Inspiration from Henry Ford

by Bo Bennett, DTM

Henry Ford (1863 - 1947) was the founder, vice-president, and chief engineer of the Ford Motor Company.

Success is age independent. Henry Ford constructed his first steam engine at the age of 15.

Success is not formal education. Ford's formal education was limited to what is rumored to be about three years.

Success is fueled by failure. After two unsuccessful attempts to establish a company to manufacture automobiles, the Ford Motor Company was incorporated in 1903 with Henry Ford as vice-president and chief engineer.

Success is problem solving. By early 1914, Ford's innovative assembly line had resulted in a monthly labor turnover of 40 to 60 percent in his factory, largely because of the unpleasant monotony of assembly-line work and repeated increases in the production quotas assigned to workers. Ford met this difficulty by doubling the daily wage to $5 and shaving one hour off the workday.

Success is overcoming competition. In 1905, there were 50 start-up companies a year trying to get into the auto business, and Ford succeeded.

Success is doing what you feel in your gut is right, despite public opinion. The Wall Street Journal called Ford's daily wage increase plan "an economic crime," and critics everywhere heaped "Fordism" with equal scorn.

Success is seeking out those who can help you with your goals. In 1903, Ford found twelve people willing to invest a total of $28,000 in another motor company. Ford was then able to begin production of the Model A car. The car sold well and the company flourished and by 1907 the profits reached $1,100,000. In 1909, Ford made the decision to manufacture only one type of car, the Model T, which changed automotive history forever.

[Sources: http://www.hfmgv.org, http://www.biography.com]

Master The Art of Asking Questions by David Rohlander

Master The Art of Asking Questions

by David Rohlander



"Sellin' ain't tellin', askin' is."

I heard this simple but true homily years ago when working in Texas. Merrill Lynch spent thousands of dollars and six months in California and New York
on sophisticated courses and seminars to train me to sell stocks and bonds. Yet, over the years this bit of country wisdom from Texas has been one of
the most powerful and useful lessons I've ever learned. To be successful in sales, you must master the art of asking questions.


WHY?

One of the most obvious reasons you ask questions is to acquire information. The conscientious professional will spend a great deal of time and effort to
learn about their client.


The person asking questions is always in control of a discussion. This control can be used gracefully to lead and direct the client to a successful
outcome or it can be abused. As a professional, it is your responsibility to serve the client in a thorough and proper manner. It is impossible to do
this if you do not have enough accurate information. The most efficient way to get the necessary information is to ask questions.


There is a big difference between efficient and effective communication. Some sales people believe a day of golf is a great way to solidify a new
relationship. It's not. Your goal should be "frequency of contact."


Frequent short contacts and encounters will build stronger relationships and make you more memorable to your client. If you are new in business a good
way to develop this habit is using a checklist. First list all your clients and prospects. Then make a list of all the ways you can make contact: phone,
e-mail, fax, letter, lunch, appointment, racquetball, golf. the list is endless. There are numerous software programs that will help you. Review
this list at least weekly to see who you have forgotten, to plan the next mailing campaign and/or benchmark your actual activities to your goals.


How often should you make contact? That depends on the relationship and the nature of your business. Everyone in your database should hear from you at
least quarterly. Clients get very annoyed if they only hear from you when you want to make a sale or collect a check.


Obviously, the goal is to graciously ask questions during these encounters. Art comes into play in the manner that you ask the questions. No one likes
to feel like they are in a deposition. Remember, you are striving to build long-term profitable relationships.


The real key is to understand how the client feels about certain issues and what are the emotional dynamics of the decision making process. How do you
get to this next level of understanding? The answer is, asking more questions.


Questions are the keys to unlock the vaults of information, needs, wants and emotions. As you master the art of asking questions you will gracefully
control the discussions with your clients. As Martha Stewart would say, "It's a good thing."


WHO ARE YOU?

It's time to go from preaching to meddling. The most important person you have to ask questions, is yourself. Why do you do what you do? What are your
motivators? How can you improve? What are your values? Is your behavior consistent with the things you say that you believe?


