If you are….stop! Take the time to identify, define and analyze what you are afraid of.

Once you have identified your greatest fear, write out the answers to these questions:

1. How does this fear hold me back?
2. How does this fear help me?
3. What would be your payoff for eliminating this fear?

Stop avoiding what is making you fearful and confront them. If you do the thing you fear, the courage comes afterwards.

When you overcome your fears you can set big goals, achieve them and become unstoppable!

Be Free!

Do you genuinely like doing email? If you do, then you don’t need to read this.

But if you really dislike (okay, despise) doing email, then read on. Over the past few years, I have seen a ground- swell of busy professionals who are increasingly challenged and frustrated by the sheer amount of email that comes in and the poor quality of the incoming messages. Learning to manage it can be a lonely battle.

Let’s look at a few things that might be frustrating you and what you might do about it:

1) Are you the slave or the master of your email?

Slaves are obsessive-compulsive about checking their email every few minutes (or seconds) at work AND at home and are constantly afraid they might miss something important. Masters are confident their email will be there when they are ready to check it, not when it dings. They also let others know how to reach them when something is truly important (hint: it’s NOT via email!) so they aren’t slaves to their inbox. Become a master and you will concentrate better and get more real work done by the end of your day.

2) Is email time planned in your day?

It seems that people expect to work a full day with projects and meetings, and then add in email. Email takes an average of 2-3 hours per day for most business people but most aren’t planning it into their days. As a result, they work more hours than needed and/or bring it home. Reduce your stress about email by making time for it on your daily calendar.

3) How well do you know your email software?

If you are like most, you haven’t any advanced software training except for how to send and receive messages. You may be struggling with filing, organizing, tasking, and finding messages once received. I encourage you to learn your email software a little each day by pulling down a new menu and follow the arrowed path to see what capabilities your software has. You will be pleasantly surprised with what you come upon. If you use MS Outlook, there is much to be found at Tools, then Options.

Though there are more frustrating factors, I hope this helps you like doing email a little more because email is here to stay. Enjoy it and thrive!

Get “Abby’s Top 10 Strategies for Slaying the Email Dragon” ebook to continue you on your journey to become the master of your email!

About the Author:
Abby Marks Beale is founder of The Corporate Educator, a professional speaking and training company specializing in helping with busy people work smarter, faster and just plain better. Go to http://www.thecorporateeducator.com/.

From High School Senior, Rebecca Lenz:

“I hated to read because of how slow of a reader I was. After taking this workshop, I now am not dreading reading. My WPM [words per minute] has improved tremendously and I’m still comprehending what I’m reading. It’s amazing what this workshop has done for me.”

From the VP of Mack Investment, Ed Gjertsen II

“This was a great learning opportunity. It will greatly increase my ability to get through my reading. Brining my wife and school age children was a great move. While very good students to begin with, the tips and techniques they learned will allow them to excel in a very competitive academic environment.”

Actual Before and After Reading Speeds and Comprehension

After attending the Reading Smart Workshop, people are more than DOUBLING their reading speeds. Even at these sound barrier breaking speeds, tons of people have INCREASED their comprehension – check out these numbers:

Started at: 400 WPM with 70% comprehension
Ended at: 800 WPM with 60% comprehension
- Adam Heaney, Emery Financial

Started at: 160 WPM with 60% comprehension
Ended at: 240 WPM with 90% comprehension
- Rodney Jacobson

Started at: 265 WPM with 60% comprehension
Ended at: 600 WPM with 80% comprehension
- Gail Bush, HR Director, Power Genix

Started at: 200 WPM with 60% comprehension
Ended at: 480 WPM with 80% comprehension
- Lisa Heaney

Started at: 240 WPM with 50% comprehension
Ended at: 800 WPM with 60% comprehension
- Debbie Rodriguez, Account Manager, Old Republic Title

Started at: 240 WPM with 80% comprehension
Ended at: 800 WPM with 90% comprehension
- Nancy Early

Started at: 240 WPM with 90% comprehension
Ended at: 600 WPM with 60% comprehension
- Anonymous

Be Free!

For more information on the Reading Smart Workshop, call us at 888-233-0407

You might enjoy making a sale, but you find yourself getting that butterfly feeling before an important presentation or at the moment of decision. Even if selling is not your career, you do engage in sales – whether if be selling your point of view to others or your selling your skill set, as in a job interview.

