LANGUISHING: A NEW WORD AND A NEW REALITY

Actually, "languishing" is not a new word, it has been kicking around for a long time and has recently gained some momentum.  But it does have a new and personal meaning for all of us.  Most of us are not actually depressed (although more of us probably are), but we feel helpless and unfocused.  We have been teased with restrictions being lifted and then brought back.  The weather has been easing, but inconsistent.  For me a Steve Paikin episode gave the notion of how one feels, some articulation.

Update:  Languishing is when a person loses hope and loses much of their motivation.

Time management has been altered for everyone.  I had once preached that you can not fully enjoy two activities at the same time, but these days multi-tasking is the normal, but truly no task is quite as satisfying as we hoped.  Blogging is one coping mechanism for me, but will confess there are many posts in draft and I dilly dally between them without the focus that could make any of them more satisfying.  An earlier blog when I was focused on selling, but everyday living as well:  http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2011/05/time-management-for-sales-other-people.html

Personally (and for some this is even more excruciating) two funerals have affected me.  A close friend of the family, Helen Rigby died from cancer during one of the semi lockdowns.  A memorial service was held, semi outdoors, masks, temperatures checked, some social distancing.  Under normal circumstances a lot more people would have showed to pay their respects and remember the good times with her.  Through the newspaper obituary we learned of the death of an uncle, Raymond Oleskiw who once had a significant role in the family.  Although he was elderly and had other health issues, the Covid 19 pandemic was the deciding factor.  No mention of a funeral and apparently the opportunity to renew family ties has been missed.

Resentment which we all seem powerless to really express is now part of our psyches.  Guessing most of my readers resent those "idiots" who are not strictly abiding by restrictions and holding the rest of us hostage.  On the other hand they resent us because we are putting a damper on their enjoyment of life.  Amongst my crowd there is resentment between those who had early access to vaccinations and those who didn't, many of whom were exposed to greater risk.

Donald Trump and his supporters are especially resented.  We can see his selfish decision to sideline an intelligent response to the pandemic.  Too many blindly follow his words and example, not realizing he has already screwed them and is now compounding the problem.  Somewhere in the future there may be a reaction against science deniers that are really protecting their greedy interests.  Climate change, gun control, mental health, inequality, etc.may eventually be viewed more reasonably and dealt with more effectively.

Another resentment is that the rich are doing better than ever.  More of us are forced to buy online as we are unable to get what we need (and want) through our regular suppliers.  The big grocery stores are able to adjust, while too many of their smaller competitors are either closed or severely restricted.  This trend will likely carry on and we will all have a different purchasing life.

To my way of thinking there have been events that changed society profoundly, but few as severely as the current pandemic.  My parents were brought up during the Great Depression and went through some deprivations and a great release to help start the baby boom.  Their parents (my grandparents) were the ones who felt the shock of a standard of living being suddenly lowered.  World Wars created for many a different adjustment, due to fear.  Young people, especially those active or close to active fighting, felt life and plans could be ended abruptly so you might as well enjoy life to the fullest for the moment.

Other blogs that made me think of our precarious existence: 

When the Covid 19 shutdowns I started exploring my city within walking distance seemed like a good idea.  This link has several other links for these walks which resulted in lots of photos that you might find interesting and a few observations:  http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2020/04/the-shutdown-continues.html

A CBC radio clip got my attention about luck.  A book written by Jeffrey S. Rosenthal, a statistician followed.  He was debunking a lot of luck notions while at the same time urging us to pay more attention to statistical odds.  More recently there has been a fuss about blood clots caused by some vaccines that has caused some policy changes and more critically public fear.  Looking at the odds there is more danger of getting Covid 19.  It is worth some consideration:   http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2021/03/knock-on-wood.html

 Watching Michelle Gelfand, a guest on Fareed Zakaria the discussion started on loose and tight societies and how they affected coping with the Covid 19 pandemic.  There has been a definite link and the same mechanism affects much more:  http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2021/04/rule-makers-rule-breakers.html

What will we bequeath to those that follow?  Life is not certain and thus we might appreciate it more.  People can be very greedy and thoughtless.  Other people can be very caring.  The rich can survive better than the rest of us, but even they can be hurt.  Above all I hope future generations will realize that we are all CONNECTED.