The best test of 'who are you' is the quality and quantity of referrals you receive. As you build relationships with others are they able to determine
your beliefs by how you behave? They don't need to have a long explanation about the history and values of your company. They just listen to what other
people say about you and your reputation.


Clients will trust a person who they believe has integrity. Without trust it is impossible to elicit honest feedback from a client. To learn a specific
process on how to build trust on purpose, refer to Values-Based Selling; The Art of Building High-Trust Client Relationships by Bill Bachrach (at this
time it is written for Financial Services Professionals).


WHO CARES?

There are at least four groups of people who are critical to your professional development. They are co-workers, centers of influence, vendors
and your clients. How much do you care about each of these groups?



Co-workers

Your co-workers are a vital part of your professional team. If you don't have time to show your co-workers that you care about them, in time they
will show you that they don't care about you either. The best way to show interest and concern is to ask them questions.


The depth and quality of the question you are comfortable asking a co-worker will be a reflection of the quality of your mutual relationship. As you
become astute at listening you realize how much you can tell about someone by the type of questions they ask. Peter Drucker spends a major part of his
time during lectures at Claremont Graduate School teaching students the value of "asking the right question." The depth of the question shows the
depth of understanding a person has of a problem.


Centers of Influence

Centers of influence are those people who respect you and whose position or experiences naturally enable them to send you a continual flow of referrals.
They are the most valuable kind of marketing and public relations you can ever have. When you ask them questions it is an opportunity to show your
interest and concern for them.


Vendors and Colleagues

Vendors and other professional colleagues are also critical to your development. Do vendors and sales representatives from your suppliers refer
you accounts? Sure, it helps to refer them business too, but develop the habit of asking good questions and listening well.


Clients

The fourth group is clients. Surely you have heard of the "silent close." Well, as a professional speaker I have learned a new appreciation for
silence. It is not effective to talk nonstop and at a fast pace. People need time to process information. After you have said something significant or
asked a good question, be silent, let them process the thought. When dealing with your clients, or any one else, you must mentally control your impulse
to fill long pregnant pauses of silence with your own voice. Silence is a beautiful thing.

Attorneys are trained to never ask a question unless they already know the answer. The more you study people the better you will get at making accurate
assessments. A new book that discusses this idea is Reading People, by Jo-Ellan Dimitrius, Ph.D. and Mark Mazzarella. They make the following
observation.

"We have to watch the way people behave toward others if we want to get the fullest sense of who they are. All the other factors covered in this book-
appearance, body language, environment, voice, even the words people speak-must be viewed alongside their actual behavior in the real world."

To master the art of asking questions you have to become a student of people. This takes time. It's not a matter of memorizing a few good
questions. It's the ability to read or see what is going on and have the confidence to ask the big question. One of the tricks to help you in this
area is to do your homework before you meet with a client.

Basic information gathering can go on for a good 15 to 20 minutes. Examples of these types of questions are below.


Needs assessment-

How do you manage your business/clients?

What have you done in the past that's been most successful?

Any mistakes you'd like to avoid in the future?

What are you looking for in a _____________?


Wants assessment-

How do you feel about ________________?

(Use the word 'feel' with women & they'll tell you what they think)

(Use the word 'think' with men & they'll tell you how they feel)


Are you comfortable with your current growth plans?

(If yes or no, ask-How come? Tell me more? Could you explain that to me?)

Tell me a bit about where you plan to be in ten years?

Understanding of motivators in a business environment-


How did you get to this position?

What do you enjoy most about your job?

What do your people do especially well?

What's working well for you?

Why do you work here?

The pace slows and specific questions are asked about areas where known
problems existed.


"What's your employee turnover like?"

"How do you measure customer satisfaction?"

"How's your cashflow?"

"Could you explain that a little bit more?"

By being patient, asking simple questions that are directly related to their situation and then using the power of silence and intently listening,
meaningful dialogue will be realized and ultimately great results are achieved.


Listen, Listen, Listen

There are many types of questions. Open ended versus closed, leading questions, hypothetical and the list goes on. Then there are the levels of
questions. You need to get to a person's emotions and prejudices.

