Resolutions for 2011

Closing out 2010, I had a conversation with a guy about starting his own business. He really wanted to do it but he just couldn't give up the security of working for somebody else. I explained to him that security is a mindset which is based on the confidence you have in your own environment. You can work for a big company or government and you put your trust in them that they will protect your environment and your job. When you give away that trust you are hoping to exchange it for security. This is a false confidence that you receive when you trade your time for money.

If you look at the current state of the economy you can see businesses failing right and left and government workers losing their jobs almost as quickly. Security in the sense of somebody else taking care of you is gone. The truth is it has never been there. It is only when you trust in yourself and invest in yourself that you continue to build your internal confidence so your security is unfazed by outside influences.

You should never let anyone else be responsible for your security blanket this is the easy way out and it never lasts. As we go into 2011 there are a few simple things that are very hard to do yet can make a huge difference in your life. Some might call the secrets, I just call them the obvious things that most people won't bother to do.

1.       BE AN INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR. I don’t care if you work for someone else.  You are always selling your services and need to act like it.  Begin by accepting that you work for yourself and no one else always. You are your boss and you are completely responsible for what you do and what you earn. You are also responsible for your children, your relationships and most importantly your health. When you accept the fact that you are responsible for your actions and the outcomes or your actions, you start acting like the employee that everyone wants to hire.

I call this acting like an independent contractor because your boss now becomes your customer.  When you learn to take care of your boss like a customer your boss will look after you.  When you do this, and are responsible for yourself it doesn't matter if your company can make it or not, there will be a line waiting to hire you.  I have had former bosses call me 10 years later asking if I would like to work for them at their new job.  There is no better compliment

2.       SET REALISTIC GOALS. I don't mean simple, easy to accomplish, lazy things like increasing income 5%. I have absolutely no heartburn with a goal of tripling or quadrupling income in 2011. That one is on my list. What makes it realistic is that I have broken it down into a series of steps in order to get there. In order to have a realistic goal you have to have three things. First is an understanding of where you are, this has to be a realistic viewpoint and not idealistic. Second you need a very clear picture of the goal. When you know where you are and have a very clear image of your goal, it makes it much easier to create the steps that get you there.

3.       REACH OUT. When I say reach out, I mean reach out to everybody. Reach out to loved ones and let them critique your goals and dreams. My wife is one of my harshest critics; my brother and mother are fighting for second place with my step dad a very close third.  Fight back and develop the willpower and discipline to get there.

Reach out to friends for ideas that will help you leap over obstacles and move more quickly to your goal. Reach out to colleagues and experts have them help you find the shortest path to obtain your goal.

Reach out to customers.  This is the most important whether you own a business or your customer is your boss.  If you have a business and don't have an online customer connection program, build one. I'll keep posting ideas and checklists here to help you get this done. If you don't have the time, give me a call will be glad to help you out. I think this is so important I'm going to give away a lot of this information for free on my blog this year. In fact you can buy our entire checklist for less than half of one month's fees to do-it-yourself. Otherwise just come back to this blog and it will all be here over the next year.

4.       GET FOCUSED AND STAY FOCUSED. As the old 80/20 rule goes, 20% of your time is creating 80% of your income. Focus like a laser on the 20% that is making your income. Double your efforts there and skip the 80% that is only making 20% of your income. Over and over I hear excuses of why people can't do this, "my customers will quit coming in." and things of this nature. What a load of hooey, when you focus and get better what you do people will line up to have you do it. When you take on the extra activities that you're not very good at and don't bring you income it will irritate the people who want what you really do best.

Don’t focus on developing your weaknesses, leverage your strengths and do the same with everything around you.

5.       BE THE BOSS. This is the toughest one for most people. It is having the discipline take the time and get the job done. Most of the time I work from home and can easily be distracted by dogs that want to play kids that want to go shopping for my wife who is always finding something for me to fix. Spending 3 to 4 hours straight every day in the office getting things done takes discipline.

I do get more done and that four-hour session that I used to get done in a week. This is what allows me to maintain what most people think is a crazy schedule of production and still have plenty of time off to write magazine articles, blogs and books. When you combine numbers four and five you will be amazed at how much you can accomplish in a very short amount of time. One trick to this is to treat every day like it is the day before you're leaving on vacation. Every day at noon my vacation starts for the rest of the day, and I can't leave the office until my entire checklist is complete.

6.       FOLLOW THE 3-6-6 PLAN.  This is the one that ties it all together, setting daily goals that are realistic. This is different than number two, because we're not talking about long-term goals were talking about tasks that will be accomplished each and every day. If you have a list of 30 things to do and only get four of them done you will always feel like you let yourself down. If you stick to my 3–6–6 rule, you will get something done and feel good about it every day. The more you get done the better you feel and the more you can accomplish in less time. It takes practice so don't give up.

Get focused stay focused and let life be healthy and prosperous in 2011

If you don't have a job and want to find the right one or start a new business, start with this book: