Nu Skin Distributors Blog

Jim Rohn tells us we become the combined average of the five people we hang around the most. The people we spend our time with determine what conversations dominate our attention, and what observations, attitudes and opinions we repetitively are introduced to.

Your associations don’t shove you in a direction; they nudge you ever so slightly over time. The rest of that Jim Rohn lesson is this: You will have the combined attitude, health and income of the five people you hang around the most.

“Associations are both subtle and powerful.”—Jim Rohn

Evaluate and shift your associations into 3 categories:

1. Disassociation
There are some people you might need to break away from completely. This might not be an easy step to take, but it’s essential. You have to make the hard choice not to let certain negative influences affect you anymore. Decide the quality of life you want to have, and then surround yourself with the people who represent and support that vision.

2. Limited Associations
There are some people who you can spend three hours with, but not three days. Others you can spend three minutes with, but not three hours. Decide how much you can “afford” to be influenced, based on how those people represent themselves.

3. Expanded Associations
Whatever area of your life you want to see improvement in, find those who represents the success you want, the parenting skills you want, the relationship you want, the lifestyle you want, and spend more time with them. Join organizations, clubs, businesses and health clubs where these people are and make friends.

Here’s a powerful way to pull the best performance out of yourself. First, hang copies of these 12 words where you’ll see them: I do the most productive thing possible at every given moment.

It doesn’t help to look at those words once in a while. Start living by those dozen words now.

Doing the most productive thing possible means just that—the most productive thing. Not make work. Not look busy. Not get by. But doing the most productive thing possible at that given moment, no matter how distasteful, hard, or worrisome the thing might be. This often means facing up to an unpleasant task, heading into a likely rejection, preparing when you need to prepare, and doing when you need to do. Anyone can do it—you just have to want to.

Repeat these four steps until they become second nature: 1) Tell yourself, “I must do the most productive thing possible at every given moment.” 2) Decide what the most productive thing is. 3) Do it. 4) When you’ve pushed that thing as far forward as you can right now, go back to Step 1 and start over.

The Cutting Edge

Often, the most productive thing you can do this minute will be the last thing you want to do right now. The edge between winners and losers cuts sharpest at this precise point.

Winners almost always do what they think is the most productive thing possible at every given moment; losers almost never do. When you look at what winners and losers actually do, the difference between them is small. But the results of those small differences keep adding up. Then they start multiplying.

What’s been multiplied by many moments spent productively will be knowledge, skill, health, contacts, opportunities—and the beginnings of wealth. What’s been accumulated and multiplied by many moments given to doing the easiest thing possible? Perhaps some debt for pleasures consumed and forgotten, some extra pounds around the middle, and some time moved from one’s future to one’s past, some missed opportunities—little or nothing of value will be retained.

We live moment by moment, not year by year. Do the most productive thing you can with each and every moment as you live it and your future is assured. Do that all day every working day and your progress will soon astound everyone who knows you. More importantly, you’ll be astounded, delighted, and justifiably proud of yourself.

On the road to that happy result, there’ll be some painful moments. There’ll be times when you’ll talk yourself out of doing the most productive thing. As you pass through some particularly low points on your road to success (make no mistake about it, you will—we all do) there’ll be times when you’ll lie to yourself to get out of tackling the most productive challenge facing you. And there’ll be times when you won’t be able to make yourself do anything even faintly productive.

The good news is that these little backslides don’t stop you. They merely put a few extra hours between you and your goals. Shrug these minor incidents off. Resolve to do better. Then get back to business.

Excellence in Action: Do the most productive thing possible today.

Article courtesy of Leadership Excellence.

Word of Mouth Marketing: How Smart Companies Get People Talking

The Four Rules of Word of Mouth Marketing
Word of mouth marketing means giving people a reason to talk about your stuff and making it easier for that conversation to take place.

Be Interesting
Nobody talks about boring companies, boring products, or boring ads. If you want people to talk about you, you’ve got to do something special.

Make People Happy
Happy customers are your greatest advertisers. Thrill them. Create amazing products. Provide excellent service. Go the extra mile. Make the experience remarkable. Fix problems. Make sure the work you do get people energized, excited, and eager to tell a friend.

Earn Trust and Respect
If you don’t have respect, you don’t get good word of mouth. Nobody talks positively about a company that they don’t trust or like. Nobody puts their name on the line for a company that will embarrass them in front of their friends. Make people proud to tell your story to everyone they know.

Make It Easy
Word of mouth is lazy. You’ve got to help it along if you expect it to go anywhere. You need to do two things: Find a super-simple message, and help people share it.

The Three Reasons People Talk about You
It’s about you, the marketer and the products. People talk because you’re doing or selling something that they want to talk about. They love your products. They like how you treat them. You’ve done something interesting. It’s about giving them a reason to talk about you. You’ve got to arouse some passion before your advocates will begin talking about your company.
Talking makes them feel good. We want to look smart. We want to help other people. We want to feel important. We want to express ourselves.