As you study people you will continue to develop more understanding. Additionally, there are two critical ingredients you will want to master.
The first is trust. You have to build a pattern of behavior that will allow a person to trust you. Trust comes from asking good questions, consistent
behavior and keeping your commitments.

The second is empathy. This relates to how much you really care. It does not matter what level of education a person has they seem to know if another
person is real or not.

Most decisions are made from an emotional frame of reference. Emotions are the trigger in the decision making process. Emotions and feelings are not
right or wrong. Feelings are based on past experiences. The good news is that feelings can change when a person goes through new experiences.

Your questions can be powerful. The way you use questions is important. What are your intentions with asking the questions? Do you have personal
integrity? Can you be trusted? How well do you understand and read people? How well do you listen? Your ability to put all these elements together will
determine if you are an artist.

Effective communication requires more than talent. It involves trust, understanding, empathy and resolution. It is an art that can be learned and
developed.

Specific Purpose

Specific Purpose
by Bo Bennett, DTM

In the movie The Jerk, starring my all time favorite actor/comedian, Steve Martin, Nathan (Steve) set off to discover his "special purpose". Once he knew what it was, or thought he knew what it was, his life had meaning and direction. In real life, the same holds true. However, to avoid laughing every time I say "special purpose" (if you have seen The Jerk, you understand why) I prefer to refer to one's ultimate life goal as "specific purpose".

A few days ago, we contemplated our general purpose in life, which answered the general question, "who will benefit from our existence?" Now with our specific purpose, we answer the question, "what are we going to do with our lives?" with more detail and thought.

Before you start breaking a sweat with anxiety over this question, let me preface the remainder of this topic with these words: very often people never set goals for the same reason some people never find true love - they are "waiting" for that perfect someone (or perfect whatever in the case of goals). Rarely do people know exactly what they want and it is even less common for people to know their ultimate goal in life. No sweat. Just be as specific as you can. If the most specific you can be is "I wanna be rich!" then I would ask you to define what "rich" means to you. The more specific you can be the better.

A specific purpose is like a personal "mission statement". It's funny how businesses realize the importance of this structure and purpose, yet individuals do not. Make your personal mission statement as detailed and descriptive as possible. When writing it, use the present tense with statements such as, "I am a commander in the air force leading over 100 soldiers, traveling all over the world while meeting new people". While you are writing this all down, visualize it as well. Visualization is an important part of success, one that will be referred to many times in this program, so now is a good time to start putting it to use.

Once you have your specific purpose, you are free to add to it, alter it and even completely change it. Identifying a specific purpose is a very good starting point, but be forewarned that it should not control your destiny. Life is full of changes and these changes may bring new opportunity and desires to you. Keep an open mind. If after spending years pursuing a career as an astronaut, you decide you really want to be a ballerina, then change your specific purpose. Just make sure changes made to your specific purpose are not due to failure or frustration, but rather a true desire in your heart.

Time Mastery

Time Mastery: Part 1
by Bo Bennett, DTM

The successful individual understands and appreciates the value of time. Time is one of our precious resources that is rarely valued as it should be. Time management is having control over our time. We can't stop time or reverse it, but we can use it to our advantage.

There are thousands of resources on time management available; however, most I have come across seem to be written by employers wanting to maximize their profits by getting more work out of their employees. I believe to be a true master of time you must realize how valuable this skill is in the achievement of your own success. Mastering your time, not just managing it, will bring you the following benefits:

Increase your personal productivity. Imagine getting twice as much done each day as you do now without working any harder or longer. How much would that be worth to you? This is not only possible, but it can be expected when you become a true master of your time.

Relieve stress. One of the main reasons so many people suffer from stress is that they feel their lives are disorganized. They often feel "under the gun" and like they have too much to do and too little time to do it. People often feel as if they are constantly playing catch-up rather than forging ahead. They feel as if they are just "spinning their wheels" while not getting anywhere. Does any of this sound familiar? With any of these feelings, how could one not be stressed? Once you master your time, these feelings, and the associated stresses, will be history.

