Author: David Matney

Once upon a time I lived in a world with no internet, no Smartphones and only 4 TV channels.

In 1985, I was only 15, so couldn’t drive yet to see the movies on a big screen. So my father purchased a Beta Max and a VHS player. I would try to explain the Betamax to but it’s easier for yall to click the link. A failed piece of technology.

You watched movies by walking to a video rental shop. With no internet, you got your by thrills by looking at hundreds of front covers of VHS movies and looking in awe at the posters of movie stars. Once you chose your clunky thick video cassette, you walked home and inserted it into your VHS player. Once the movie finished, you had to rewind the tape back to the beginning, which took about 5 minutes!

It was a wonderful experience that most people today don’t understand.

One of my favorite movies growing up was Karate Kid, the story of a kid who is bullied at school, gets coached in karate and falls in love with the perfect girl.

I was the new kid in high school, so I was getting bullied. Many bullies I defeated with wax on, wax off and the famous crane kick. Then the bullies got VHS players, knew my tricks and I got my ass kicked… LOL

Cobra Kai, the amazing Netflix show takes place 35 years later with our heroes and villains all grown up. It has better character development, intricate plots, awesome 80s rock music and has become my favorite shows to stream.

Here’s valuable lessons you get from watching the show:

1. Always Be Learning

You want to become excellent at karate, you learn every day and take action. Sales is a skill that needs to be learned daily and you need to take action.

2. Beware of the competition

You shouldn’t copy the competition, put them down or destroy them, it leads to chaos. You do need to understand them and be better. How do you stand out from the competition? How are you better? More important, does your customers & prospects know how you’re better for their business?

3. Have a Positive Attitude

When you get rejected, it’s easy to feel sorry for yourself and blame the other person. When you have a positive attitude, there are no limits. You always achieve more with a positive mindset; more energy, more sales calls and more clients. Negativity and jealously always slows you down.

4. Balance is Important

It’s great to be ambitious and want to achieve more. Success without meaning is failure. Protect your mental health. Go for walks. Spend time with friends and family. Give to charity. Give your life meaning.

5. Don’t Hold Grudges

When people hurt you or upset you, it’s easy to be angry. It takes more courage to forgive. It’s also important to see things from another person’s perspective, even if you disagree with them.

6. Never Give Up

Setbacks will happen to you in life. What matters is how you react to the failure. You miss your target for the month, prospect more next month. You lose a deal, ask yourself why, improve and win the next month. Failure is only when you give up.

7. Get a Coach

You achieve more in karate with a coach advising you, teaching you new skills, making you better and keeping you accountable.

The same rules apply to sales. When it comes to sales Cobra Kai has much to teach us. Particularly with regards to the importance mindset.

I’ll leave the last word to Johnny:

‘I may not always win, but I never quit a fight.’
Johnny Lawrence

Happy Selling,

David

It’s day 2 of 2024 and when it comes to achieving success, preparation is a key factor. You must know exactly what you want to achieve, and put together a plan of success for 2024.

Although preparation is important, over preparing is a dangerous habit. I’ve seen far too many individuals with so much potential who never get started because they over prepare. I have witnessed this in the business world, and I’ve heard too many say “I can’t get started until I know everything.” This way of overthinking stops people dead in their tracks.

The truth is, overthinking might be worse than not thinking through something at all. When someone overthinks, they fall into the trap of “paralysis by analysis”. Because of this, they never take the important first step.

The reality is, you can’t be successful if you don’t take action. The only way that you’re going to get good at something is getting out there and doing it. When you take action, you must believe that you are going to be successful.

Unfortunately, when starting something new, most people think too much about failing. If you want to succeed, you have to stop overthinking and you must imagine and visualize everything going right instead of wrong. If you wait for the perfect time and all the stars to line up correctly, you will never begin.

Start now and set a big goal. Do not wait until the perfect time. There is no better time than right now. Do not worry about failing or being perfect. Quit chasing perfection and start taking action.