 If you found this blog more disjointed than usual, you could be right.  Blogging still is something I enjoy and has become part of my coping strategy.  An explanation of my joy:  http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2020/09/what-keeps-me-blogging-and-what-i-have.html

An explanation of how I chose my title:  http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2013/07/the-real-john-davidson.html

A Big Disappointment with one of my heroes

Bobby Knight is not exactly my biggest hero, but I have a quotation of his prominently on my wall that I find inspirational.  For those of you who are not basketball fans, Bobby has a remarkable record that stands well in the entire field of sports.

He has coached 902 winning games in the NCAA Division 1 Basketball.  When he retired that was the record, but it has since been passed by Mike Krzyzewski, one of his former players and assistant coaches.  Knight won 3 national NCAA championships at Indiana University and also coached the U.S. men's basketball team to an Olympic gold medal in 1984.  Along the way he infuriated a number of people by his rough tactics including throwing a chair on the court during a game and being verbally abusive to players and reporters.

I don't condone all of his methods, but I greatly admire him for a particular quote which I try to keep in mind, especially when things aren't going so well.  "The will to win is not nearly as important as the will to prepare to win."  We all admire talented people who can turn it on when it really counts, but the rest of us might not be as talented.  Of course some talented people actually worked hard to be considered talented.  Coach Bobby Knight was noted for thorough preparation.

What I got out of the quote was that although you might not be able to summon up the strength to do something that can make a difference right now, you can always do something to improve your situation for the next opportunity.  It is so easy to despair when things are rough, but better to analyze the situation and your resources and then carefully plan to do better.  Preparation for the opportunity is always a good idea and there is always something that can be done.  When you are not successful at some goal you can usually look back and appreciate you didn't do enough preparation.

My disappointment was seeing on television Bobby Knight, who is very well respected in Indiana endorse Donald Trump.  I heard a brief piece on NPR this morning commenting on how many sports leaders had also done so.  They all had a few traits in common--an anger at reporters and a strong authoritative behaviour.  Bobby Knight fits that pattern and so does Donald Trump.

I admit that society needs those people to get some things done, but they are not always the best source of advice.  Donald Trump is a noted admirer of Vladimir Putin and one can see similarities, but one hopes neither has control over our government.

Donald Trump cannot be blamed for wanting to be president, but in my opinion he would be a disaster.  He is smarter than he portrays himself, but he is deliberately appealing to baser instincts.  It was once said that to every complex problem there is a simple solution that is wrong.  Trump is preying on people's unhappiness by offering simple solutions that would make the situation worse.

Building a wall will create negative results on both sides of the border.  Banning Muslims will be used  to inflame extreme actions for both Muslims and non Muslims.  His attitude towards torture  is machoistic and counter productive.  Insulting women will aggravate inequality to hurt us all.  Platitudes can be misleading whereas explanations can be evaluated.  He once expressed gratitude to all the poorly educated people who voted for him.  That should be taken as a challenge to improve the education system.  My views on torture:  http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2014/12/torture.html

I can still admire Bobby Knight for some of his insights, but my image of him is tarnished.  Donald Trump is a very scary phenomenon who I wish I didn't feel compelled to write about.  He thrives on attacks.

CHRISTMAS EVE RESOLUTIONS FOR 2015

I have decided to write my resolutions for Chrismtas Eve instead of the usual New Years Eve.  Why waste good intentions when you are seeing people you don't see very often and when your nose is not to the grindstone?

The purpose of resolutions is to improve oneself or to get more out of life.  Putting them down on paper and letting others know creates a stronger determination.

First reflect back on how well I lived up to my 2014 resolutions.  I am in the process of describing my year in a post that will be released January 1st.

Exercising not too bad--but one weak spot was pushups

Reading and movies overachieved--perhaps too obsessive, but feel I did broaden my awareness.

Mindfulness--went backwards a bit--  did listen to more music, usually displacing repetitive news casts

Superficially I achieved my blogging goal, but suspect it is misleading.   At work I am wrestling with what social media stats really mean.  My blog stats don't balance and sometimes seem irrational.  Probably I don't understand the logic behind it.  I assume higher numbers mean more attention, but suspect that too often much of the higher numbers are meaningless.  Very few people actually follow me and I don't generate much awareness.

One can always do better, but selecting the right goals is important.

Time management is the key to everything else.  Do more activities on the A and B lists instead of floundering around. There is always enough time to do significant things if not wasting opportunities.

Fitness- is a combination of exercise, diet and rest.  They are all related.  Work to do 60 sit-ups and 50 pushups while doing 3000 kilometres on elliptical machine (to 7300).  Walk as much as possible.

Mindfulness is not meant to be measured, but need to pay more attention as I do things--eating being one good example.  Tapping, tai'chi are other areas to explore.

