School is never out for the pro

Weekly Sales Tips

“If you think the cost of education is expensive, try the cost of ignorance.”
~ Bok

Over 45 years ago, I made what I feel is the significant decisions of my life. I decided that for the rest of my life I would invest 10% of my time and income in my personal growth and development.

During my career as a speaker, trainer and author I have spoken to thousands of people who have said they want a better lifestyle, increased income and greater satisfaction from their career and life. Many of these same people have turned over the responsibility of their personal development to their employers, let it be dictated by their available discretionary income, or just waited to win the lottery.

Unfortunately, none of these is a very reliable method to ensure that you realize your life dreams, create personal financial freedom and find lasting peace and happiness.

Over the years, one common denominator I have observed in successful salespeople is their willingness to invest in the continued improvement of their skills, attitudes and philosophy.

What are you planning on investing in yourself this year? What’s your self-development plan for 2011? If you are excelling in this demanding career, I will bet you have invested more in yourself than you have in going out to dinner. If you have invested more in personal entertainment, I will bet you are not achieving your potential.

Life is an interesting relationship between paying the price and winning the prize. Between self-investment and rewards. Between investing time in personal growth and your ultimate success.

It takes commitment, patience, persistence, and goals to invest wisely in yourself over the long haul. It takes nothing whatsoever to postpone investing in yourself until it is too late and the die is cast. We are talking about a philosophy of ‘life-long learning’ – not learning as an event.

It is never too late to begin an aggressive on-going self development program. There are thousand of books to read, CD audio tools to listen to and seminars to attend. Don’t wait for your organization to invest in you and your future value. Take full responsibility for the quality of your life and learning, and I strongly urge you to DO IT NOW…

My final thought for the week: If you are unwilling to invest in yourself and your future why should anyone else? The cost of failure is always higher than the price of success and the price of success is investing in you NOW!