Happy New Year, my dear friends. This month’s cover story features the second half of my exclusive, two-part, information-rich interview with NAPMA Maximum Impact member and school owner extraordinary, Kyoshi Steve LaVallee.

The complete, two-part, two-hour audio version of this spectacular interview has already been sent to NAPMA’s Maximum Impact members in their two most recent monthly support packages. In case you have not yet joined Maximum Impact at NapmaFreeOffer.com, you’ll still benefit from a portion of Kyoshi LaVallee’s excellent interview in this issue now. Even more, I’d like to help further position you for success during 2008 by reminding you of a critical concept: Dr. Stephen Covey’s Second Habit, “Begin with the end in mind.”

This phrase has become famous worldwide, and, since The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People has sold millions of copies and has been on many bestseller lists for several decades, this profound work becomes more influential every day.

As a martial arts professional, you will discover that the Second Habit is directly applicable to your tasks and responsibilities, and I believe it is one of the most valuable bits of wisdom you will ever learn. In fact, now that the New Year is upon us, it’s the perfect time to re-group, re-evaluate and re-think your master plan for your school; yourself, as a martial artist; your personal life; etc. To obtain the most value, joy and prosperity from the many layers of your life, I highly recommend you apply Dr. Covey’s concept of beginning with the end in mind.

To give you some direction, let’s laser-in on your school for a moment. Specifically, what do you want to accomplish during the next twelve months? You must start creating the future in your mind now. Do you want to add more students, increase your average student value, buy your building, retire, recruit a new staff member or increase retention? You may want to develop a leadership team, a Black Belt Club, a Master’s Club or a preschool program. Perhaps, it’s a combination of these goals and aspirations. This is exactly what the members of NAPMA’s new Inner Circle and Peak Performers groups are doing. With the guidance of NAPMA, they’re determining their futures now and utilizing the vast resources of their respective groups to ensure that their visions become realities during 2008.

I encourage you to follow suit. Once you determine exactly what you want to accomplish during 2008, I highly recommend you put it on paper with as much detail as possible.