Getting older and need to cultivate my real social network which is more important that social media network, but not unrelated.  Be nicer.

Blogging is one of my most enjoyable activities.  Like looking at old photos, writing personal memories while I can is enjoyable.  Although I   did achieve goal of page views, it doesn't seem accurate. Although the numbers don't add up would again set the goal of 2+ page views per hour or a total page view count of 61,000. Getting more followers and comments would be a good indicator.   Will set out to average 2 posts a week while continuing to review past work for grammar, tag words and giving links between related posts.  Also use social media a bit more to draw attention.

Read 20,000 plus pages and watch 200+ movies.

In the next 30 months I hope to put three of us to visit New Zealand.

TIMING AND LUCK

Many of us are waiting for a lucky break, likely the majority of us.  Sometimes that is expressed by buying lottery tickets or other gambling.

Often we are just waiting for someone, somewhere to do something for our benefit. Salespeople often find themselves wishing for a lucky break.  Sometimes they get so distracted by that notion that they fail to do what can be done to create a lucky break.

The "Luck Factor" by Dr. Richard Wiseman talks about how some people seem to attract luck.  Of course people are really hoping they can get a lucky number which would solve all their problems.  It turns out the key factor for many "lucky" people is they expose themselves to more opportunities.  Buying more lottery tickets might be one way of increasing your odds (if you don't buy you have no odds), but another way is by being open to opportunities. Opportunities are everywhere, but often below the surface.

Making cold calls can be very discouraging, but they are a step to improving your "luck".  Every now and then I will get somebody who says I was just thinking about whatever I was selling at the time. You could call that luck, but I called dozens if not hundreds of prospects before hearing those words. Another critical factor enters into the effort and that is you have an opportunity to learn.  Every person you contact has a unique situation, but they do fall into patterns.  At one level you will be told things that can help future efforts and at another level,  you will develop a feel for where you are wasting your time and where you need to probe deeper.  Dr Wiseman thinks you should follow up your "lucky hunches" which are really intuition fine tuned  by experience.

What is the perfect time to call?   I used to take young boys and girls out canvassing for newspaper subscriptions.  One of the key problems was the dinner time.  People eat dinner at a variety of times and ideally we thought it would be good to avoid it.  However that proved to be impossible.  Some people would eat early and some late and some even ate when we guessed.  Another problem we had was that many people disappeared after eating and others settled into a regular routine.  The best results were obtained when we stopped trying to guess and just tried to cover as many households as we could in a limited time span.  Some people even signed up at dinner time.

On your first call one of the key details to learn is when is a better time to contact.  It is one of those little questions that can help develop rapport.  After all you are showing concern for their convenience and when they think it over you will probably get an honest answer.

Being optimistic you present yourself in a positive manner.  If you let yourself get discouraged you are not really making your best presentation and it will likely take many more calls to find someone who will overlook your less than best.  Being optimistic doesn't mean putting all your eggs on this next call, but realizing there is an order out there and it could be this next call.

A heart warming movie, "The Pursuit of Happyness"  with Will Smith having a string of bad experiences that places him in a desperate situation, but through a series of "lucky" breaks he turns his life around.  The movie has different meanings to different viewers.  A key lucky break for the main character is contacting a man with a lot of wealth who is impressed with what Will is able to present.  The movie didn't emphasize that Will's character in reality made more calls than his colleagues.  One habit was not to set the phone down between calls and another was to avoid drinking water or coffee so he wouldn't have to take a bathroom break and in general he started earlier and worked later.  When he got his "big" opportunity he was prepared.

While you are waiting for your lucky break you can improve your odds by being pro-active.  A last question.  Are you prepared for your lucky opportunity?

The photo above is the result of looking for it over a period of 3 years.  The first time I saw a hummingbird in Cuba was really about the first hour I arrived at my hotel.  Didn't have my camera and could never find another hummingbird when I did.  For my next two trips I declared my intention to get a photo.  A year later I did have my camera, but they twitted about so fast I couldn't catch it. Coming back from the beach in the third year I had my camera ready and for about 10 seconds I had my opportunity.  This time I was successful.

Stephen R Covey pointed the way

I am not the best example of a Stephen R. Covey student, but he provided a good model.  I have read several of  his books and listened to many of his tapes many times.  I think a lot of people were similar to myself in that we wanted to follow his path, but just somehow didn't quite make it.  Still I know I am better off for the effort and haven't yet given up.   His death this past week has made me want to review what he had taught me.  He left a legacy to benefit anyone who cares to make an effort to understand.