Learn to embrace fear and use it as a motivation. Never allow fear to hold you back. Every opportunity is a chance for a new beginning. We’ve all had failures in the past, and that’s OK. Your past does not define your future. All successful people still experience fear, but they don’t allow fear to hold them back from achieving their dreams. Get rid of the “What if I fail?” mentality. Let’s get this out of the way right now. You will experience failure. Failure is your friend. Failure is inevitable and it is part of the process. Do not overthink this. Embrace the failure and understand that, in order to succeed, you must fail. Use failure as learning opportunities to help you get better.

When people overthink, they are simply procrastinating. Unfortunately, because of this mentality, most never begin. You must create a sense of urgency when it comes to achieving your dreams. People overthink because they give themselves too much time to complete a goal. Going forward, set a goal, put together a plan and set a specific and firm deadline.

The truth is, you’re never going to be fully ready. You have to get out there and just do it on a consistent basis.

No more overthinking! Just do it! This is your time! You have an incredible opportunity right now to achieve the life that you desire.

Don’t overthink this! Make the commitment today and take massive action. You will fail, but it’s time for you to fail your way to success in 2024. 

Happy Selling,

David

Good  morning everyone and Happy New Year!

I say it’s 3 words to remember, but really it’s 3 actions you need to do each day.

Plan, Do, Repeat

If you ask me which word or action is the most important, I would most likely say none of them is most important. Rather, they’re all incredibly important for the simple reason they all build off each other.

If I don’t plan, how will I know what to do?  If I fail to repeat what I do, how will I be able to sustain success?

The only question you should be having to ask yourself is what is it you can do to help you do the 3 actions even faster and more effectively?

Sales is an awesome profession. The ability to positive impact so many other people is a great calling.  Challenge is all of the benefits of impacting others positively is lost if you don’t do the 3 actions.

Plan, Do, Repeat

Since it’s the start of a new year, there is no better time to think through each of the steps.

Is your planning concise and set up to ensure you never end one day without knowing exactly what you’re going to do the next day?

What about your “do.” What needs to be changed to allow you to connect with your prospects and merchants more effectively?  Do you need to change your approach, your prospecting, your approach to closing?

What is keeping you from repeating things faster?   Are there some items you can remove from your calendar to give you more time in the day or week?  

Your objective should be to find 30 extra minutes per day or 2 hours per week you can devote to selling.

In the end it’s not difficult. It comes down to the middle action: “Do.”  The more you DO, the more you increase your odds for having more success.

Happy Selling, 

David

Monday’s starts a new year. This day comes with hope and celebration of seeing a new year of change and opportunities. 

But once the merriment winds down, steps on how to achieve set goals and resolutions for the next year begin. 

A little bit of worry on whether the set plans would be actualised might set in but an obsession over the occasional slip will not help either.

Below are the Top10 in-exhaustive ways to prepare for the new year.

From the Home Office in ZigZag Oregon Here are the Top Ten 10 ways to prepare for the New Year

10. Appreciation

I mentioned this yesterday,  The past year is gone and the New Year provides a new opportunity to achieve greater goals. A thank-you gift, perhaps, a handwritten or typed thoughtful note, to loved ones, acquaintances, co-workers and bosses for being a part of the past year further stating the hope for a better relationship in the new year. “Put your gratitude into action and give a token of appreciation to your loved ones and support network,” A manifestation coach and self-help author, Kenneth Wong advised.

9. Start on specific goal

Today is the best day to start on the specific goals and resolutions already made in the past few days. For example, a resolution to engage in a healthy diet would mean starting at the New Year’s dinner or party you would be invited to or even host. an author and educational consultant, Kendra Cherry, advised having a specific and realistic goal as well as a concrete plan towards achieving those goals over the year.

She added, “Taking on too much all at once can be daunting. It can be particularly difficult because establishing new behavioural patterns takes time and sustained effort. Focusing yourself on one specific goal makes keeping a resolution much more achievable.”

