Go for it, he’s updated it and added to it. Look, it’s $15.99, you cheap bastards. Just hit the Buy Now button and go for it. You can also get the Kindle version.

Thinkertoys is full of immediately applicable ideas and thoughts. One of the concepts in the book is a strategy in the creative process called SCAMPER. When you understand scamper, you have new ways to look at and think about creativity... “Okay, this is how I visualize things. This is how I see things in a different way and rearrange things in a different way so that I can use my creative juices.” Simple. Powerful. And it shows you that creativity is a science that you can learn.

YOUR TURN: I have just given you the formula for waking up and motivating yourself on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and you need to take action.

If you do it for a day or so and then you go back to your old habit, it’s not going to help you. You have to make the commitment that you’re willing to do this every single day of the week or it’s not going to make a difference in your life.

This is what I do every single day, and I’ve been doing it for 25 years, and your job is to do exactly the same damn thing. For yourself. For 25 years.

I’m in the middle of writing two books right now, so it is. I’m on fire, writing the hell out of things. In truth, I don’t just do it early in the morning. I’ve been writing all day long today.

Your job is to figure out what you are best at, and allocate the time to be able to do that. Allocate an hour in the morning. Don’t tell me about how you’re busy and you’ve got kids, and you’ve got meetings and crap like that.

Just get up an hour earlier. Get up, and if you want to exercise, that’s AOK. If you want to run or take a walk, that’s AOK.

Then find your quiet space and Get Shit Done FOR YOURSELF.

The secret formula and the SpongeBob Factor

Unlocking the safe at the Krusty Krab, and the never ending quest for the Krabby Patty secret formula by Plankton trying to steal and ruin the perfect sandwich.

In this book, the recipe for success through achievement is finally revealed… SpongeBob’s happiness, optimism, and get it done even if your ass falls off persistence, prevail even though the expected or desired outcome may not happen on the first or tenth try.

And the cast of characters may be anywhere from unsupportive to subversive. The cheap bastards, curmudgeons, idiots, and thieves who would get in the way of your dreams, objectives, or success.

REASON?...

People will rain on your parade, because they have no parade of their own.

Jeffrey Gitomer

(Ask Yourself)

Elements of the “Get Shit Done” Secret Formula…

• What do I need to do?
• How great is my desire to do it?
• How willing am I?
• What’s my attitude towards it and about it?
• What’s the risk?
• What are my chances for success?
• What are the outside circumstances? Pressures? Rewards?
• What are my real reasons for doing this? My WHY?
• What are the consequences of delay?
• What’s the work involved?
• What else is competing for my time? (family, debt, expenses, job, pleasure, other priorities, health, addiction, moth to a bright light factor)
• Can I get others to work with me, or do it for me?
• Can I postpone this? Procrastination, avoidance
• What’s the deadline?
• What’s my time allocation factor?
• What’s the expected outcome? – What was the actual outcome (measurement)?
• What’s the reward for completion?
• What am I avoiding?
• Why am I (really) avoiding it?
• What’s my desire to get it done?
• What are the consequences for non-completion or avoidance?

This is the Get Shit Done 100-Year-Old Secret Formula

A Napoleon Hill formula from his book Truthful Living, that will help you produce more and earn more. It’s called the FIVE POINT rule…

Napoleon Hill says, Go wherever you will, follow whatever vocation you choose, but in the final end, when the LAW OF COMPENSATION gets in its work, you will find that you will “reap that which you sow.”

Success may be had by those who are willing to pay the price. And most of those who crave a $10,000-a-year position (that was the 1917 pay rate of success – in today’s market it translates to $250,000) – especially if they are engaged in business – may realize it if they will pay the price.

And the price is eternal vigilance in the development of:

• Self-confidence
• Enthusiasm
• Working with a Chief Aim
• Performing more Service than you are paid for
• Concentration

With these qualities well developed, you will be sure to succeed.

Let’s name these qualities the “FIVE-POINT RULE.”

The reason this rule remains a secret is that ALL FIVE POINTS MUST BE EMPLOYED ALL THE TIME and then MASTERED. Only performing 3 or 4 will not (ever) gain you the success you’re hoping for, because you are not really willing to work hard enough for it.

Jeffrey Gitomer

In Truthful Living, Napoleon Hill makes this promise with INTENTION…

I intend to develop in you… a magnetic personality, self-confidence, enthusiasm, courage, sincerity of purpose, strength of character, persistence, and determination!