"The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" is one path to being more effective.  Based on studying the characteristics and habits of people who got things done.  Habits are the key.  We all have them, but they aren't necessarily the healthiest of habits.

Running down the seven habits helps focus on how we could all get more out of life.

The first habit is to be pro active.  Most of us react to whatever happens to us.  We blame others if things don't work out.  Covey feels you must make the decisions that affect you as much as possible and take responsibility for your actions.

The second habit is to begin with the end in mind.  What this boils down to is to have a purpose in life with goals that are important to you.  Most of us don't think about whether we have a mission in life or how we would like to be remembered.  Covey highly recommends you give a lot of thought to what you want to have accomplished by the end of your life.  That should be reflected in everything you do.

The third habit is an outgrowth of the second.  As much as possible you should always  be doing something towards what you have identified as important to you.  Instead we spend much of our time dealing with problems that demand immediate attention or on things that really don't matter.   Thinking this out (and I do try to do this each week)  you should work towards your goals and when you are not able to do anything towards the most important one think of your next most important goal or think of some small step towards your highest priorities.  I was surprised to realize that this doesn't require frantic activity 24 hours a day as Covey recognized that rest and regenerating yourself were just as critical as any task.  If a matter is really urgent you cannot ignore it, but if you carve out more and more time for the really important you will need to spend less time on the urgent and the trivial.

Moving to the fourth habit comes a recognition that to get things done we have to deal with other people who have their own set of priorities.  Whenever you feel you need to get something from another person you need to think what they could get out of helping you.  Win-win is the goal.   If one of you loses, even yourself the exchange is not in the long run successful.

The fifth habit is a very key one.  We all want to be understood, feeling that if the other person understood you they would give you what you want and deserve.  We are so wrapped up in this that we make little if any effort to understand their viewpoint.  Stephen urges, "Seek first to understand, then to be understood."  Encourage the other person to express their concerns and don't interrupt except to express understanding or encourage them to continue.  When you understand them it makes it much easier to move forward.  It is important to be understood, but much easier for them when they feel they are understood.

The sixth habit is to synergize.  Working as a team we can accomplish a whole lot more than doing it ourselves.  The whole really is greater than the sum of its parts.

The seventh habit is to "sharpen the saw."  Stephen uses this metaphor to point out that we need to have balance in our lives and need to renew our skills.

One basic idea of being more effective is to realize we live in an interdependent world.  I have paraphrased his thought that when we are born we are totally dependent on others to survive.  As we grow we gradually become more and more independent.  Full growth occurs when we realize we have always been inter-dependent.

That idea seems very relevant with the political campaigns ranting about the issue.  There is a strong streak in America (and to a lesser extent elsewhere as well) that the strong self made man is the ideal, the model for the rest of us.  It is a self serving delusion of some successful people.  One candidate talks about unleashing business and that any restrictions are very harmful.

Another candidate seems to feel that we can get more done if we work together.  Many people feel that restrictions (ie. regulations) do more harm than good.  Some people feel that we shouldn't hold back the strong people in any way and that those who aren't strong should not be allowed to mooch off the successful.

I am from the school that believes nobody got to where they are by themselves.  Obviously it helps to have parents that passed on strong genes and healthy nurturing.  It helps that schools (formal learning facilities) allowed you to develop knowledge and skills and perhaps stirred your imagination to see new solutions to old problems.  It helps that many people combine their efforts to provide easy means for you to communicate and get around.  For most of us we live in a relatively safe environment that lets us grow stronger.  Today it can be helpful that we are much more conscious of and can take advantage of global interaction.  At bottom is the need for someone to buy what you are selling.  We are all selling something and many of are paid off with salaries, commissions, rents, etc.  Some of us are selling ideas and they need believers.

There will be many people praising the contributions of Stephen R Covey.  I just wanted to add that even a relatively unsuccessful blogger is better off for having read and listened to Stephen R Covey and  firmly believe the world would be better off if more people followed his teachings.

RESOLUTIONS FOR 2012 MADE JANUARY 3RD

I just had ten days off work with an opportunity to reflect on the past year and think how I might do better or be happier the next year. I did ponder a little, but actually feel more empowered now that we are a few days into 2012.

Resolutions should not be too complicated, but another key thing is that the more people know your enthusiastic good intentions the more likely you are to follow through.

