Once you can clearly see the one or two things that you should be doing, above all
others, just say no to all diversions and distractions and focus single-mindedly on
accomplishing those priorities.
Much stress that people experience in their work lives comes from working on low-
priority tasks. The amazing thing is that as soon as you start working on your
highest-value activity, all your stress disappears. You begin to feel a continuous
stream of energy and enthusiasm. As you work toward the completion of something
that is really important, you feel an increased sense of personal value and inner
satisfaction. You experience a sensation of self-mastery and self-control. You feel
calm, confident and capable.
Here are six ideas that you can use, every day, to help you set priorities and to
keep you working at your best:
1. Take the time to be clear about your goals and objectives so that the priorities you
set are moving you in the direction of something that is of value to you. Remember
that many people scramble frantically to climb the ladder of success, only to find that
it is leaning against the wrong building.
2. Develop a long time perspective and work on those things in the present that can
have the greatest positive impact on your future. Maintain your balance in life by
setting priorities in the areas of your health, your personal relationships and your
financial goals.
3. Make the commitment to improve those aspects of your life that are most
important to you. If you’re in sales, learn how to be an excellent salesperson. If you’re
a parent, learn how to be an outstanding mother or father. The power is always on the
side of the person with the best practical knowledge.
4. Be sure to take the time to do your work right the first time. The fewer mistakes
you make, the less time you will waste going back and doing it over.
5. Remember that what counts is not the amount of time that you put in overall;
rather, it’s the amount of time that you spend working on high-priority tasks. You will
always be paid for the results that you obtain, not merely the hours that you spend on
the job.
6. Understand that the most important factor in setting priorities is your ability to
make wise choices. You are always free to choose to engage in one activity or another.
You may choose a higher-value activity or a lower-value activity, but once you have
chosen, you must accept the consequences of your choice.
Resolve today to set clear priorities in every area of your life, and always choose
the activities that will assure you the greatest health, happiness and prosperity in the
long term. The long term comes soon enough, and every sacrifice that you make
today will be rewarded with compound interest in the great future that lies ahead for
you.
The Power of Charisma
By: Brian Tracy
Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary defines charisma as “a personal magic of
leadership arousing special popular loyalty or enthusiasm for a public figure.”
Charisma is also that special quality of magnetism that each person has and that
each person uses to a certain degree. You have a special charisma to the people who
look up to you, who respect and admire you.the members of your family and your
friends and coworkers. Whenever and wherever a person feels a positive emotion
toward another, he imbues that person with charisma, or attractiveness.
In trying to explain charisma, some people speak of an “aura.” This aura is a light
that is invisible to most people, but not to everyone, and that radiates out from a
person and affects the people around that person in a positive or negative way. The
halo around the heads of saints and mystics in many religious paintings was the artist’s
attempt to depict the light that people reported seeing around the heads of these men
and women when they were speaking or praying, or in an intense emotional state.
You also have an aura around you that most people cannot see but that is there,
nevertheless. This aura affects the way people react and respond to you, either
positively or negatively. There is a lot that you can do, and a lot of good reasons for
you to do it, to control this aura and make it work in your best interests.
If you’re in sales, this aura, reflecting your level of charisma, can have a major
impact on the way your prospects and customers treat you and deal with you. Top
salespeople seem to be far more successful than the average salespeople in getting
along with their customers. they’re always more welcome, more positively received and
more trusted than the others. They sell more, and they sell more easily. They make a
better living, and they build better lives. Salespeople with charisma get far more
pleasure out of their work and suffer far less from stress and rejection. The charismatic
salesperson is almost invariably a top performer in his field and enjoys all the rewards
that go with superior sales.
If you’re in business, developing greater charisma can help you tremendously in
working with your staff, your suppliers, your bankers, your customers and everyone
else upon whom you depend for your success. People seem naturally drawn to those
who possess charisma. They want to help them and support them. When you have
charisma, people will open doors for you and bring you opportunities that otherwise
would not have been available to you.
In your personal relationships, the quality of charisma can make your life more
joyous, happier. People will naturally want to be around you. Members of your family
and your friends will be far happier in your company, and you will have a greater
influence on them, causing them to feel better about themselves and to do better at
the important things in their lives.
There is a close association between personal charisma and success in life. Probably
85 percent of your success and happiness will come from your relationships and
interactions with others. The more positively others respond to you, the easier it will be
for you to get the things you want.
In essence, when we discuss charisma, we are talking about the law of attraction.
This law has been stated in many different ways down through the centuries, but it
basically says that you inevitably attract into your life the people and circumstances
that harmonize with your dominant thoughts.
In a sense, you are a living magnet, and you are constantly radiating thought waves,
like a radio station radiates sound waves, that are picked up by other people. Your
thoughts, intensified by your emotions, as radio waves are intensified by electric
impulses, go out from you and are picked up by anyone who is tuned in to a similar
wavelength. You then attract into your life people, ideas, opportunities, resources,
circumstances and anything else that is consistent with your dominant frame of mind.
The law of attraction also explains how you can build up your levels of charisma so
that you can have a greater and more positive impact on the people whose
cooperation, support and affection you desire.
