Struggling? Here’s why…

Despite strong intentions, promises to yourself, reading books, and taking courses here and there, you’re still struggling aren’t you?

You’re struggling to turn all of that into something new, tangible, and rewarding.

That’s because it’s hard.

If it was easy, we’d all be exactly where we want to be.

So, you ask what the big 4 skills are? They’re the overlooked skills that have you turning new ideas into tangible, rewarding results.

They’re the top four skills most required to excel in your work with the (relatively) least effort, that your job description forgot to mention.

I believe that they will make the maximum impact on your efforts, if you develop them.

The high-performers in most fields – those getting the promotions, the pay rises, the rewarding opportunities and the clients they want –  have usually acquired these skills and are enjoying the rewards.

The Big Four Skills or ‘force multipliers’ that will amplify your results and strengthen your position and value in your business or career (or life in general for that matter) are:

1.Learning fast

The KING of all skills. How to learn the right things (the stuff that actually matters to you in your unique circumstances) in the right ways. And how to help others you collaborate with learn effectively too. (Hint: you don’t do that by just teaching them.)

Most people could dramatically improve how they self-direct their learning. They could make better choices about what, why and how they learn. Get this skill under your belt and learning the other three skills becomes a piece of cake. And you earn yourself a short-cut to improving at anything you choose. It’s a learnable skill.

Tip: if other people are generally determining what you should learn next, it’s a sign you’re not learning as effectively as you could be.

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2. Translating what you learn into high impact results

Putting what you learn into action in the right ways at the right times to maximise impact.

This is not just ‘productivity’. Most people think they’re being productive by just re-organising how they do the same old things in the same old way (in fact that’s what most ‘productivity courses’ tend to reinforce.)

No, the focus should be on applying newly learned ideas to break old patterns of behaviour. It’s about finding a better way. It’s about practicing, trying, failing, and growing. It’s what’s required to survive and thrive into the future. If you can’t apply what you learn effectively, you’re increasingly vulnerable (and possibly replaceable).

This is about making what you learn count to get a ROI. (Think how many ideas you forget or fail to apply when reading a book. You often like what you read and have good intentions, but it often stops there.) You can learn systems, tools and approaches to help you apply effectively (doing the right things) and efficiently (doing those things right), and habitually.

Tip: if you spend more time trying to get more productive around tasks you’ve always done than you do building new approaches into your workflow, the wheels could fall off sooner than you think.

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3.Selling comfortably

You sell. Whether you acknowledge it or not. By ‘sell’, I mean ‘getting yeses from the right people when you need that yes’.

You sold yourself into your current role. And your previous. And you’ll need to sell yourself into your next position. In fact, whatever position you’re in, you’ll need to sell again and again, every day.

But you probably don’t associate yourself with being a sales person. You may even despise the thought. That’s costly, and probably why you’re struggling more than necessary.

Things change when you acknowledge that you sell options to other people who want them. And everything changes for the better when you decide to get better at doing so.

You’ll either sell products, services, your ideas and desires, or yourself. You need to in order to survive. Sometimes you need to count. Sometimes, you need to get picked in order to advance. Picked by those at work, or even picked by your family or friends when it comes to competing for their time or attention! Sometimes, you just need a yes.

So, do you know how to get it? In a way that maximises value to all involved?

Learning to sell intelligently, honestly, and with tust, confidence and dignity is one of the highest value and best-paid skills you’ll ever acquire in your life. You should start learning it now.

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4.Positioning yourself intelligently

Your positioning determines everything. Every hope, dream, desire, every feeling of confidence or fear and every problem or challenge you face is relative to how you’ve positioned yourself and how you’re perceived.

You can stay in the position you’re in, and let everyone make their own minds up about who you are and what you do. (Tip: they won’t put much effort in trying to get that ‘right’, and it could hold you down.)

Or you can strengthen your position and purposefully position yourself differently in the minds of others.

Your choice.

You can change the importance of the things you have to face, learn and do, and the people you need to interact with, almost overnight by changing your position and your positioning in the minds of others.

You can’t get to point B if you’re not in the right position (at the right time) to do so.

You can play a different game, one you’re likely to win. Or change your positioning in your current game. You can build information around you to communicate who you are, what you stand for, who you can best help, and how your uniqueness makes you particularly valuable to them. And then, when you engage with the right people, more than half the battle is already won.

What position are you currently in, in your career or in your business?

What position should you be in?

How do others (that matter to you) see you? How would you like them to see you? Are you playing a game you can win?

These questions matter.

Strategic positioning is something you can learn. Every time I have re-positioned myself in my business and in my life, everything has become much easier, more enjoyable and more successful.

Tip: if you’re finding it hard (for too long now) to happily and productively create and connect value to people you enjoy adding value to, you’re probably not in the right position, or you’re not positioning yourself intelligently with your desires.

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Learn them JUST ENOUGH

That’s the big four skills!

They tie together tightly. Increase any one of them and the other three improve too. (You’ll know what I mean by that once you’ve understood them all. And once they improve, I can practically guarantee that you’ll be playing a more desirable game in life in no time.)

And to what level do you need to learn each one?

Just enough.

Just enough to get you where you need to be.

Position yourself purposefully, learn and execute effectively, and win people over as you advance.

One way to start learning these immediately, one step at a time (that compounds over time) is to sign up to my free monthly posts. Read them. Think about them. And decide and write down how you’ll apply them to your specific challenges ahead.