They say time flies when you’re having fun. If that’s true, my 2012 must have been an Animal House frat party because it not only flew by, the details are a little sketchy.

If you’re like me, you’re still in denial about what the next few days holds: the lights that need to be strung outside, the road rage-infused trip to the mall and the marauding horde of nieces and nephews scavenging through your refrigerator and pantry for four days, leaving a trail of destruction that includes at least one irreparable family heirloom.

To fill your mind with other things, you’re evaluating your efforts in 2012 and prepping for 2013. And the question invariably arises: “How are things different for you today than they were on this day last year?”

It’s a really good question because it points to the secret of success. If things are the same today as they were this time last year, it’s likely because you didn’t do anything different this year. It’s not the economy or the election or any other outside forces; it’s you.

Brian Tracy once taught his sales teams to get “brilliant on the basics.” Let’s make that our charge for 2013.

When you boil it all down, our business is three basics, done consistently and brilliantly: see lots of people every day; be nice; ask them to buy.

After 23 years I’m convinced this is indisputable. To argue that our business is more than that is to deny reality. While it’s true that we don’t live in a vacuum, and circumstances can affect the volume of our business, they cannot completely dissolve our business. That’s one of the things I love about our business: No one can put you out of business but you. But what keeps us from doing it consistently is allowing outside forces to influence how we do them, or even whether we do them at all.

Toward the end of this year’s football season, my 11-year-old son lamented that he didn’t want to go to practice because he generally felt invisible all year. He had a point. It had been one of those seasons. But his coach’s rule is “no practice, no play.” I encouraged him to go to practice anyway. “We don’t know what will happen when you go,” I admitted, “but we know exactly what will happen if you don’t.”

That night, a kid got hurt and another announced he would be out of town on game day. My son ended up making some real contributions in that game, including a 30-yard run to set up a touchdown.

If you want to end 2013 in a different place than you’re ending 2012, commit to getting brilliant on the basics. We don’t know what will happen when you do, but we know exactly what will happen if you don’t.

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Getting brilliant on the basics

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