This article appears courtesy of Early To Rise, a free newsletter dedicated to making money, improving health and secrets to success. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.earlytorise.com. Originally appeared in Early To Rise (07/10/2009).
“There’s only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that’s your own self.”
- Aldous Huxley
4 Ways to Improve Your Business – and Your Life
By Brian Tracy
There’s an old saying: “The more you do of what you are doing, the more you will get of what you’ve got.”
In other words, if you want to improve your business – and your life – you have to do something different from what you are doing today.
One of your goals should be to always make the current year your most productive and profitable year so far. And there are only four ways to do it. Here they are:
1. You can do more of certain things.
What are the things you should do more of? Obviously, you should do more of the things that are working best for you.
For example, as a businessperson, you should use more of the marketing and sales methods that are getting you face to face with your best customers, the ones who buy the most readily and who most appreciate the special features and benefits of your products and services.
It is amazing how many marketers lose track of their most effective selling methods. Instead, they keep experimenting with something new, different, and unproven. And then they are surprised when their sales drop and their income declines.
2. You can do less of other things.
Many people fall into doing things that are not working particularly well. But because they are comfortable doing those things, they continue doing them.
You must continually think about the value of your time. You only have so many minutes and hours each day. If you spend your time doing things of low value, that time is no longer available to you to do things of higher value. You should do less and less of those things that are giving you few results, so you have more time to do more of those things that are giving you better results.
3. You can start something brand new.
You must be open to the idea of starting something that you have never done before. As Jack Welch, GE’s legendary ex-CEO, once said, “Our greatest competitive advantage is our ability to learn and apply new ideas before our competition.”
In times of economic turbulence, especially – with customers, markets, prices, demand, and competition rapidly changing – perhaps the most important thing you can do is commit yourself to being an aggressive, lifelong student of the profession of selling.
It is amazing how many people come up to me at my seminars and tell me that one method or technique that they learned at a previous seminar, or from a training program of mine, had changed their lives. They had doubled and tripled their incomes. They had gone from rags to riches. They had started their own businesses and become millionaires. And it was all because of a single, simple idea that they opened their minds to through continuous study. You should do the same.
4. You can stop certain things altogether.
Ask yourself this question: “Is there anything that, knowing what I now know, I would not start up if I had to do it over?”
You must be willing to discontinue or eliminate any activity – in your business or personal life – that, given your current knowledge and experience, you would not get involved with again.
Many people are lemmings. They continue running in the same direction, doing the same things, getting fewer and fewer results, until they go over the cliff.
Top people are always open to the possibility of, and the need for, doing something completely different. They are willing to stop doing anything that no longer works. They don’t get stuck in their “comfort zone” and stay there just because it feels good. They are willing to take the risks that go with embarking on any new course of action.
Is there anything in your life – right now – that you should do more of, less of, start, or stop?
The answer to that question will get you on track. And if you keep asking it, every day, it will help guarantee that you’ll become one of the most successful – and highest-paid – people in your industry.
