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JERPAT's Monthly Tips
December 1, 2005
Issue 2
Sponsored by JERPAT
Patty Benton, Editor
Missed one of our past issue? Click here
to view our archive.
In this issue:
Note from Patty
Tip of the Month-Continuing on Cleaning your desktop
Putting Your VA to Work for You!
Article-Is Persistence Really the Key to Success?
Special Offer
Note from Patty
I hope that everyone has had a blessed
month. The holidays are hitting us in full force, causing many
of us to be busy both professionally and personally. This can
be a stressful time of the year. This year, take a moment to
sit back and take a deep breath when you feel yourself getting
overwhelmed with all you have to do. And hey, if all else
fails, call a Virtual Assistant (VA)!
Please,
let me know if you have questions or something you would like to see
tips on. I want this newsletter to be a benefit and blessing to
you. Many of you call me with questions on your computers, and
that is great, just know you may see it in next months tips, as I
need you to inspire me with your questions!
Thank you to all of you for your referrals and
support as we continue to grow together!
God
bless,
Patty Benton
JERPAT
Virtual Assistants and Web Designs
Tip of the Month
As a note, I will be giving directions
from an XP Operating System and Microsoft Office 2003. Other
versions my vary slightly from my instructions. I also write
the directions as if you are all beginners. This is so that I
can meet everyone's needs as everyone is at a different level of
computer knowledge.
This tip
came from a question a client asked me about why her computer was
running slow. It is a continuation of last month when we talked
about cleaning your desktop using "Disk Cleanup." Remember to
continue doing your "Disk Cleanup" at least once a week.
Depending on how often you work on your computer, you should use your
Disk Defragmenter on your computer at least once a month. For
those of you who's work call for you to be on the computer
constantly, I suggest you Disk Defragmenter weekly. To explain
why this is important, think about your computer as a filing cabinet.
You hang a large file in your filing cabinet, adding to it
occasionally. Then, one day, you decide that hanging file is no
longer important, so you remove the whole file. Now there is a
big space in your filing cabinet. If you do not redistribute
your files, then you will not be able to use that space and your
filing drawer to it's maximum capability. Now, translate this
to your computer. Your computer moves files and deletes files
as you work. This produces gaps in your computers filing
system. By closing these gaps, you allow for your computer to
better utilize the space and makes your system work faster. Here are the steps to
defragmenting
your system:
Close all programs that are running (this includes
background programs and screensavers)
Go to
"Start" (the bottom left corner of your screen)
Find
"All Programs" and click it
When the
list of your programs comes up, find the folder titled "Accessories"
When the
list of accessories comes up, find the folder "System Tools"
Under
the "System Tools" folder, you should see a program titled "Disk
Defragmenter"
Click on this and a box will come up
Make sure "(C:)" is highlighted
Click the "Defragment" button
That is all! I would recommend doing this
when you do not need to be on your for a few hours. I start
mine when I am headed to bed, and it is done when I wake up!
Putting Your VA to Work for You
(adapted from 101 Plus Ways to Use a
Virtual Assistant (VA) from coachville.com)
You have reviewed your goals and created a new plan to help grow your
business (see article below "Is Persistence Really the Key to
Success?"). You have decided to add a new service/product to
your business. You have your VA research a target industry.
Once a list of companies/prospects have been prepared, your VA calls
to identify the contact name. Your VA then prepares and mails
introductory materials.
Is Persistence Really the
Key to Success?
Or Can Persistence Lead to Failure?
A feature article by an Alumbo member, Nov 28, 2005
If you really want to be successful, you probably spend a lot of time
reading motivational books and articles. You want to know what
qualities are required for success.
When we read about the tools required to achieve success, very often
we are told that if we really want to be successful, we must have
persistence.
Persistence is the quality of never giving up when we encounter
challenges. Of holding on to our dream. Of refusing to be discouraged
no matter what the odds, no matter what happens.
And when you read the life stories of very successful people, they
will often tell you about all the hardships they encountered along
the way. They will tell you about the discouragement they
occasionally felt when they encountered failure, and about all the
people who laughed at them along the way.
And then they will often tell you that the reason they are successful
today is because they were persistent. They perservered in chasing
their dream, no matter what happened.
So if you have been facing a bit of discouragement while you pursue
your dream, reading these success gurus can give you the boost you
need to keep on doing what you've been doing. After all, persistence
is the key to success.
Almost everyone says so.
And all those people who encourage you to be persistent are wrong!
Persistence can lead to certain failure if you do not apply
persistence in the right way.
Let me explain what these people are leaving out when they tell you
to be persistent.
