Success In Life!

Are you a Great Conversationalist? Most people are not. Many choose to work with machines rather than talk to people. Are you one of them?

Honestly speaking, I was before. Now, I am still not a great conversationalist. I still have apprehension when speaking to others.

Well, I hope the following 3 skills can help improve your conversation a lot more. These are skills that Brian Tracy taught. Give them a try!

Skill No. 1 Pause Before Replying
One key to becoming a great conversationalist is to pause before replying. A short pause, of three to five seconds, is a very classy thing to do in a conversation. When you pause, you accomplish three goals simultaneously.

The Benefits of Pausing
a) First, you avoid running the risk of interrupting if the other person is just catching his or her breath before continuing.

b) Second, you show the other person that you are giving careful consideration to his or her words by not jumping in with your own comments at the earliest opportunity.

c) The third benefit of pausing is that you will actually hear the other person better. His or her words will soak into a deeper level of your mind and you will understand what he or she is saying with greater clarity. By pausing, you mark yourself as a brilliant conversationalist.

Skill No. 2 - Ask Questions
Another way to become a great conversationalist is to question for clarification. Never assume that you understand what the person is saying or trying to say. Instead, ask, “How do you mean, exactly?”

This is the most powerful question for controlling a conversation. It is almost impossible not to answer. When you ask, “How do you mean?” the other person cannot stop himself or herself from answering more extensively. You can then follow up with other open-ended questions and keep the conversation rolling along.

Skill No. 3 - Paraphrase the Speaker’s Words
The third way to become a great conversationalist is to paraphrase the speaker’s words in your own words. After you’ve nodded and smiled, you can then say, “Let me see if I’ve got this right. What you’re saying is . . .”

Demonstrate Attentiveness
By paraphrasing the speaker’s words, you demonstrate in no uncertain terms that you are genuinely paying attention and making every effort to understand his or her thoughts or feelings. And the wonderful thing is, when you practice effective listening, other people will begin to find you fascinating. They will want to be around you. They will feel relaxed and happy in your presence.

Listening Builds Trust
The reason why listening is such a powerful tool in developing the art and skill of conversation is because listening builds trust. The more you listen to another person, the more he or she trusts you and believes in you.

Listening also builds self-esteem. When you listen attentively to another person, his or her self-esteem will naturally increase.

Listening Develops Discipline
Finally, listening builds self-discipline in the listener. Because your mind can process words at 500-600 words per minute, and we can only talk at about 150 words per minute, it takes a real effort to keep your attention focused on another person’s words. If you do not practice self-discipline in conversation, your mind will wander in a hundred different directions. The more you work at paying close attention to what the other person is saying, the more self-disciplined you will become. In other words, by learning to listen well, you actually develop your own character and your own personality.

Action Exercises
Here are two things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action.

First, make a habit of pausing before replying in any conversation or discussion. You will be amazed at how powerful this technique really is.

Second, continually ask, “How do you mean?” in response to anything that is not perfectly clear. This gives you even more time to listen well.

If you want to learn from the best and at your own time and own pace, here is what Brian Tracy has to recommend.  Click here to view the video.

To Your Financial Freedom,
Peck Ling

Recently, I had an opportunity to join some friends  for a team building game.

During the briefing at the start of the game, the facilitator spent some time describing the game.   I thought it was a pretty straightforward game and did not pay much attention to it.   I noticed that the game facilitator did stress on certain things but I just let them pass. 

It was a hostage rescue game and the objective was to bring the hostage safely back to the facilitator.

The area was criss-crossed with  €œelectric wires € and certain areas required bridges to be built to cross them.

Team members have to assist a “blind” member to search for the hostage.   The position of the hostage could be changed during the game and the rest of the members are to guide the “blind” to reach the hostage and to guard the “bridges” so that they were not  stolen.

Our group discussed and came up with a very good strategy which would work very well up to the point when the “blind” had to venture on his own to save the hostage.

As you can predict, time was lost while trying to shout the instructions against the loud blast of the background music.   The result is we lost  the first round and had to compete in the second round.   This gave us another chance and  we managed to shorten the time considerably during the second round.   We were elated!

