How you start your day makes a huge difference. Twenty minutes of exercise first thing can help you be in a better mood all day. Repeating a few positive affirmations can help you focus on what is most important.
And so can a few specific — and very personal — questions you can ask yourself.
What is the best way to get what you want? Ask for it.
And if you want to get better — at anything — ask yourself to be better. Here are some great ways to do just that. Ask yourself:
1. “do i show enough gratitude?”
Gratitude is the key to unlocking happiness. Happiness helps drive performance, fulfilment, and success. Are you writing down ten things you are grateful for everyday?
Do you show people how much you care?
2. “what does my ‘gut’ tell me?”
You you know that gut feeling you have? Trust it. Trust your intuition. Then question the reason you have that gut feeling. You will learn tons about yourself. You have had immense experience and your subconscious processes it all.
Your “gut” is a driving force curating your emotions, knowledge, and experiences. Use it and learn from it.
3. “why do i do what i do?”
Why are you doing what you are doing right now? What makes you want to do it? How does what you are doing help you realise your ultimate goals? Do your actions help others? What can I learn?
Focus on learning. Focus on experiences. The more experiences you have to learn from, the stronger your ability to help others becomes.
4. “is this the best i can do?”
Ask yourself: Am I doing my best? Can I do more?
If you can’t, awesome, keep going. If you can… get better. Do more. Try harder. Work smarter. Ask others to help you do better.
Master your skill. Master your craft.
5. “am i using my mentor or coach effectively?”
Mentors and coaches are not always the same person, even though they can be. You might need both, but always have at least one.
Help them help you by actually listening and applying what they teach you. Ask them deeper questions. Ask them to help you stretch yourself. Ask them, “Why?”
6. “do i love myself?”
This question is hard to answer.
Answer it anyway.
Check your self talk. Am I negative about my actions or thoughts? Do I give others more credit than I give myself? Do I treat my mental and physical self with respect? Am I truly loving myself?
When you love yourself, you can better love other people.
7. “am i helping enough people?”
At the end of our lives our relationships are the things that matter. The people who we have helped, and who have helped us, build our lives. The more we help others the more fulfilment and satisfaction we will feel.
While success as a destination is hard to find, success as a journey can be experienced every day.
Help more. Make your journey better and bring others with you.
The bottom line: Questions help us think more deeply. They help us understand where we are, find the gaps, fill the gaps, and increase our performance. As we question ourselves we can get stronger because we better understand our motivations… and by taking positive action, we can get a tiny bit stronger everyday.
It’s the end of the month, and you’re just one deal away from hitting your number. You have the contract out … but the prospect hasn’t signed it yet.
With just that one signature, your month is made. Without it, you’re in the red.
In this scenario, the urge to become a high-pressure sales jerk is overwhelming. Believe me, I’ve been there. But if you’re truly committed to serving your buyers, it’s never acceptable to be a jerk. Don’t turn into a jerk just because you are almost at the finish line — after all, this is when your buyer might need your help the most.
Obviously, yelling and making threatening demands is jerk-y behavior. But I find that many reps kill their deal with rudeness at the finish line without even realizing it. All it takes is 10 short words:
“Why haven’t you been able to get this finished yet?”
Translation: “What is wrong with you that you haven’t signed the contract?” That’s what your prospect hears when you ask this passive-aggressive question. Time of death of your deal: The moment this awful phrase is uttered.
This question makes your prospect feel like they aren’t doing a good job getting this done. If you have capably helped your prospect and shown value up until this point and they are ready to buy, don’t screw up your hard work at the last minute because you’ve gotten nervous.
Tell your nerves to calm down. Things will work out the way they will work out, but you being annoying and rudely questioning your prospect’s process is not going to help them or you.
Modern sales reps never, ever pressure their buyer. Sales is about helping the buyer buy on their timeline, not forcing them to fork over the money when it’s convenient for you.
The next time you inevitably find yourself in this situation, take it as an opportunity to demonstrate your commitment to helping your prospect. Instead of demanding why the buyer hasn’t gotten the contract back to you, ask open-ended questions to uncover the obstacles they’re facing, and learn how you can best help.
Here are some examples:
How can I help you to get started using our product or service?