It’s about us, the group of enthusiasts. The desire to be part of a group is one of the most powerful human emotions. We want to be connected, very badly. We are emotionally rewarded when we share excitement with a group that has a common interest.

The Five T’s of Word of Mouth Marketing
Talkers: Who will tell their friends about you? Find people who will talk about you. Fans, volunteers, customers, bloggers, influencers.
Topics: What will they talk about? Give people a reason to talk. Special offer, great service, cool product, silliness, neat ad, new feature.
Tools: How can you help the message travel? Help the message spread faster and farther. Tell-a-friend form, viral email, blogs, handouts, samples, message boards, online communities.
Taking Part: When should you join the conversation? Join the conversation. Let staff surf and reply to comments, post on blogs, join discussions, answer email, offer personal service.
Tracking: What are people saying about you? Measure and undertand what people are saying. Search blogs, read message boards, listen to feedback, use advanced measurement tools.

Big Ideas
Customers are in control
We are reviewing like crazy
People like me.
What we say goes everywhere
Traditional media and word of mouth are forever intertwined.
You are the user experience.
Success comes not from what you advertise, but from what you deliver.
Word of mouth makes all marketing more honest.

The Word of Marketing Manifesto
Happy customers are your best advertising. Make people happy.
Marketing is easy. Earn the respect and recommendation of your customers. They will do your marketing for you, for free.
Ethics and good service come first.
You are the user experience.
Negative word of mouth is an opportunity. Listen and learn.
People are already talking. Your only option is to join the conversation.
Be interesting, or be invisible.
If it’s not worth talking about, it’s not worth doing.
Make the story of your company a good one.
It’s more fun to work at a company that people want to talk about.
Use the power of word of mouth to make business treat people better.
Honest marketing makes more money.

Talkers: Who Will Tell Their Friends About You?
You job is to find the right people who like to talk about you.
* Happy customers
* Online talkers
* Logo lovers
* Eager employees
* Listeners
* Fan and hobbyists
* Professionals

Great talkers have passion, credibility, and connections.
Build a talking profile: Who are they? What are their characteristics? What are they already talking about? Whom are they talking to? How do you contact them?
Talkers want to see: detailed date, progress reports, and company news.
To motivate talkers: always say yes to a volunteer, make them feel important, make it fun, and throw good parties.
Thank them personally and publicly. Make recognition part of the program.
Create a talker program: fan clubs, ambassador programs, and customers advisory boards.

Topics: What Will They Talk About?
Your job is to give people something to talk about.
Good topics are organic, based on the exceptional qualities that make your stuff stand out. Word of mouth marketing is as much about product features as it is about marketing.
Good topics are portable, easy to move along.
Amazing topics are unexpected. Whatever gets your customers excited is a great topic.
Find a topic you can use today: special sale, extraordinary, viral campaigns, free information, or wacky stunts.
Become buzzworthy company. Extraordinary products create sustainable, long-term, company-change word of mouth. Be unique, do things that are, by their nature, an interesting of conversation.

Tools: How Can You Help the Message Travel?
Your job is to make it easier for the message to spread.
Three must-use word of mouth marketing tools:
* Ask people to spread the word.
* Put everything in an email.
* Put a tell-a-friend link on every page of your website.
Make your pages super-viral.
Build word of mouth into your product.
Look for network effects.
Give your customers stuff to share.
Create blogs and message boards.
Make it exclusive, keep it secret, give sneak previews.
Let your talkers build the product.
Promote positive testimonials.
Capture passive word of mouth.

Taking Part: How Can You Join the Conversation?
Your job is to participate in the conversation.
Word of mouth is as much about customer service as it is about marketing.
Thank people who say nice things about you.
Fix problems and make people happy.
Keep good manners: never sell, follow the rules, say who you are.
Fixing problems is the most powerful marketing you can do.
To manage negative word of mouth:
* Know what you are saying.
* Build credibility before you need it.
* Show that you are listening.
* Enable your hidden supporters.
* Convert critics when you can.
* Don’t try to win.

Tracking: What Are People Saying About You?
Your job is to listen to the word of mouth and learn from it.

Things to do
Look on the web for people talking about you.
Decide who will join those conversation. Start today.
Create a blog.
Make a new rule: Ask “Is this buzzworthy?” in every meeting.
Come up with on buzzworthy topic. Keep it simple.
Put something by your front door that will remind people to talk to a friend.
Let your talkers sign up for a private newsletter.
Pick on easy way to track word of mouth.
Put a tell-a-friend form on every page of your website.
Put a special offer in an easily forwardable email.
Add a small gift and a word of mouth tool to every package you sell.
Have a private sale for your talkers.
Apologize for mistake and solve problems first.
Partner with a charity.
Do something unexpected.
Be nice.