However, during the debrief, the facilitator revealed many ways we could have used to achieve our goal quickly.   He emphasized that the objective of the game is to save and bring the hostage to him.   This is a really big hint and we conveniently forgot this.

Well, I will not spoil the game for you by revealing everything.   What I have learnt is that we should know our objective clearly and hence know what to focus on and work on it.   Don’t just follow the instructions.   Be creative and think out of the box. 

In real life,  very often, we just stick to the rules and most often than not, do things that others do  so as  to be on the safe side.   We also make ourselves busy by doing a lot of non-impactful stuff that takes up a lot of our time and resources. In addition, we tend to work and think within the box and not out of the box.   What could be done is to get ourselves out of the picture and look at the problem from a third party’s viewpoint and to leverage on technology.

Brian Tracy said that our mind is our most precious asset. We must be continually working to increase the quality of our thinking. These two years have been a great learning time for me.   I attend courses, seminars and listen to audios and watch videos.

Travelling time is the best learning time

Whenever possible, I will listen to audio recordings or read books while travelling in the train or bus. 

Attend Seminars

I attended seminars, workshops and previews for personal and professional development to learn ideas, techniques and methods that can save me hours, days, even months of hard work and research on my own.

Learn More, Earn More

I do not believe that money drops from the sky. Even if you strike lottery, you must first place a bet.   Some hardwork and sacrifice are needed to prepare oneself for success.   Remember continuous learning is the minimum requirement for success in any field.   And you should choose your gurus wisely.

What’s  Next

Without further ado, purchase an audio program that can help you.   Check out my recommendation here.

Begin listening to it immediately.   When you are driving, instead of  listening to music in your car, resolve to turn  driving time into learning time.

Next, seek out seminars and training programs given by experts in your field.   Click here for an alternative if you have not much time or resources.   Take careful notes, and apply the best ideas that you learn immediately.

To Your Success,

Peck Ling

Check out the movie below to find out more about a Earn While You Learn Program.

As a project manager in the government sector, I used to juggle numerous IT projects at any one time.   Multitasking was the norm of the day. You could imagine how much time was spent on overheads when switching from one project to another, be it big or small.

Most of the time, all tasks appeared to be urgent and important.   I realized that time was spent on many tasks that were small, time-consuming, insignificant but must-do mundane activities.   Sometimes, disruption came in the form of requests from the boss or the need to attend numerous unproductive meetings.

I knew I should be paying attention to major tasks but, instead I wanted to finish all my work. I concentrated on clearing small tasks first in the hope of putting them away as fast as possible so that I could have more time for the larger tasks.   However, this did not happen the way I had wanted it and the end results were disastrous - major projects were not given enough time, thought and focus.

What I should have done is to follow Brian Tracy €™s time management strategy to carve out large chunks of time to spend on major tasks. 

The following are the steps that could help you to achieve better time management whether you are working for someone or having your small business, or working from home doing internet marketing.

Step 1
Be committed to set aside time for large tasks.

This is really important as important task requires large portions of high value, highly productive continuous time to complete.   Our ability to do so will contribute positively and significantly to our performance at work and to our life.

I find this absolutely true.   I have been doing internet marketing and a few other things concurrently.   Whenever I allocated more continuous quality time to a particular area, the results were good.   I also noticed that if I spent small snippets of time on various tasks, I got nowhere.

Step 2
Take action on Step 1 immediately.

Successful people set aside a specific time period each day to concentrate on major tasks. They resolve to do what is important rather than procrastinate or delay a task.   This requires discipline to follow through their resolutions.   For people who are doing home based business or own network business, it is always a challenge to overcome procrastination or delaying on a task that they do not particularly like.
 
Step 3
Plan your day in advance and create preplanned periods.

The saying goes,  €œIf we fail to plan, we plan to fail. € Hence, I believe the key to success is to plan our day in advance, preferably the night before.

Schedule a fixed and specific time period for a particular activity or task. Set aside thirty, sixty and ninety minute time segments to work on and complete important tasks.

Create schedule for specific activities in preplanned time slots all day long.
Then, work our lives around accomplishing key tasks one at a time. As a result, we can become more and more productive and eventually produce two times, three times and five times as much as the average person.

