"How You Can Make

Thousands Of Dollars More A Month

By Squeezing More Out Of Each Day"

By Tony Policci

Dear Friends and Clients,

       This month we’re going to deal with some principles that prevent us from reaching our goals. With the busy season just ahead of us there will be a lot to get done for your clients as well as your own families, so this newsletter will be just what you need to fly through the summer a little easier. I’m sure you’ve done your share of reading in the past about "time management" which is crucial, but that’s not what this issue is about, this is about "Life Management". There is a difference!

       As you may know, I go through constant training and education continuing to learn more, improve, hone and sharpen my skills. One of the best things I’ve done has been to go through a series of programs by a company called QUMA Learning. They are based here in Arizona, and specialize in seminars designed to show people how to shift their thinking, thereby becoming the solution to their own obstacles. (You can check them out at the web address listed near the end of this newsletter). I recently went to a review class that hit me pretty hard and I’m going to pass what I learned along to you. It cost several thousands of dollars to learn the concepts I’m about to share with you, (that means turn off the TV so you can pay attention to what I’m about to tell you).

       We’re going to talk about a few principles that may or may not be new to you, but their wisdom is timeless.

Principle #1: Productive people don’t manage their time, they manage themselves.

       Dennis Deaton the CEO of QUMA Learning say’s "The consummate truth of life is that we alter our destiny by altering our thoughts…if we master the power of our minds, we may do or be whatsoever we will". Think about that. Everything we create in our lives originates in our minds. We all want control over our lives and we often try to get that by trying to control or change others.

       We think that if "they" would just act or do things differently we’d be just fine. Well if this is news to you take it to heart. The only thing you have any real absolute control over is your thoughts. Thoughts are immediately translated into neurotransmitters that begin going through the body dictating the health and responses of the system. Ever heard something that made you cringe, or thought something that caused your gut to twist? It was a physical reaction to a mental process.

       There are two chemical compounds in our bodies that are responsible for this: interluken II, which is released when we experience joy and excitement, and cortizol (an immuno depressant), which is released during negative experiences and stress. I’m not going to go into a long biological discussion of these chemicals because I’m not a physician, (if you want to know more about them talk with your doctor or research them in the library).

       The point is that one of them makes us feel good and keeps us healthy and the other one brings us down and contributes to disease.

What does this have to do with marketing and making money?

       I’ve been telling clients this for years, basically feed your mind with positive, tested and proven information, study what works and believe it will work for you, then do it! The obstacles to success, are not things that exist in the real world, they are; simply put, composed of our own doubts about our abilities and our right to succeed. We get "programmed" (taught one way or another) early on to accept limitations, some of this is good for us, believing you’re invincible can kill you. But most of it gives us a handicap. That handicap is both the major cause and major solution to your problems, it is wasted time! Every person on the planet gets the same blank slate of hours each day, so why do some make millions and others go broke? It’s misused time and a misused mind.

1. The mind must think. There’s no stopping it, so we must properly channel it.As we sow, so shall we reap. You are always planting, and the mind is the "garden". You, me, everyone, is always in this garden, a person cannot help but be in it, unless they suffer from some emotional or mental illness, which in many cases comes from improper planting in the garden of the mind to begin with.
2. The mind thinks boundlessly. We have imagination and creative ability without limit.Everyone has the ability to imagine incredible things. Many clients have called me and mentioned the fact that they weren’t as creative as me, so "could I create something for them?" Listen, people like me will always be glad to create things, for a price. And if you don’t want to nurture your own creative ability, then accept the fact you’ll have to pay someone else top dollar (if they’re good) to do it for you. If you’ve ever found yourself daydreaming about anything, than you have proof of creative ability. And that ability is ungovernable by any other force, meaning that no one can put a stop on the power of your mind except for you!
3. The mind thinks exclusively. We can only have one dominant thought at any given time, any thought that occupies your attention represents a choice, a selection or a preference on your part. For instance we have lateral thought- fear, worry and doubt cannot exist simultaneously with confidence, courage and faith. See your mind as a stage, and fill that stage with positive images. Some call this faking it till you’re making it! In other words your bill collectors may be knocking on the door, but you could be on the verge of a major breakthrough. The deciding factor in which you’ll make it or break it could be what you’re telling yourself. Are you seeing financial ruin? If so this will not be much of a motivator! Are you seeing success? If so, you’ll persevere. I know this personally, I’ve gone through some horrendous things, but only 1 in 100 people ever sense it talking to me! "That which we think of the most, we become achieve, etc.
4. Mind drives the body. Even fleeting thoughts have an effect, but the dominant thought is what shows up in our life. Our minds have fleeting thoughts of giving up, being a loser, hurting someone, and on and on and on…. These thoughts have an effect on us BUT the dominant thought is what shows up in our lives. When you finally decide to become wealthy, committed, monogamous, whatever and focus all your energy on that, even seeing in your mind long before you do it, you’ll start finding ways to achieve it! Will it be luck? NO! This is timeless wisdom, it’s been around since the first prophets and philosophers walked the earth, what you believe in your heart so shall you be! Positive thought alone is powerful, but knowing how to market yourself gets you there at light speed!