 8. Right attitude

A counselling psychologist, Tosin Togun, said having the right attitude was important for the New Year.

She said, “This involves leaving many things that have made us sore behind. Every New Year comes with diverse opportunities and many people would come right with them but what would sustain one at the peak of these opportunities is having the right attitude and this involves, forgiving where you need to and letting the past be in the past. This also does not mean that one should discard the good skills and relevant people in one’s life.”

Togun added that the baggage of the previous year should be taken off and emphasised on the need for improvement in the New Year.

“Take off the baggage and ensure that what doesn’t work in 2023 would work in 2024. What this means is that one needs to evaluate to see what one is not doing right and improve on them,” she noted.

7. Display planned calendar

By now, calendars and diaries for the New Year are already in one’s possession. The activities, international days, national holidays and celebrations are already marked. In the same way, one can mark personalised holidays, birthdays, events and activities for the year and display them at a personal but enclosed spot where one can keep track of them.

Wong further advised, “Accomplish more in the New Year by using an agenda. Agendas are great tools for you to plan your days so you can set goals, stay organised, and stick to a schedule.”

Using a printable agenda was also advisable for those who might have trouble committing to using an agenda.

6. Take it one day at a time

Taking on too much too quickly is a common reason why many New Year’s resolutions fail. Starting an unsustainably restrictive diet, overdoing it at the gym, or radically altering your normal behaviour are sure-fire ways to derail your plans.

Instead, focus on taking tiny steps that will ultimately help you reach your larger goal,” Cherry stated. Taking small steps each day might seem like a slow start but these incremental changes have the potential for long-term success.

5. Avoid fear, repeating past failures

The opportunities in the New Year, if well maximised, is enough to make up for the failures of the past year. One should not let the failures and inability to meet up with the past year’s resolutions bring fear and wariness of fulfilling the hopes and dreams for the New Year, rather it should be a learning point to making the right choices and decisions.

Cherry further noted, “Another strategy for keeping your New Year resolves is to not make the same resolution year after year. If you do choose to reach for the same goals you’ve tried for in the past, spend some time evaluating your previous results. Which strategies were the most effective? Which were the least effective? What has prevented you from keeping your resolution in past years? Consider altering your resolution slightly to make it more feasible. By changing your approach, you will be more likely to see real results this year.”

4. Contact people you want in your life this year

Today, being the first day of the year, it is not too late to reach out to the persons one would want to partner with or work with.

An author and writer, Kevin Daum, stated, “No one reaches the pinnacle of success on their own. It’s possible you already have exactly the right people in your life to get you there, then again maybe not. Now is the time to take stock of those in your world and make the necessary changes. Get the email chain started today with at least three people who are going to help you excel.”

3. Get Support

Having reliable support can make one stay motivated and on track with the goals and resolutions of the New Year.

“Camaraderie makes sticking to your resolution more fun, too. So, ideally, find a like-minded pal or loved one to join you in your goal. Explain what your goals are to your close friends or family and ask them to help you achieve your objectives. Better yet, enlist the help of others by joining a group that shares your goal,” Cherry stated.

2. Renew your motivation

In the first days of the New Year, one feels confident and highly motivated to keep to the plan because there might be no challenges or temptations that can serve as a threat to those goals. However, when those challenges creep in, one can become de-motivated and uninterested in achieving those goals.

To this, Cherry advised, “When you face such moments, remind yourself exactly why you are doing this. Think about (or write a list to keep handy) what do you have to gain by achieving your goal?

Finding sources of inspiration can keep you going when times get tough.”

And the #1 way to ways to prepare for the New Year …

1. Track your progress, reward yourself

“Keeping track of progress can be a big help on the journey,” Freelance writer and speaker, Amber Tresca, said. Short-term goals are easier to keep and encourage one to stay motivated. One can note each achievement one makes and then focus on reaching the bigger ones.

