Using Your Inner Guidance System By: Brian Tracy

You have incredible powers of mind and emotions that give you timely and accurate feedback in every area of your life.

In this newsletter, you learn how to "tune in" to yourself so you can make the right decision in every situation.

Using Your Inner Guidance System
We know that the body has a natural bias toward health and energy. It's designed to last for 100 years with proper care and maintenance. When something goes wrong with any part of our body, we experience it in the form of pain or discomfort of some kind.

We know that when our body is not functioning smoothly and painlessly, something is wrong, and we take action to correct it. We go to a doctor; we take pills; we undergo physical therapy, massage or chiropractic. We know that if we ignore pain or discomfort for any period of time, it could lead to something more serious.

How to Tell Right From Wrong
In the same sense, nature also gives us a way to tell emotionally what's right for us and what's wrong for us in life. Just as nature gives us physical pain to guide us to doing or not doing things in the physical realm, nature gives us emotional pain to guide us toward doing or not doing things in the emotional or mental realm. The wonderful thing is that you're constructed so that if you simply listen carefully to yourself-to your mind, your body and your emotions-and follow the guidance you're given, you can dramatically enhance the quality of your life.

Just as the natural physical state of your body is health and vitality, your natural emotional state is peace and happiness. Whenever you experience a deviation from peace and happiness, it's an indication that something is amiss. Something is wrong with what you're thinking, doing or saying. Your feeling of inner happiness is the best indicator you could ever have to tell you what you should be doing more of and what you should be doing less of.

The Messenger
Unhappiness is to your life as pain is to your body. It is sent as a messenger to tell you that what you're doing is wrong for you.

Very often, you'll suffer from what has been called "divine discontent." You'll feel fidgety and uneasy for a reason or reasons that are unclear to you. You'll be dissatisfied with the status quo. Sometimes, you'll be unable to sleep. Sometimes, you'll be angry or irritable. Very often, you'll get upset with things that have nothing to do with the real issue. You'll have a deep inner sense that something isn't as it should be, and you'll often feel like a fish on a hook, wriggling and squirming emotionally to get free.

Divine Discontent
And that is a good thing. Divine discontent always comes before a positive life change. If you were perfectly satisfied, you would never take any action to improve or change your circumstances. Only when you're dissatisfied for some reason do you have the inner motivation to engage in the outer behaviors that lead you onward and upward.

Listen to yourself. Trust your inner voice. Go with the flow of your own personality. Do the things that make you feel happy inside and you'll probably never make another mistake.

Action Exercises
Here are three steps you can take immediately to put these ideas into action.

First, listen to yourself and trust your own feelings. If there is a part of your life that causes you stress and unhappiness, resolve to deal with it.

Second, identify those areas of your life where you are dissatisfied or frustrated for any reason. What changes should you, could you make?

Third, remember that nature wants you to be happy, healthy, popular and prosperous. Any deviation from those conditions is a signal to you that action is necessary.

Who Are the Millionaires By: Brian Tracy

The way you think about money will determine how much of it you accumulate more than any other factor. Your attitude toward money affects your emotions and your motivations.

The Five Ways to Become a Millionaire
If you are really serious about becoming wealthy, you will want to know the five main ways that fortunes are made in this country. Number one, top of the list, top of the hit parade throughout the history of America, is self-owned businesses. It is entrepreneurship of all kinds, including in real estate. 74% of self-made millionaires in America, not only in this generation and in this century, but in the last century as well, come from self-owned businesses.

How Wealthy People Start Out
The great majority of wealthy people started businesses and built them from the ground up. In the 19th century, fortunes were built by people like Andrew Carnegie, Jacob van Astor, Thomas Edison, Commodore Vanderbilt, J. P. Morgan and others. In the 20th century, especially in the last few years, businesses and fortunes alike have been built by people like Bill Gates, Steve Case, Larry Ellison, Ross Perot and Sam Walton. Each of these people started with nothing and succeeded in building a business from scratch.

Become a Millionaire Where You Are
The second major source of self-made millionaires in America is senior executives. Ten percent of the self-made millionaires in America are men and women who have joined large corporations and worked with those corporations for many years. They rose to positions of seniority, were paid extremely well, given stock options, profit sharing and bon uses, and as a result of holding onto the money, they became millionaires.

Success Pays Big Rewards
Michael Eisner of Disney Corporation received a $126 million dollar bon us in a single year. Lee Iacoca of Chrysler Corporation was paid $26.7 million dollars as a bon us in a single year. It's not hard to become a self-made millionaire when you are making that kind of money.

The Professional Road to Wealth
The third source of self-made millionaires in America is doctors, lawyers and other professionals. Men and women who become very, very good at what they do and rise to the top of their professions are eventually paid, very, very well. The top five percent in every field earn 10 and 20 times as much as the average person in that field.