100 years ago, Napoleon Hill NAILED IT

You are the elements of your reactions and your responses.

My tweet today was: “Resilience doesn’t start with experience – it STARTS with attitude – your attitude.”

It got more than 100 “re-tweets.” Evidently people understood the essence of what I was saying and wanted to tell others. But because Twitter only allows 280 characters, I wanted to elaborate on the word resilience, because it has a much deeper meaning and a much more elaborate meaning than I was able to provide in one tweet.

PICTURE THIS: Your boss says, “Make 100 cold calls this week.” And the first 20 people you call hang up on you.

PICTURE THIS: You have one prospect left this month and if they don’t buy, you don’t make your quota. They call you this morning and say they’ve decided to buy from your competition.

PICTURE THIS: You’re at a stoplight and someone crashes into the back of your car.

PICTURE THIS: You finally get an appointment with your boss to ask for a raise and he turns you down.

Those are all real-world sales and life occurrences that every one of you reading this has experienced.

Resilience is how you react, respond, and recover from those situations.

It’s important to note that all of these challenges test your mental strength. Resilience starts with your own strength of attitude. If you are easily dismayed, or your self-confidence level is low, or your self-esteem is lacking, or your self-image is in doubt – each of these PICTURE THIS circumstances is taken as a disaster. Your resilience level on a 1-10 scale is under 10.

And the ground between 10 and 100 is where your experience combined with your self-education is called into play, and challenges your thought process to get from a negative response, “woe is me,” to a more positive response, “I can deal with this. I can overcome this. Here are a few ideas that I have right now that will help me. Here are the actions that I’m willing to take to make things better. And most important, I’m not going to let these events (these situations) cause me to think ill of myself, or put myself down.”

And keep in mind that this is just the reaction part of resilience.

Once you’ve processed each one of these circumstances and reacted to them mentally, now it’s time to respond to them. Your response is a combination of your attitude, your past experience, and your resilience.

Your inner strength manifesting itself in words and deeds.

Most people fail to understand that response is triggered by thought. If you want to use the term knee-jerk response, it normally means response without thinking, especially in negative situations.

Each one of you has experienced a dumb response. Something like: “I’m doing the best I can,” or “I’m just doing what I’ve been told,” or some response that’s excuse based rather than response based. Anyone can make an excuse. It takes people of character to figure out what they can do, be in control of their own emotions, think quickly on their feet, and come up with something that is forward moving rather than self-defeating.

Something that’s on the offense rather than being offensive. Something that states willingness rather than creates a defense. Something that says what you can do, not what you can’t do. Something that states what could happen, rather than restates what just happened.

And keep in mind that this is just the response part of resilience.

Now it’s time for your resilience to really shine. You’ve reacted in a positive way, you’ve responded in a positive way, and now you must recover in a personal way – not just with the people involved, but rather take stock in who you are as a person, and take the lesson in how this will help build you and build your character instead of looking around to see who is to blame, become defensive, or making some lame excuse about it or they – never taking responsibility for you.

Recovery lays the groundwork for the next reaction. Recovery after recovery builds the foundation of your resilience. Positive recovery after positive recovery builds a foundation of cement and concrete reinforced with steel rods.

Jeffrey Gitomer

You build your stature, you build your self-esteem, you build your self-reliance, you build your self-confidence, and you do it with inner strength combined with mental strength. You can call it fortitude, you can call it guts, but I’m challenging you to think of it as resilience – because it’s going to happen more than once.

So I’ve given you react, respond, and recover. Let me add a .5 to this list. Integrity. Every time an opportunity arises, every time your character or your attitude is challenged and you react, respond, and recover in a positive way, you build personal integrity for who you are, and who you seek to become.

You never have to talk about it. Others will see it and see that strength within you. Others will talk about you in a positive way, admire you in a verbal and silent way – and others will seek to follow you in an exemplary way.

Well I seem to have used up my 280 characters. On a personal note, I’ll confess that my resilience is challenged daily – not just as a salesperson, not just as a businessperson; but also as a father, grandfather, husband, and a friend.

Resilience knows no boundaries. But every time an opportunity arises to build mine, I eagerly welcome it and all the lessons attached thereto.

I hope you do the same. And, I hope you start now.