Watching people during Sunday Mass this morning made me realize how important the “power of touch” is. I observed moms  & dads holding and consoling small children. I watched an elderly couple hold hands during the sermon. I saw a teenage girl holding her mom’s  hand. As I watched I realized how important it is to touch someone. Even the smallest gesture can say, “everything’s going to be OK!”

Sometimes we get so busy we don’t take the time to stop and let someone know how much we care. Take a minute today to “touch someone” and I guarantee this simple gesture will make both of you feel good! Go ahead, “reach out and touch someone.”

Here are some of the questions I asked on the “Excelling in Direct Selling Teleseminar.” You can listen to the replay and the number and instructions are listed in the previous post.

1. What is it that will motivate you to work your business when you don’t feel like working?

2. Are you settling for mediocrity because it’s easier? Being mediocre is eaier.

3. Are you doing everything you can to become excellent in your business? Are you attending trainings, meetings and conventions? If not, why not?

4. Do you want to become financially independent with your Direct Selling Company? What does becoming “financially independent” mean to you?

5. If you have another job, DO YOU WANT TO BECOME “JOB OPTIONAL” and replace the income from your full time job with the income earned from your Direct Selling business?

6. Have you designated the times you are going to “actively work” your direct selling business each week? That includes holding parties, follow-up phone calls, interviewing prospects and training and mentoring new recruits.

7. Are you consistent in every part of your business? If not, where do you need to focus your time to building consistency?

 Listen to the “Excelling in Direct Selling – How to Become Financially Independent with Your Direct Selling Company” Replay for helpful ideas on how to excel in your business!

 The complaints are the same, only the names and faces of the consultants have changed. “No one wants to book parties.” “I can’t find anyone who wants to sell!” “I can’t find anyone that is interested!” “This is too hard!” “I’ll never make it to leader.” If you are a leader with a Direct Selling company you’ve probably heard this from your downline. If you are a consultant you’ve probably had these thoughts or voiced these concerns to your upline. Of all the things you can do to “increase your chance for failing” having a negative attitude is number one on the list.The problem is, when we focus on what we don’t want to happen, we are actually creating the environment to continue more of the same thing. Come on, you know what I’m talking about. We become what we think about every day. If we consistently think that we can’t book any parties, WE WON’T BOOK ANY PARTIES! If we consistently think it’s hard to sponsor, IT WILL BE HARD TO SPONSOR!

So, can changing your thinking really change the outcome. Yes and No! Changing your thinking cannot change the outcome all by itself. You need to change your thinking as well as change your habits to change the outcome. Here are a few ideas that can help you change your life to have successful outcomes.

• Take a notebook and draw a line down the center of the page. At the top of the column write Positive on one half and Negative on the other half. Then every day for a week, write down everything that comes into your thoughts under one of the columns. At the end of the week take a serious look at what you have been thinking about for the week. If you have over 50 percent of your thoughts on the negative side you are sabotaging yourself. Now, I’m not a “Pollyanna” (OK,  maybe I am) and I know that all of us have some negative thoughts once in awhile but we need to make sure that there are two to three times more positive thought than negative to create an environment for change.
• If you haven’t already passed out from the shock of the previous exercise then it is time to take what we have learned and create an environment to change. It often takes an action to become “aware of the negative thought” and immediately replace it with a positive thought! I practiced a technique that I learned from Mark Victor Hansen in “The One Minute Millionaire” that involved having a rubber band on your wrist. Every time you have a negative thought you snap the rubber band and replace the thought with a positive one. Your goal is to go a week without snapping the rubber band. Trust me, this is not easy. We are often pre-conditioned to think of the worst rather than the best possible outcome. Do something each day for a week that will include consciously changing your negative thoughts to positive ones.
• Vision yourself being the person you want to become. If you are looking to move to a leadership position with your company, put the vision in your head. If you would look and act differently make sure you include this mental picture of what you would look like into your vision. 
• After two to four weeks of training your brain to think positively rather than negatively, it’s time to begin DOING things that will change the outcome. Remember, it’s not just enough to change your thoughts, you also need to change your actions. If you’ve been thinking to yourself, “No one wants to have a party” and you’ve changed your thoughts to “everyone I meet is interested in my product and the opportunity to earn some by hosting a party”, you will begin to act differently when you come in contact with people. Instead of avoiding people and being afraid to call you will be anxious to share with prospects and find a way that will be a “win-win” situation for everyone. You will begin to dress
• Refrain from returning to your “old bad thoughts and bad habits”. It takes at least 21 days to create a new habit. I have been walking 3 miles every Monday through Friday morning for over 20 years and yet last winter when the weather was bad and I skipped a few weeks of walking I found that it took me about 3 weeks to get back into the habit. Become persistent at having positive thoughts and actions and try not to let anything or anyone get in your way.

Continually replace negative thoughts and actions with positive thoughts and actions and you will notice the difference within a few weeks. As Mark Victor Hansen states in “The One Minute Millionaire”, control your thinking and you will control your behavior, control your behavior and you will control your results. It all begins with you!!!