First, for my peeps at Emil Rummel Agency, Un Forte Abbraccio a tutti voi!

I loved my time with you. Thank you. You always make me feel welcome and liked, as if I am part of the family.

I hope to see you all again very soon!

At the end of 2024, I did a self-assessment in preparation for setting goals for 2025.

Part of it was coming up with three things people would say I am weak at. Without false humility, I can tell you two things:

A. It was the easiest question in the assessment. B. Only asking for three was kind.

But rather than make this a whipping session about my shortcomings, I want to highlight one that seems especially common.  I wrote, "Anticipating danger or problems." There are a few components to this. First, I generally have an optimistic view of life. In fact, at the top of my daily planning page, it says, "Everything always works out for Frankie" (Thank you, Dr. Terrie).

I also have a view from forty thousand feet without much attention to detail. I have had to train myself (and hire Christine) to overcome this problem. I'll expand on the training part later, but I want to say that while I may be worse than most, I see this shortcoming everywhere I look.

People can be luxuriously stupid when things are going well.

Would a smoker light another cigarette if they knew, for sure, that the next one would bring the first cancer cell? How many folks have suffered a mild heart attack, lost weight, and stopped eating salt and red meat only to feel better and go back to their old ways?

It is the rare CEO who looks at a profitable year and thinks about cost-cutting or waste. Only a unicorn salesperson cranks up their prospecting effort after a record-breaking quarter or even after a big sale.

As the great Jim Rohn said, "You've got to think winter in summer."

I don't expect to become as detailed as my excellent assistant/designer, Christine, but I have systems and techniques to guard myself against myself. My favorite is from Peter Thompson's program called "Secrets of the Great Communicators."

It's called: "If only I would have…"

I imagine myself stepping out to deliver a keynote or workshop, and I am completely unprepared. (Kind of like that childhood dream of showing up to school in your undies)

 I sit in that feeling, letting the failure wash over me. I imagine stuttering as I search my unprepared mind for words I failed to rehearse. I feel embarrassed as I run out of good teaching material 30 minutes short of the workshop's end. I make the picture bright and clear to see what I would see.  I turn up the volume to hear what I would hear. I tap into the awful feelings of imposter syndrome that would grip me like a 200lb python, constricting my airflow as I panic in front of the disappointed group who hired me. Then I open a blank page, and across the top, in bold print, I write: "If only I would have…" Then I begin to write down all those things I would surely be thinking if I were in that terrifying position.

That list becomes my plan for delivering a well-thought-out, value-packed keynote or workshop, which I will absorb into my bones and deliver with confidence.

What are you doing or not doing now that you might wish you had when it's too late?

Dr. Rob prescribes the pillow test when procrastinating. He says to ask yourself this question when deciding on an activity or chore. "When I lay my head on the pillow tonight, will I be glad I did or wish I had?

The rocking chair asks that you imagine yourself in your old age, rocking on the porch and looking back on your life with either satisfaction or regret.

Dr. Rob's pillow test is a good daily motivator, and the rocking chair test is an excellent long-term planning tool. What I like about "If only I would have…"  is that I can use it when looking at a project or my weekly plan. When you're an optimist, like I am, this tool allows you to predict and prevent an outcome that wasn't on your radar.

Own Your Sales Gene…

PS: I mentioned Dr. Rob and Dr. Terrie. Both have free, daily hotlines delivering short hits of motivation daily. Success Hotline with Dr. ROb Gilbert is 973-743-4690, and Talking with Dr. Terrie is 210-390-6100