These 10 tips will help you overcome your fear of selling by suggesting some action steps.

Be Free!
******************************

1. The most obvious way to eliminate your fear of selling is to quit your job.

Why in the world would you even consider for a single minute staying in a job that you fear. I seldom encourage quitting. But if your fear of selling cannot be resolved and it is giving you daily pangs of anxiety and occasional headaches – maybe, just maybe you ought to consider another line of work.

On the other hand, if you are just suffering from a little angst now and then, keep reading for some creative ways to deal with your fear of selling.

2. Do this self-assessment.

On a 1-10 scale, 10 being the highest competency, rate yourself in these 13 categories:

- Attitude
- Self-confidence
- Enthusiasm
- Goal setting
- Time management
- Communication skills
- Prospecting
- Qualifying your prospects
- Presentation skills
- Handling objections
- Preparing sales proposals
- Closing skills
- Measuring your results

This self-evaluation will help you with the next point.

3. Pinpoint your fear of selling.

What exactly is it? Does your fear of selling originate with your lowest assessment numbers from the previous self evaluation? There is an old saying that says, “A problem defined is a problem half solved.” I believe this to be true. Determining your weak links is the first step to eliminating them.

4. Do what you fear first.

Let us say your fear of selling stems from a lack of self confidence when you are prospecting. You are just not good at calling people you do not know and trying to get appointments with them. It takes skills and lots of self confidence to do this right.

Here’s your choice. 1) You can acquire the necessary skills to make appointments by telephone or 2) do what Albert Einstein says is “Insanity:” doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

I did a key word search on Google with these words “Sales prospecting” and uncovered 2,350,000 results. This is a good place for you to start looking.

5. Think big and start small.

Okay, you want to cure your fear of selling and in this case, it means getting better at making appointments using the telephone. Starting small means buying a book or buying a CD on this topic and making a list of what you need to do to overcome this paralysis.

Actually, the best and easiest way to dramatically improve your telephone skills is to get Art Sobczak books, “How To Sell More In Less Time With No Rejection – Vol I & II.”

Here’s the link: http://www.businessbyphone.com/HSM.htm

6. Keep a success journal.

Keep a written record of what is working and what is not working on a daily basis. The ideal time to do this is right after a sales call, while it is still fresh in your mind. Notice and record the little things. These little things add up over time and can influence outcomes.

7. Talk to yourself. Use affirmations repeatedly.

Try this on for size. “Everyday, in every way, I am sharpening my selling skills and acquiring new ones.” Say this 10 times aloud before your first sales call and again just after lunch.

Fears and anxieties cannot stand up to powerful self affirmations. Try it for 21 days. It really works.

Every time you do this you are taking a solid whack at your fear of selling.

8. Always expect the best outcomes.

This is a major attitude adjustment for most salespeople and business entrepreneurs. Don’t let your mind wander aimlessly and attract negative thoughts.

One of the best ways to cure your fear of selling is to always think positively. You cannot control the weather. You cannot control what someone else is thinking. You cannot control time by making it go faster or slower.

But you can control your thoughts. You can have positive thoughts and you can have negative thoughts. And guess what – you get to decide!

9. Put a “mask” on as you are driving to your first sales call.

This mask is made from a blended and invisible substance. It is available to everyone who wants it.

The cost is zero and the benefits are many. The mask is made from equal parts of energy, enthusiasm and passion. Add a smile to the mix and you will likely vaporize any fear of selling you have.

Who can resist a person who is smiling? Who is not attracted to a person who loves his or her work? Always remember your energy, enthusiasm and passion are contagious.

10. Enjoy the journey.

Do not take things too seriously. Have fun. Enjoy the view and the ride. The sum of your life is not based on how many meetings you attended, how many e-mails you sent, or how many voice mails you returned.

The quickest way to sharpen your selling skills is to teach the subject. Ask your sales manager to give you 15 minutes so you can present your ideas on a particular selling skill. The best way to learn something is to teach it.

There you have it – 10 ways to overcome your fear of selling.

Now you can start selling more and turn your fear of selling into a fearless attitude that accompanies you on every sales call.

