Do you drive yourself to success by some higher meaning, or are you always on the hunt for the next commission? If you dedicate your life to a cause higher than yourself, you will never want to stop contributing. Create enough meaning, and you will create enough energy to accomplish your goals. It's okay to be ambitious, and it's okay to use numbers to stay motivated and benchmark your personal progress. But if you limit the meaning of your work to money, you will soon run out of energy.

In both sales and life, guts come before glory. But sales professionals will not succeed solely by a willingness to take risks. First and foremost, honor and purpose must exist. Nothing good comes to those in sales who think only of themselves. Define for yourself the fundamentals of honor and good sense. Leave no room for failure to meet these expectations. You should never be caught with unclear convictions. Make sure your purpose is definite before committing to taking the necessary risks to succeed.

"The price of greatness is responsibility."

"I am willing to put myself through anything; temporary pain or discomfort means nothing to me as long as I can see that the experience will take me to a new level."

Have you helped someone overcome a problem or challenge in the last 24 hours? Have you made an unhappy person laugh? Have you smiled at someone you didn't know? Do you feel the urge to give out praise whenever you see good behavior? Have you helped someone in a negative mood see opportunity instead of obstacles? Would you say you've been surrounded by positive people today? Have you praised someone today?

"You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, "I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along." . . . You must do the thing you think you cannot do."

"Help others get ahead. You will always stand taller with someone else on your shoulders. "

"My father taught me that reputation, not money, was the most important thing in the world."

Dr. Norman Vincent Peale used to compare negative thoughts to birds flying overhead. "We can't keep the birds from flying over our heads," he said. "But we can prevent them from building a nest in our hair." We all have the power to choose what kinds of thoughts take up space in our mind. The fact that you sometimes produce negative thoughts doesn't mean you have to accept them unconditionally.

"What are you grateful for right now?
Gratitude can shift your energy, raise your vibration,
and make all your next moments even better."

"Every great man of business has got somewhere a touch of the idealist in him."

Every day, or at the very least once or twice a week, take a few minutes and focus on seeing yourself in joy. Feel yourself in joy. Imagine only joy ahead in your life and see yourself basking in it. As you do this the Universe will move all people, circumstances, and events to bring you that joy. You can’t be in joy if you have money worries, or health worries, or relationship problems with friends or family. So deposit some joy in the bank of the Universe as often as you can. There isn’t an investment that is more worthwhile.

"Create a definite plan for carrying out your desire and begin at once, whether you're ready or not, to put this plan into action."

"Once you surrender to your vision, success begins to chase you."

Dr. Wayne Dyer once said that in order to be good at selling, you have to first fall in love with what you do. "You don't sell your product, because every product in the world has some validity, and there is another product out there that will satisfy the customer's need just as well." What quality do successful salespeople have that others don't? According to Dyer, the answer is serenity. They work for the customer's quota, not the quota their companies set. They're always asking, "How can I serve you?" Whether making a presentation, following up with customers, prospecting, networking, or closing, the difference between your average performer and your top performer will always be enthusiasm. "When you are filled with enthusiasm for what you sell and can convey that, it doesn't matter what product you're offering, the people will want it."

"The key to abundance is meeting limited circumstances with unlimited thoughts."

Unfinished business is a mental burden. Learn how to close the loop on negative experiences so you can lighten your load. In his classic book Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy, Dr. David Burns suggests writing automatic thoughts after a negative experience on the left-hand side of a piece of paper and then objectively appraising each thought one by one with a rational response. This will help break negative thought patterns and keep them from distorting your outlook on life. 

"Courage is not limited to the battlefield. The real tests of courage are much quieter. They are the inner tests, like enduring pain when the room is empty or standing alone when you're misunderstood."

Why do so many sales professionals become stifled in their achievement levels or plateau before reaching success? Part of the problem is that people too frequently define success exclusively in financial terms while giving short shrift to the other critical dimensions that make up a successful life. Remember, we don't always control economic conditions, but we do have a choice about what we value most.