Forge ahead. This is the main benefit that most time management books, lecturers, and resources fail to get across to their audiences. When you master your time, you have time needed to work on your life purpose. You can no longer make excuses (by this time you should not be making excuses anyway) that "you have not got the time". You have the same 24 hours in a day as Bill Gates has--the difference is how you choose to spend your time. Forging ahead is making the time for what you are passionate about doing while still doing the things you need to do to pay the bills. This is something that all successful people must do.

There are many benefits associated with traditional time management, however, they are beyond the scope of this article. Forging ahead alone should be enough motivation for you to reevaluate how you spend your time.

Here are some good time management techniques that act as the foundation of time mastery.

• Catalog your time. Make a log of what you do in the average day. Do this for about a week.
• Eliminate wastage from your day. Stop doing the things that bring you no benefit whatsoever. You will be surprised how many you will find in your day.
• Make "to do" lists. Prioritize your activities and assign a time to each as to how long it will take. This will help you begin the activities you know you have time to finish.
• Schedule calls. Set aside time for both incoming and outgoing calls. Phone calls can interrupt your workflow. Once you are interrupted from a productive mental state of mind, it is often difficult to get back into that state of mind and productivity suffers.
• Learn to say "no". Saying no in advance to extra work is much easier than having to apologize later for not being able to complete something on time. Refuse excessive workloads.
• Do not neglect long-term projects. Just because they may not be due soon, they will be due eventually. Working on these projects often will save you from the last minute crunch that causes stress.
• Be decisive. Make decisions quickly. It is important to have enough information to make an informed decision, however, too often people do not know what "enough" is and hold off on making decisions. Most of the time, a poor decision is better than no decision.
• Deal with e-mail effectively. Make use of spam filters to stop from having to read the garbage that comes to your inbox. Create sub-folders to organize your incoming e-mail, but be sure to keep the things that need your attention in the short term in your inbox. Once you file it away, it is often neglected.
• Don't procrastinate. Procrastination is putting off until tomorrow what you should be doing today. This is so important that I have devoted a whole day to it later in this course. For now, just do your best not to put things off.

Time management skills are the foundation for time mastery. They are to be used in conjunction with time mastery skills for maximum benefit. Tomorrow, we will discuss the techniques and practices of time mastery.

# 1 Skill Employers Are Looking For

What Is The Number One Skill Employers Are Looking For?

just finished reading Alan Greenspan's book: The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World. It is an exceptional read and is really two books in one. The first part of the book is about his life from humble beginnings up to his retirement as the Fed Chairman in 2006. The second part of the book is about his thoughts on the economies of the world and where they are potentially headed and why.

Alan Greenspan is a strong believer in the capitalistic system rather than central planning (ex. the old Russia system). This is because with hard work, proper study and focus, people can be prosperous in a capitalistic system.

The final chapter of the book was extremely enjoyable to read. It is called the Delphic Future and projects possible futures for the US and the world in general. One enlightening paragraph says:

Quote: A dysfunctional U.S. elementary and secondary education system has failed to prepare our students sufficiently rapidly to prevent a shortage of skilled workers and a surfeit of lesser-skilled ones, expanding the pay gap between the two groups. Unless Americas education system can raise skill levels as quickly as technology requires, skilled workers will continue to earn greater wage increases, leading to ever more disturbing extremes of income concentration. End of quote.

On the other side of the coin Greenspan says:

Quote: It is not accident that human beings persevere and advance in the face of adversity. Adaptation is in our nature, a fact that leads me to be deeply optimistic about our future.

What do we take away from this? The simple answer is that each of us must choose our own future and that future will affect our collective future!

To create a great future we need a clear path to travel. The difficulty of choosing that path is increased because of ever expanding options in everything we do. In a highly stimulating environment it is too easy to spin our wheels. How do we choose a path that improves our life both individually and collectively? Fortunately there is hope.

The message is clear. Those who will succeed and prosper in the coming years will have the following skills and backgrounds:

These skills can be boiled down to one skill. It is a major skill that we all need to be successful in whatever career we choose. That skill is also: The #1 Skill Employers are Looking for.