Source: http://www.evancarmichael.com/Sales/407/10-Ways-To-Overcome-Your-Fear-Of-Selling.html

Author: Jim Meisenheimer http://www.salestrailblazer.com/

Going into the call I was expecting a battle.  The email that I had received beforehand was negative, accusatory, and disrespectful so I wasn’t excited to talk with this person.  Amazingly enough, 10 seconds into the call the person on the other end was not acting ANYTHING like I had imagined they would.  

I realized that what they thought they were communicating in email was not what I had perceived in the email, and that when we actually talked about it, we were in agreement on most accounts.

This led me down a trip on memory lane.  When I was selling books door to door in college, the person behind the door that I was about to knock on was no where near as scary or mean as the “ogre” that I had pictured them as being.  Every time I have called a client or customer to work out a “misunderstanding” or “problem” the problem/drama/conflict that I pictured in my mind before I called was always far scarier and intimidating than the actual conversation.

Remember, it is rarely as bad as you have pictured it.  People generally want to get along with other people. And ACTION cures FEAR.

ACTION CURES FEAR!  If you ever find yourself afraid or apprehensive to take on any task (i.e. calling a prospect, calling someone who is upset, asking for one more referral, cold call, or whatever) just take a deep breath and dive in.  

Do it!  Don’t hold back.  Trust that in the end, no matter what might happen in the next 5-10 minutes, you are going to be just fine, and more than likely you will come out of it with a very positive lesson (about what to do or what NOT to do the next time) and many times you will come out with some sort of a result (which will usually be a good one).

Its like diving into chilly water, it is always worse when you stand there “thinking” about how cold the water is, and putting one toe into the water to remind you how cold it really is THAN realizing that if you must get into that water the easiest way is to dive head first.  More often than not, the water is not that bad and you will get used to it, and if it is life threatening you can get yourself out of the water.

Take the scariest thing on your task list, or the activity that you have been consistently putting off, procrastinating and by the end of the day DO IT!  DO IT TODAY!  Action cures Fear!  

In the comments below tell us what that activity is and what you are going to do about it.

Be Free!

Tom Weber

Instructor

Setbacks can sidetrack us with blame and excuses and we give away the power of personal responsibility. How can you change this? When something doesn’t work out, ask yourself, “How did I create that situation?”

You can’t control other people’s actions, but you can influence them. You can also control the way you react to other people’s actions.

When you become upset, ask, “What was my part?” Once you have the answer, ask yourself, “What will I do differently next time?”

Be Free!

1. “Influenceability”
2. A short time frame

Here’s what I mean. On three separate occasions, I had conversations with people who were struggling. When I asked them about their focus, in all cases the answer was a yearly income goal. I said “what are you focusing on during the day” and the answer was “making $100,000 this year” (the number was different in each case, but not by much).

If your focus is on a yearly income goal, you have created a situation where you cannot win. No matter how brilliant or masterful the performance, a year does not happen all at once. There is no sale that will earn all of your yearly income in one fell swoop. No-win situations are never helpful for one’s self esteem.

When I asked people who were living on the correct side of the butt-whooping about their goals, the answers were much more about influenceable activities, and the time frame was never longer than 90 days.

This flips the no-win situation on its head, becoming something where a win may not be guaranteed, but it is possible, likely, and dependent on performance. This is how momentum builds. Little victories lead to big victories.

Have you ever noticed how many diets, fitness plans and training programs are about 90 days long? Ever wondered why Wall Street is so into quarterly performance? Ever considered why so many books are about “90 days to achieve this or that”? It’s because when it gets down to pushing ourselves hard enough to see growth, most human beings cannot do it for more than about 90 days without a finish line coming up.

Am I saying you should NEVER think longer term than 90 days? Of course not- yearly goals can be inspiring, and a 5-10 year Vision is incredibly helpful for keeping on track and giving your goals meaning or context.

I am just saying that if your all day every day focus is on something that is designed to take many days, you may be setting yourself up for frustration. Take those big dreams, take that inspiring big vision, and chunk it down into “what controllable (or at least influenceable) goals can I accomplish in the next 30 to 90 days that will move me closer?” Then put your all day, every day, focus on THAT. When you that first small victory, celebrate so you can get a clean start for the next round. Keep your focus sharp, influenceable and in the short term, and life becomes energizing.

