Last week, I wrote about my four words on achievement. They were ADVISOR, DIGITAL, POWER and TIME. This week, it’s four words about improvement. 

Improvement means GET BETTER at what you’re already doing. If you’re looking to start something new, and make it happen, that’s achievement. For example, when you want to achieve your sales plan, you must improve your sales skills, presentation skills or networking skills.

On the improvement side of life, my four words are INSTAGRAM, BLOG, SHAPE and BEST.

INSTAGRAM – It’s the new Facebook. Thousands of teenagers are abandoning Facebook every hour and refocusing their social media on Instagram. You have to figure there’s got to be a pretty good reason Facebook paid a reported $1 billion for Instagram. For you as a salesperson and/or a business person, there’s got to be a pretty good reason as well.

Here’s what I intend to improve this year: I already have a business and personal account. My personal account is jeffreygitomer. My business account is gitomer. Every day or so, I post a picture to my personal account. And every day, it is my intention to post one meaningful quote on my business account. My intention is to give my followers something to think about, something to learn about, something to smile about and something to replicate.

LESSON: All of your connections, both business and personal, need to see your human side and your intellectual side. There’s an opportunity in Instagram for you to create a leadership position.

BLOG – I intend to make my blog much more personal this year. On salesblog.com (pretty good URL, eh?), I’ll be posting on-the-road insights from my travels, kitchen thinking, morning thinking, ideas I captured from reading, and the most important ideas I’m capturing from and for my daughters and granddaughters.

LESSON: A blog is a place to document and expose. When you put yourself out on the Internet, blogging is the best way to be found. Hundreds of millions of people have jumped on that bandwagon and will stay there. The key to blogging is consistency. At the moment, I post two or three times a week. You should begin by doing the same. Just a paragraph or two, but make sure they contain keywords that others can find as they search about you, your products and services, and your company.

SHAPE – Last year, I failed to lose the weight I promised myself I would. This year, I have a personal trainer and a new eating habit set in motion. My mantra will be better health leads to increased wealth.

LESSON: I didn’t achieve my goal. I didn’t follow through on my own intentions. But the lesson is not failure. The lesson is persistence. Just because I didn’t do it last year doesn’t mean I won’t get it done. If you don’t meet a goal, if you don’t achieve your intentions, keep moving, baby!

BEST – One thing the BEST people I know have in common is that they’re all seeking to become better. My best skills on the business side of my life are selling, speaking, writing, humor, friendliness and creativity. The reason I’m excellent at those skills is that I seek to become better at them every day. My driver is very simple. I just ask myself this one question: Am I doing the best I can right now?  

LESSON: Ask yourself this question after EVERY meeting, phone call, project, and social and social media outreach: Is this the BEST I can do?

Hopefully, the words I have chosen for improvement and achievement, and the lessons I have provided, will inspire you to write and define your words for the year. 

You most likely already know what they are, but it’s important to make them visual and constant. Even if you have to post them as notes on your bathroom mirror.