The first time we met, I asked him:

• What do you expect from me?

• What do you love?

• What do you hate?

• What are your interests/hobbies?

• He wanted me to deliver the planned projects as agreed (i.e. budget/time/benefits) 

• He wanted me to keep him informed of progress - the truth - exactly how it is

• He loved projects to be jointly agreed and met

• He hated surprises. If the project dates were  going to be missed, he wanted me to let  him know as soon as I knew and especially  not at the progress meeting in front of other staff

• He liked watching football and participated in  marathons

His reputation and my perception of him were just totally wrong.

Four simple questions ensured rapport was built and I knew exactly how to manage my boss.

Give it a try - it's simple but powerful.

By the way my First-Class Managers course has a complete section on ‘Managing Your Boss’ and shares with you the unique Relationship Builder Framework™ - one of the most useful frameworks you’ll ever get to use.

GPS usually stands for "Global Positioning System" But it could stand for "Growth Plan for Success." You need a plan to reach any stage of success, and success usually is a result of personal growth.

So what should you consider for your plan:

Thinking And Acting Positively

Thinking and acting positively is part of training yourself to feel and believe you are going to be successful. It is your self-fulfilling prophecy! However, it will only work if you make it work. You need to create your own GPS, not one someone else has created. Others can give you suggestions, but only you can decide what will work for you and your circumstances.

Success Is No Accident

Success is no accident; you do need to make a plan. First, you need to plan your long-term goals. Decide where you want to be, and then you need to decide on your strategy and have an action plan for things you want to achieve and target dates for reaching those goals.

Set your short-term goals after you determine your long-term goals. Review them on a regular basis. Each successive goal should be just a little harder than you think you can manage. Always make sure you are aiming higher than you think you can reasonably reach at each stage.

Even if you do not quite make that higher goal, most likely you will have accomplished more than if you had set your goal lower. Dream dreams, dream big dreams!

Make It Highly Visible

Your GPS needs to be a highly visible part of your life every day. It should be a written plan and be somewhere you can see it every morning. You need to review your goals, and review the steps you will take to achieve them. Every day you should pick at least one thing to achieve that takes you nearer to your long-term goal.

Take one-step at a time, one turn in a new direction at a time, but never stop moving forward, never lose your momentum. It is much harder to start over than it is to keep following your GPS.

If you fail to keep sight of your goals, you will never achieve them.

Create A Dream Board

If possible, create a dream board with the things you want to do or have when you reach your "destination."

Be as specific as possible.

The things you put on your board should be things you get emotional about when you think about them. Do not put a picture of money up there, put a picture of what you want to buy with that money. Think about why it is you want that "thing".

Then, make a chart of the steps you need to take to reach your goals so that you can cross each item off as you complete them. This will give you a great sense of accomplishment and a realization that you are in control of your success every day by taking at least one-step forward.

See Yourself In The Future

One way to help you believe in yourself and in your ability to reach your goals is to see yourself in the future one year, two years, or five years from where you are right now.

Imagine yourself doubling your current income.

How would that make you feel?

What would you do with the extra money?

What if you tripled your income?

What would you do with all of that money?

Chances are you may find it difficult to spend all of that money.

The more "real" your vision, the deeper the desire becomes and the closer to your "reality" it will become. The universe will already be in motion to give you what you request if you just keep moving forward with your plan.

Use Your Time Wisely

Make the best use of your time as possible.

If you let fear hold you back, you will put off starting on your "trip", whether it is fear of failure or fear of success. Yes, you could actually be afraid to succeed, afraid of what your friends and family will think of you. Procrastination sets in and you may find yourself looking for any excuse not to get started.

Maybe you need just one more cup of coffee or you have to read your email first. This is not the way to get to the "road to success." Get focused and get started. It just needs to be progress, it does not need to be perfect.

It Is OK To Be fearful

It's OK to be fearful, that is natural. Take on a task in stages and work out short periods of time to do at least a part of a task. Think of it as stepping-stones on a path that you can only see a short distance in front of you.

As you step on the next stone, the path in front of you opens up a little more. You do not have to see all the way to the end of the path, you just need to see the next stepping-stone and keep moving along the path. Stay focused and do not allow distractions.

Allow yourself peace and quiet. Put a sign on the door if necessary to let family members know you are hard at work on your "GPS."

Learn to work the plan, live with the plan, and see the plan as your roadmap to success. Do not treat it as an enemy--actually, it is your best friend. Review your progress and goals frequently.

Mistakes Are Part Of Being Successful

Learn from your mistakes and grow with each step of the process. You will never be the same person in the end that you were in the beginning, whether or not you reach your ultimate "destination."

Every successful step you take makes you a different person, with more knowledge and skills.

Each unsuccessful step you take also makes you a different person, with a different kind of knowledge that will steer you in a different direction.

