Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life: How to Unlock Your Full Potential for Success and Achievement

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CHANGE YOUR THINKING, CHANGE YOUR LIFE
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THINK AND PLAN STRATEGICALLY
There are several concepts in personal strategic planning that can
improve your results and change your life. As in everything, these
are ways of thinking that lead to ways of acting more effectively.
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DRAW A LINE
The first concept is what I call “zero-based thinking.” Call a time-
out in your life and work. Draw a line under all your current activi-
ties. Now, imagine that you are starting over. Ask yourself,
“Is there
anything in my life that, knowing what I now know, I would not get into
or start up again today if I had it to do over?”
This is one of the most important questions you will ever ask
and answer.You can apply it on a “go forward” basis to each part of
your life. Often the biggest problem in personal strategic planning is
your attempting to make something work that you wouldn’t even
get into in the first place if you had to do it over again.
Often when I consult with companies, they ask me for advice on
how to increase sales of a particular product or service. I always ask
them,
“Knowing what you now know, would you introduce this product
or service again today if you had it to do over?”
They often tell me that, knowing what they now know, they
would never have brought it out in the first place. My advice to
them is always the same: “Kill it.” One of the smartest things a com-
pany can do with a part of the business that is not working, and
which has no future, is to discontinue it as quickly as possible. This
applies to products, services, processes, methods of sale or advertis-
ing, investments, or any other area of activity that consumes time,
money, or emotional energy.
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