What things need to happen from here to get this approved?
What are the next steps you have to take to get approval on this?
Who do you work with internally on this and what kinds of things do you think they would have questions on?
What kinds of content will help you internally in getting this done?
There’s a line between being assertive and aggressive in sales. Don’t ever — for any reason — cross over that boundary. You might think that pushing is the best way to close a deal, but I can guarantee you that the only thing aggression will do is kill a sale — in record time.
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When: Tuesday, May 24thWhere: Savoy Hotel, LimerickTime: 9.15am – 11.30am
Register now for your complimentary seat.Places are limited so book now to avoid disappointment
Call me crazy, but I’ve always preferred sleep to caffeine. But with erratic schedules and tight deadlines, getting six or more hours of sleep per night is no easy task for a coach—just ask any diet soda and coffee-addicted friends. I’ve spent a lot of time trying various productivity hacks to squeeze as much as I can out of each day.
My favourite tool for getting things done? The 10-minute timer on my phone.
My “10-minute rule” is pretty straightforward: Every task on your to-do list should take no more than 10 minutes to complete. If it takes longer than 10 minutes, then you should have broken it down into smaller tasks or delegated it to someone else. The key to this rule is in enforcing it, which means setting the timer on your phone to go off at the 10-minute mark. The level of speed and focus that this brings to your day is nothing short of astounding.
Want to give it a try? Here are three tips for making the 10-minute rule work for you.
1. delegate
Delegating is not as easy as it sounds. It can be difficult to let go of a task when you fear that another person’s work won’t be as good as your own. It’s helpful to remember that “done is better than perfect,” and the only way you are going to move ahead in your career is if you let go of the things you’ve mastered and take on new challenges. Another mindset shift that helped me was realizing that delegating creates opportunities for others. Now I actively think about what tasks and projects I can create for my team that will help them learn, grow, and advance their careers (which conveniently helps clear up my plate as well).
One of the challenges I see most with people who have trouble delegating—especially those in entry-level positions—is that they forget that they can and should delegate up. If you feel uncomfortable asking a supervisor or superior to do something, try this: Start by pointing out what you are doing, and position your “ask” as a request for help. For example, instead of, “I need you to call the team leads,” you could say “I’m working on pulling the data for this analysis—would it be possible for you to help me by calling the other team leads?”
2. find the easy, 10-minute task
You may be sceptical at first, but by simply changing how you frame your tasks, you will see that just about everything can be broken down into 10-minute tasks. Do you need to research a new topic? Start with 10 minutes on Google scanning news articles, followed by 10 minutes of jotting down everything you know and the top few questions you still need to answer, and then 10 minutes each calling people to get advice on answering your open questions (bonus points if you were savvy enough to notice that the phone call is a form of delegation!).
Voilà! You have just squeezed a task that may have otherwise lingered on into hours into 30 minutes.
3. use that timer
Using your timer is a critical part of the rule, so don’t forget it. As everyone in the business world knows, “we do what we measure.”
This is true of the 10-minute rule as well—you must use a timer or clock to keep track of how long you are spending on things. Smartphones make this easier with their built-in timer apps, but any clock with a minute hand will do. Whatever you do, don’t guess—because if your approximately 10 minutes always becomes 20, you’re not maximizing your productivity.
Sometimes, you’ll spend less than 10 minutes on a task (more time back—yay!), and sometimes that alarm will ring and you’ll still be on the phone (no, I’m not suggesting that you just hang up when the alarm goes off). Don’t feel badly about running over—just make note of it for next time.
For example, if one co-worker tends to ramble, preface your next conversation by telling her you have 10 minutes to brainstorm. What if you really need more time? That’s fine too: Tracking your time spent will provide insight into how you work, so you can plan your day better next time.
the 10-minute rule in action
One of my favourite examples of this rule in action occurred a few years ago when a team I was working on received the dreaded 4 PM phone call from a client redirecting the work that we would be presenting the following morning. Ugh, so much for a relaxing evening!
There were two big pieces of work involved, so we split our team of four in half. Each of our two sub-teams had about the same number of PowerPoint slides to revamp, with similar amounts of analysis, so it should have taken us about the same amount of time to complete.