• Decision making
• Knowledge
• Schooling
• Experience
• Reasoning
• Intuition
• Common Sense
• Confidence

The skill is powerful, transferable to any field, and has made countless people enormously successful and prosperous through the ages. If you learn to use it well you can become extremely successful in your professional and personal life.

My next series of Blogs (They will posted in the next month. If you cant wait, please go to my website: chuckclayton.com) will provide you with the name of that skill, why it is our most powerful strength and what learning it can do for you. It will also teach you some of the key elements of that skill!

There is nothing more uncommon than common sense!

~ Frank Lloyd Wright

Greenspan, Alan. The Age of Turbulence Adventures in a New World (New York: The Penguin Press 2007)

Copyright © 2008, Chuck Clayton, All Rights Reserved<

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

Recognize the Dead End

Recognize the Dead End
by Bo Bennett, DTM

Imagine yourself exactly where you are today ten years from now. You are in the same job or business and making the same pay. You know no more than you did ten years ago, since your experience has been limited to the same year of experience repeated ten times. The only things you have to show for the last ten years are perhaps a few extra pounds around the mid-section and some more gray hair. Although some people may see this as great job security, those who are focused on success and personal growth see this as ten years of wasted time. One of the best things you can do for yourself is to ensure, on a regular basis, that you are making progress in your life by recognizing the "dead end".

Before we can do something about a dead end, we must learn to recognize one. Whether you are a business owner, employee, independent contractor, or unemployed (either voluntarily or involuntarily), you run the risk of being stuck at a dead end. Although every business and job has a future, it may not be the future you had in mind for yourself. A dead end is not characterized by income potential alone, it is also about personal growth (learning, experience, etc.), happiness, and contributions to society. For example, teaching in an elementary school, although income potential is certainly limited, can bring one tremendous wealth in the form of personal fulfillment and would not be considered a dead end. Conversely, working at a job you despise, with little chance of promotion and no personal satisfaction would be seen as a dead end.

Those who fail to recognize a dead end can spend years “stuck” at the dead end, only to one day look back and ask, “What happened?” One of the worst forms of regret is a wasted life.

It is equally important not to falsely label your current situation as a dead end, as it is to recognize a dead end. Those who change vocations or directions in life solely for the pursuit of money, end up worsening their situation more times than not. Likewise, those who are impatient and determine a dead end by a “slow month” or a denial of a raise, end up making poor decisions based on their temporary situation.

So the question is, how does one recognize a dead end? Here are some suggestions.

• Analyze the market. Is your market expanding? Is demand increasing or decreasing? Is your organization getting an increasing or decreasing share? What do you think the future holds for the market? Where there are growing markets, there are usually increasing opportunities.
• Analyze the competition. Are more people entering the market? How does this affect market share? Does this appear to be a trend? "Flooded" markets are those with too much product and not enough demand, and usually a sign of a dead end.
• Analyze technology. Do you see technology rendering your business or your position obsolete? If so, it may be best to get out before you are forced out.
• What is your attitude? Are you burnt or burning out? Or do you remain motivated and positive in what you do? If you find yourself in a situation where you feel you cannot stay motivated and positive, get out.
• Visualize your future based on your beliefs, not on your hopes or wishes. Are you selling yourself a dream or is your prediction of your future based on your goals and actions? If you do not truly believe that you are on the right path to success, then you are at a dead end.

You can never really recognize a dead end unless you make a conscious effort. While there are millions of people who claim to be in "dead end jobs", the majority of them do nothing about their situation except complain. If you are one of these people, ask yourself, "Is this really a dead end?" and consider the non-monetary benefits. If you do find yourself at a dead end, then take a leap of faith and do something about it. Remember that dreamers only dream and successful people take action.

