If you’re like most people, you believe that self-improvement and professional development are imperative aspects of your career as much as you believe that the sky is blue. Well, Brian Tracy has written a new book called Unlimited Sales Success where he presents the idea that “you have the ability, right now, to earn two and three times as much as you are earning today,” and it all comes from personal and professional betterment.

It’s no quick formula or new tool; it’s a group of tried and true ways to improve the way you live and work. These are seven of those ideas that, when implemented, will have you well on your way to growing yourself and your business and career:

1. Get serious about your work. “Anything less than a commitment to excellence is an unconscious acceptance of mediocrity,” Tracy contends. When you make a decision to be the best at what you do, your life will begin to change, and you are on your way to joining the top 10 percent in your field.

2. Identify your limiting skill to sales success. What one skill, if you developed it to the point of excellence, would help you to double your sales and your income? Write down your answer, determine what you need to learn and do, and begin. When you have mastered this one skill, ask the question again.

3. Choose your friends carefully. “Winners associate with winners,” observes Tracy. “When you change your thinking and become a total optimist about yourself and your potential, you will begin attracting into your life other people who think and feel the same way.” What’s more, negative and unhelpful people will drift away.

4. Decide to live forever. Determine the level of physical fitness and energy you would like to enjoy for the rest of your life — to age 90 or more. Then, examine your current health habits, with a priority on improvement. “Your job,” Tracy stresses, “is to take excellent care of yourself today so that you do live that long, and you feel great about yourself the whole way.”

5. Practice creative visualization. “When you visualize and see yourself as calm, confident, positive, and successful, your subconscious mind accepts that picture as a command and organizes your external behavior so that it is consistent with your inner picture,” Tracy attests. The person you “see” is the person you will be.

6. Practice positive self-talk. “The most powerful words in the world are the words that you say to yourself,” declares Tracy. Rather than give into self-defeating doubts, tell yourself: I can do it! When you repeat positive messages, you program them into your mind until acting consistent with them comes naturally.

7. Get going and keep going. Be intensely action-oriented, with a sense of urgency. “As Albert Einstein said,” notes Tracy, ‘Nothing happens until something moves.’ Your job is to move.”

The key to all of the tips outlined in Brian and Michael Tracy’s new book is to put them into action. After all, reading about them is one thing, but putting them into action is the real secret.

Brian Tracy is Chairman and CEO of Brian Tracy International, a com­pany specializing in the training and development of individuals and organizations.

Michael Tracy is the Vice President of Sales and Business Development at Analog Analytics, a Software-as-a-Service company that was acquired by Barclays Plc in May 2012.

 

About the Author: Samantha Gale is a social media and content marketing specialist working for 60 Second Communications, a full-service marketing agency working with brands around the globe.