I said to my team-mate that I really wanted to finish by 6 PM so we could go get dinner, and he agreed but was doubtful about our ability to get it done. So, we tallied up the pages, divided by the two hours left in the day, and found that if we could achieve a rate of 10 minutes per page, we would have enough time to complete it—plus a buffer for anything that proved to be particularly tricky. Re energized, we split up the pages, set the timer, and started cranking. To make a game out of it, we kept a tally on the whiteboard of how many pages each of us completed under or over the 10-minute mark.
By 6 PM, we were finished—and feeling really good about it. The other team who didn’t use the 10-minute rule? They finished around 9.
The challenge is on. For your next task today, get out your timer and try it for yourself. The clock is ticking!
FREE Sales & Marketing Workshop
When: Tuesday, May 24thWhere: Savoy Hotel, LimerickTime: 9.15am – 11.30am
Register now for your complimentary seat.Places are limited so book now to avoid disappointment
few things can take up as much time as spending time with a prospect that turns out to not be a prospect
Every time I speak, someone comes up to me afterward and shares with me their frustration with qualifying a prospect.
Problem is we don’t realise it’s a problem until after we’ve encountered the problem first hand and we have nothing to show for our efforts than wasted time.
below are 5 questions i believe in strongly
Use these early in your conversation with the person who you believe is a prospect. One of the best ways we can become more efficient in selling is by not allowing our time to be wasted dealing with fake prospects.
1. how have you made decisions like this in the past?
I like this, as it helps to uncover in a non-threatening manner the process the prospect would likely follow in making a decision.
2. what are you thinking right now is the best way to go?
This is a direct question, but when asked with the right tone of voice can uncover a lot. I ask this question to gain two insights — first, a critical need they have, and second, how emotionally tied they are to the decision. Yes, even in a B2B situation, emotion still plays a role.
3. what’s stopping you from making a decision today?
Yes, this too is very direct, but again, that’s why I like it. The sooner you can get potential obstacles out on the table, the sooner you will know if it’s a prospect you want to turn into a customer.
4. how is this going to help you?
You must be comfortable asking this question. If there isn’t a valid reason for them to be buying, then why are you talking with them? The clarity with which the customer answers this question is going to guide me in knowing if they are a real prospect or just someone looking to waste my time.
5. how do you intend to pay for it?
-or- What is the process I need to go through to be set up as a vendor?This question has a couple of variations, based on what you’re selling and the type of customer you’re selling to, but the objective is the same — to see how ready the prospect is.
A prospect who is merely kicking the tires will get called out here by not being able to sincerely answer the question. Don’t be afraid to ask this type of question early on.Just like with the other questions, the objective is to validate the worthiness of the prospect early to keep you from wasting time.
You know the feeling when you search for something on the internet, then click on a “related article” or other link … and before you know it, you’ve charted the entire Russian Revolution?
Yeah … I’ll be the first to admit it: I do this a lot. It’s a dangerous side effect of having a job that requires internet research. It’s one thing to mindlessly browse the web outside of work or when you’re on a break. (In fact, I have a great list of the best sites for wasting time on the internet for times like those.) But it’s another entirely when you’re supposed to be doing actual work.
You might feel like getting lost in the black hole is inevitable, but there are tools out there that can help you prevent it from happening. For example, StayFocusd is a Google Chrome extension that breaks the black hole browsing cycle by blocking distracting websites after a set amount of time. You have a set amount of time to browse a certain website per day, and after that time expires, you’ll get this message in your browser:
8. working through your lunch break
Eating at your desk doesn’t just make you antisocial. According to NPR, it’s also “bad for thinking, bad for creativity, bad for productivity, [and] bad for your body.” Sadly, though,only one in five people actually leave their desks or the office for a lunch break.
To be fair, if you’re among those people who take lunch at your desk instead of taking a break, it may not be your fault. Perhaps it’s not built into your office culture, or maybe you have a deadline that’s pressuring you to squeeze every waking moment out of your day.