Principle #2: Productive people don’t multiply, they simplify.

       This means productive people don’t complicate their lives. Most of us have so much clutter in our lives that we spend more time navigating around the clutter or obsessing on the clutter that we get nothing done! Every effort must be made to get rid of the thief that robs us of creative, imaginative, strategic thinking time. Ironically, the principal thief is usually a confusing organizational system. Or the total lack of an organizational system.

       Research shows that the average worker spends 51 minutes a day looking for routine items of daily transactions; and or routine information items such as addressees, phone numbers, and phone notes.

       The QUMA Learning company offers a system they have developed to help you put everything into order. Their system is great but it’s not the only one out there so don’t feel like because you don’t have a QUMA Learning in your area you’re out of luck. Here’s the three things you'll need to do to help make the process of focusing easier.

1. Create for yourself a portable office: a carry along binder, brief case, planner whatever that you can use as a reference tool.
2. Consolidate as many tools into it as you need: time sheets, pencil pouch for scraps of paper, plastic holders for business cards credit cards etc.
3. Eliminate redundant sources: you don’t need to have the same phone number written in four different locations, if everything is in one place and you go to that place every time you write down and appointment, soon everything will be in one place and easy to retrieve. Many use an electric organizer for phone numbers only.

       Now this may seem like a lot of work, but the energy and effort to get and stay organized is less than that required to overcome the distractions and obstacles that result from a lack of organization.

Here’s some suggestions on what to look for in a portable office:

• Monthly Calendar separators so you can see each month all at once, for major events like vacations, kids ball games, our Boot Camp, etc.
• Daily sheets with room for personal journaling, tasks by priority, and hourly time slots.
• An ability to index the information so day’s months or years later you can retrieve it quickly, i.e. If you make a personal note that Mr. Big Wig called you about that whiz bang job on the 25th and gave you the square footage of another building he has that he might want serviced, you can write that in your index page then simply breeze down the index to find the date where you wrote more specific notes.

Principle #3 Productive people control their tasks.

The key to this is developing a daily priority list.

Five rules for doing this effectively are:

1. Write each task down the moment it flows into your mind.
2. Limit each days lists to that days tasks.
3. Prioritize each task-just before you begin working on the list.
4. Provide for effective delegation
5. Create a way to monitor each task to completion.

Here is some thoughts that may help you organize your tasks:

       Most things that seem urgent are not important and most things that are important are not urgent. –Dwight D. Eisenhower

       Nothing is more tiring than the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task.

Principle #4 Productive people clearly define their objectives.

       I don’t know if you’ve ever read the Lewis Carroll book "Alice in Wonderland," but there is a great part of the story where Alice meets the Cheshire Cat at the fork in the road. I’m going to paraphrase here but you’ll get the meat of what I’m trying to illustrate:

       Alice asks the cat "which way do I go?" and he replies, "Where do you want to go?" She say’s "I don’t know, but I want to go somewhere;" and he say’s, "well then it really doesn’t matter which road you choose, you’ll surely get there".

       The point is we need to know where we want to go to figure out how to get there. A few people may have bumbled through their lives and stumbled onto a pot of happiness and success, but I don’t personally know any. However, I’ve met hundreds of people who decided where they wanted to go and got there.

       When desired results are not clearly defined, we are forced to concentrate on activity and are often deceived by mere busyness masquerading as accomplishment.

       As illustrated in the story by Lewis Carroll it’s your destinations that dictate your direction.

Three Easy Steps To Do This Are:

1. Define where you’re coming from.
2. Define where you’re going.
3. Develop a personal measurement system.

Stephen Covey said it very well:

       In order to do this, QUMA Learning provides you with a one-page sheet separated into eight categories. Six are filled in for you and two are left blank for your own titles.

