Friends

My mentor, Zig Ziglar, “America’s Motivator” and bestselling author, has written what is sure to become a beloved classic, Born to Win.

Every now and then I recommend a book to you and hope you like it. But this book is a “must read” and I strongly encourage you to get one for yourself. Zig takes his 40+ years of teachings about success and what it really is and how to get it and puts it all in one easy-to-understand book.

Zig uses stories from his own life as well as many current examples of people all around the world to show you how you can plan, prepare, and expect to win in your life.

I highly recommend you click the link below to learn more: www.borntowinbook.com

Sincerely,

Billy Cox

Have you ever had something happen in your life that took you back to a certain place in time (déjà vu)? Have you ever felt like you’re living Groundhog Day (replaying the same day over and over again)?

Recently our team experienced a true “Blast from the Past.”  And if you read our newsletter, you did, too!

Our team has been diligently working on a new website and blog at www.billycox.com. Many of our old newsletters from the past five years had to be transferred to our new site archives.  Our new site is set up to pull up our latest post and “blast” it out to our newsletter subscribers.  Therefore, each day for several days the last newsletter that was transferred to our new site was blasted out to you.

Interestingly, the response has been phenomenal. We have received tons of e-mails telling us they are loving the old archives.  Plus, we have thousands of new subscribers since we started this newsletter five years ago.  Feel free to check out our newsletters at www.billycox.com and see how we have transformed over the years.

I can tell you that reflecting on the past is good. Groundhog Day, some days, is inevitable.  And déjà vu is OK … as long as you don’t live there for long. The problem is when people live Groundhog Day over and over. They set New Year’s goals and by the middle of January already have forgotten them ─ losing the opportunity to learn from the past.

So, as we launch into the future and start a new chapter in this exciting journey called life, take some time to reflect on the past, enjoy the magic moments and learn the lessons. In today’s crazy, fast-paced, A.D.D world we can easily get so caught up in the DESTINATION that we miss the JOURNEY.

Your Friend,

Billy Cox

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Image: David St. Louis/Flickr

I’m co-hosting a “Born To Win” webcast today,  January 18, with Tom Ziglar (son of Zig Ziglar) that could be one of the most important opportunities for you to begin making positive changes in your life.

One of Zig Ziglar’s favorite sayings is, “You were born to win, but to be the winner you were born to be you must plan to win, prepare to win, and expect to win. Then and only then can you legitimately expect to win.”

Zig’s newest (and possibly last ) book, Born to Win, is launching this month, and Tom and I will be sharing the top 10 tips directly from Zig’s “Born to Win” teachings.

This is a free event for you and those around you to take action now to make good things happen this year. We all are born with the capability to be winners, and taking action is a key component of winning. Please join Tom and I as we MAKE HISTORY and share the powerful strategies and techniques you need to succeed.

I’m really excited to be a part of this and know this will be a life changing event for you.

Join us for free & invite your family, friends and colleagues for this once in a lifetime chance to begin the winning process by making the right moves in your lives and helping those around you succeed at the highest level.

Expect the best in 2012. Register now!

See ya there!

Maintaining your integrity often becomes a critical issue when you succeed because it is then that you may be called upon to compromise your principles. A true win requires you to keep your integrity despite your success.

Developing a reputation for honesty and integrity is simply the right thing to do. It’s also a smart business and sales strategy because people do business with people they like and trust. When you have integrity, your prospects, customers, peers, and coworkers will trust you. And the more people trust you, the less risk they feel in working with you and in buying from you.

The truly outstanding salesperson doesn’t misrepresent what the product or service can do. The salesperson with integrity tells prospects when a product or service isn’t right for them. Even if a prospect doesn’t buy, he or she will always remember the salesperson’s integrity. According to Zig Ziglar, “The most important persuasion tool you have in your entire arsenal is integrity.”

Don’t get me wrong — I’ve made some mistakes I’m not proud of. What I can tell you is that the agony, dissatisfaction, and other negative consequences the low road brought were never worth it. I learned that lesson the hard way. Now I do my best to avoid the low road no matter what instant satisfaction or temporary rewards it may seem to offer.

Taking the high road is often not easy or popular, but if you compromise your principles and integrity, it will always end up costing you in the long run.