Tresca added, “Small rewards along the way can help in giving a sense of achieving goals. This doesn’t mean that it’s okay to eat an entire box of chocolates if the resolution is to eat more healthfully. Instead, celebrate successes with something enjoyable that does not contradict the resolution. After sticking to a promise to eat better, for example, perhaps a reward could be going to a movie with a friend.”

Put these 10 steps into practice and see yourself continue to grow in 2024!

Have a safe and Happy New Year weekend,

David

We are 3 days away from the New Year. Take some time to dig into the below 11 questions now to help you significantly increase your level of success in 2024.   

You can choose to wait and see what the new year brings or you can be pro-active and be the one who makes things happen in the new year.

1. Realize sales is a mind game and it starts with your mind. Who is the voice you need to get out of your life and who do you need to let in?

2. Who is the customer you need to drop that is taking up too much of your time for little profit or no potential for profit?

3. Narrow your focus. Don’t try to prospect everyone, but rather be selective.

4. Set your prospecting time and stick to it! Prospecting will never become a priority until you make it priority in your calendar.

5. Manage your day based on your calendar. You control your time. It’s the most valuable asset you have. (Check out this movie In Time, It’s free to watch on YouTube)

6. Streamline your selling process by simplifying your forms and processes. You can’t afford to have your time consumed with activities that bring no value.

7. Create your dream team. Who can you reach out to? Sales is not a solo activity. Sales is a team sport and you need to make sure you have great teammates.

8. Focus on the big opportunities in the 1st quarter. Play big in the 1st quarter, as it may take several quarters for the opportunities to materialize into business.  Focusing on big opportunities early in the year will increase your probability of having them generate revenue this year.

9. Create multiple relationships with all of your larger customers and prospects. You can’t afford to rely on only one contact at your major customers, because that person may leave.

10. Build your quarterly plan based on a 12-week quarter and your annual plan based on 11 months. This will allow you to use the last week of every quarter and the last month of the year to begin setting up the next quarter or year, rather than stressing out trying to make the current quarter or year.

11. Make time for yourself. Take care of yourself and you can take care of your customers. Sales is not an activity. It’s a lifestyle.

Use these 11 questions and points to get 2024 off to a great start.

Happy Selling, 

David

Ok, Here we go again. from the Ode to Black Friday and Jingle Bells now I get to re-write another Christmas classic into a sales “song!” (Well, I do love Christmas for other reasons, but this is fun, too.) This time I took Frosty the Snowman and created our beloved “Frosty the Salesman” who is every ISO’s dream prospector. Sing along and have some fun!

Frosty the salesman
Was a jolly happy soul
With a pinstripe suit and pen in hand
He always met his goals

Frosty the salesman is a fairy tale they say
Always on the go,
And the sales reps know,
How he closed new deals all day

There must have been some magic in that
Sales script they found
For when they placed it in his hand
All the prospects came around

Frosty the salesman
was persistent as could be
And the sales reps say he could prospect all day
Exciting managers to yell “Yippee!”

Thumpety thump thump, thumpety thump thump
Look at Frosty sell
Thumpety thump thump, thumpety thump thump
and delight his clientele!

Oh, Frosty the salesman
knew the rivals were hot that day
So he said, “Let’s drop in, we have clients to win”
Before opportunities melt away

Down to the offices
With his cell phone in his hand
Running here and there all around the square
Saying, “Meet me where you can!”

He made his pitch, without a hitch
Right to the big old CEO,
Who signed the proposal,
Exclaiming “This will help us grow!”

Oh, Frosty the salesman,
Had to hurry on his way,
But he waved goodbye, saying
“Please reply, I’ll be back for referrals one day.”