My Resolutions

I am currently doing a home based mlm business and time is really flexible.  I mind my own business as advised by Robert Kiyosaki. The problem is how to manage my time effectively and efficiently as I always feel that I do not have enough time to complete all my tasks.

Well, I shall resolve to do the following for the next few weeks:

1) Plan my day in advance and organize each day to create large chunks of time that I can use for key task completion.

2) Be committed to work on a key task at a specific time.

To better time management,
Peck Ling

Finally, after struggling for many days and nights, I finally got WordPress v2.1 software installed. I had problems importing the previous posts and so decided to start afresh after wasting so much time.

I hope to follow the order as close as possible.

Here is the first post of the blog.

I have no idea who Brian Tracy was when I was still hard at work. My job did not involve direct selling and I was not in any business at all. Moreover, I worked almost 10 to 12 hours a day. I hardly had the time to read beyond my area of work and interests.

One day, my friend invited me to a course preview. I had never attended one before. She gave me no details but just that it could be beneficial to me. Well, I was preparing to leave the organization I was in then. So, I attended.

The presentation was in Mandarin and it was about sales. The point that came across strongly was that Sales = Income.

It never occurred to me that way. To me, income = monthly salary. Another point came across strongly, was that to be rich and wealthy, one has to do sales. Well, I realised that the statement is true! My cousin is doing sales and he is doing very well! Thinking about my own situation, we were just average income family after slogging for so many years. I felt the need to know more about sales. I really do not wish to be poor when I am old. I want to live comfortably and doing the things that I use to do. I really don’t like the idea of having to worry about having sufficient money before I made a purchase or to help someone.

Well the course came at the right time. The actual course would focus on the techniques of closing sales. This is the most critical of the entire sales process. Sounded interesting for somebody like me! If I could master the selling skills, I will never die of hunger, right?

You are right. I signed up for the Sales course and another on personal development to prepare myself for new challenges. Personal development is something that many companies hardly spend money on. Well, I was sold the idea that I could explode my potential and achieve my dreams.

The course was in Mandarin and you could imagine how tough it was to write in Chinese or to translate from Chinese to English. During the course, names of world-class gurus like Robert Kiyosaki, Anthony Robbins, Joe Girard, Brian Tracy, etc. were mentioned. I could hardly guess their names in Englsh! The different sales techniques of closing were taught. Good and useful instruction.

Being a newcomer to this area, I was overwhelmed.I still have no idea who Brian Tracy was, even though I had the opportunity to purchase ticket for his presentation at a discounted price. But, alas, I did not take up the offer! I had no idea how ‘big’ he is. The Brian Tracy Tour to Asia was a huge success!

One of my friends told me that Brian Tracy is the author of the book “The Psychology of Selling”. He is also the world’s #1 producer of audio learning programs and the leading authority on the development of human potential and business success. In addition, he has 3o years of experience building and managing 22 successful businesses and consulting for over 500 corporations.

Wow! His materials have been translated in 14 different languages and are used in 20 countries.I was recommended to watch Brian Tracy’s video seminar but did not have time to do so. Well, I will do so soon.Recently I bought the DVDs on Double Your Income and Productivity by Brian Tracy.

I watched the first 50 minutes and here is a summary of some salient points:

a) Successful people always take actions. Know what they want and always ask how.
b) Don’t be angry with things you can’t change. Don’t be upset with facts.
c) Positive thoughts empower you; negative thoughts weaken you
d) Be optimistic
e) Top people think of the future most of the time
f) We can control probability. We can control probability by doing specific things like:
keep trying, keep doing, and keep learning.

I will continue watching the DVD and share more so that the information becomes internalised… Selfish, no!  But more of a Win win situation …

To our success,
Peck Ling

From young, we were told not to interrupt conversations as it is considered rude. We were not told why or how this will impact others, their feelings and self-esteem. Many children grow up remembering their manners while some forget theirs, thus hurting people by cutting into conversations and ignoring what others have to say.

I had personally experienced being ignored. It was like what Brian Tracy said, “an emotional slap in the face”.