To be a straight shooter, you have to do what you say you’re going to do. You can’t say one thing and then do another.

There’s a big difference between those who are committed and all the rest. People who are committed will do whatever it takes to follow through.

It’s been said that you are only as good as your word. Actually, I think this is only half right. I think it should be, “You are only as good as your word — if you do what you say you will do.” Your word must be your bond. If you commit to something, follow through. A person who keeps his or her word every time will gain respect from others. But a person who doesn’t keep his or her word, even in little things, will earn a negative reputation.

People often think that if they have good intentions they are straight shooters. That’s simply not true. You can have all the good intentions in the world, but if you don’t act in a way that’s consistent with those intentions, your goodwill is meaningless.

Our actions are more meaningful than our intentions, as reflected in this quote from the book Walk the Talk: “We judge ourselves mostly by our intentions, but others judge us mostly by our actions. People hear what we say, but they see what we do. And seeing is believing.”

To stay in the game, you gotta deliver what you promise. And walking the talk is absolutely critical in sales. I’ve seen a lot of companies with good products that are no longer in business because they didn’t follow through on their commitments.

In sports, if you don’t deliver, you’ll get cut from the team. In business, you must absolutely deliver on the commitments and obligations you make to customers, even if it means working overtime or losing money. Your ability and willingness to follow through and walk your talk are key indicators of your success.

Some people have a hard time honoring their commitments simply because they haven’t learned when and how to say no. They make too many promises without thinking about how they’re going to fulfill those commitments. This is the type of short-term thinking that gets people in trouble. It is far better to make fewer commitments and keep the ones you do make than to agree to everything and only partially  deliver on the promise.

Following through is simply the right thing to do, but it also has an unexpected benefit. When you follow through on your commitments (including the commitments you make to yourself), you gain confidence, belief, and momentum.

When teen-agers start taking completely responsibility for their lives, they take a giant step from being a child to being an adult.

Like the rest of us, the more teen-agers accept responsibility, the more they are in control of their lives and the more confident they feel. And deciding what they want and working to achieve it is a key component to being a responsible person.

I wrote DREAM Book for Teens to help teen-agers unleash the champions inside of themselves.  (Find out how to get your teen a DREAM Book here.) They have unlimited potential to be, do or have anything they want although right now they only are tapping into a fraction of what they are capable of. Dreams and goals will help them unlock this incredible potential if only they refuse to let circumstances, excuses, fear or limiting beliefs keep them from achieving those dreams and goals.

It takes a lot of hard work, focus, dedication, discipline and persistence. It involves of investment of their times – to properly define their dreams, set their goals and work their plan. In short, it takes commitment.

My questions for your teens: What is their dream? What do they want to achieve in the future?

My message to your teens: I’ve never found a better way to achieve dreams and goals than by using a Dream Book. It will take you step-by-step through a simple process that virtually guarantees you will accomplish your goals if you will just put the information into action.

When you fill out your Dream Book and specifically define your dreams and goals, it’s like magic. Good things will start happening right before your eyes. And as you make the journey to your dream life, your Dream Book with become one of the most valuable resources you have. It will be the one place where you can find everything you need to help you accomplish your goals and live your dreams.

The best thing about The Dream Book for Teens is that it is simple to use. All you have to do is follow the pattern by filling in the blanks. The key to making The Dream Book for Teens work is to just do it! And the more you do it, the better you will get at it, and the more success you will achieve.

Are you serious about achieving all that you want to accomplish in life?

Then you’re going to have to make a commitment – a commitment to yourself – to take the steps necessary to get there. Achieving your dreams and goals is simple, but it’s certainly not easy. It will take a lot of hard work, focus, dedication, discipline and persistence. It will require that you keep a positive attitude and that you grow personally and professionally.

And, it will involve some time … it takes time to properly define your dreams and set your goals. Your greatest responsibility to yourself, your family and your career is to invest whatever time is required to become totally clear about your dreams and goals and how you’re going to achieve them. But remember that a relatively small investment of time now will produce big payoffs as your dreams become reality.

Perhaps you’re hesitant to commit to your dreams and goals because deep down you don’t truly believe you can accomplish them. I will prove to you that you can.