Bo Bennett reveals the secrets of success

Interview with Bo Bennett, by Brian Feinblum

Bo , you made millions of dollars off of an Internet venture -- and kept most of it. That's a dual feat! What did you do and how did you do it? I think your real question is, “What did you do and how can I do it?” I recognized a need and filled it. It was early 1995 and a friend of mine just introduced me to the Internet. I was immediately amazed and excited about its potential. For the next several months I would try desperately to get a website, but I would end up only getting conned, scammed, and ripped-off. I finally did find an honest company that I leased a web server from, but I ran into some more trouble--in order to have a web site I needed to be a technical wizard. So I became one. Just about 6 months later, I had created a web hosting company for the "average business user" that used my own web-based software to create a website and configure e-mail. Seven years later I sold the company for 20 million dollars.

Money aside, why do you consider yourself an expert on success? I have spend much of my childhood and all of my adult life answering the question, "What makes some people succeed where most people just live mediocre lives?" This question has prompted me to study the lives of many successful individuals, study many different philosophies, and learn all I can about success. However, my own pursuit of success has taught me the most.

Why did you write Year To Success in the one lesson-per-day format? People can't wait a year for it to happen, can they? They can. Whether they want to or not is a different story. I would like to paraphrase a rejection letter I received from a respectable, well-known publisher when I submitted my book, Year To Success

“Dear Mr.Bennett, …we ultimately decided that your book does not tell people how to be successful in a few clear steps. We feel that this is what our readers want.”

I will admit, it would be nice if success were all about doing A, B, and C, but it does not work that way. If it did, 95% of the population would consider themselves successful, not just 5%. Most books on success sacrifice content for marketability; they are edited to appeal to the population’s desire for instant gratification. Year To Success is different—very different. Not only is the book jam-packed with content, its one article a day format allows the reader to properly reflect on the information and actually retain the information.

You say the chief reason people do not ask for the things that they want is fear. Why is that? Fear is a powerful force. People do not ask for things they want for three primary reasons: the fear of rejection, the fear of failure, and believe it or not, the fear of success. People develop these fears over time usually as a result of false associations. The key eliminating these fears is getting straight on the facts that are associated with these fears.

If you had to narrow it down, what are the five key attributes one must possess for a life of success? That is a tough question for me because it goes against my success philosophy: there are not just a few quick attributes to success. Having said that, however, I do believe that some are more important than others. I like the three P’s (I know you asked for five, but…): perseverance, positive mental attitude, and passion. Possess those qualities, have a good idea, and put my general success formula to work (education + inspiration + action) and your chances of succeeding are greatly increased.

How did you go about selecting the 52 people featured in the book (for inspiration) -- from Ben Franklin, Oprah, Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld, to Mary Kay, Eleanor Roosevelt, Rockefeller and Einstein? These are some of the people who have inspired me the most. I will admit, there are many more, but I felt it important to “mix it up” with people who have succeeded in all walks of life. The people I have included have demonstrated several of the principles of success contained within my book. Their stories are not only inspiring, but very entertaining as well.

Many people have ideas for creating wealth -- but fail to act on them. Why do you believe this happens? There is only one reason: they do not really believe in their idea or their own abilities. It is that simple. Think about it… if you had an idea that you were 100% sure would lead you to wealth, wouldn’t you take action? When you truly believe in your idea, little things like lack of time, lack of money, and lack of a solid plan don’t matter much. Those “details” are eventually worked out.

Bo, part of success is about staying healthy, as you highlight in your book. But how have you gone your whole life without ever having a glass of wine, a cup of coffee or a drag on a cigarette? Health does have much to do with it, but the real reason is the associations I made early on in life. I associate alcohol with a painful childhood, cigarettes with the inability to breathe, and coffee with terrible breath. No matter how hard the advertising agencies try to get me to associate happy, healthy, and beautiful people with booze, I just can’t make the connection. We all crave “highs” of some kind. I firmly believe that when we deny our bodies artificial highs we are forced to find natural highs. For me, one of the greatest natural highs is success.

You point out that the words we use make all the difference to how others perceive us? How so? Ummm… like, listen dude, words are really, really, really, important. If I used those words, do you think you would really want to read my book? Right or wrong, others judge us based on many factors, one being the words we use. Using the right words at the right time is considered effective communication, which is one of the key characteristics of a successful individual.