Hal Urban
Sypnosis by Herman Cortes

Success Is More than Making Money
Riches are better than being poor, but having money does not mean you are successful.
Success lies in doing, not in getting. Successful people adapt, have a positive attitude, build good relationships, set goals, want to learn, get things done, maintain high personal conduct standards, and get the most out of life by “reaping what they sow”. Most people don’t even realize their potential.

Life Is Hard…and Not Always Fair
We don’t always get what we want, but reality is a great teacher. Life is hard and isn’t always fair; most people don’t accept that. Who we are is because of our decisions.

Life Is Also Fun…and Incredibly Funny
Humour helps life. Live and laugh. Every man needs a little madness. Edison and Einstein needed play-breaks. Laughter heals and energizes. Make sure you laugh enough.

We Live by Choice, Not by Chance
We have choices, and are responsible for making good ones. Animals and most people don’t see their choices. You should. Life is full of choices – choosing our personality, value, how we treat others, how we handle problems, how much we learn, what we accomplish or believe, our purpose, and our attitude. We’ll always have a choice.

Attitude is a Choice — the Most Important One You’ll Ever Make
Attitude is important. People alter their lives by altering their attitudes. Think with an open mind, don’t assume you know everything. Think for yourself and don’t just take everyone else’s opinion. Think positively. Forming good habits is key to success. Break bad habits. Character is affected by habits.

Being Thankful Is a Habit — the Best One You’ll Ever Have
Don’t complain, be thankful. Try not to complain and write down your complaints and the things you’re thankful for. Appreciate what you have. Thank people any chance you get, inside or outside your family. Be thankful for people, freedom of choice, opportunity, education, and life.

Good People Build Their Lives on a Foundation of Respect
Appreciate life. To show respect, you need manners, good language, to honor rules, and to appreciate differences. Speaking positively, not negatively. Without rules, there is only chaos. Don’t be prejudiced. Treat others the way you want to be treated and you will develop good social skills/habits, make people feel good, earn the respect of others, establish good relationships, be treated better by others, improve self-worth feelings, and build a good, solid reputation.

Honesty Is Still the Best Policy
The best respect is honesty. There’s no such thing as being a bit dishonest. Have integrity and honesty. It’s hard to be honest. Being dishonest means that we aren’t acting like ourselves. It is the worst habit. It can’t be hidden, ruins relationships, attacks our nervous systems, and prevents us from fulfillment. Being honest means you get peace of mind, character and reputation, relationships, wholeness, mental and physical health, and authenticity.

Kind Words Cost Little but Accomplish Much
Being nice and praising others makes everyone feel better. It brings out the best in people. Keep in mind your good traits. Look for what’s good in others.

Real Motivation Comes from Within
Motivate yourself. You need enough desire to attain what you want, a real belief that you can accomplish what you want, and a clear mental picture of yourself achieving what you want. Desire keeps us going when things are the toughest. If we’re always looking for excuses for why we can’t do things, we’ll never find the reasons why we can. The more clearly and more often we picture ourselves doing something, the more likely we are to do it.

Goals Are Dreams with Deadlines
Success is the progressive accomplishment of worthy goals. Life without goals is like going on a trip without a destination. If you set goals, you have motivation, independence, direction, meaning, enjoyment, and fulfillment. Goals are specific dreams with deadlines. Understand the difference between a goal and a wish, write down and specify your goals, categorize and balance your goals, and review your goals regularly.

There’s No Substitute for Hard Work
Hard work is the only thing that makes things happen. It helps us realize our potential, face up to life, feel good, builds character, earns the respect of others, earns self-respect, adds meaning, gets the best results, becomes a habit, and is healthy. Success requires hard work — there are not shortcuts. Work can be fun.

You Have to Give Up Something to Get Something
Equivalent exchange — you have to give up something to get something. Self-discipline is getting yourself to do something even though you don’t feel like it, because the reward for getting it done exceeds the temporary unpleasantness of the task itself. It is delayed gratification. What’s something you really want? What are you willing to give up to get it?

Successful People Don’t Find Time–They Make Time
Time is opportunity, and in order to live fully, we have to learn to make the most of it. If we love life, we’ll treasure our time and use it wisely. Losers waste time; winners use it. I have all the time we need if I plan my day, set time goals, do things bit-by-bit, know your most productive time, and don’t procastinate to waste time.

No One Else Can Raise Your Self-Esteem
Only you can raise your self-esteem. Everyone should feel good about themselves. Self-esteem doesn’t come from being told that you are good. Real self-esteem is respect we have earn from ourselves. Be kind, honorable, productive, and positive to build self-esteem.