Do remember to listen to others attentively and do not interrupt or ignore what others say.

Listening helps in sales by boosting our customers’ self-esteem!

You can actually make another person feel terrific about himself or herself by listening in a warm, genuine, caring way to everything he or she has to say. The person would feel important and would be keen to carry on the conversation.

The opposite of listening is Ignoring or Interrupting. This is the fastest way to turn people off. We have a tendency to make some remarks or observation in the middle of a conversation. This is a sure way to abruptly stop the sales conversation.

Learning Points

First, take every opportunity to make the other person feel important by listening attentively to what he or she says.

Second, avoid interrupting the other person by slowing down and pausing for a few moments after he or she has stopped speaking.

To our Good Listening Skills,

Peck Ling

An Automated Money Maker.

It’s The Best Opportunity You Will Ever Have!

I like reading Brian Tracy’s Success Newsletter and I encourage you to subscribe to it as well.  The information therein is so concise and for people who just do not have the time or money for live seminars, this is a good way to get the gist of Brian’s teaching.
In this issue, Brian wrote about two great principles for achieving financial success:
a) Law of Attraction
b) Law of Correspondence

Law of Attraction
The law of attraction says that we are living magnet.
Our thoughts will create a force field of energy that radiates out from us and attracts back into our life, people and circumstances in harmony with them. That is, if we think positive, we will attract positive people, ideas, opportunities and circumstances into our life.  If we think negative, the same would be attracted to us.

- How to Attract the Success We Desire
We need to have a very clear idea in our mind of our desired goal, to become wealthy, and we can hold that idea in our mind on a continuing basis, we will inevitably draw into our life the resources that we need in order to achieve it.

Law of Correspondence
This law says that everything that happens outside of us corresponds to something that’s going on inside of us, at a conscious and subconscious level.

- Visualize Your Goals Clearly
If you consciously believe that you have the ability to achieve your goals and you can hold a picture of those goals clearly in your mind long enough and hard enough, eventually your outer world will correspond with it.

- Three Places Where We Can See This Law Of Correspondence
1) Our Outer World
Our outer world of people will correspond exactly with our own attitude. Our attitude will always be reflected back to us in the faces and the behaviors of the people around us. If we have a positive, optimistic attitude, people will respond to us almost immediately, even before we open your mouth, in a positive and cheerful way.
 
2) Relationships Show Us Who We Are
Our relationships will always mirror back to us exactly the kind of a person w are. When we are happy and optimistic and at peace, our relationships will be happy and harmonious and loving. But when our thinking is disrupted or negative for any reason, consciously or unconsciously, this will be immediately reflected in our relationships. 

3) Inner and Outer Wealth
Our external world of wealth and financial accomplishment will be a mirror image of our inner world of preparation.  We can control our your conscious thoughts but not the subconscious thoughts.  By keeping our conscious thoughts on what we want, on our images of wealth and affluence, eventually our external world of reality and experiences will reflect it back to us.

How Do We Apply These Two Success Principles In Our Financial Life?
1) Be careful with what we think. Guard our thoughts carefully. Whatever we think about, combined with the emotions of desire or fear, we will attract into our life. Be sure that we are attracting what we want by continuing to think only about what we want.

We can control what we think.  Be sure to think positive and happy.  We will then attract positive and happy people.  This is especially important in network martketing where we want to attract the right kind of business partners.

2) Keep filling our mind with new information, ideas and pictures of the person we want to be and the life we want to live. By so doing, we create this inner attitude of mind, and we will change the outer aspects of our reality.

We become what we think!

Now I understood why things happened in certain ways, why we attract certain kind of people.  It is our thinking, reflected in our behaviour and actions, that will attract the corresponding type of ideas, people and opportunities.

Believe in ourselves, be positive, keep learning and create new ideas and pictures of ourselves.

To your financial success,
Peck Ling

How Network Marketers Get Rich Without Working or Contacting People.

I read Brian Tracy’s Success Newsletter today on Gap Analysis.  A very good piece if you want to do well in sales. 

