083: Laws of Success and the Problem Solver’s Mindset: Become An Above-Average Entrepreneur, Get Results Out of Every Course You Consume, and Succeed in Every Journey You Take

"I choose a lazy person to do a hard job. Because a lazy person will find an easy way to do it. -- Bill Gates

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Remember Four Daily Tasks? No matter how crazy or "complicated" you try to make your productivity and time management, this is what always keeps me productive:

• 10 minute early morning, 40 minute morning, 40 minute early afternoon, 40 minute afternoon
• three day window: forget about the 100 item to-do list or 4-week plan. What's this week?
• degrees of doneness: no chipping away, starting, continuing. What did you finish?
• accountability & encryption: list out the acronyms of what you're going to do
• distractions: don't check your phone, email, Twitter, or the news (it will find you)

Principle #1: Complete For Now / Minimum Viable Product

• Keep it simple. Don't fool yourself into thinking complicated is better, or 100x half finished things are better than 1 finished thing (don't replicate the mistakes) -- get the bugs out
• Abundance mindset: there's enough room for everybody. A rising tide lifts all boats.
• Continuous learning, childlike curiosity
• The Kid Test / The Mom Test: Can you describe what you're doing (list building, FB fan pages, Amazon FBA, etc.) to a five-year old?
• It's okay to spend way more time taking action than spending time thinking

Principle #2: Publish 100 Actions

• 100 blog posts, 100 YouTube videos, 100 Kindle books, 100 podcast episodes (but COMPLETE one at a time)
• 100 Days: Give it at least 3 months (100 days) of consistent daily action (and make some progress every day)
• Make some money as fast as possible as encouragement for you to keep going
• Appointment based business
• If you don't have your own system & schedule, everyone will pull you in all directions.
• Don't plan it out ahead of time, but "put out" 100 things
• Completion (day 1 isn't when you start learning, it's when your first "thing" is published)
• Repetitions. Fail forward fast. Do what most people won't do.
• You can't learn to drive by reading the owner's manual 1000 times.
• Have a morning routine to get a jump on the day and do what matters before things distract you

Principle #3: The Light at the End of the Tunnel

• Know exactly what you're building towards (i.e. 20 sales a day, 5k/month Fiverr income)
• Implement and experiment.
• Don't learn just to learn, re-teach or criticize.
• Focus on just one thing at a time. Improve just one variable.

Principle #4: Data Scientist

• Track your efforts and results in a spreadsheet
• Marketplace Need: Create blog posts, videos, podcasts, products, courses that deliver on what people are asking for
• Crack the code: make all the mistakes, correct them, streamline that checklist (remove instead of add), stop doing what isn't working
• Track it: You're fooling yourself into think you're doing so much

Principle #5: Computer Programmer Mentality

• break the problem down into manageable sub-problems or milestones.
• It's ok to admit you don't know. Find out what you need to know!
• Some questions have no answer, or just aren't important.
• Don't look for so many questions. Find "a" path to get where you need to go.

Principle #6: Rough Numbers

• Know your rough numbers (this is how 4DT came out, number of help desk tickets answered, clicks from emails, webinar attendees)
• Embrace the Chaos: you need some degree of "messiness" in your business. JVZoo, RAP, multiple membership sites instead of one
• Separate the forest from the trees

Principle #7: Get a Coach

• Admit when you don't know something: don't "juggle" it all in your head
• See what someone more successful than you is doing.
• Know what the "next" problem is that you're solving. Know how to ask a real question.
• Role Modeling & Anti Role Modeling: what would X do in this situation? and what would this unsuccessful person say about this?

Pitfalls to Stay Away From

• Don't go down the rabbit hole: learning to program when you just wanted to create an e-book
• Don't let the tiniest thing hold you up
• Don't wait. Just take the action. Don't fall into victimhood, martyrism, or "waiting" for the other person to do something
• Don't just fill time: it takes just as much effort to do nothing as it is to do something
• Don't be a pack rat: throw away your notes and "used up" bi-products
  Don't Sabotage Yourself: One foot on the brake. Reversion to a comfortable state. Be uncomfortable now + comfortable later, or comfortable now + uncomfortable later. Whether you think you can or you can't, you're right.
• Don't let the confirmation bias get the best of you: reinforcing what you already know or ask around until you find the answer you want
• Don't let anyone take you for granted. Have a good support system of encouragement. Be an indispensable resource.

Check out Time Management on Crack to get a handle on your success mindset and Income Machine to get your money-making system in place.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 58:25 — 53.5MB) | Embed

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | RSS

Filed in: Archive 1: 2012-2016 • Mindset • Podcast