Hope is Not Strategy

Success in 2009Hope is not a Strategy!

Introduction

Why We’re Here Today

We would like to share with you a few principles to help you win in

2009.

It’s Your Life – Your Job, Your Community!

YOU are responsible for your results.

It’s time to turn up the heat.

What Does it Take?

• What attitude are you exuding today to be better in ‘09?– Service - Commitment -

Perseverance– Creativity - Belief - Actions – Leadership - Focus - Reflections– Kindness

• What actions / behaviors are you implementing each day to drive success?

It’s Time to Turn Up the Heat in 2009!

www.walkthetalk.com

Principals for Success in 2009

There are No Real Secrets to Success.

“Success in anything has one fundamental aspect

– Effort.”

Let me Challenge You. . . • Are you hoping your phone will

ring?• Are you hoping you get a few

good referrals? • Are you hoping the economy

improves?• Are you hoping the government

will do something to improve the economy?

• Let’s review a few principles that can change the way you approach the way you do your job.

Hope CANNOT be a Strategy!

– Who’s your personal trainer for sales strategy?

– Understand today's sales strategies and the way consumers buy products

•Rick Page is the Personal Trainer to over 25,000 Sales Super Stars.

Success is a Choice!It is a destination of

the mind.

• Rick Pitino helps provide the road map with his Ten Steps to Overachieving in Business and Life.

Let’s Take A Look!

Let’s Choose Success!

Let’s ask how we can attract new business, visitors, residents, and how we can make

Muskegon a destination for our businesses and our community!

Step 1: Build Self-Esteem• Our self-esteem is the value we put on ourselves.

• It is the person we see when we look in the mirror, the person who cannot be fooled.

• We must feel good about ourselves in order to achieve greatness.

Step 2: Set Demanding Goals

Goals that are established by working backwards from where we want to end up in our dreams.

Goals come in two categories:

Goals we set to focus on behaviors we want to change

Set Demanding Goals• Dreams are where we want to end up but in order

to make real steps toward our ultimate dreams, we must start with concrete objectives.

– these are our goals, our day-by-day blueprint that provide achievable targets for incremental improvement.

• Long-term successes are a direct result of what you achieve every day.

Step 3: Always Be Positive• If you think “defeat” you are bound to be defeated.

• We all face pitfalls, but how we minimize the pitfalls and maximize the good times are what’s crucial.

• Being positive is a discipline – we attack it the way we attack any other goal.– With a plan– With the right techniques– With great effort

• E+R=O?– What you think about, you bring about.

Step 4: Establish Good Habits• Let’s define what a habit is.•

– it is “the tendency or disposition to act in a certain way, acquired by repetition of such acts.” - Webster

• To develop good habits, simply repeat something over and over in the correct way.

• By making a habit of doing things right, you increase the odds of being more successful on a consistent basis.

Step 5: The Art of Communication• Effective communication is the best problem solver but

many don’t know how to go about it.• Tips:

– Try not to go through a third party – this can lead to a miscommunication.

– What you don’t say can have as great of an impact as the things you do say.

– Be enthusiastic but also listen, build trust and establish a relationship with the person.

– Confront problems or obstacles immediately.

Master The Art of Communication• Communication is a habit!

• Communicating clearly is a critical part of your success and your ability to improve the conditions you live and work in.

• If you can’t communicate with people, you have dramatically narrowed your chances for success.

• The Art – Make Contact! Contact your colleagues, friends, bosses, etc., so they can help you achieve your goals and in turn you help them achieve theirs.

Step 6: Learn From Role Models• A role model is anyone who has anything to teach you on

your journey to success.

• Many have made the journey before you and can be the best of teachers.

• Role models are not necessarily people you admire in the panoramic scope of their life – rather successful traits and processes to emulate or behaviors to incorporate.

Get a mentor today!

Step 7: Thrive On Pressure

• Pressure in and of itself is neutral. It’s how you choose to view and prepare for it that determines whether it’s good or bad.

• When used correctly as an “ally”, pressure can catapult your performance.

• Stress is an enemy that shows up when you are not prepared, not focused and when looking for shortcuts.

• Stress lessens your confidence and prevents you from achieving success.

“To get what we’ve never had, we must do what we’ve never done.” – Anonymous

Pressure vs. Stress

Step 8: Be Ferociously Persistent• “A man is a hero, not because he is braver than anyone else, but because

he is brave for ten minutes longer.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

• Thomas Edison understood this discipline better than most. He was told he failed approximately 25,000 times while attempting to reach a goal. His response was, “No, I didn’t fail. I discovered 24,999 ways that the storage battery didn’t work.” – Thomas Edison

• Success doesn’t happen over night, it happens when you refuse to give up!

The Big RedsYoung team – few returning starters

Low expectations

Discipline – tenacity – drive

Semi final game – Pressure or stress?

Muskegon - Davidson19 35

4:31 left in game

How did the team respond?

State Champions!

Step 9: Learn From Adversity• The #1 critical question is not, “Why

me?” – The question is, “How am I going to deal with it?”

• Adversity requires you to:– step back and re-evaluate your role in

the situation– determine the lessons given– plot your new course of action.

• Some kind of failure is inevitable, it’s how you handle adversity that will determine your outcome in business and in life.

10. Survive Success• Most believe success is the “point” where

the journey ends! Success is the starting point to the next journey with knowledge in your pocket.

• “Even the most dedicated and hardworking people are tempted by laziness and complacency once they think their work is over.”

– I challenge you, every day to take a small bite of the humble pie.

Practice Personal Accountability

• What to really ask yourself in difficult times

• Eliminate blame, complaining, procrastination

• What can I do to make a difference!

• Ask what or how, not why, when, or who?– How can I do a better job today?– What can I do to improve the situation?– How can I help others?

• Don’t be a victim!– No excuses!– Being a victim is stressful – you have no control.– “Why me” mentality only increases our stress.– Ask how can I change this situation!

QBQ – Personal Accountability

Choosing Success in Muskegon

What can we do to bring customers to Muskegon?

What is going to be your “Bike Time?”

Final Thoughts for 2009

212 – PrincipalsService – Everything flows from it and is nourished by it.

Customers will forget what you said, or what you did, but they will NOT forget how you made them FEEL!

o

Attitude – the difference in success or failure is not how you look, how you dress, or how you’re educated. It’s how you think!

• The only thing that stands between a person and what they want in life is the will to try it and the faith to believe it possible

212 – Principals

Leadership – is not always about telling someone how to get there. Sometimes it’s about showing them with passion and allowing them to follow with their own.

They don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care

o

212 – Principals

The Death Crawl

It’s Your Life.

YOU are responsible for your results.

It’s time to turn up the heat.