Think about some of your most significant life accomplishments, things that were once just dreams or thoughts in your mind. These could be such things as getting married, graduating from college, buying a home or getting a job in a certain profession. Perhaps your accomplishments include having children, buying a sports car, achieving a promotion or award, earning or saving a certain amount of money or taking a “dream” vacation.

Now, write down five of your biggest accomplishments.

What do you think? Are you surprised at what you’ve accomplished? Most people tend to forget about or

discount all the things they’ve achieved. I’d be willing to bet there was a point in time when you didn’t believe you could accomplish some of these things … but you did! You achieved them because you committed to them and focused on them until they became real. Listing these previous dreams and goals that you’ve accomplished opens your mind to the belief that you can accomplish the dreams and goals you set for your future.

Most people who want to have more control over their lives simply don’t know how to make it happen.

They feel pushed down the whitewater rapids of life without any paddle to steer them or a map to guide them.

The solution is fairly straightforward.

The first step to taking control of your life is to accept complete responsibility for where you’re at right now, how you got here, and where you’re going in the future. I can tell you with absolute certainty that you will never achieve lasting success if you don’t take responsibility for yourself and your life.

When I set my initial dreams and goals, I realized that no one was going to help me achieve them unless I helped myself first. If I was going to live my dreams, it had to start with me – my attitude, my thoughts, my actions.

I discovered this is the same type of realization that all successful people come to eventually. They reach a turning point in their lives when they recognize that they are the only ones who can take control of their future. Sadly, there are countless people who spend their lives feeling sorry for themselves, blaming others for where they’re at in life and what they don’t have. These people allow past events and circumstances to dictate today’s actions.

You must realize that you are the greatest determining factor in your future and that today’s actions equal tomorrow’s results. Where you’re going in life is a product of your attitude, beliefs, thoughts, actions and reactions to the challenges you face. The good news is that the more you accept responsibility for your life, the more powerful and confident you feel. Why? Because you’re in control! When you decide to stop blaming others and stop accepting your own excuses, you will see that you can create the future you desire.

Clarifying your dreams, setting goals and developing a plan to achieve them puts you in control. This process becomes the navigation system for your future. When you put your dreams and goals in writing, you immediately begin to steer your life in the direction you want to go. As you move toward your goals, you become more energized and more confident in yourself and your abilities. Every step you take increases your belief that you can achieve your goals and live your dreams.

Why do 95 percent of people who set New Year’s resolutions never follow through?

The reason is that most people don’t know how to produce lasting results, so they never take the first step. Many people also make the mistake of over-complicating goal setting. The more complicated the process, the less likely it will be used.

That’s why I created a simple system to share in The Dream Book. Follow the pattern, fill in the blanks and complete the forms, and you will unconsciously program your built-in success mechanism. The human success mechanism is similar to a navigation system in an automobile. The more input you give it, the faster you will reach your destination.

Do whatever it takes, invest whatever time is necessary to learn these and apply them in your life. The extra time spent up front will save you years in the accomplishment of your dreams and goals.

This is a proven method for personal achievement in seven simple steps:

Step 1: Take control of your life

Step 2: Design your future

Step 3: Clarify your goals for accelerated results

Step 4: Create momentum with a plan

Step 5: Picture your dream life

Step 6: Build your belief

Step 7: Claim victory

Each step will move you closer to the results you desire. (The Dream Book guides you through the process of establishing clear, concise goals and putting them in writing.) You’ll discover why you’re working for your dreams and goals. You’ll set target dates and develop a plan for achieving each goal.

The process will build your belief and your dreams and make them real in your mind.

Financial reasons weren’t the determining factors when I decided to stay in sales. After carefully evaluating what I liked—and didn’t like—about this kind of work, I found this is the best profession for me because there are more things about it that I like than dislike.

I love the fact that I have the opportunity to meet so many different people. I also love that I can set my own hours, determine my income, and have unlimited potential to advance. To me, sales means freedom!

To achieve the highest level of success and perform at your peak ability, you gotta love what you do. Otherwise, you will become easily sidetracked. You won’t stick with it through the inevitable tough times, and you won’t consistently take the actions necessary to succeed.

If you don’t love what you do, you have two choices: You can either change what you do, or you can change what you love. Oftentimes, you’ll be better off figuring out what you love about what you do than changing careers.

Why?

Because no matter what you do, you’ll always be able to find something you don’t like about it. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s not the right career for you.