Every day as I drive to work in the city where I live, I always see a
middle-aged blonde woman who paces back and forth on the sidewalk in
front of a big government building. She is always carrying a big
protest sign. She smiles and waves at all the cars that pass.
I'm not sure exactly what her sign says because the words don't
really make any sense.
There seems to be something about an injustice that happened to her
when her husband's pension was divided up during their divorce. And
there's a few comments about a government conspiracy to cover up the
injustice that was done to her. I guess what she's trying to
accomplish with her protest is she's trying to get this divorce
decision changed.
Every day, no matter what the weather, this woman comes out to walk
back and forth for two hours in front of this government building and
wave at all the people. Her smile never fails.
After the first two hours of protesting are up, she goes to another
place downtown. She spends another two hours walking back and forth,
smiling and waving, in front of a different building a few blocks
away.
She has been doing this every day for at least seventeen years.
She is certainly persistent.
All that persistence and dedication for so many years does not seem
to be having any effect, but she does not seem to notice.
If seventeen years of her walking back and forth carrying this sign
hasn't had any effect, I don't think that one more day of walking
with this sign is going to change the outcome of her divorce. But she
is persistent in continuing her protest.
Probably every big city has a few people like this woman, people you
can see standing on the sidewalk. People who spends years holding
some sign that doesn't make sense.
These people can teach us all about the real value of perseverance
and persistence.
These people are certainly very persistent, but usually they are not
successful.
When success gurus tell us that persistence is an important quality
on the road to success, they are often leaving out something
important.
When successful people tell you that they got to where they are today
because they were persistent, they are actually leaving out part of
the story. A very important part of the story.
And the part that they are leaving out is this: They forget to tell
you that before they were persistent, they had a goal, and they had a
plan on how to get there.
And all along the way, after every step they took, they stepped back
to evaluate the results to see if the results they were getting were
the results they wanted. And if they weren't getting the results they
wanted, then they would change the steps they took.
These successful people did have persistence, but they were only
persistent about holding on to their vision.
They were never persistent about the method they took to get to their
goal.
All along the way, they were prepared to be very flexible and
experiment to see what techniques and strategies worked best to get
where they wanted to go.
Why do so many successful people leave out this important detail when
they tell us the secrets to their success? Why do they so often
neglect to mention that if a strategy wasn't working, they abandoned
it quickly and moved on to another strategy?
I don't think that successful people deliberately leave out this key
information because they have a conspiracy to keep other people from
becoming as successful as they have been.
I think that successful people often leave out this key detail
because they assume it's very obvious to everyone already. They
assume that everyone already knows that you test each step of what
you are doing to see whether it's working or not. And if it's not
working, you change it. And you keep trying new approaches til you
get something that works, that gets you closer to the result you
want.
People who admire persistence often use the example of Thomas Edison
who kept trying to produce an electrical light bulb even after ten
thousand failed attempts.
But people often forget that while Thomas Edison was persistent in
believing in his goal, he was not persistent in the way he tried to
achieve it. Thomas Edison did not repeat the same experiment over and
over again ten thousand times.
Thomas Edison performed about ten thousand different experiments on
his way to trying to find a practical electrical light bulb.
Every time he tried an experiment to produce an electric light bulb,
he then backed up and took some time to evaluate the results. He
figured out what was working and what wasn't working. Then he would
try something different the next time. And he would keep track of the
results.
So, remember this crucial difference the next time someone tries to
tell you that persistence is the key to success.
Without taking some time to evaluate whether or not what you do is
actually working, you can be persistent for years, and not achieve
the goals you want.
So, if you want to be successful, be sure to hold on to your dream,
but remember to check frequently whether the actions you are taking
are getting you closer to your goals.
This article was written by Royane Real, who is the
author of several self help books available at her website, including
"How You Can Have All the Friends You Want" and "Your Quick Guide to
Improving Your Learning Ability" To subscribe to the free Royane Real
newsletter filled with tips and ideas to improve your life, go to
http://www.royanereal.com.
Special Offer
After reading the article in this issue
and seeing the tips for what your VA can do to help you, are you
motivated to move to the next level with your business? We can
help! Let us help you do the marketing to help you obtain your
next goal.
Get 100 full colored (on both sides) postcards
designed, addressed and mailed for $100 (that's a dollar per card)!
(Valued at $150)
Want to hit a wider target? Get 500 full
colored postcards for $400. (Valued at $500)
(Retainer clients-deduct this from your monthly
retainer payment!)
Contact Patty today for more information on this
special.
(Good only for the month of December,
2005)
Contact
Patty Benton
va@jerpat.org
www.moretime4u.org
www.virtualvacoach.com
303.766.3051 9
am-5 pm MST Monday-Friday
© 2005 JERPAT
No part of this
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