The six pre-arranged titles are:

1. List the possibilities in each category (What do you want to be, do, have)
2. Prioritize the objectives, after you list them all decide which one in each category is the one you want the most, if you could only do one in each category what would it be.

       Then, after you do this with all the categories, on a separate sheet you take the winner from every category and write it out on a Lifetime Objective Sheet and look at this daily.

       You should burn your goals and desires into your mind so your subconscious can work on way’s to make them realities.

       You should come up with a personal mission statement, just like a company does. Here are two key questions to ask yourself.

1. If I had an ample flow of money, and could serve any way I choose, would I do what I am doing now?
2. How am I best suited to serve humanity now?

       This will help you establish milestones for the progress you make. Every two weeks, look at your objectives and the key goals you’ve written down. Are you getting closer? If not are you at least more convinced that you will be soon? If you practice this you’ll see how amazingly simple it becomes and it works!

Principle #5 Productive people allocate Time based on priority.

You should seek to become priority driven not contingency driven.

One way to do this is to make a daily commitment to organize your time. QUMA Learning calls this PEG time:

       QUMA suggest scheduling strips and blocks of time. Strips are short, between 15-30 minutes. Blocks are longer (1-3 hours). Here are six suggestions on how to be effective at that.

1. Do not over detail your hourly time section, that’s what the task list is for.
2. Give blocks of time to one or two priorities (appointment with yourself, kids etc)
3. Give yourself strips of "Janitorial Time" where you clean up task lists etc.
4. Project one of your milestones onto your daily schedule just so you can see it.
5. Schedule regular self-development time (rest, education, marketing, exercise, etc.)
6. Schedule a specific PEG time for the next thirty days and watch this all take shape.

Principle #6 Productive People Work Through The Burn

       There are two cherished fallacies of our society that we harp on day after day and use as excuses for all sorts of failures.

1. Stress is bad
2. Avoid it at all costs.

       What a load of garbage! Now I never thought of stress being bad, it was just part of life! But as I studied the works of others and heard all the hype in the news about how stress kills, etc. I started concerning myself with it. Here’s where I’ve finally settled:

Most Stress is Created in Your Own Mind.

       The nervous system of higher animals and humans is made to cope with environments that present a fair amount of challenge to its capacities. Medical research has shown that the body responds in a stereotyped manner, with IDENTICAL biological changes, to cope with ANY type of increased demand on the human machinery. The stress producing factors are different, yet they all elicit essentially THE SAME BIOLOGICAL STRESS RESPONSE.

       So, the stress response is the same to different situations. What changes is our mental perception of the situation.

The truth about stress... it’s the spice of life.

       The author of The Road Less Traveled, Dr. M. Scott Peck, has determined that the tendency to avoid problems and the emotional suffering inherent in them is the primary basis for all human mental illness.

       Speaking of mental illness, some people have called me either crazy or amazing when they get to know what I've got to deal with on a daily basis, but perhaps some of the stress I allow in my life keeps me healthy. I’ve learned to eliminate the stresses I can, and to change my perspective about the ones I can’t. You can too!

Ever heard this little prayer?

GOD, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, Courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

It's the famous serenity prayer, and it's been a big source of comfort and wisdom for me over the years. You may have heard it before, if not I hope you will use it. I've also included the rest of the prayer below, this is the portion most folks don't know.

Living one day at a time, Enjoying one moment at a time, Accepting hardship as the pathway to peace. Taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it. Trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His will. That I may be reasonably happy in this life, And supremely happy with Him forever in the next. Amen.

       I hope you can use this information to organize your life a little better and make a bunch more money. But primarily I want you to improve the overall quality of your life!

P.S.   If you want further recommendations to get a killer handle on your time and your life, I suggest you email my office and get a set of killer tape interviews such as "Time Management" with Greg Colosi, "Working Solo" with Terri Lonier, "How to Eliminate Clutter" with Julie Morgenstern (if you’ve ever seen my desk you’ll know I’m still working on this one), "How To Have A 48 Hour day" with Don Aslett, "Working On Your Business Not In Your Business" with Michael Gerber, "Stress Free Success" with Jeff Smith and pickup my favorite Time Management book " NO B.S. Time Management" by Dan Kennedy. You can purchase the tapes separately at $20 and the book is $8.95.