The Body Needs Nutrition and Exercise–So Do the Mind and Spirit
No matter how great our technology is, it can’t produce either happiness or fulfillment. Be physically fit – it gives you a practical attitude about the role of your body, and your body should be good in your eye, not compared to someone else’s. Your brain needs mental exercise like your body needs nutrients. People who practice their faith and live by their principles seem to enjoy life at a deeper level. The time-honored values of honesty and kindness lie at the heart of all great spiritual teachings.

It’s OK to Fail–Everyone Else Has
Everyone fails, even Einstein and Edison. Failing comes from trying, but you should learn from your failures. It teaches humility, how to correct our course of action, that we can’t always have what we want, strength of character, perserverance, and that we can survive defeat. Don’t let failure defeat you. Success is how high you bounce after you hit the bottom.

Life Is Simplier When We Know What’s Essential
Know what’s essential — choosing a good attitude, be respectful and honest, work hard, learn, and laugh.

The Need Hierarchy Approach

People must, in a hierarchical order, satisfy five needs:

- Physiological needs for basic survival and biological function.
- Security needs for a safe physical and emotional environment.
- Belongingness needs for love and affection.
- Esteem needs for positive self-image/self-respect and recognition and respect from others.
- Self-actualization needs for realizing one’s potential for personal growth and development.

Physiological Needs
- Food, water, air and shelter.

Security Needs
- Safe physical and emotional environment.

Affiliation Needs
- Friendship, love and a feeling of belonging.

Esteem Needs
- Feelings of achievement and self worth through recognition, respect and prestige from others.

Self-Actualization Needs
- Self-fulfillment and achievement.

Month 1) Personal Development – Become the person you truly desire to be by engaging in a life-long strategy of skills, knowledge and self-improvement (which will also place yu in the upper echelon of your particular industry).

Month 2) Goals-Setting – Achieve a sense of purpose behind every action, as well as multiply your long-term success quotient by having a set of clearly defined 10-year goals.

Month 3) Health – Spiritual/Physical/Emotional – Improve your looks, confidence, energy, quality and length of life by having a consistent health/fitness philoshophy and maintaining a health plan.

Month 4) Money – Financial Independence/Getting Out of Debt/Saving/Giving – Place yourself ahead of 85% of the population and increase by 90% your odds of achieving financial independence by retirement age, simply by having a sound financial philoshophy and proven investment plan.

Month 5) Relationships – Improve your ability to be a more effective and loving parent, spouse and friend by improving your relational skills.

Month 6) Time Management – Gain between 10 and 15 additional forty-hour work weeks per year (multiple one to two hours a day by 365 days a year) by applying more productive management methods each day.

Month 7) Networking/Referrals – Tap into one of the greatest resources we possess and have a greater, more positive influence in the marketplace by utilizing our current relationships and networking base.

Month 8 ) Selling/Negotiating – Increase your productive by 10%-50% without investing more time or effort by improving your selling, networking and negotiation skills.

Month 9) Communication/Presentation – Increase every level of performance related to your company, staff and individual performance, as well as all your personal relationships by mastering the art of communication.

Month 10) Leadership – Multiply your efforts and have a positive influence over a larger sphere of people by learning effective leadership and managment skills.

Month 11) Accelerated Learning – Quickly improve your skills and aptitude to gain and retain knowledge in any area (communication, time management, leadership, etc.) through Memory and Speed-Reading techniques and more.

Month 12) Legacy/Contribution – Take the time to apply your skills in making a differenec in your community and world–something that will have an impact on future generations.

There are half a dozen things that make 80% of the difference. The difference between triumphant success and bitter failure lies in the degree of our commitment to seek out, study and apply those half a dozen things.

LEARN TO BE HAPPY

Happiness is activity with purpose. Its love in practice. It’s both a grasp of the obvious and the mysterious.

DISCIPLINE YOURSELF

Discipline is the most critical ingredient for success. It’s the master key that unlocks the door to wealth and happiness, the glue that binds inspiration to achievement the bridge between thought and accomplishment. We must all suffer from one of the two pains. The pain of discipline or the pain of regret. The difference is discipline weighs ounces while regret weighs tons.

EMBRACE CHANGE

Unless you change how you are you will always have what you have got. You can change all things for the better when you change yourself for the better. You cannot change your destination overnight but you can change your direction. LIVE WELL Don’t just t learn how to earn? Learn how to live. The good life is not an amount; it’s an attitude an act, an idea, a discovery

REMEMBER ALWAYS

Life is worthwhile to try. Try to make progress. Try your best. Life is worthwhile if you give. Giving starts the receive process. Design your own life or someone else will. Let others lead small lives, but not you. Let others argue over small things but not you. Let others cry over small hurts but not you. Let others leave their futures in other peoples hands but not you.