Here are the main points:

Identify the Real Need of the Prospect
Be a “problem detective” and find out our prospects’ problems for which our product or service is the ideal solution. During the prospecting phase, we are like trying to fit our key into a lock to find if it fits.  In the presenting phase, we twist and open the lock with our key.  In the closing phase, we turn the handle and push the door open.

Using key and lock analogy to explain the concept of the sales process is refreshing.  I have never thought of it this way.  I have often heard that we must always try to give what people want.  So, I think we should also select the right key to fit the lock.

Use Questions As Sales Tools
In order to find out the real need of the prospect, we need to have tools and these are ”questions”.  By asking questions, we will be able to uncover problems and find out the gaps between where he is now and where he could be by using the product or service.   We could then show the prospect how he will benefit by owning and enjoying the product or service we are selling.

Besides uncovering problems, we can use questions to find out the background of the prospect and his dreams - what he wants to achieve in life.  However, there are people who may be more reserved in answering questions.  Hence, one should be tactful in such situation.  Asking good question is a great skill in sales.

Clarify the Need and Build Buying Desire
By the skillful use of questions, we can help the prospect discover the gap to where he wants to be and clarify his need and make him feel that he has to take action. The greater the intensity of the prospect’s need and the clearer the solution (our product or servive) to his problem, the greater is the buying desire.

How would I put the above into Action
First, ask good questions aimed at uncovering the real need or problem the customer has.  Ask good questions and you’ll get the results that you want. 

Perhaps, I could write down all the answers that I want to hear and change them to questions. We can use the FORM principle as a general guideline. Can give it a try!

Then listen attentively to the answers. Never assume that we know already.

Second, show continually the size of the gap between where he wants to be and where he is now, to the prospect to increase his desire to buy.  This can be done by making reference to it over and over again.

In conclusion, I truly believe that to do well in sales, one must first acquire the skills of asking good questions.  This skill is crucial as we can then uncover and clarify the suspect’s needs, increase his desire for the services or products, and eventually close the sale.

The use of questions as a tool for sales cannot be over-emphasized. The tendency for most people is to tell thier prospects everything about their product or service.  We forget that people will pay to solve their problems.  No matter how good the product or service is means nothing to your prospect if it does not solve his problem.  As simple as that!

Do not fret if you feel you cannot ask good questions.  Asking skillful question is a learnable skill.  Through practice and reviewing your questions, we can acquire and master the selling skill.

To your success in closing MORE sales by asking questions,
Peck Ling

Automated Network Marketing Plan Proven To Work Without You Contacting Anyone!

Last night, I met up with 10 ex-colleagues for a small dinner get together at the Japanese Restaurant at Miramar Hotel.

Japanese Buffet - My first time.  Nice food like sashimi (if you like raw fish), tempura, steamed egg (chawanmushi), sushi (except there is no soft shell crab). And rather quick in serving even though the entire restaurant was filled.  It has been a while since I had such a heavy meal.

During the course of the meal, one of my friends told us that she is currently unemployed.  None of us knew she was out of job.  She did not say much.  At the end of the meal, I asked her if she is looking for a job similar to her previous job.  Her reply was that that was what she had been doing all along. 

I empathised with her as I always felt that way but yet, I did not take action to learn something new!

So, better get back to Brian Tracy’s video on Double Your Income and Productivity. 

I played the first part again.  Realised that there was more information that could benefit people.

a) Selling is a learnable skill.
b) Practise new things that you learn immediately and repetitively for at least 10 times.
Then decide whether to continue or not.
c) If we could sell well, we control our life and destiny and own the world.
d) Key to the future is knowledge and skills.
e) Psychological Profile of Successful People.
    - What they want
    - How they can get it (action oriented)
f)  Goal is a problem you have not solved.
g) Always be optimistic
h) Always seek for valuable lessons learnt
i)  Learn great lessons from small problems
j)  Most unhappy people have no goals and hence have nothing to work on.
k) An optimistic person constantly learn new things.  So they feel powerful and more confident.  He has unrealistic expectations of success.  He tries more things and persists longer.
l) It does not matter how many times you fall, all that matters is how many times you get up again.
m) Success is not a miracle or an accident.  It is predictable based on probability.
n) Top 10% of people think about the future and where they are going.  They believe that their greatest moment in life is in the future.