May the last few days of the year be full of prospects who listen to your pitch without a hitch and sign right up without delay. (It’s hard to stop the rhyme)

Happy Selling,

David

The sales industry is continuously evolving and the most successful salespeople are the ones that evolve with it. You can always learn new techniques and refine old ones, so as the new year approaches, take the opportunity to pause and establish your sales goals for the coming year. Here are a few ideas.

1. Improve Time Management
From prospecting and lead qualification to cold-calling and client meetings, working in sales can quickly become overwhelming. But proper time management techniques can help smooth out the wrinkles and provide healthy structure amid the chaos.

Here are some time-saving sales tactics you can start using right now to smash into the new year at top speed.

Limit checking email

If the computer is your switchboard, you probably keep your email open 24/7, and are constantly flitting between your email and the task at hand. This habit might seem prudent at first blush, but it’s distracting and unproductive. Limiting your email checks to just two or three times per day lets you stay focused and keep your mind organized.

Stick to one task at a time

Thinking about making a follow-up call while drafting an email to a different client?

Contrary to popular opinion, multitasking is ineffective, and the brain is just not that great at efficiently switching between tasks.

It’s better for your workload, and for your brain, to stick to one task at a time.

Schedule your day

If you’re not doing this already, it’s a wonder you haven’t gone mad. Scheduling your day (and I mean your entire day) helps you prioritize activities, reserve enough time for each task, avoid stretching yourself too thin and maintain a healthy work balance.

2. Distill your activity goals
A more productive year means a more efficient sales cycle—and there’s no better part of the sales cycle to start streamlining than your activity goals. Whether your sales cycle involves five, 10 or 15 activity goals, there’s a good chance at least one of those can be cut.

To lose some activity goal weight, sit down with your metrics and ask yourself:

Which activity goals are essential to moving the needle?
Can I simplify any of these goals?
Can I combine any of these goals?
Distilling your activity goals to the bare essentials will shorten your sales cycle while maintaining, or even improving, your close ratio. It will also separate facts from assumptions and reduce ambiguities in your sales process. As Y Combinator founder Paul Graham said in his essay “A Taste For Makers, When you’re forced to be simple, you’re forced to face the real problem”.

3. Understanding the ‘WHY’
If you’re serious about increasing productivity in the new year, adopt the following mindset: “Whether I’ve won or lost, the sale isn’t over until I understand why it happened the way it happened”.

The more you understand the “why”, the easier it is to establish the common threads of your wins and your losses. But understanding the why can be a process in and of itself. You can study the metrics, record and listen to your calls, or ask your colleagues for guidance.

You can also just ask the customer, Jason Jordan, partner at the sales management firm Vantage Point Performance, says: “It’s remarkable to me how few companies interview their past prospects to understand why they won or lost deals.”

Jordan also recommends conducting internal statistical analyses to understand which products, buyers, sellers and markets are more likely to yield results. But even this is no substitute for the insights gained by simply asking customers, clients and prospects why they purchased from you, or why they did not.

“You’d be surprised how willing they are to share their observations because they invested just as much effort in buying as you did in selling,” says Jason.

4. Know your customers better
Many personal New Year’s resolutions involve relationships. Spend more time with your kids. Learn more about your grandparents. Get to know your neighbors.

The same should hold true for salespeople. Converting a prospect into a customer often relies on the strength of the relationship between both parties. The process of building that relationship is called consultative selling and a strong seller-buyer relationship hinges on how well the seller knows the customer.

To get to know your customers better this year, approach each conversation as just that, a conversation. Prospects are people, people as complex and varied as yourself, and to convert them into a customer you must first get to the heart of their motivations, reservations and desires.

This can be accomplished by asking the right questions, and actively listening to the prospect’s answers. You want to find out what is important to them, what their priorities are and how they define success.

As you get to know your prospect better, the relationship will grow stronger. A rapport will develop and trust will form. You will also gain a more nuanced understanding of the prospect’s needs. One prospect’s reasons for buying (or not buying) will often differ from another prospect’s, and what worked with your last customer may not work for your new one. The better you know your customer, the better you can tailor your solution to their unique situation.

