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My best friend, Jodi, is a smart cookie. She teaches high school students and is the mother of two boys. With all that going, she went back to school to get her Master’s in Education. We recently attended her graduation party.

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I admire her for being able to juggle so many things at once! I’ll bet she needs to catch up on some sleep!

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I'm so proud of her. She definitely sacrificed to achieve a new level of success in her career with all she had on her plate. That's why I call her "Wonder Woman"!

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I noticed her flying around in the sky … now I get it. She was in her invisible plane, huh?

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Jodi's mom, Linda, wanted to do something special for Jodi. So Linda planned a family party with a few surprises. I was one of those! But Linda didn’t have my phone number and she didn’t want to raise Jodi’s suspicions.

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So Linda enlisted the help of Jodi's oldest son, Collin. He's only eight-years old, but was smart enough to look up the phone numbers on Jodi's cell phone when she was taking a shower!

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Ah, kids these days! Would you be able to figure that out, George?

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I’d like to think that I could! So last weekend, when we walked in, Jodi was talking with a family member. She looked over and saw us but didn’t really respond. She looked away and then looked back again! She was so surprised – shocked, even – to see you, Mary-Lynn.

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Well, we shed some tears because it had been awhile since we had seen each other. Then we spent the day with her – getting to know her family and friends.

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We relay this story because there’s something really cool about celebrating the success of others. It can inspire you to bigger success in your own life. This works in four ways:

By celebrating, we acknowledge
When we celebrate the accomplishments of others, we remember to acknowledge our own achievements. It’s easy to forget to do this but it’s necessary to keep achieving every loftier goals.

Celebration sparks innovation
As the saying goes, “Success breeds success.” We are often inspired and encouraged to go for what we want when we see other people getting what they want.

Appreciate to be appreciated
When you appreciate the hard work and efforts of others, you're more likely to appreciate the hard work and efforts you put into your success.

Commemorate to remember
We remember achievements that are marked with special occasions. From mini-celebrations to full-blown parties, it is important to celebrate the accomplishments we make along our journey to bigg success!

So let's celebrate an accomplishment of yours! Will you share something that you’ve accomplished recently? Leave a comment below, call us at 888.455.BIGG (2444) or e-mail us at bigginfo@biggsuccess.com.

Thanks so much for reading our post today. Please join us next time when we’ll talk about behaviors that cost money. Until then, here’s to your bigg success!

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Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file:
http://media.libsyn.com/media/biggsuccess/00420-062109.mp3

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Taking Inventory of Time

4 Secrets to Having All You Really Want

(Image in today's post by jamison)

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There are a lot of ways to waste time. We want to focus on the single biggest one of all time. It might surprise you when you hear what it is.

It’s not reading this post! At least we hope you don’t think that.

It’s not watching TV.

It’s not surfing the internet.

It’s not forwarding silly e-mails to your friends.

It’s not texting.

It’s not social networking.

It’s not useless conversations.

It’s not even inane meetings. 

So what is the single biggest time waster of all time?

It’s doing the wrong thing.

The wrong thing is anything that doesn't move you closer to your dream life.

A lot of the productivity literature focuses on efficiency. That’s great if you’re doing the right thing. So here are 5-steps to moving in the right direction:

Decide on your destination. Where are you going? What’s your bigg dream?

Plot your course. How do you plan to get there? Determine how your journey is expected to progress.

Gather the necessary resources and provisions. Fuel up by getting the knowledge you need. Pick the vehicle that will take you to your destination. Get the help you need – be it a coach, a mentor, a partner, or a virtual assistant.

Go! At some point, you have to take off. You can expect to run into some detours along the way. That’s alright. Keep going. Focus on the road right in front of you.

Don’t forget to rest & replenish. Take care of your physical self by getting needed sleep, food and exercise. Also feed your mind & soul. We hope Bigg Success is one way you do that every day.

Performing the wrong task, no matter how well you do it, is a complete waste of time. The right tasks move you closer to life on your own terms. That’s bigg success!

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Thanks so much for the gift of your time today. Please join us next time when we ask, “Are you the lead wolf or a lone wolf?” Until then, here’s to your bigg success!

