Achieve More in 2004Written by Kelley Robertson
Another year is upon us and if you are like most people you have hit floor running without planning a clear objective for upcoming year. However, top performing sales people make time to establish clear targets. Setting goals is not a complicated process nor does it take a lot of time. Use techniques listed below to help you achieve your targets.- Ensure each of your goals follows SMART concept: Specific, Motivational, Action-oriented, Relevant to your situation, Time-bound. For example, “I will increase my sales by 15% compared to last year.” Be as specific about your goal as possible. “I will start my own catering business” is a lot stronger than “I want to go into business for myself.” Challenging goals are motivating. Set goals that will push beyond what you usually think you can accomplish. Remember to set a deadline. A goal without a deadline is simply a dream. Attach a realistic yet challenging deadline for accomplishment and post this where you can review it regularly. - Phrase your goal in present tense and assume success. Don't say, “I want to.” Say, “I will.” This subtle technique tells your subconscious that you have already achieved your goal which means it will go work at helping goal become a reality. It will attract people, places, and situations you need to achieve that goal. - Put them in writing. This simple act helps you clarify your goals and will allow you to visualize them more effectively. I recommend that you record each goal on a separate index card and review them twice a day – once in morning (when you first wake up) and again before you go to bed. This process reinforces your goals, acts as a reminder and drives your goals deep into your subconscious. In fact, this is one of most powerful strategies you can use to achieve your targets. - List benefits you intend to receive by achieving each goal. This will keep you focused and strong particularly when you face inevitable roadblocks and barriers. Years ago, when I chose to quit smoking, I listed 75 benefits and when I felt urge for a cigarette I would review this list to help me get past that craving. The more benefits you can list for your goals, more motivating those goals will become. - As you review your goals each morning and evening, picture yourself achieving each of them. The more you can “see” success in your mind's eye, more likely you can translate this into reality. Create a perfect picture in your mind and replay it frequently. Developing a picture board can help with this. This is a very effective tool that allows you to see visual impact of achieving your goals. When my wife and I bought our first house we clipped photographs and pictures of what we wanted our house to have and pasted them on to a large sheet of poster board. We hung this near front door of our apartment so we could see it every time we left or entered apartment. We also created a thermometer of “down-payment savings” to help us track our progress. We had a clear deadline and were able to surpass this deadline by almost 30 days. I now keep track of my annual revenues, speaking engagements and book sales in same manner. I post these sheets on my office wall where I can see them everyday and they allow me to track my progress with a quick glance.
| | The Dollar Heyday Is OverWritten by John Finger
Money Matters December 18, 2003 Presented by The Money Management Firm, Inc. www.moneymanagementfirm.com eBay ID: optionsforyou The Dollar’s Heyday Is Over _________________________________________________________________________________________ PAYCHECK GUIDE: The following helpful guide has been prepared to help our employees better understand their paychecks: Item Amount Gross pay $1,222.02 Income tax $244.40 Outgo tax $45.21 State tax $11.61 Interstate tax $61.10 County tax $6.11 City tax $12.22 Rural tax $4.44 Back tax $1.11 Front tax $1.16 Side tax $1.61 Up tax $1.08 Down tax $1.14 Tic-Tacs $1.98 Thumbtacks $3.93 Carpet tacks $0.98 Stadium tax $0.69 Flat tax $8.32 Surtax $2.23 Madam tax $1.23 Corporate tax $2.60 Parking fee $5.00 F.I.C.A. $81.88 T.G.I.F. Fund $9.95 Life insurance $5.85 Health insurance $16.23 Dental insurance $4.50 Mental insurance $4.33 Disability $2.50 Ability $0.25 Liability $3.41 Coffee $6.85 Coffee Cups $66.51 Floor rental $16.85 Chair rental $0.32 Desk rental $4.32 Union dues $5.85 Union don'ts $3.77 Cash advance $0.69 Cash retreats $121.35 Overtime $1.26 Undertime $54.83 Eastern time $9.00 Central time $8.00 Mountain time $7.00 Pacific time $6.00 Time Out $12.21 Oxygen $10.02 Water $16.54 Heat $51.42 Cool air $26.83 Hot air $20.00 Miscellaneous $113.29 Various $8.01 Sundry $12.09 ------- Net Take Home Pay $0.02 Since 1944, U.S. dollar has been respected as world’s most stable, valuable and useful currency. It has represented freedom and opportunity. Now, unfortunately, that era is coming to an abrupt end. The Bretton Woods agreement of 1944 established U.S. dollar as world’s reserve currency. Not only was it currency of richest victor of World War II, but value of dollar was tied to gold, ensuring its value over long term. Then, on August 15, 1971, President Nixon took dollar off of gold standard, an epochal change after more than two thousand five hundred years during which money had always been based explicitly or implicitly on a precious metal, prevalently gold. Gold acted as an anchor both for monetary system and for economic system by making maintenance of parity a constraint on economic policy. Now anchor was away. The dollar became a fiat currency, meaning there was nothing standardized by which people could judge its value. The government became free to print as much money as it needed in order to fulfill its obligations. Not surprisingly, inflation took off like a rocket after Nixon’s action. Inflation was only halted by high interest rates, complements of Federal Reserve Board. Soon after inflation came under control in 1981, huge budget deficits of Reagan years came along. Those budget deficits have snowballed with each passing year into an alarming amount of federal debt. They continued through Bush 41 and early Clinton years. A booming economy during later Clinton years allowed government to balance books and even run a surplus. Chairman Greenspan was even talking about negative implications of paying off national debt! That’s one problem we don’t have anymore. President Bush 43 and Congress have allowed debt to spiral out of control. The 2004 budget deficit should be nearly $500 billion. As of December 15, 2003, U.S. has accumulated $6,935,737,372,166.74 in national debt. That’s nearly seven trillion dollars, or $23,684.72 for every man, woman and child in America. How will government pay for all this debt? In short haul, government pays for debt by issuing U.S. Treasury securities. In other words, Fed prints money. When they print money, value of each dollar decreases. Investors gobble up those securities and think they’re placing their money in safest securities around. If investors are to be paid off, they will be paid in less-valued dollars. It’s like a game of musical chairs: Feds use money from freshly-issued Treasury securities to pay off old ones and finance interest on other bonds. The government must issue more and more securities and money with rising deficits. This game can go on for a long time and has already done so. But everyone knows what happens when music stops.
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