Imagine writing an email of what you want to the Universe. When you are happy that your email is very clear, you hit “Send” and you know your request has gone into the ethers. You also know that the Server of the Universe is an automatic system, and it doesn’t question email requests. Its job is simply to fulfil every request.

If you begin to worry and stress that you haven’t got what you wanted, then you have just sent another email to the Universe to stop your order. And then you wonder why you haven’t received what you asked for.

Once you Ask, know that the Server of the Universe is an automatic infallible system that never fails, and expect to receive your request!

"Don't let yesterday take up too much of today."

"Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it."

"Miracles come in moments. Be ready and willing."

Hope and opportunity go hand in hand for sales professionals. Hope can kick-start a great day, which can snowball into a great week, month, year, and beyond. With the power of hope, you create your own opportunities. Whenever you think you have nothing, stop and reconsider. Hope is something that can't be taken away from you. If you don't feel it, go and find it. Just around the corner from hope lies the opportunity you've been waiting for.

"If you can find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn't lead anywhere."

"Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler."

How long is the list of people to whom you owe thanks? Gratitude is not just a once-a-year expression used during Thanksgiving, performance appraisals, or annual meetings. It's a daily necessity for sales professionals whose goal it is to provide value for as many people as possible. Start counting the number of people to whom you give a sincere and meaningful thanks each day. If it's fewer than five people, start making an effort to look for opportunities to thank more people every day. You might even be lifted up by getting thanks in return.

"Winning isn't everything - but wanting to win is."

According to Jacob Morgan, modern-day selling has a lot in common with the late Bruce Lee. That's right: Bruce Lee. How? One of Bruce Lee's approaches toward martial arts was the idea of fighting without fighting, which can be adapted to the selling world as "selling without selling." Pretend you had to sell to Bruce Lee, but if he felt like you were pitching or selling to him, he would get to kick you in the head. All of a sudden your approach toward selling would be different. Now, instead of trying to sell, you will try to connect and build a relationship. You will try to build trust.

What should a salesperson do when customers become disagreeable? This largely depends on the situation – who is this customer, how long have you had this relationship, and what's the nature of the disagreement or complaint? Very often, customers harbor complaints that can actually provide salespeople with valuable feedback about how they're communicating or what kind of products or services would be a better fit. Try looking past the tone or attitude and see if there's anything you can take away from the situation that would end up serving you well in the future. No matter what (even if you decide the customer is more trouble than he/she is worth), always maintain your professional attitude and demeanor when responding to a customer who's disgruntled. Keep a level head and do your best not to lose your cool.

In any contest, there are winners and losers – and salespeople hate to lose. But remember the old saying: it's how you play the game that counts. In any sales career, there will be highs and lows, peaks and valleys. Just because you're on top one day doesn't mean you'll always be there. If life is a contest, that means there will always be another way to push yourself forward. The outcome of a contest doesn't matter as much as feeling every day like you're a winner.

Whether you know it or not, today you are placing an order for your tomorrows from the catalogue of the Universe. Your predominant thoughts and feelings today are creating a frequency that is automatically determining your life tomorrow.

Feel good now and for the rest of the day, and make your tomorrows magnificent.

"If you don't fail now and again, it's a sign you're playing it safe."

"When you're riding, only the race in which you're riding is important."

WISHING YOU A SAFE AND HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!

can't handle the rejection anymore and become agitated. Sometimes we just can't do our job because there is so much going on in our lives. If you ever hit a slump, then it's time to take out the trash. Do what works for you to get back on track. You might listen to your favorite song or to a motivational presentation. You might go to the movies. You might revisit your list of goals and recommit to working on the things you've said you want in life. Take out the trash, and you'll find yourself back at work and refocused before you know it.

"It does not matter how slowly you go up, so long as you don't stop."

Stop whatever you're doing and delight in being alive! Sense the physical processes inside you, the good in people around you, and the beauty of the world you live in. Keep everything in context; smile and laugh (especially at yourself). Accept and embrace change. No matter what you want, whatever happens is going to happen. Be fit for success. Exercise and take care of yourself. Speed up your body action by moving to music, stretching, or jogging. Movement helps eliminate pent-up stress by aiding the removal of stress-produced chemicals that make you feel bad.