Subscribe to The Bigg Success Show in iTunes. 

Subscribe to the Bigg Success feed.

Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file:
http://media.libsyn.com/media/biggsuccess/00407-060209.mp3

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Does Haste Still Make Waste?

4 Secrets to Having All You Really Want

(Image in today's post from woodsy)

We work to get to that comfortable spot, and we want to stay there.

We think he got it wrong, not in the message, but in the semantics. We think he should have explicitly included change as something that is certain, rather than making it implicit in his quote.  

Will you lead or follow?
Even when it’s change that we’re creating ourselves, it can be scary. But it’s especially frightening when it’s a surprise.

For example, picture Jane telling her boss that she’s accepted a new position. She’s going to experience change. But isn’t that more comfortable than Jane’s boss telling her that her job is being eliminated?

It’s better to be a leader of change than a follower.

Who’s in control?
However, you can’t always control change. What you can control all the time is how you choose to respond to it.

You can also try to anticipate it. For example, as technology continues to develop, change is occurring more and more rapidly. Isn’t it safe to assume that this will continue?

So you have a choice to make. You either develop the skills to anticipate change so you get ahead of it or you just respond to it, after the pain becomes too great to do anything else.

Bigg action item – Separate the change into fads and trends
There are fads and there are trends. Fads come and go, so don’t worry about them. Trends are long-term. Get on board with them.

Divide a sheet into two columns – one called “Fads” and the other called “Trends”.  In your chosen career, think about the things affecting your industry. Now start putting those changes into the appropriate column.

What will affect your future income? Something will – for good or for bad!

Is it a short-term phenomenon? Or is it likely to continue? You can position yourself properly by seeing the change coming.

What opportunities will be created? What skills will be important? Do you have them? Can you get them?

Develop a plan for what you need to do to position yourself to take advantage of the trends.

Where do I get this information?
We’ll look at two examples. Search for the name of your industry followed by the word “association”. For example, “beauty salon association” yielded a half-dozen or so associations in Google.

You can also subscribe to magazines for your industry, or just about any industry you’re interested in following. They’re often free, supported by the advertisers. Amazon has an excellent resource that lists magazines by industry. It’s an extensive list!

So there are a number of ways to get the information you need so you can embrace change rather than begrudge it.

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The Single Most Destructive Thought You Can Have  

(Image by bob923)

Have you ever had a co-worker promise they would get information to you but then drop the ball?

Have you ever asked a sales person to get back to you on a proposal but then they never did?

What was your impression of that company, co-worker, or sales person when they didn’t follow-through?

It probably wasn’t favorable. You realize that you can’t count on them to do what they say they’ll do.
   
Follow-through: an essential element to building your personal brand.
A brand carries with it the promise of expected benefits. Every time a promise is not delivered, the brand suffers.

Promises are easy to make, but not as easy to keep. But if you want to build trust, you have to make good on your promises.

“Say what you’ll do, then do what you say.” Author unknown
 
This separates people who achieve bigg things from people who don’t. Even if it’s just a little thing, you risk leaving the impression that you don’t follow through.

We often have the best of intentions, but it’s impossible to judge someone on their intentions. So we do the only thing we can do – we base our opinions of people on whether they deliver on their promises.

Be careful not to over-promise.
If we surprise someone, we should surprise them in a good way – by doing more than we say we’ll do. It’s not good to disappoint them by doing less than what we say … or not doing it at all.

Today’s bigg action item – Develop a system to record every promise you make.
Do whatever works for you, whether that is an old paper system or something using new technology.

One simple way to do this is Jott. Whenever you make a promise, just call and leave a message about what you need to do. Jott will send you an e-mail or text message reminder. That coupled with your personal calendar can keep you on track. Here’s the best part – Jott is a FREE service.

There are two keys to making any system like this work:

• Budget a little extra time after each activity.
  This will allow you to write down or record anything you promised.

• Make it a habit.
  Really focus on using your system every day for the next two weeks.

Or you could do what George does. Mary-Lynn reminds him of his promises. Speaking of which, he has to go pick up the dry cleaning that was ready last week!

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