Invest in Your Mind

By Jeb Blount

Ghandi said, “We should live as if we will die tomorrow and learn as if we will live forever.” I’ve observed that Sales Professionals who continually exercise their intellect are happier, more motivated and much more successful than their peers. They take advantage of every training program their company offers and are always the first people standing in line when there is an opportunity to learn something new. They invest their own money in seminars and workshops to keep their skills updated and sharp. They subscribe to weekly e-zines, trade magazines, and sales publications to stay current on the trends impacting their profession. These Sales Professionals understand that by investing in the mind, they acquire the knowledge and skills required to outpace their competitors.

Almost everyone I talk to tells me that they want to be seen as one of the top performers in their company or industry, that they want to earn more money and that they want to feel more successful.
And, I always respond, that if this is what they truly want, they will need to increase their knowledge in order to become and expert at their craft and that reading is the fastest and most powerful means of increasing their knowledge.

There are thousands upon thousands of books and articles on the art and science of sales, personal development and leadership. I’m positive that at least some of these books sit on your bookshelf but have never been read. Do you desire to read them? Sure you do, you bought them with every intention of reading them, but you never have. It’s not easy to find time to read when you have a full time sales career, a family, friends, and all of the obligations of life. The thing is, when you don’t take time for professional reading, you quickly fall behind your competitors and ultimately give away your Winning Edge.

The problem for most of us though is that we look at all of those books and get overwhelmed. We think to ourselves, “How in the world will I ever get to them all? It’s just too much!” Then, because we are overwhelmed, we procrastinate.

As a Sales Manager, I discovered that there was a strong correlation between reading and sales success. Usually when I had a rep who was failing, I’d also find that they were doing no professional reading. One of my Sales Professionals, Jim, had the talent, skill and desire to be a superstar, but his numbers were suffering and he was losing confidence in himself.

I called Jim into my office and we discussed his predicament. Jim developed a detailed plan to get out of his slump. His plan included 15 minutes of professional reading each morning before he started his day. The results were off the charts. Jim won the top sales award that quarter and ended the year #1 on the team. He was subsequently promoted to Sales Manager, and then to Director of Sales. I spoke to Jim recently and he told me that he continues his reading routine today. He has become one of the leading and most knowledgeable professionals in his industry. He is viewed by his organization and the people who work for him as an expert. By reading just 15 minutes a day, Jim has read hundreds of books on sales, leadership, and business.

You see, Jim has learned that the secret to overcoming reading procrastination is to break reading into small doses. Just 15 to 30 minutes of professional reading daily will have an amazing impact on your life and your income. It is as easy as picking a time of day that makes sense for your schedule, block it out on your calendar, and keeping this appointment with yourself.

Fifteen minutes a day of professional reading adds up fast. Most people who make a commitment to this practice are shocked at how many books they go through. When I speak to groups I’ll often walk through the math just to make this point. Here’s how it works:

There are 52 weeks in a year. Assuming that we only do our professional reading on week days, and that we take two weeks off for vacation, we are left with 250 days for professional reading. If we multiply 250 days by 15 minutes that gives us 3,750 minutes or roughly 62.5 hours of professional reading in a year. Now, the average business or personal development book on the market today take’s the average reader about three hours to read. When we do the math (62.5/ 3) we determine that over the course of a year, when you read just fifteen minutes a day, you will read approximately 21 professional books.

For most, this is an astounding number of books. At every PowerPrinciples seminar, without fail, someone will yell out, “I haven’t read twenty-one books in my life!” Just look around you, the most successful people you know, the highest earners and the people we consider to experts in our society all read daily. And the reason why, is that everything you ever need to know about anything is contained in a book. Everything! If you want to out wit your competitors, improve your income, gain success with your investments or become an expert at all you have to do is read.

Reading just fifteen minutes a day will change your life. Over the years it will add up to a college education many times over. Get started today. Grab a piece of paper and write down five books you will commit to reading this year.

If you would like to get a list of some of my favorite books just end an email to jeb@salesgravy.com

Jeb Blount is the award winning Author of "PowerPrinciples", CEO of SalesGravy.com and produces the #1 Ranked Sales Podcast in the world.

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