I am over weight, poorly fit, and sleep poorly (from stress and too many other priorities). To get a handle on all that my intention is to get more exercise. Being too time and money stressed I have thought of only 3 ways--take one morning off (I work 2-3 evenings each week) and walk to the library and back (that is about 2 kilometres in total and there are extensions and alternatives plus I normally walk that route twice on weekends). Second when watching the news or DVD's get on the elliptical machine that has been put right beside my home desk, an hour plus per week would be helpful. Third, get more serious about doing pushups when I come in early to work--measure myself and build from there. I have been trying to get to 25 for a long time, but not every day. I will look for other ways to exercise, but need these 3 as a base.

In general to get more out of life you have to manage your time. The exercise is intended to help relieve stress and to gain a feeling of accomplishment. Along the same line I wish to get more involved with meditation starting with mindful eating (I am a notorious fast eater who doesn't know when to stop).

I remember a time in my life when I tried to cram in as much effort as I could to do a better job. At one time an employer commented that I didn't seem to take much of a breath between phone calls. Lately I have gotten a bit jaded and let rejections discourage me from making enough efforts. Although sales seem more difficult the old rule that the more honest calls you make the better the results is still very true. I have been simplifying my measuring calculations and have decided that only two measurements really count; the number of efforts I can make and the number of decision makers I contact in a two way contact. Other details are important, but if I can reach my goal here they will likely fall in place. My goal is to average 50 efforts per day and 15 decision makers per day. I don't expect anyone to understand the details, but will confess I have not achieved these goals very often in the last three years, but believe they are attainable and will make a difference.

Preparing to make all those efforts and reach decision makers requires a lot of time sorting through many details. I have been getting bored and taking short cuts. Have to make a greater and smarter effort to make my contacts more effective.

While I am trying to re-arrange my life to be more productive and get more enjoyment I will from time to time infringe on other people's priorities. I will make a greater effort to respect their concerns and hope that we can work towards mutual benefit.

I am not ready for it, but retirement is both alluring and scary. I have some savings, but do not believe I could maintain reasonably close to my current living standard, especially with the frightening economy. I would like to build up a bigger cushion and for several years carry on some meaningful work which could be an extension of some things I have been doing. What would I do with extra time? Two things are attractive--one is to learn things (interesting, meaningful things) and to teach (one of the most satisfying things in my life was teaching my two children to read).

I have been tweeting, blogging and doing a newsletter and realize there are a lot of you out there that I can learn from and that in some small way might learn from me. During the holidays I became a little more conscious of facebook (one special person brought me up to 10 friends, a motivating tipping point) and intend to use it to boost both my business and social awareness. One of the key things I hope to get out this is to at least keep my own resolutions. From time to time I will let you know how I am progressing perhaps at the bottom of some of my blogs and/or on facebook. Some of you can ask me in person if I am sticking to the program and the rest of you are welcome to question however you can.

I have many interests and do not expect everyone to find every word I say worthy of much attention. I have found there is a reason for every interest and I am open to learning more about other people's interests so I can at least appreciate them better and perhaps expand my own interests.

The photo above is of the most important people in my life, my wife Sharon and my children Heather and Michael. The occasion was when Michael was home from Korea and shared some of his experience with us--ordered in Korean and chose our meals--a new experience for me and much appreciated.

September can be your new Beginning

An accounting instructor threw a scary thought at me. He said all companies should keep two sets of books. He was a very honest man and wasn't implying that companies should be defrauding the government, but in fact that the government requirements didn't go far enough to understand a business to make the best decisions to improve profit and long term growth.

What has this got to do with you? It depends. If you are in business you are always planning which includes executing your plans and getting feed back. A good business man understands that to neglect proper planning is to jeopardize your future. New Years Day is usually the beginning of many a plan.

Instead of January my choice is September. The key factor is that is when kids go back to school. As a parent with two kids out of school I no longer revamp my life the way I used to when school forced a change in routine. But really no body escapes it. Summer holidays are when most families take time off together and the rest of us find it difficult to connect with our customers and suppliers.

As a salesman I am busiest in the spring and the fall. In winter it seems customers are recovering from Christmas shopping, discouraged by the weather from any unnecessary shopping and a few lucky ones are beyond my reach in some sunny climate. The summer is not quite as slow, but it seems frustrating in that many of the people I want to contact are on vacation, just back from vacation (and catching up), too excited about their upcoming vacation or their support staff (or their boss) is on vacation and they are stretched.

Rather than be frustrated I look forward to the upcoming busier season--everyone back from vacation, stores ready to re-stock and new opportunities. A new beginning. Just like when I was a student or my kids had to shift their attention from vacation fun to serious study (and meeting old and new friends also making the shift).

