Others Can't Buy into the Dreamer if You Don’t

Simplified Success Strategies

By Bruce Lund, NEXTPERT
Topic: Career Development, Emerging Leaders   www.nextpert.net

Zig Ziggler commonly reflects this buy saying, “You can’t sell the cook wear if you don’t buy into the cook wear.”

I take pride in making success simplified. In our connected age we are over-saturated with information daily. When the NEXTPERT concept took a hold of me I was inspired and tried to read as many different messages and books as I could about career achievement and development. I printed off several hundreds of pages each week from the Internet and read and highlighted material to make my own. Before I knew it all I had was hundreds of pages of highlighted material with very little memory of what I read.

Until you stop and reflect on your readings and teach it to others it will be very difficult to truly understand your material and your message no matter the industry. As Americans we struggle with multi-tasking. We want to run 100 mph each day and at the end of the day if we do not stop, think, and reflect then it will all be for not.

That’s why I now single-task each day. I create a to-do list where I can best spend my time and energy doing the most productive things to get me to where I want to be. This has been very beneficial and has allowed me to gain clarity about where I am going but also to internalize the information so that I can use it when needed. 

The learning pyramid below paints a picture of what I’m talking about:

So the question becomes how can you start to buy into yourself as a dreamer? Well you must first understand what your dream is and believe in it. How do we get to where we want to be if we don’t know where we are going?

Answer these three questions to help you perform a self-autopsy for career achievement:

1. What am I naturally curious about? What do you spend hours on the internet researching for fun?
2. What am I naturally talented at? We all have unique talents that are either born into us or developed early on in life. Just because I wanted to be the next Garth Brooks as a kid didn’t mean I had the talent to do so. Face the brutal facts.
3. Where is there a need in the world that you can fulfill and the world will pay you for? Even though you might be good at Facebook stalking and spend hours a day doing it does not mean there is a need in the world for this so-called “skill”.

I hope you take the time today to get intentional about where you are headed and answer these three questions to get on the right bus in life. It is never too late to start. And until you are truly content with the direction you are headed it is very hard to sell yourself on your dreams. And if you don’t believe in your dreams then most likely others won’t either.

Get intentional about your dreams and how you will manifest them and you will begin to buy into your own cookwear.

Bruce Lund is the Founder & CEO of NEXTPERT, a training service that develops emerging leaders into the BEST of the NEXT! Bruce simplifies Success Strategies for professionals looking to play at a different level through his proven 3-step process. DISCOVER Your Brand. DEVELOP Your Brand. LIVE Your Brand. Every company needs a team of NEXTPERTs working the front-lines aspiring to be great leaders.

"Every day in your current role is an interview for your NEXT!"