Hope this helps, have a spectacular week, and please share with us your focus.

- Is it helping or hurting?
- If it is hurting, how can you break it down so it DOES help?

Be Free!

Roger Seip
Instructor

If so, Freedom Personal Development’s Memory Training Workshop has the cure!  Read what 2 recent, self-proclaimed “CRS” sufferers experienced after taking this workshop. They are now cured!

“AWESOME!! This class has really boosted my confidence in remembering names and items. I no longer feel that I’m getting old and developing CRS (can’t remember sheet). I’m anxious to put this to use and develop a habit. We now own the entire package and will continue to learn and expand this God given gift of a brain.”

- Greg Kier, Software Architect, Level 3 Communications

“Outstanding and useful! I signed up because I had chronic CRS (can’t remember stuff) – especially names, to-do lists and all those really important networking skills. I was “surviving” in my business, but I’m positive this will help me excel.”

- Bruce Decker, Principal, D2 Investment Enterprises

The Memory Training Workshop will not only help relieve CRS Disease, but also guarantees you will:

1.  Experience a 300% increase in your ability to recall information.
2.  Remember a list of 50 unrelated items forwards, backwards and in and out of order.
3.  Develop the ability to deliver presentations without notes.
4.  Be able to meet 20 new people and remember all of their names within an hour.

Workshops take place in most major cities across the United States.

>> Enroll Online <<
Enroll by Phone 888-233-0407 

 Be Free!

Visualization is the process of making mental pictures and is a powerful technique used to help you focus your attention what you desire. People often come to me expressing concern that they are doing something wrong because they are having trouble seeing what they want.

Not everyone has a wide screen movie theater on the inside of his or her eyelids. Some people close their eyes and see absolutely nothing! Just blackness or spots, but not a picture.

Whether you know it or not you can visualize. To practice, try visualizing something you already have. It can be anything you want but to start off try something you see or do everyday. If it’s something you are already familiar with the easier this will be.

For example: Think of your favorite chair…

- What does it look like?
- What color is it?
- Is it upholstered in leather or suede or some other fabric?
- Has it got a hole in the armrest or is it in perfect condition?
- Is it a lovely soft and snuggly kind of chair?
- Is it an antique?
- Imagine yourself sitting in your chair.
- How good do you feel at the end of a hard day when you get to put your feet up and relax in that chair?
- Feel the tension ease away as you blob out in your favorite chair.
- How do you feel after you have been relaxing there?

Once you master visualizing simple everyday things you can let your imagination run wild! When you visualize try and be as specific as possible but most importantly remember to attach emotion to it.

A great way to think of it is more as feel-ization rather than visualization. It’s the emotion attached to what we are focusing on that gives power to our thoughts.

If you think back to when you were a child, the things you are most likely to remember are the experiences that have a strong feeling or emotional attachment. Like the excitement of Christmas morning or the dreaded visit to the dentist!

When you remember an experience that has a strong emotional attachment it’s almost as if you are there. This is what you need to feel when visualizing. Focus on the outcome you desire not on how you are going to achieve it. Feel as if you already have what you want!

Children are great at visualizing. They get right into the experience. When a child is running around playing Spiderman, He IS Spiderman! When he sings into a hairbrush or plays air guitar, He IS A Rock Star! Children naturally get the essence of Make Believe, it Makes you Believe!

Story Time…

Write a story about what you want or how you you’d like your life to be. Make sure you write it in the present tense.

Write down everything as if you already have it. Go into as much detail as possible and remember to use emotion. Write what you love about your new life as if you are already living it!

Read your story to yourself everyday and feel the excitement and joy in it.

Better still record yourself reading your story and listen to it in the car or on the way to and from work or whenever you feel like it.

Vision Boards…

Another great way to visualize is to create a vision board. Cut out pictures from magazines, newspapers etc or use photos or even drawings of things you really want. Put as many pictures as you like, there are no limits. Just make sure they are things you truly desire. Remember it’s the emotion you attach to your visualizations that will bring results.

Paste them onto a large piece of card and hang it on your wall. Make sure you put your vision board someplace you will see it often, every time you see your vision board focus on one of your pictures.