Sell Your Way to the Top
The fourth major source of self-made millionaires in America are salespeople and sales consultants. Fully five percent of self-made millionaires are men and women who are the top salespeople in their fields. They never started their own businesses. They never went to college or university to get professional degrees. They just became very good salespeople for their products or services and were paid very good money. The secret was that they then invested the money conservatively and held on to it. 99% of self-made millionaires come from these four categories: self-owned businesses - 74%; senior executive positions - 10%: doctors, lawyers and other professionals - 10%; and salespeople and sales consultants - 5%.

Other Ways to Get Rich
The final one percent of self-made millionaires is made up of all the people in all other areas. This one percent consists of people who have made their money by inventions, in show business, in sports, through authorship of books and songs, lottery winners and inheritances. But these people make up only one percent of the total. The bottom line is that there are so many ways for you to become a self-made millionaire that it is almost impossible for you not to achieve this goal if you are really serious about it.

Action Exercises
Here are two things you can do to put this information into action as soon as possible:

First, decide what it is that you really enjoy doing and then throw your whole heart into doing it extremely well. There is a direct relationship between excellent performance and the kind of high income that leads to financial independence.

Second, be perfectly honest with yourself on an ongoing basis. Is what you are doing right now going to lead you to financial independence, or do you have to begin making some serious changes in your work and in your life? Whatever your answer, take action on it immediately.

The Case for Customer Partnerships - By Kevin Eikenberry

Customer partnership. Let's pull this phrase apart into the individual words:

Customer. This can be a person or organization who pays for your products and services. These external Customers are who most of consider when we think about Customers. But Customers can also be the person or group you deliver work to. These internal Customers exist for all of us (even if we are in sales!).
Customers, whether internal or external, are the most important people in your work.

Partnership. A partnership is an informal sharing of resources and results for the mutual benefit of both groups.

And now the full phrase:

A "Customer partnership" is an informal alliance or agreement that brings Customers and suppliers together in a more holistic way.

Many have a goal of satisfying or perhaps even delighting Customers, but the concept of a partnership moves beyond satisfaction, past delight and even beyond loyalty.

A Customer partnership is a situation where both parties feel they are working together towards goals that are greater and broader than in a "traditional" Customer/provider relationship.

Creating Customer partnerships, with external Customers and/or with internal Customers, pays great dividends. Here are 6 of those benefits:

Reduced cost. When you are in a closer relationship with your Customers and you understand their needs, you often find ways to cut costs for both of you. At a minimum, if you have developed a Customer partnership, there is no longer a need to invest "marketing" resources to maintain the Customer.

Greater speed. A partnership allows you to understand each other's needs better, affords the opportunity to build relationships with the people involved better, and deepens the trust between the groups. All of these lead to greater speed. This speed allows you to meet each other's needs better, create new solutions and, in many cases, can add to further reducing costs.

Higher quality. Better understanding of the needs of your partners, having deeper relationships and better communication all can lead to better quality of products, services and the processes that support the business relationship.

Personalized or customized service. Once you are working more closely with a Customer and really understand their needs, often you can provide services or processes they would never have even considered asking for! This emanates from the deeper understanding and empathy for the Customer's business and situation.

Less complex, easier work. In a partnership, often there are situations when the lines "Customer" and "supplier" are blurred or removed - maybe work processes can be further streamlined or tasks are shifted in time and location or any number of possibilities. The change in definition of the relationship can lead to new synergies and opportunities that might otherwise not have been considered.

Greater meaning. As a leader, you want employees that are committed to, and deeply care about, their work. When people feel more connected to and engaged in their work, they will be happier, healthier, and more successful. One of the best ways to create engagement is for people to see the purpose or meaning in their work. Customer partnerships can create that deeper purpose or meaning. When people begin to know their Customers not by a Customer or invoice number or just as "those people in manufacturing", but as people; when they have spent time with them, gotten to know their work, and like them, the definition of work changes. No longer are people simply processing the work or creating the campaign; they are helping Tom or Jill or working with their partner to help get the work done easier or more effectively.

In short, when we deepen relationships, we create greater meaning as a result.

This last item on the list is perhaps the least quantifiable but the most valuable reason for building Customer partnerships.

Whether your Customers are across the hall or halfway around the world, the effort to create partnerships is worth it. In fact, even if you don't realize benefits from any of the more tangible measures (but you will), the ability of partnerships to help create greater meaning for you and your team is reason enough to consider moving in that direction.

Potential Pointer: Customer satisfaction is a fine goal - but it has limitations. Consider the merits of moving far beyond a satisfied Customer to creating a partnership with them. It will take some effort to create these partnerships, but the benefits far outweigh the efforts required to create them.

About the Author:

Creating great Customer relationships, and even partnerships, starts with leadership. If you would like to get on a path to become a more effective leader, activate your free 2-month Silver Membership trial in Kevin Eikenberry's Remarkable Leadership Learning System. Kevin is an author, speaker, trainer, consultant and the Chief Potential Officer of the Kevin Eikenberry Group, a learning consulting company that helps organizations, teams and individuals unleash their leadership potential.