
HOW TO DO ANYTHING YOU NEED TO DO
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Have you ever met someone who's able to sift deftly through a mirage
of activities and seemingly always choose the most effective ways to
reach his goals?  What is it that directs these people?  What radar
are they turned in to that guides them like a bat through a cave at
midnight?

Whether these superstar individuals carefully plan their progress or
just instinctively do the activities that produce results, they all
do some similar things.  Here are some of them:

* The achievers have one immediate purpose.  And they focus every
effort on achieving that purpose.  Each successive immediate purpose
leads directly to a longer range objective.  It's like climbing a
staircase.  Their long-range goal sets the direction, but their
attention is zeroed on getting to the next step.

* They are focused on their goals that every communication -- words
and activities -- reinforce or help them achieve their objective.
There is rarely a time that they aren't thinking about their goals
or doing something to reach them.  Some of the questions they ask
that help them zero in on their goals are:

1 - Why am I going to this place?  This saves all kinds of wasted
trips.

2 - What do I need to accomplish when I get there?  This narrows the
conversational visits and re-focuses attention on the purpose of the
visit.

3 - Why do I want to talk to this person?  Ask this to focus your
thoughts back on the reason why you are interrupting this person's
day.  Small talk is vital to showing personal interest in business,
but you do want to remember why you're in this person's office when
there's a break in the small talk.

4 - Why do I need to write this letter (memo)?  This will decrease
your paperwork load as few thing will.  When a telephone call will
do just as well, forget the extra paperwork.  Phone calls show
immediate effort, personal interest and quicker, result-oriented
thinking than letter writing.

If you choose to strive for leadership in your business field, here
are a few leadership traits the best leaders share:

1 - Never-failing courage.  The only sound way to build courage is
to have such a knowledge of your work and of your abilities that you
genuinely know how to effectively respond to nearly every crisis
that could arise.  This requires constant and attentive mental
practice and learning daily.  Nobody wants to follow a leader
without courage.

2 - Decisiveness.  This grows out of courage based on knowledge.
You can only be decisive when you thoroughly understand your work.
Again, a follower want to follow someone who's sure of himself.
Even when a leader's decision isn't the best choice, the followers
will accept it and continue following him if he's sure of himself.
They figure it's part of his plan and he'll find a way to make the
decision good.

3 - A clear sense of fairness for your employees, customers, your
competition and yourself.

4 - A well-laid, definite plan.  If a person doesn't have a plan,
he's a guesser only occupying a leadership position.  And a plan
takes definite work and clear thought.  The plan has to be
achievable.  It's your road map for action and achievement.

5 - A leader has to assume full responsibility for the outcome of
his own choices and the outcome of any choices made by his people,
with or without his knowledge or concent.  Placing blame or shifting
responsibility isn't an option for a leader.

6 - Cooperation and getting others to cooperate with you.  Without
giving and receiving cooperation there's no power in leading.  There
is a lasting power only in voluntarily cooperative effort of a
people led by a leader of their choosing.

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Resource Box - The following books are available at your local
library: LEADERS by Warren Bennis and Burt Navis; WINNING STRATEGIES
IN SELLING by Roger Staubach; EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION ON THE JOB by
Marting, Finley and Ward.
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