Most people in the field of professional speaking and training follow the same procedures in designing seminars. What you learn in 3-6 hours when you attend one of these seminars may have taken the facilitator 10 or 20
years of hard work to learn and condense. And the pressure is always on the speaker to include more value in a seminar by seeking out even more helpful ideas.
So by all means, attend every seminar you can find. Be willing to travel across the country if necessary to spend several hours with an expert in his or her field. Your attendance at one seminar, if it is the right one for you, at the right time, on the right subject, can save you years of hard work in your field.
19. Join the Professional Associations in Your Field Join professional associations where you can associate with other people in your field. Join the organization or association that represents your business, 260
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or that the top people in your field belong to. Join the Chamber of Commerce and attend their regular meetings. Join business groups that contain people who are in the same field as you, or who work in similar fields. Attend every meeting you possibly can. As Woody Allen once said,
“80% of success is just showing up.”
Business associations are designed to be “self-help” groups. Everyone who belongs to these associations is there because they are looking for ways and opportunities to improve their businesses and their results. They join professional associations because they know that, the very best way to help yourself, is to look for ways to help other people.
At each meeting of your professional association, you will meet people who can help you, and whom you can help, to achieve your business goals. In my experience over the years, having addressed hundreds of business and association meetings, I have found that the very best people in every industry belong to these groups, and attend regularly.
Get Involved and Offer to Help
When you join your local association, resist the temptation to simply show up for meetings. Instead, decide to get involved in some way. Offer to help.
Offer to serve on a committee. Offer to do something that needs to be done on a voluntary basis. Again, the most important and respected people in every business association are those who actively contribute to the activities and success of that organization. Make sure that you are one of them.
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Almost everything that you accomplish in life will be determined by the people you know, and the people who know you. When you offer to serve on the committee of your professional association, you get a chance to meet and work with some of the best people in your industry. They get a chance to meet and work with you, as well. Over the years, your willingness to volunteer your time and effort will enable you to build a wider and wider network of contacts that you will be able to draw upon to help you to achieve your business and personal goals.
There is a rule that says, “The more you give of yourself without expectation of return, the more that will come back to you from the most unexpected sources.”
20. Network with the Top People in Your Business
Make it a habit to network regularly with people in your business and in your community. Get around people who can help you, and who you can help in return. The most successful people in any business or organizations are those who network the most effectively on a day-to-day, week-to-week, month-to-month basis. Your success in life will always be determined by the quality and quantity of the people who know you and think of you in a positive and favorable way.
The more people you know, and who know you, the more successful you will be, holding constant for everything else. People like to deal with people that they know. When you network, join organizations and introduce yourself to people who can help you, and who you can help in return.
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Trigger the Law of Reciprocity
The key to networking, and to building a wide range of contacts is called
“The Law of Reciprocity.” This law says that people are always looking for opportunities to return favors to people who have done favors for them. You should therefore always be looking for ways to help or to do favors for people who can be helpful to you sometime in the future.
In a recent study, the found that the most successful managers, those who were promoted the most regularly, spent as much as 50% of their time interacting and networking with other people, both within their business and industry, and outside. As a result, more people knew them, and more doors opened up to them as a result.
The Success Formula that Never Fails
Here is a simple formula that you can use to save an enormous amount of time in achieving your career goals. It is simply this: “T x R = P.” In this formula, “T” stands for Talent. These are the talents, abilities, skills, knowledge and experience that you bring to your work. “R” stands for Relationships. These are the number of people you know, and the number of people you can affect or influence in some way. “P” stands for Productivity.
Your productivity is the quality and quantity of your results, what you produce and get paid for. “T x R = P”
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Constantly work to become better at what you do. Continuously network to expand your number of contacts and relationships, and your productivity or value will continue to increase.
21. Take a Course in Public Speaking
One of the most helpful career decisions you will ever make is to take a course in public speaking. Take the Dale Carnegie course or join a local chapter of Toastmasters. Attend each week and follow the directions they give you to learn how to speak on your feet.
As you overcome your fear of public speaking, by learning how to prepare and deliver a talk, you will attract into your life opportunities to speak in front of small groups, and then larger groups. When you do your homework and become more knowledgeable on your subject, and then express yourself clearly and effectively to others in public forums, you will attract to yourself the attention of people who can help you.
One of the most admired skills in the world of work is the ability to speak well on your feet. As you develop this skill, new doors will open for you.
You will feel more courageous and confident. You will have higher self-esteem. People will respect you and admire you. You will be given opportunities to use your developing skills at higher and higher levels.
22. Invest the Golden Hour in Yourself
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One of the very best ways to get ahead in your field is to arise early, by 5:30
or 6:00 am, and invest the first hour in yourself. This is often called the
“Golden Hour.” It sets the tone for your entire day. If you get up and read something uplifting or educational for one hour each morning, you will start off your day mentally prepared to perform at your best in the hours ahead.
One hour each morning reading in your chosen field, educating, motivating and inspiring yourself, will improve your performance in everything you do.
Three Keys to the Future
Here are three final points for keeping up and getting ahead. They are repeated throughout this book because they are the pivotal points of high productivity and personal success.
First, plan every day in advance. Start off every day with a written plan, clearly organized with tasks, activities and priorities. Always begin work with your most important task.
Second, listen to audio programs in your car. Always have your audio player on when you are driving. Take every opportunity to learn new ideas that can help you in your life and work.
Third, commit yourself to lifelong personal and professional development.
Reading, learning, listening and growing can save you many years of hard working achieving your career goals and your desired income.
Sometimes, one new piece of information, at the right time, can change the whole direction of your career.
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Become a No Limit Person
There are no limits on what you can become except for the limits that you place on yourself. There is nothing that you cannot do if you are willing to prepare yourself long enough and hard enough in advance.
Your decision to keep up, and keep ahead of what is going on in your field, will assure that you reach your full potential more than any other decision you can make. By becoming the best at what you do, you will become everything that you are capable of becoming. Never stop learning and growing.