Welcome to 2005.
I would imagine by now that most of you are back at work?
There have been a number of incidents lately that remind us of our mortality and how abruptly life can end.
Just before Christmas in Australia we had an 18-year-old boy eaten by a Great White Shark off the coast of South Australia as he was enjoying skiing with some friends.
Then, closer to me personally, at the park where I holiday a man I know who is only 41 years old and seemingly in good health had a heart attack. There were not many people on holidays yet so my wife and I assisted in helping settle down his children while an ambulance was called. (By the way he's OK now.)
But, of course, this was only the tip of the iceberg or should I say tip of the tsunami.
I cannot imagine the grief and devastation that the people in some of the worst hit areas are going through. I, like everyone else that I know, have been deeply saddened by the loss of life and the plight of those that remain. I know that the aid money collected from the Australian people has been the most ever and I am proud of the way our government has acted swiftly and decisively to help the victims of this natural disaster. I can only pray that the relief effort will be sufficient to save the many more lives t risk.
I guess we are now all very aware that life can end very quickly.
If life can be short, surely we must ACT.
As they say "life is not a dress rehearsal".
OK, but what actions do we take?
You may think I'm about to stress the importance of starting off 2005 with a burst of sales activity. Not so.
Let me tell you a personal story.
Around 15 years ago I went through a separation and divorce. At the time my wife said, "the problem was that I put work first, the children second and her third". At the time I probably realised that she was correct. But during the divorce process I realised something else.
When we first separated my 8-year-old son was living with me. Then after about 6 months he moved to live with his mother and sister. For the first time in my life there was no-one else in my house. The thing that struck me back then was that that I had all this spare time but I didn't know what to do with it !
That's when I realised that my ex-wife was only partly correct.
Yes, I had been putting work first, the children second and her third but maybe even more critically I had been putting myself fourth !
Please take the time to do a little mental exercise.
Just imagine tonight while you are sleeping something miraculous happens. The result of this miracle is that you have now got sufficient money to never need to work again but not sufficient money to make you a multi millionaire. The bad side of this miracle is that your current employer (or business if you work independently) no longer exists.
Close your eyes now and imagine you have just woken up to this scenario.
Now, what did you decide to do?
Did you have trouble coming up with an answer?
If your answer involved looking for new work what is that telling you?
If your answer involved taking that around-the-world holiday you've always dreamed of , think again because you didn't get that much money. No, you are just living in the house you now live in and have enough money to continue living there with maybe some new furniture.
I am guessing the more in balance your life is the easier it would be for you to answer the question I posed.
Remember the old saying, "8 hours work, 8 hours play and 8 hours sleep"? These days, for many people, it's more like 12 hours work, 2 hours travelling, 6 hours sleep and the remaining hours to try and find some way of doing everything else we have to do.
As you go about living in 2005 think about having some fun, enjoying a hobby and spending time with family and friends. If you need some help with this grab yourself a copy of Steven Covey's book, "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People", I think it states the case for life balance very well. If you've already read it, read it again and pay real close attention.
Make a heap more sales in 2005 and have a heap more fun along the way.
I'll be writing to you again in about 4 - 5 weeks.
Here's to YourSalesSuccess.