Enjoy Your Journey

Make sure your plan allows time for you to enjoy the journey, to think about where you want to go, and why. Enjoy the personal growth you have made along the way. It is the journey that is the most fun, don't miss it while you look into the future.

Plan your future with a success plan, your own "GPS" that becomes your daily routine. Keep challenging yourself to improve your knowledge and skills to succeed, not just in business, but in life as well.

Keep moving forward. You will find that success you are looking for.

You can get a huge helping hand from these 16 cash-rich successful individuals; just click here for more details.

Avoid being in the majority

I get to see hundreds of resumes every week and the vast majority of them are just a list of educational courses, exam results and jobs. That’s it. No selling of themselves.

If you do not shout about your skills and achievements, how will employees know about them?

As some of you know I live in a UK seaside town and the other night, my wife and I had a stroll along the seafront, as it was a lovely sunny evening. This was our first time since our Sam had passed away and was accepted into ‘Pet Heaven’.

Worthing Beach - Photo courtesy of dan powell

As we walked, we came across a restaurant we had not seen before. It was a quant, Italian restaurant. The menu was great. It was a Tuesday night so not many people were eating inside but we thought we’d give the restaurant a visit, the following Friday.

It was Friday, we were going out to dinner – the new restaurant. Can’t wait.

We arrived and the curtains across the restaurant window were closed.

Why?

You want to see inside the restaurant before you go in and eat , don’t you?

We wanted to see people enjoying themselves and eating beautiful food. We didn’t wish to just imagine that, we wanted to see it with our own eyes.

Suddenly I saw there was a small gap in the curtains. I was on tiptoes and could see the restaurant was empty. Empty! It’s Friday night! We thought that must be a sign. It can’t be very good if it’s empty on a Friday night.

We walked across the road to a restaurant, which we often visit. It was full, it was buzzing and we had to wait for a table.

We had a great meal.

We left, walked across the road, I stood on tiptoes and peered between the drawn curtains in the first restaurant. It was packed! The restaurant was buzzing, everyone seem to be enjoying themselves.

We missed out, but that’s perception for you. We had judged incorrectly.

How does perception influence your lives?

Have you made a wrong decision based upon perception?

We intend to visit the first restaurant very, very soon.

Which life do you lead?

Do you consider your life to be constructive or would you describe it as destructive to you and all around you.

Both result from a chain reaction, one leading to a downward spiral and the other leading to an upward spiral.

Living a Destructive Life

What do you remember about your childhood, early adulthood?

Is it failing exams, being told off for not going to school, failing your driving test, leaving your first job because you kept making mistakes and thought they would probably sack you anyway?

This perception of your early life can only lead to a negative self-image.

Your subconscious mind constantly focuses on these negative situations. When a new situation comes into your life, say you get a new job; your subconscious gets to work analysing this new set of information. It takes it apart and compares it to what has gone before.

'...only stays a maximum of 18 months in a job so will have to move on in a year or so.'

'...had trouble with the boss in most past jobs so will have trouble with this one.’

'...got on with colleagues for the first six months then relationships went downhill so will have problems with colleagues by the end of the year.’

Your subconscious mind does not rationalise…

…it simply takes the facts that have gone before and acts on them.

In this case it sees a new job as something temporary and tells your conscious mind that you should expect all of the problems you have had before.

This leads to a negative perception of your job.

A negative perception leads to lack of confidence, lack of motivation and ultimately depression.

What chance does your new job have?  None! This will impact on your wider life making it harder and harder to get what you want in life - so you sink deeper and deeper into depression.

Living a Constructive Life

What do you remember about your childhood, early adulthood?

Is it playing with friends and siblings, holidays you have enjoyed, getting your first job?

This person's subconscious mind is very busy!

Busy relating new situations to all the good things that have gone before! If this person decided to set up their own business their subconscious would be saying something like this:

'..Well this is new but I have been successful in my career so far so I will just use those skills and experience to succeed in my business.’

'..I will have to find new customers but that is OK because I have always been very good at developing customer relations.’

'..Once I am up and running I will need new staff but that will be fine because I have always got on well with the people reporting to me.'

What do you think is happening in this person's life?

Because they are focusing on success, they are looking forward to achieving it.

This makes them feel motivated, which in turn leads them to take action. This action gets results so they feel more motivated (and happy!) and so it goes on.

Which life are you leading?

Success in any entrepreneurial endeavour is conditional on a simple truth: Learning does not always require thinking.

Actually, thinking often hinders learning.

Hinders learning?

That flies in the face of most of what we know, doesn't it? As children, we were often reproached when we made mistakes: "You just weren't thinking! Don't you ever think about what you're doing?"

Then there's the most successful personal development book of all time telling us to do what?

Photo courtesy of Lindsey Spirit

That's right, "Think and Grow Rich".

True it is a fantastic book and a must read for success minded people. However, many of us get so tangled in thoughts that we can't get out of our "heads" and take the action required for success.