Planning is really being done all year, even if not written down on paper. Measuring ourselves, establishing goals and strategies are ideally done on a time frame. While the government requires you to pay taxes based on a calendar year, your own arrangement of time might work better with your own calendar.

If you haven't thought about it one of the advantages of setting time based goals and strategies in your time frame, is that it is really a beginning of your choice. A chance to throw out the things that didn't work and concentrate on new strategies that promise more success. You will have to make adjustments at different times of the year, but a major shift of thinking is worth while and you can decide the beginning time and the measurement time.

TIME MANAGEMENT FOR SALES & OTHER PEOPLE

Does this sound familiar? Like many people these days I find I am a multi-tasker, often when I am procrastinating from a top priority.

We fool ourselves into thinking we can do different tasks at an acceptable level of competence at the same time.  A favorite example of why this is wrong is a very common practice that I indulge in myself; listening to music while eating. It certainly is more pleasant than gobbling food between tasks. If you are really honest you will admit that you are not quite catching all the music which might be better enjoyed laying down in the dark with earphones. On the other hand the music can distract you so that you eat more than you might otherwise or you don't chew as thoroughly as you might otherwise or you might not savor the flavors quite as much. That doesn't mean you shouldn't do it, but don't kid yourself, you are not getting the most out of either activity.

There are only two things you can do at one time giving them both justice. They are waiting and anything else. If we are really honest most salespeople are really waiting for that easy order--the huge one that comes over the phone and for the whole package with no questions asked. Once in awhile you might get that, but more than likely, success was achieved while doing some work while waiting.  The same thing happens with any task--you can hope someone else does it while giving you credit or do something while you are waiting for that to happen.

Waiting demands patience. Don't jump the gun or you might disqualify yourself or delay more productive efforts. At the same time you have to be ready to leap at what might be a very time sensitive window.

The two most important focuses of a sales person are first to communicate directly with a realistic prospect (a customer is a prospect for a future sale or referral) and the second is to be prepared for that opportunity. Preparing can take an infinite amount of time. It involves knowing all about what you are hoping to sell, identifying reasonable targets for the effort, persuading someone with some influence to let you make your case, presenting in the most optimal manner and following up. If you do all those things fairly well you might do more than sell a few products to one person; you might start a chain of repeats and referrals. Eventually you might receive that mythical phone call (or email).

We all know that some things are more important than others. Some of us have thought deeply and developed goals that tie into what we most value. Having a goal and a purpose is vital to deciding what you should do at any moment. What tasks will contribute to that goal/purpose? How would you rank them in importance?

You want to talk to some important decision maker, but she is busy or on vacation or just not able to give you proper attention. Determining a more acceptable time should be a priority.  If possible you might want to talk to some other person. If that is difficult or not quite the right time you can check your other priorities--identifying other people to talk to, information to master, presentation skills to master, following up on those you talked to before doing the paper work.

A priority that often gets overlooked is rest. You know when you are not rested you don't think quite as clearly, you get irritated more easily and you miss some details that could make a difference.  Two other priorities that get overlooked is the need for exercise and to eat properly. An unhealthy person is handicapped and will find it difficult to keep pace with all the demands of selling (or much of anything else).

There is usually some kind of trade off between time and money.  After all, you want to have some time to enjoy whatever it is you value most.  If you make more money in less time that seems to be the ideal solution, but others feel they not only need to make more money in less time, they need to work longer to get the really precious things they desire. Maybe you have that sort of choice.

A lot of people on a "normal" job are really just waiting for that cheque at the end of the week that will solve a few problems (like food, clothing, shelter and FUN). While they are waiting they might do better to concentrate on doing a good job which to me means being both efficient and effective. If you can satisfy the one paying you, you just might end up not only getting to work more, but to work at something more challenging and rewarding.

Several times a day force yourself to answer this question, "What is the best use of my time right NOW?" Have it flash on your computer, have a note on your desk or on your calendar. If you have done all the preliminary sorting out of what your goals are this question will direct your actions in a productive manner. Maybe all you need is a picture that symbolizes your goal.

For a salesman the real boss is the customer. You don't need to turn everyone into a customer, but you do need to find enough customers to make the effort worthwhile. Everyone should remember that nothing happens until somebody sells something.

A boost to your preparation is to better use data bases.  Check:  http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2011/10/using-data-bases-for-selling-part-one.html

The photo is of Sharon, my wife in front of a Veradero sunset. I hope to arrange my time in such a way that I can have that view a few more times.