Every one of you have experienced a time in life where you ran across an old friend, a buddy or girlfriend from high school, or somebody that you had somewhat of a deep relationship with from your past. It’s easy to remember and bring up stories from those times, and more importantly it’s easy to remember their names. But have you ever experienced a situation where you run back into somebody that you only met once or even worse, that old friend from high school, and in that brief split-second of panic, as you search deep into your subconscious to remember even their first name...for the life of you...you can’t! Then it happens, they boldly and confidently shake your hand and call you by your first name and in that moment I ask you, ‘how does that make you feel?’ The number one, most popular word to every person on the planet, is their name. I have read many books over the course of my career, as well as have had many mentors in my life who all have shared this very important lesson with me. Develop the skill of remembering peoples names! I will be honest, it does actually come a little easier for me then I believe most people and I have recognize this the more that I have coached and trained individuals and groups. I’m going to give you a tip/secret as to what I have had to develop in this all important skill, in order to continue to perfect and grow this skill. 1. This is a need, not a want! This is not a matter of you wanting to remember peoples names, this is an absolute need to grow your business. This one skill has the ability to exponentially changed your results, I highly, highly encourage you to not take this lightly. It is necessary. So my first step, is to treat it as such. 2. Stop making excuses. Far too often I hear people say I’m just not good at remembering peoples names. Stop telling yourself that. Every one of you can develop a skill, work hard at that skill and become a master at that skill. You have to decide, make the choice and work daily at it. 3. Do whatever it takes. If you don’t already know me as the choices guy, this is what it boils down to. You have to make the choice to make this a priority. Only until you prioritize this skill will you decide to make the choices each day and will then begin to develop the habit that will allow you to master the skill. So in closing, the three tips above are the Why behind the importance of mastering this skill. The How-To is specific to you. My specific tactic that has been working for me, is I’ve tried to attach the new person‘s name to an old face and/or friend that has the same name. Then during whatever conversations we have in that time, I try hard to connect as many details of that person to my older memory. So yes, the next time I see that person, the first thing I think of you as somebody else. But at least I remember their name! I have heard people go as far as taking notes, having a file back at their house or a notepad where they keep track of new people they meet and actually write a short description of that person and the place that they met in order to help them keep track. But most importantly, people that do this, study the list. It’s pointless to create a list that gathers dust, you must use it. Another tactic I have heard used is people will repeat the name of the person they meet, three times in their head directly after meeting someone new. Unfortunately for me, I’ll meet a lot of people during speaking engagement and I could easily meet 30 people in five minutes. So the ability to repeat three names without becoming confused doesn’t work for me. But I have heard that it works for some people! No matter the tactic what is important is that you make the decision every day to grow the habit of remembering peoples names. Again, it is a skill that you will be grateful that you have perfected in your life five years from now. I am reminded of a quote that I recently heard, “the best time to plant a tree was 25 years ago, second best time is today.” Start. Brian