Many of us are familiar with the words of Matthew 7:7.
“Ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock, and it will be opened unto you.”
Regardless of religious affiliation or belief, these words work wonders to open doors which otherwise remain closed. In order to achieve that which we desire, we must be first willing to take action.
At the same time, it is not enough to merely ask, seek or knock. These are the first steps and without them we will certainly go nowhere. More importantly, however, we must ask, seek and knock “effectively” in order to achieve our objectives. A tremendous source of frustration for many of us arises when we take action but fail to attain results.
Let’s look at two examples.
1. If we knock lightly and tentatively on the door of a gigantic house, no one will hear us to let us in. On the other hand, if we bang our fists on the door, it will open with a very angry owner wanting to know what we demand.
2. In the world of sales, and to some extent we are all salespeople, we know that we must contact someone before we can make a sale. Many of us think that by making enough contacts, we will become successful. The truth is that we must make effective contacts where we satisfy needs in order to make a sale.
There are several steps that we can take which assure that each time we ask, seek and knock, we will not only be taking action but be taking effective action. One way to narrow it down is in terms of EPPA², my formula for increased confidence and success:
Experience: Energize our experience today to be more effective tomorrow.
Preparation: Prepare well in advance to create confidence.
Perseverance: Persevere to attain and maintain success.
Attitude²: Create an exceptional attitude².
Taking effective action by energizing experience, preparing, persevering and maintaining an excellent attitude², assures that we will be well on our way to achieve our goals and objectives.
∞ Rob McBride ∞
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