Why do people fail to set goals and identify a specific purpose to rally around? Once again it comes down to belief. Many people don’t believe that goal-setting is important. When it comes to their life, they “play it by ear.” which may be a fine way to vacation, but a terrible way to live life. Once people understand how planning, and more important, taking action, will bring them significantly closer to success, they will no longer fail to set goals.

Your formula for success is education plus inspiration plus action. Can you elaborate please? Success at anything in life is dependent on those three “ingredients.” You must provide yourself with enough information. Year To Success contains over 200 “educational” articles on principles of success. You must keep inspired. Without inspiration, dreams die as quickly as they are formed. Year To Success is full of inspiration; in the daily articles, in the quotes, and in the success biographies. Finally, you must take action. Without action, nothing is accomplished. Year To Success provides readers with action steps based on the day’s reading. Education plus inspiration plus action is what success, and Year To Success, is all about.

Why did you wait over 20 years to write Year To Success? I have always had a problem with the teachers who taught students about "the business world" when they themselves have never made it in the business world. Likewise, I question the speakers who speak about success and wealth who have only become successful and wealthy by getting people to pay them for talking about it. From the time I graduated college, it has taken me 9 years to put the theories, concepts and convictions I had to the test. After what would be considered my first major business success, I still was not convinced and wanted to rule out luck and good timing. It was not until I had created my second multi-million dollar company using the principles in these 366 days that I was able to honestly share these ideas with others, and be confident that they work.

How do you define success? How much money is enough? Success is something that is very personal to each one of us. My definition of success actually takes up about three pages, but in short, it consists of living a healthy life, with strong personal and professional relationships, while doing what I love doing best, and being financially free, or living a life free from financial obligations and concerns. As long as I can keep finding ways to put my money to good use, I can always use more. But more money will not add to my success past the amount needed to maintain my financial freedom.

You emphasize that health plays a crucial role in success -- but do people really follow this advice considering most of America is overweight, tired, stressed, medicated and addicted to some kind of substance? No, most people do not follow that advice. For most people, the desire for instant gratification is greater than the desire to live a long, healthy, successful life. This desire for instant gratification is perhaps our greatest weakness as humans. True success is only possible when one puts long-term goals ahead of short-term desires. Year To Success covers this topic throughout the full year.

You advocate creating a "dream collage." What's that? Images are more powerful than words alone. Goals are great, and important to success, but think of a dream collage as pictures of your goals. It is amazing how much my dream collage of 10 years ago resembles my life today. It has pictures of a family, nice cars, great house, summer home, winter home, exercise room with a wilderness theme, etc. These images constantly inspired me and reminded me why I must succeed. Even today, I keep pictures of some of my goals on my desk, to look at every day.

Can you share with us your process for setting goals? I can, if you read day 92 in my book. I have taken the best of the best and developed my own process for setting goals. I am not being secretive by not sharing details; the process is just very detailed and requires careful explanation. I can, however, share what I believe to be the most important factor in goal setting—taking daily action. People underestimate the power of taking small, daily actions toward the attainment of their goals. Without daily action (not weekly or monthly), goals are often put on the back burner, many times indefinitely.

You identify perseverance and determination as the characteristic shared by all successful people throughout history. Tell us about this principle. If you study the life of any successful individual, you will see that perseverance was a key factor to their success. I have yet to come across an individual that did not show perseverance. People who don’t want success badly enough give up when things become “uncomfortable” for them. Those who persevere find more discomfort in not succeeding than in failing.

You make a lot of pop-culture references and analogies, alluding to movies such as The Jerk, The Shining, and Naked Gun. In order for the next generation to learn success principles, do we need to look to Hollywood and entertainment for examples and reference points? I love movies. I would make a horrible movie critic because I find entertainment in just about every movie I see. Hollywood is notorious for releasing movies that “corrupt young minds,” but I never seen them that way. As a “success-minded” individual, I relate every movie I see to success. Movies do make great examples when discussing success, but they are certainly not needed. I believe they keep my book entertaining and lively. If I were a classic novel buff, perhaps I would reference those. But I am not, so I don’t.