5. Embrace new technology
You might prefer face-to-face meetings over video chats, phone over email or paper contracts to digital, but in sales it’s all about the customer. More often than not, you’ll need to put your own preferences aside in favor of the buyer’s.

According to Accenture, only 12% of buyers want to meet with salespeople in person. As communication technology continues to advance, it’s reasonable to expect that number to increase in the coming year. Thus, it’s crucial for those in the sales industry to familiarize themselves with the tools, applications and procedures that customers may prefer to utilize, such as:
Text messages & AI
Screen sharing
Online modules
Creating, sharing, and signing digital documents
Make it your resolution not only to embrace your customers’ technological preferences, but also your industry’s. Max Altschuler, CEO of Sales Hacker and author of “Hacking Sales”, advises salespeople to “look out for more adoption of sales technology” in the coming year.

The four Takeaways to Shape Your Resolutions
The close approaching new year is a time to reflect, but it’s also a time to prepare for what lies ahead. New Year’s resolutions may seem contrived, but the core concept is one of goal-setting and, in sales, goal-setting is paramount to success.
Make this year the year of smart, sharp activity goals and proper time management.
Strive to know your customers better
Understand why sales were won or lost
Stay on the industry’s cutting edge by embracing new technology and broadening your communication techniques

Happy selling,

David

Merry Christmas everyone, 

Can you breathe? Can you stop long enough to appreciate the meaning of Christmas?

I don’t know about you, but every year around this time I tell myself that next year I’ll be more prepared, more organized, and physically have more time and energy to enjoy the Christmas season. Unfortunately, each year only seems to get more hectic. It’s sad but true and probably isn’t just me. I suspect I am not the only one who feels this way.

You would think that overnight shipping would solve all of our problems related to Christmas shopping, wrapping and all of that. However, it’s just caused more problems. All it has done is allowed you (and me) to pack even more into less time. I believe that Christmas is much more than gifts, twinkling lights, endless cookie trays and connecting with distant relatives. Christmas is all about a message that our world has allowed to be crowded out by chaotic living. 

Christmas is about the birth of Jesus and the message of hope that He brings. This message is as relevant today as it was that first Christmas in Bethlehem thousands of years ago.

My wish for all of us this Christmas season is to force ourselves to slow down enough and realize the true meaning of Christmas. Let’s not allow it to be just one day of the year but rather a day that never ends.  Like me, many of you realize the true meaning of Christmas and seek to make each day like Christmas for each person you meet – the barista who serves your coffee, the clerk at the grocery store, and yes, even the TSA agent at the airport are part of our world. 

May we all strive to treat those around us with a Christmas-like spirit of love, kindness, and gratitude.

Luke 2:10 says, “But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.’”

Merry Christmas from my family to yours!

Have a Merry Christmas!

David

We are only a couple day away from Christmas eve. Christmas Evening (or Eve for short) traditionally starts at sunset a day before Christmas Day. It’s usually the day to prepare food, watch some Christmas movies & have a few drinks to relax before the big day. If you love this day, here are a few festive facts about Christmas Eve you may not have known.

From the home office at the North Pole, Here are The Top 10 Things you may not  know about Christmas Eve. 

10 – In Norway, people hide the brooms. An old tale says that witches and other evil spirits appear on Christmas Eve to steal the brooms and ride around causing mischief!

9 – A large part of Sweden’s population watches Donald Duck  cartoons every Christmas Eve since 1960.

8 – Telling ghost stories is an old Christmas Eve tradition that has died out in the past century.

7 – During World War I, an unofficial Christmas truce  took place between British and German troops. The truce began on Christmas Eve 1914, and decorations were put up, carols were sung and gifts were exchanged. The truce also allowed for recently fallen soldiers to be bought back behind their lines by burial parties.

6 – Christmas Eve is a public holiday in countries such as the Czech Republic and Estonia.

