Mark's Highway  

We're back again Friends,

Welcome back to E-Zine Street! Have those resolutions turned into "good" habits? Remember first we form habits, then they form us. Good habits are hard to form but easy to live with.  Bad habits are easy to form and hard to live with! Don't give up just yet. The 30 days will be hard but oh so rewarding.

Thanks to those that checked out the new Journals we offer.  We have the "I Love to Journal" model with that great big positive affirmation right on the front cover.  The other one is the "Freedom From Fear Forever" journal designed after the book  Each journal has blank pages on one side and ruled pages on the other. Both have a different quote on each blank page.

Drop us a line and let us know how we are doing.  How can we improve E-Zine Street?

Have you joined the forum yet?  Come and share thought or idea!  *FORUM*

 Watch "The Road" Buddy!

The Web Community Matteson Avenue has much to offer. Here are some of the many benefits you receive at Matteson Avenue:

Lose the Clutter? - Mark's latest Special Report!

Locals can join Mark in Seattle at DiscoverU on February 16th, 2005 as he presents "Freedom From Fear" based on his best selling book. We will be producing a new DVD during this seminar!

Log-in and explore the "Street Talk" Forum. Start or join a discussion.

Listen to Mark on the radio. Linda Stasburg interviews Mark on KTKK AM Salt Lake City.

Laugh with us at the Humor section.

Learn at the "Gratis" page packed with Fr^ee articles, stories, sales tools, e-books, video and audio.

Links to great resources wait to be discovered.

Lists of eight categories await at the "Reading List".

Len is waiting in Mark's newest book "Freedom From Fear Forever - Len's Last Lesson".

Road Improvements

“Your Name Again Was?” (Or, “Isn’t That Old What’s His Name?”)

There is a story about a pastor that had a notorious reputation for forgetting people’s names.  As his congregation grew larger, the problem became worse.  Finally, out of love, his assistants enrolled him in an adult education workshop designed to “Win Friends and Influence People.”  After many weeks of study, he called a meeting and enthusiastically announced the results.  “I am happy to announce that I have dramatically improved my ability to remember names!  That was time and money well spent.  I feel so strongly, I have enrolled all of you in the DAVE Carnegie class!”

When I was a kid, I had a terrible time remembering people’s names.  I’ve pondered long and hard as to why.  Maybe it was that I never took the time to really listen.  Maybe it was because I was always in a rush to get somewhere.  Maybe it was my father telling the story of how bad HE was at names as a star athlete at his high school.  Regardless, if you told me your name, it was gone from my memory as fast as a snowflake melts on the hood of a warm car in the dead of winter.

As my business career has progressed, first as a Sales person, later as a Public Speaker, Facilitator and Consultant, it became crystal clear just how important remembering people’s names truly was.  I mean, really, why bother?  Is it that important?  You bet!  Consider Pat McCarthy, author of “The Nordstrom Way,” the best selling business book on Customer Service and Sales Effectiveness.  He has developed the ultimate memory system.  He has over 6000 names and key customer information memorized!!  How?  Why?  “Simple,” he said to me one morning over breakfast. “It requires becoming other-centered.”  “That is to say, you have got to care more than most people are willing to.  People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”  Pat sold over a million dollars a year in men’s clothing for the retailing giant and was consistently their top performer year after year.

So what are the benefits to you should you choose to become great at remembering people’s names?  If you want to improve your ability to remember names, you must first SELL YOURSELF on the importance of doing it.  Here are six really good reasons to invest the time and energy in learning this new skill.  You will:

1.Win new friends quickly and easily, and add luster and fun to all social situations and contacts.

2. Move ahead in business rapidly by developing a reputation for being caring and kind.

3. You will sell more of your product or service.

4. Practice the Golden Rule by “Doing unto others.”

5. Prevent embarrassing social situations by showing others you’re genuinely interested in them.

6. You will truly esteem others and they will enjoy being around you.

7. Finally, you will be in a very elite and small group of people with this skill.  You will separate yourself from most of the other people in your peer group or organization.

Okay, so let’s say I am convinced that it’s definitely in my best interest to improve my ability to remember names.  How?  Here is a simple little three step method to mastering names. Just remember I.R.A.  That is:

1) I = Impression

• Really listen when being introduced to anyone.  Concentrate on getting the name right.
   

• If you don’t hear the name clearly, ask them to repeat it. Try saying, “I’m sorry, I didn’t hear that clearly.  Your name again was?”  I’ve never had anyone get upset at that question.
   

• If you are still unclear, ask them to spell it.  Unless their name is John or Bill, they won’t mind or be offended.  I’ve found that most people are flattered that you asked.

2) R = Repetition

It’s been said, “Repetition is the mother of skill.  You can remember almost anything if you repeat it often enough.”  Consider the following:

• When introduced, repeat his/her name immediately ALOUD.  Say, “How do you do Mary, it’s nice to meet you.”
   

• Use Mary’s name several times in conversation.  Be careful not to overdo it.  Perhaps two or three times in a five minute conversation is plenty.
   

• Repeat their name silently to yourself four or five times while listening.
   

• If you are going to be with people that you don’t normally spend large amounts of time, review their names, REFRESH your memory prior to an event.  Dwight D. Eisenhower did this prior to inspecting his troops training in England during WW Two.  General Eisenhower would study the list of officers’ names he was scheduled to meet that day. (Hmmm, wasn’t he elected President after the War?)
   

• Make a conversation about that man.  Perhaps connect their name with another similar name. “I know another Mary in Delaware…”
   

• Review the names you really want to remember the night before.  If it’s important enough make the time, keep good notes.  With clients I work with on a regular basis, I keep their table name cards after a seminar in a client file and bring them with me for the next seminar.  They become like flash cards.  The night before, I simply review them and try to associate a face with a name.  I am able to retain 80%.  Even so, I still have a long way to go.

Dale Turner, a writer/columnist for the Seattle Times, and a pastor for the last 40 years, has had a standing offer to anyone.  If you could recite the “Sermon on the Mount” from memory aloud, (Mathew 5,6,7 in the New Testament) it’s worth lunch at the famous Space Needle restaurant, 600 feet in the air, with a grand view of the downtown Puget Sound area of Seattle.  The youngest person to have accomplished this feat (by my best approximation, about 3000 words!) was little six-year old Billy Gates in 1962!

3) A = Association

Consider forming an Association with the name.  Do you remember that hit song from the 60’s “The Name Game,” by Shirley Ellis?  The refrain went something like:

“John, John Bo Bohn, Bonana Fana Fo Fohn, Fee Fy Mo Mohn; John!”

A silly classic, a one hit wonder; A downright annoying song, yet, that song has all the components vital to understanding what is necessary in Association in regard to remembering names:

• Rhyme
  
  

• Repetition
  
  

• Silliness
  
  

• Exaggeration
  
  

• Similar Names
  
  

• Mind Pictures