Socrates, one of the greatest "thinkers" of all time, said, "Action equals knowledge."

Action, not thinking, is how we achieve results.

Take playing the piano for instance. We could think about playing the piano but we will never become better until we start pecking away at the keys.

If you were to ask an accomplished pianist to think about what they are playing in the middle of a rapturous concert, the music would probably fall apart into a series of painfully disconnected notes.

The same is true with typing.

Ask a person who flawlessly types over 70 words a minute to think about the key strokes, and you could probably watch the mistakes pile up.

Thinking hinders execution.

Thinking can hinder success.

The fact of the matter is we can intellectualise all we want, but until we take action, we will never accomplish anything.

There is a mantra in the martial arts that says "Ready, Fire, Aim".

Simply put, this means take action and correct that action as you go.

It is quite probable that many businesses never get out of the starting gate because of over-thinking and over analysing.

Most people want all their ducks to be lined up in a row before they begin. This will never happen. The time will never be perfect.

The key is to get started and then "keep on keeping on."

In the martial arts, students practice moves over and over and over again. They train their bodies to transcend thought and take action in the moment.

Imagine a trained martial artist being attacked on the street thinking, "Hmm, okay I'm being attacked. Should I turn my body this way or should it be the other way? Okay, now I have to trap the assailant’s arms, tighten my fists, pull back, and strike."

Of course, this is not what happens in the martial arts. The key teaching in the martial arts is to ACT. NOW! ...In spite of the mind's tenancy to analyse the situation.

The worst kind of thinking is fear of failure.

The "What if" disease.

What if I lose all my money?

What if, what if, what if?

Fear is paralysing.

It stops the movement necessary for success.

Fear weakens our resolve, cripples our creativity, and ultimately stagnates our successes. Conversely, movement overcomes fear.

When struck by fear, move. Do something!

So, don't wait to explore your entrepreneurial spirit; take action now.

When those pesky thoughts creep up, and they will, scare them away with the mantra, "Don't think, don't think, don't think, don't think..." and watch your dreams and goals cascade towards you.

What is the bottom line? "Don't think and grow rich."

Public speaking ranks right up there with death in terms of the things we are terribly afraid to do. Whether it’s the fear of being watched closely by others, or the insecurity and self-conscious feeling of slipping up during the presentation, these six tips will help you give a polished, professional speech that you (and your audience) can be proud of!

Photo courtesy of hiddedevries

1. Know your audience.

This is the single best piece of advice for delivering a presentation that really hits home.

What are their interests?

Their backgrounds?

Why are they coming to hear you speak or present?

What ideas do you have to share with them?

Approaching your speech as more of a “me-to-you” discussion rather than a full-blown broadcast will make it more manageable (and less stressful) and easier on you.

2. What do you want your audience to do as a result of your speech?

What’s really at the heart of your presentation?

By concentrating on the “end result” rather than slogging through the beginning, you can create a powerful punch that drives home your message instead of rambling on and losing your audience’s interest (or missing the point entirely!)

3. Share a story.

In public speaking circles, this is called a “hook” – something that gets your audience’s attention and makes them sit up and listen.

Start off by asking questions or sharing an experience you had.

People like to be active, rather than passive listeners.

By giving them something that they can identify with, you’ll find that these people are, in essence – just like you! And that makes giving a presentation a whole lot easier.

Just be sure your story has a beginning, a point, and an ending. There’s nothing quite as bad as telling a story to an engaged audience and then forgetting why you told it!

4. If you’re selling a product, focus on the benefits instead of the features.

People would much rather hear WHAT a product can do for them than HOW it does it.

Narrow down your product’s features until you get to the core of how it solves a problem. If you need help with figuring out the difference between a feature and a benefit, ask yourself “So What?”

For example, if you’re selling a vacuum cleaner that has a hypoallergenic filter, put yourself in the customer’s shoes and ask yourself “so what?” The answer would be something like, “It picks up dust, mold and pet dander”. Again, “so what?” Answer, “You’ll feel relief from runny nose and sneezing plus itchy, water eyes.” Now THAT’s a benefit!

5. Don’t lean too heavily on media to make your message clear.

PowerPoint presentations are great for making specific points, but they can be overwhelming – or downright boring.

Instead, give your audience something to DO by providing them with fill-in-the-blank flip charts or “team activities”. These help reinforce and emphasize your message in ways that a computer presentation simply cannot.

6. Above all, make sure your speech ends in a way that reiterates the beginning.

Too often, speakers get carried away with the details and leave their audiences asking, “What was the point of all that?”

People naturally digest information in “chunks”, so focus on the big picture rather than all the pieces.

If the details are just as important, save it for an after-speech handout that the audience can take with them and read over at their leisure.

If you keep these six tips in mind, you’ll not only have an easier time overcoming your fear of public speaking, but you’ll have a very appreciative audience who will in turn be more receptive and eager to try your product or service.

Go get ‘em!