But research shows taking the midday break can be mentally rejuvenating — and, in many ways, more productive than plugging away at your desk between mouthfuls. The best way to take a lunch break is to remove yourself from your desk or workspace and eat somewhere else — like a cafeteria, restaurant, or public park. Better yet, build your network at work by eating with a colleague. (Here are some more ideas for what to do during your lunch break. My favorite is probably “build a helicopter obstacle course.”)
9. not listening. (like, really listening.)
One of the sad consequences of being constantly distracted is the epidemic of only halfpaying attention — and thinking that’s OK. You might think that any time someone else is talking and you’re not, that means you’re listening.
That, or you’re reading that email that just came in. Or checking to see why your phone buzzed. When you’re in a meeting, how much can you really be paying attention when your laptop is open?
Not only can not listening carefully cost you relationships, it can also cost you in the time it takes to make up for whatever information you missed. Becoming an active listener is a critical part of becoming more emotionally intelligent. This mean really, truly paying attention to what people are saying — and it’s a skill that’ll set you apart in both your professional and personal life.
10. saying “yes” to every meeting
Being “in the zone” is when you lose yourself in whatever you’re doing — so much so that you lose track of time. It’s one of the keys to both happiness and productivity at work.
… And nothing disrupts that flow like a meeting. Especially an unnecessary one. It turns out that the average person wastes 31 hours in meetings per month. These unnecessary meetings are ones where you or the organizer isn’t prepared, you didn’t really need to be there, and so on.
Want to get those 31 hours back? Here are a few suggestions:
Be sure you’re only attending meetings you actually need to attend. If you don’t see yourself actively contributing to the group, politely let the meeting requester know that you won’t be able to attend.
If you’re the one calling the meeting, send invitees a note, description, or some sort of heads up along with your calendar invitations. This’ll give them an idea of why they were invited or need to be there. Try an app like Do or Solid to help keep your meetings organized and actionable.
Schedule meetings in bulk if you can. This is a strategic way to ensure the time youdo have outside of meetings is spent as productively as possible, since it takes peoplean average of 25 minutes to refocus after switching tasks.
Speaking of which …
11. multitasking
Multitasking can seem inevitable in our modern, ever-connected lifestyles. But research shows it can make us less effective, increase mistakes and stress, and costs the global economy.
Think you’re an exception? Consider this: Only2% of the population is capable of effectively multitasking. For the other 98%, all it does is cause us to be 40% less productive and make 50% more mistakes than non-multitaskers.
Remember that bad habit of not listening? People do that a lot during meetings when they try to multitask — whether it’s reading and responding to emails and messages, scrolling through their Twitter feeds, or something else. In fact, 92% of professionals admit to multitasking during meetings, and 41% admitted to doing it often or all the time.
Getting out of the habit of multitasking is difficult, but certainly doable. Removing notifications from your work computer (see #5) and putting away your cell phone (see #6) are two great ways to start. Other ideas include establishing a no-laptop rule for meetings, using the Pomodoro Technique (where you work in sprints in a way that complements the body’s natural ultradian rhythm), and planning your day in blocks that include built-in breaks.
12. playing with your phone before bed
Have you ever lay in bed with the lights off and spent a few minutes scrolling through your phone to respond to last-minute texts and emails, check your Twitter feed, or scroll through Instagram? Now, raise your hand if those few minutes have ever turned into half an hour, forty-five minutes, or even an hour.
Imagine how much more sleep you could’ve gotten that night if you’d simply gone to bed when you first turned the lights off.
But it’s not just about the amount of sleep — it’s also about quality of sleep. Studies have shown that people who gaze at a backlit screen right before bed actually report having lower-quality sleep — even when they get just as much sleep as someone who didn’t look at their electronics before bed. This is because presence and absence of light tell our brains whether or not they should release the sleep hormone melatonin that makes you tired. Because the LED lighting emitted by the screens on our electronic devices is so similar to daylight, it can trick our brains into thinking it’s daytime, causing us to stay awake for longer.
The best way to break this habit? Buy an alarm clock that’s not your phone, and charge your phone in a separate room so you avoid the temptation of checking it altogether. If you’re worried about missing an emergency call, then try sending those last-minute texts 30-60 minutes before you hit the hay. It’ll mean you get more sleep and higher quality sleep, leading you to operate at peak productivity the following day.