5 – According to tradition, Saint Nicholas left gold coins in the stockings of three poor sisters. One night the girls went to bed, leaving their stockings to dry over the fireplace. Saint Nicholas threw three bags of gold coins down the chimney which landed in the stockings as a gesture of good will, since then, children all over the world continue the tradition of hanging stockings up on Christmas Eve.

4 – Christians traditionally celebrate Midnight Mass at midnight on Christmas Eve. This ceremony, which is held in churches throughout the world, celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ who is believed to be born at night. However, in recent years, the time for Midnight Mass has varied, and is not often midnight any more!

3 – Christmas Eve is not a public holiday in the United Kingdom however it is a day of preparations for the Christmas season, including last minute shopping, food preparations and decorating the house.

2 – In France, Children place their shoes near the fireplace on Christmas Eve, as they believe Santa (le Père Noël) will fill them with toys and sweets.

And the #1  Thing you may not know about Christmas Eve is……

1 – Scientists calculated that for Father Christmas to deliver all gifts to people around the world, on Christmas Eve, he would have to visit 822 homes a second, traveling at 650 miles a second! Now that’s fast!

So there you have the Top 10  Things you may not  of known about Christmas Eve. Before I leave you to finish wrapping presents & eating a slice of pie, I’d like to know any traditions you do (or know of) that occur on Christmas Eve.

The only one I can think of, which wasn’t mentioned above, In researching for this post I read that on Christmas Eve in the UK, many families will allow their children to open one present of Christmas Eve, but the rest have to be saved for the following morning. I did this as a kid as well.

I wish you and your families a Merry Christmas and a prosperous new year to come..

David

As we come close to the end of the year, no matter what field of endeavor you are in, it’s important to finish strong. As I have said before, winners finish strong!

You have set some goals and you have expectations of yourself. Perhaps you did not reach what you wanted to, but that’s OK. The natural tendency is to give up and wait until next year. Let me encourage you to finish strong and bring that momentum into the new year.

You have a choice. You can give up or give it all that it takes. Now is the time to bring all your energies and skills and get rid of all excuses. You have the power to choose to finish strong.

As you make the commitment to finish this year strong, start today by writing out your goals for the rest of the year, and carry that momentum of finishing strong into the new year.

Make sure these goals are specific and realistic. Set a deadline and let’s go out and make it happen.

Break down your goals into small bites, which will help you celebrate your small victories. You need this momentum to finish strong. The small goals are all part of you achieving your big goals.

Momentum is the key to finishing strong. You gain momentum when you reach each one of these small goals. This will help you to become more consistent.

As you commit to finishing strong, make sure you establish a morning regimen. For example, reflect on the day ahead, look in the mirror and give yourself a big smile. You also want to make sure that you eat breakfast. Exercise and go for a walk. Write down three important things that you would like to accomplish and make sure you do them.

Do not wait till the first of the year to start this. Do this today and commit to finishing strong.

You will find as you begin the new year, you now have momentum.
Think about this! Many people talk about New Year’s resolutions, and they have no momentum as they begin to start working at their goals. This is why many give up almost before they even get started. Let me encourage you to start now and start right where you are. Commit to finishing strong. When the new year begins, you will be riding high as you begin to set new goals.

Having a good morning routine is important, but it is also important to end your day on a positive note. You must be an optimistic finisher. No matter how each day has gone, it’s important to have positive self-talk. Any time that you doubt your ability to finish strong, always respond with positive affirmations.
Control your thoughts and do not allow any fears or doubts to control you. When you commit to finishing strong, you’re going to need all the support you can find to stay the course.

As you assess the aspects of your life, you need to finish strong. You have made a commitment to being the best that you can be, and doing what it takes to achieve your dreams. Look in the mirror today and smile and say “Winners finish strong, and I am a winner!

Always remember, you have what it takes to finish what you started. Choose to finish strong!

Happy selling,

David