The critical thing to remember about charisma is that it is largely based on
perception. It is based on what people think about you. It is not so much reality as it is
what people perceive you to be. For example, one person can create charisma in
another person by speaking in glowing terms about that person to a third party. If you
believe that you are about to meet an outstanding and important person, that person
will tend to have charisma for you.
One of the most charismatic people in the world today is Mother Teresa of Calcutta.
In a physical sense, she is a quiet, elderly, frail woman in poor health, and she wears a
modest nun’s habit. She might be ignored by a person passing her on the street, were
it not for the tremendous charisma she has developed and for the fact that her
appearance is so well-known to so many people as a result.
If someone told you that he was going to introduce you to a brilliant, self-made
millionaire who was very quiet and unassuming about his success, you would almost
naturally imbue that person with charisma, and in his presence, you would not act the
same as you would if you had been told nothing at all. Charisma begins largely in the
mind of the beholder.
Of course, lasting charisma depends more upon the person you really are than upon
just the things you do. Nevertheless, you can build the perception of charisma for
yourself by utilizing the 10 great powers of personality that seem to have a major
impact on the way that people think and feel about you.
The first of these powers is the power of purpose. Men and women with charisma
and personal magnetism almost invariably have a clear vision of who they are, of
where they’re going and of what they’re trying to achieve. Leaders in sales and
management have a vision of what they’re trying to create and why they’re doing what
they’re doing. They’re focused on accomplishing some great purpose. They’re decisive
about every aspect of their lives. They know exactly what they want and what they
have to do to get it. They plan their work and work their plan.
In more than 3,300 studies of leadership, in every book and article ever written on
leadership, the quality of purpose, or vision, was one of the few qualities that was
consistently used in describing leaders.
You can increase your charisma and the magnetism of your personality by setting
clear goals for yourself, making plans to achieve them, and working on your plans with
discipline and determination every day. The whole world seems to move aside for the
person who knows exactly where he is going. In fact, the clearer you are about your
purposes and goals, the more likely people will be to attribute other positive qualities to
you. They will see you, or perceive you, as being a better and more admirable human
being. And when you have clear goals, you begin attracting to yourself the people and
opportunities necessary to make those goals a reality.
The second personality power is self-confidence. Men and women with charisma have
an intense belief in themselves and in what they are doing. They are usually calm, cool
and composed about themselves and their work. Your level of self-confidence is often
demonstrated in your courage, your willingness to do whatever is necessary to achieve
a purpose that you believe in.
People are naturally attracted to those who exude a sense of self-confidence, those
who have an unshakable belief in their ability to rise above circumstances to attain their
goals.
One of the ways you demonstrate self-confidence is by assuming that people
naturally like you and accept you and want to do business with you. For example, one
of the most powerful ways to close a sale is simply to assume that the prospect has
decided to purchase the product or service, and then go on to wrap up the details. One
of the best ways to achieve success in your relationships is to assume that people
naturally enjoy your company and want to be around you, and then proceed on that
basis. The very act of behaving in a self-confident manner will generate personal
charisma in the eyes of others.
The third power you can develop is enthusiasm. The more excited you are about
accomplishing something that is important to you, the more excited others will be
about helping you to do it. The fact is that emotions are contagious. The more passion
you have for your life and your activities, the more charisma you will possess, and the
more cooperation you will gain from others. Every great man or woman has been
totally committed to a noble cause and, as a result, has attracted the support and
encouragement of others.in many cases, thousands or millions of others.
The fourth personality power that you can develop is expertise, or competence. The
more knowledgeable you are perceived to be in your field, the more charisma you will
have among those who respect and admire that knowledge because of the impact it
can have on their lives. This is also the power of excellence, of being recognized by
others as an outstanding performer in your field. Men and women who do their jobs
extremely well and who are recognized for the quality of their work are those who
naturally attract the help and support of others. They have charisma.
The fifth power of personality that gives you charisma in the eyes of others is
thorough preparation, detailed preparation, prior to undertaking any significant task.
Whether you are calling on a prospect, meeting with your boss, giving a public talk or
making any other kind of presentation, when you are well-prepared, it becomes clear to
everyone. The careers of many young people are put onto the fast track as a result of
their coming to an important meeting after having done all their homework.
Whether it takes you hours or even days, if an upcoming meeting or interaction is
important, take the time to get on top of your subject. Be so thoroughly prepared that
nothing can faze you. Think through and consider every possibility and every
ramification. Often, this effort to be fully prepared will do more to generate the respect
of others than anything else you can do.
Remember that the power is always on the side of the person who has done the
most preparation and has the best notes. Everything counts. Leave nothing to chance.
When you do something related to your work or career, take the time to do it right.in
advance.
The sixth power that gives you charisma is self-reliance, or self-responsibility. The
most successful men and women in America are intensely self-reliant. They look to
themselves for the answers to their questions and problems. They never complain, and
they never explain. They take complete ownership of projects. They volunteer for
duties and step forward and accept accountability when things go wrong.
An amazing facet of human nature is that when you behave in a completely self-
reliant manner, others will often be eager to help you achieve your goals. But if you
seem to need the help and support of others, people will avoid you or do everything