There are more to go … Let me pause here for a while. What are those things that I can do to change my life for the better.

I know that Selling Skills and Techniques are essential skills in life.  I will master them quickly. I need to change my mindset to be more optimistic.  Always substitute negative thoughts with positive ones.  Always look out for solutions and lessons. Never rule out or assume anything.

I need to focus on my goals.  Think of the future and take action quickly. Learn and apply what Brain Tracy teaches immediately.  A bit at a time until it becomes second nature to me.

I hope to learn as much as I can from Brian Tracy.  I know I can achieve great things by following what successful people do.

All the Best,
Peck Ling

Remarkable MLM Plam Gives You An Instant Downline.  Get Started FREE, TODAY!

Finally, after struggling for many days and nights, I finally got WordPress v2.1 software installed.  I had problems importing the previous posts and so decided to start afresh after wasting so much time.

I hope to follow the order as close as possible.

Here is the first post of the blog.

I have no idea who Brian Tracy was when I was still hard at work.  My job did not involve direct selling and I was not in any business at all.  Moreover, I worked almost 10 to 12 hours a day.  I hardly had the time to read beyond my area of work and interests.

One day, my friend invited me to a course preview.  I had never attended one before.  She gave me no details but just that it could be beneficial to me.  Well, I was preparing to leave the organization I was in then.  So, I attended.  The presentation was in Mandarin and it was about sales.  The point that came across strongly was that Sales = Income. It never occurred to me that way. To me, income = monthly salary.  Another point came across strongly, was that to be rich and wealthy, one has to do sales. Well, I realised that the statement is true!  My cousin is doing sales and he is doing very well!  

Thinking about my own situation, we were just average income family after slogging for so many years.  I felt the need to know more about sales.  I really do not wish to be poor when I am old.  I want to live comfortably and doing the things that I use to do.  I really don’t like the idea of having to worry about having sufficient money before I made a purchase or to help someone.

Well, the course came at the right time.  The actual course would focus on the techniques of closing sales.  This is the most critical of the entire sales process.  

Sounded interesting for somebody like me! If I could master the selling skills, I will never die of hunger, right? You are right. I signed up for the Sales course and another on personal development to prepare myself for new challenges.  Personal development is something that many companies hardly spend money on.  Well, I was sold on the idea that I could explode my potential and achieve my dreams.

The course was in Mandarin and you could imagine how tough it was to write in Chinese or to translate from Chinese to English.  During the course, names of world-class gurus like Robert Kiyosaki, Anthony Robbins, Joe Girard, Brian Tracy, etc. were mentioned.  I could hardly guess their names in Englsh!  The different sales techniques of closing were taught.  Good and useful instruction.  Being a newcomer to this area, I was overwhelmed.

I still have no idea who Brian Tracy was, even though I had the opportunity to purchase ticket for his presentation at a discounted price.  But, alas, I did not take up the offer!  I had no idea how ‘big’ he is.  The Brian Tracy Tour to Asia was a huge success!

One of my friends told me that Brian Tracy is the author of the book “The Psychology of Selling”. He is also the world’s #1 producer of audio learning programs and the leading authority on the development of human potential and business success.  In addition, he has 3o years of experience building and managing 22 successful businesses and consulting for over 500 corporations.  Wow!  His materials have been translated in 14 different languages and are used in 20 countries.

I was recommended to watch Brian Tracy’s video seminar but did not have time to do so. Well, I will do so soon.

Recently I bought the DVDs on Double Your Income and Productivity by Brian Tracy.  I watched the first 50 minutes and here is a summary of some salient points

a) Successful people always take actions.  Know what they want and always ask how.
b) Don’t be angry with things you can’t change. Don’t be upset with facts.
c) Positive thoughts empower you; negative thoughts weaken you
d) Be optimistic
e) Top people think of the future most of the time
f) We can control probability.  We can control probability by doing specific things like:
    keep trying, keep doing, and keep learning.

I will continue watching the DVD and share more so that the information becomes internalised…  Selfish, no! But more of a Win win situation!

To our success,
Peck Ling

What’s Wrong With Getting Rich QUICKER?