Why do you say that competition is good? If you have ever eaten lunch at the only place to eat lunch in town, or rented a car from the only car rental place within 100 miles, or remember a time when there was only one phone company, you have most likely experienced for yourself why competition is good. Competition in business causes businesses to be their best, giving the best service and producing the best product. Personal competition, as in students competing for the highest grades, causes people to be their best. In short, competition brings out the best in people, businesses, and a society.

You have an entry in Year To Success on how one can face his or her weaknesses. Easier said than done? What isn’t easier said then done? Actually, facing a weakness is not the hard part; it’s identifying the weakness that is the real challenge for most people. Most people are under the impression that to face a weakness means to overcome it—that is not necessarily the case. Henry Ford was uneducated. Bill Gates was a college drop out. Arnold Schwarzenegger spoke but a few words of English coming to this country. Helen Keller was unable to see, hear or speak at all. Abraham Lincoln was belligerent. John D. Rockefeller almost killed himself with worry. John F. Kennedy was too young and George Foreman was too old. Despite these weaknesses, each of these successful people either overcame, avoided, or compensated for their weaknesses and eventually became extremely successful.

Getting to YES

Getting to YES

Am I correct in assuming that your success is very important to you? By now, you are aware of the importance of sales and how everybody sells something, aren't you? Don't you agree that sales is really about influencing others? Therefore, getting others to agree with you would be an incredibly powerful skill to master, wouldn't it?

You have just witnessed a technique used to get a "yes" response. This technique is based on the Socratic method, which is all about asking questions. This is an excellent technique for asking for referrals, closing sales, or persuading others. When you ask someone a question, assuming they are listening, they always answer it. They may not answer it out loud, and they may answer it with "I have no idea", but the question is always answered. One of the powerful uses of questions is to keep the attention of the listener or reader. The technique used above also uses questions to elicit a yes response. This "warms up" the listener by getting them in a positive frame of mind.

Let's examine how this works in detail. We begin by determining our goal. My goal was to get you to agree that getting others to agree with you is an incredibly powerful skill to master. If I had just opened with the statement, "Getting others to agree with you is an incredibly powerful skill to master" you may have agreed with me or you may not have. If you did not agree with me, you would be in "defensive mode" and even if I had proven my point later in the article you would not be as open to the idea. Now my example is a fairly easy sell, but this technique works equally as well with harder to sell ideas, products or services.

Now that we have our goal, we need to work backward and create several questions that we are confident will result in yes responses. In order for this technique to be effective, these questions must be relevant. You may be able to trick someone into saying yes by asking, “Would you like to have more money? Do you love your kids? Do you want to buy my widget?”—but their final yes will almost definitely be followed by an emphatic “NO!” Using a logical progression of questions that get yes responses make it easy for the listener to answer yes to our final question.

Here are some suggestions for formulating supporting or leading questions.

• Use yes tags. Yes tags are phrases such as, "isn't it", "don't you agree", or "wouldn't you say". These phrases can be placed anywhere in the sentence and should be mixed up for maximum effectiveness.
• Soften your questions. If you use hard questions as leading questions, this technique may backfire on you. A "hard" question is one that uses definite terms that leave little room for flexibility. For example, "Smoking is the most deadly habit on earth, don't you think?" is not as easy to agree with as "Smoking is one of the most deadly habits on earth, don't you think?" Remember, you want to phrase the leading questions in such a way that it is almost impossible for others to disagree.
• Phrase in the positive. Questions should be phrased in the positive whenever possible. My opening question, "Am I correct in assuming that your success is very important to you?" could have been written as "Am I correct in assuming that you not achieving success would be a bad thing?" The mind remembers "achieving, success, bad thing" and that is not the message to which we want our listeners to agree.

If you are thinking that this technique sounds a little manipulative, remember that the difference between manipulation and influence is intent. This technique is best used to counter other people's natural "no" defensive response, not trick them into a "yes" response. Just as a knife can be used to kill, it can also be used to heal.

Questions are a very powerful and effective form of communication that can be used in many ways. This technique, when used properly, can help you to become more influential, help you to become a better communicator, and bring you another step closer to success.