It might be a new car, just imagine how you feel having that car for real! Feel what it’s like sitting in that new car.
Focus on as many details as you can, e.g. make and model, color, interior, exterior everything you can think of. Imagine how you feel when you are driving it!

Whatever method you use, the main thing to remember is to use emotion. Make your visualization a fun experience. You want to feel joy and excitement when doing visualizations. The higher your energy levels the better the results. Do whatever it takes to get excited!

If you want a new car…

- When you are driving around in your old car “make believe” that it’s your new car.
- Go to the car dealers and take your dream car for a test drive.
- Get a friend to take a photo of you in or next to your dream car.
- Hire your dream car for a day.

If you want a new house…

- Go and look at houses.
- Go to open homes and imagine yourself living there.
- Look around for ideas and features that you would like in your own home.
- Drive around and see what different areas are like, where do you want your new home to be?

If you want a dream vacation…

- Get brochures from travel agents.
- Look in travel magazines or on the internet for your ideal retreat.
- Write up you own itinerary of all the destinations you would like to see.
- If you want to go to Paris put a picture of the Eiffel Tower on your vision board.

Visualizing is just like picking your favorite things out of a catalogue. Once you get started you won’t want to stop. Soon you’ll find yourself visualizing without prompting, it will become a habit. Habits are formed through repetition. If you practice visualizing everyday the better your results will be.

I hope this helps you to get inspired and start visualizing today!

About the Author:
Alison Bolger has been studying and teaching self improvement and wealth creation for over 20 years.

To read more tips and techniques like the ones in this article please click here: http://www.learnwealthysecrets.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Alison_Bolger

Before we talk about HOW to do this exercise most effectively, let’s talk about what the purpose is and why it works. The purpose behind visualization is to allow your life to be as good and fulfilling as possible-both in your actual results and in the attitude with which you approach your day.

Here’s why it works: Our minds are always thinking. We replay situations, and usually, we replay the negative ones much more often than the positive ones. If we’re not revisiting the frustrations of today, we are rehearsing worrisome situations for tomorrow. And, what you focus on in your mind is what your subconscious works to achieve.

That sounds very philosophical…so let’s use a sports analogy. Take football (far enough from philosophical?) When a quarterback goes to complete a pass, what is he supposed to look at? Not his hands, not the ball, not even where the intended receiver is at the current moment, but where he wants the ball to end up, right?

Here’s another one: I used to teach hang gliding. Beginning students do not consciously know how to turn the glider. However, if a person walks a bit in their way, just enough in their line of site to freak them out, the student stares at the obstacle, hoping to avoid it, and yet their subconscious takes them right to it, and they crash! It’s amazing! They literally do not know how to turn, but by focusing on something, their subconscious turns them right to it.

Your mind does the same thing with your life, and yet for most of us, the amount of time we spend focusing on negative situations and possible negative outcomes far outweighs the amount of time we spend focusing on good. So what does your subconscious do? It takes you right to the obstacle you are focusing on trying to avoid-the negative stuff. What you are going to do in your visualization is make yourself focus on the positive outcomes you are looking forward to seeing. You might not even know consciously how to get there, but your subconscious will take over and direct you if the vision is strong enough.

So how do you create strong visions of positive things? It doesn’t require an hour of humming and chanting. You simply should set aside 5 minutes in a place where you know you can be quiet and undisturbed. I have found that pulling my car over in the same spot, every day, on my way home has provided consistent and quiet time.

Then play a movie in your mind of a scene from your future that excites you-are you on the beach with your family? Which beach? What are you wearing? Are you golfing in your retirement? Which course? Which hole? Get a clear picture. Then watch and enjoy. The first time I did this correctly, I literally got goose bumps.

On some days, the exercise will end there. On most days you will want to take another step to bring that same enjoyment into current situations that may otherwise frustrate you. All you do is keep that great feeling and change your scenery. Take it with you into tomorrow’s meeting that’s making you nervous. See how it feels to walk into that meeting with the same level of joy and excitement you had in your visualization. Now watch that meeting work itself out much more positively than you had previously imagined.

What you’ll quickly find is that not only will the possible frustrations of tomorrow start to dim in your mind, but tomorrow will often work out just as you had visualized. And not only will tomorrow be better, but your long-term vision will be solidified in your mind and your subconscious will work to get you there.

Be Free!

Leah Simpson
Instructor