Mindset

082: Don’t Compare Your Insides to Their Outsides: Seven Strategies to Use Positive Pressure to Achieve “Critical Mass” Motivation

April 1, 2016
  • Quote of the Week: "Even the sharpest of knives cannot cut if held the wrong way." -- Rachel Wolchin
  • Catchphrase of the Week: "Don't hit the baseball, hit through the baseball." Some people on my Little League team even tried "throwing" the bat at the baseball to "save time getting on base." Guess how well that worked out?
  • Thought of the Week: You need to have enough judgement to know when to be the "drone employee" (follow the steps exactly) and when to be the creative CEO (remove steps or experiment)

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Seven Motivational Strategies

  • Strategy #1: Four Daily Tasks & Accountability Group: four business related measurable tasks you COMPLETE, and not CONTINUE.
  • Strategy #2: Deadline & Three-Day Window
  • Strategy #3: Minimum Viable Product: what if you had to stop today? (absolute focus on one goal, milestones, and use early profits as motivation to keep going) -- avoid "fake it till you make it"
  • Strategy #4: Do It Better Than "That Idiot Who Doesn't Deserve It" (common enemy)
  • Strategy #5: What's In It For Me (help others with real solutions instead of talking about yourself)
  • Strategy #6: Teach Your Notes, Criteria, Checklists, and Templates (product, membership site, book, blog, podcast)
  • Strategy #7: Don't Compare Your Insides to Their Outsides (keep your own side of the street clean when it comes to: haters, competitors, customers) -- mind your own business, you don't know what happens behind closed doors, what and what "they" are going through. People don't care about your mistakes as much as you think. How do I know? Write down today's date, but 5 years ago. Then try to remember someone you know who embarrassed themselves 5 years ago today. You can't think of one. People won't remember your mistakes or embarrassments either.
  • Bonus: Think about the benefits instead of the difficulties. (i.e. that new car you'll buy instead of your hourly rate)

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Mindset Solver All-in-One: Conquer Any “Inner Game” Issues Including Negativity, Positivity, Productivity, Focus, Perfectionism, Clarity and More (in 252 Tips Plus 272 Deep-Probing Questions)

February 21, 2016

Whatever money issue, technology issue, or motivational issue you're dealing with, chances are the things that slow you down or hold you back are currently 80% internal (the way you think about things) and 20% external (your actions and the things around you).

Many times, if I'm feeling a bit lost or otherwise unfocused, I'll first identify the SPECIFIC problem I'm having (i.e. frustrated, overwhelmed) and then find a bunch of articles dissecting the problem.

Usually, reading about the cause of things like burnout, guilt, and distractions (for example) -- and the various strategies for dealing with specific problems like journaling, meditation, exercise, find a mastermind, complete smaller tasks -- are far more helpful than any amount of denial or self-reflection...

That's why I'm revealing my "master file" of inner mindset solutions to you...

  • First, if you're trying to overcome a negative issue (like a bad mood), then find your problem and solution in the first section
  • If you're looking for a positive change in your life (focus, doing more in less time) then jump to the second section
  • If you want to get motivated, check out the third section below
  • And finally, if your goal is daily maintenance or you're looking to think your way out of a problem, jump to the bonus section where there's an interesting list of questions to ask yourself

Have fun. I see this post being a resource you turn to again and again when you need that little boost.

Part 1: Overcome Negativity & Bad Habits (eliminate the bad): 85 Tips

Fight Negativity (HuffingtonPost)

  • Know your triggers: recognize unhelpful thought patterns, challenge them, create a new habit
  • Explore the opposite reality: tell yourself "I can lose weight" instead of "I'll never lose weight"
  • End black and white thinking: watch out for the words "always" or "never"
  • Play out the worst case scenario: realize that the consequences of your actions aren't that extreme
  • Grill yourself: ask yourself probing questions to re-frame

Conquer Stress (WebMD)

  • breathe deeply
  • meditate
  • exercise
  • practice guided imagery
  • eat well
  • talk positively to yourself
  • sleep well

Get Out Of A Bad Mood (Psychology Today)

  • Don't wait for the dark cloud to lift: Narrow down the problem and apply that specific solution.
  • Guilt: atone for your actions in a small way
  • Small rejections: you don't know the other person's circumstances, so don't take things personally
  • Outstanding tasks: make a plan to tackle outstanding tasks
  • Brooding: use a two-minute distraction like Sudoku to stop the "short film" playing in your mind
  • Low self-esteem day: have a small victory such as a stress-relief workout
  • Fearing failure: focus on the things you can control
  • Feeling disconnected: brief social interactions
  • Getting caught up in small annoyances: make a list of five things you're grateful for
  • Hunger: have a snack
  • Exhaustion: take a 15-minute power nap

Beat Overwhelm (Christine Kane)

  • Get out of the weeds: get your top 3 priorities for the week, get breakthrough lessons from the week before, and schedule work-out time/downtime
  • Project vs. task: separate big projects from small tasks
  • Experience completion: set super small goals so that you feel good about completing something
  • Set the timer: you're on a time limit, so you aren't pulled away by other tasks
  • Eliminate all-or-nothing thinking: don't expect to be perfect. Instead, expect yourself to practice good habits

Overwhelm II (Think Simple Now)

  • Step out: move to a different location to view your circumstances from a fresh perspective
  • What is most important? Ask yourself, how do I want to feel? What is important to me?
  • Journaling: sort out thoughts on paper
  • Give up control: allow others to contribute
  • Ask for and allow help: what's the worst thing that could happen?
  • Create boundaries: set rules such as, don't check email during family time
  • Shut out noise: engage in a creative project, sit back, meditate
  • Bedtime ritual: quiet your mind and ask what you enjoyed about today

How To Not Be Hard On Yourself

  • Your mistakes are part of your learning.
  • Don't compare yourself to others because you are not them.
  • There is no right way to do anything.
  • Stand up for what you believe, even if it's unpopular.
  • Learn from people who criticize you.
  • Accept your weaknesses as your "features."
  • Look at your past as an adventurous biography.
  • Don't underestimate your talent until you apply it 100 times.
  • Every single problem you have is not unique.
  • Intelligence is relative, self esteem is not.
  • Express your anger in a creative way.
  • Surround yourself with people who want you to succeed.

Self-Sabotage And Fear Of Success (Six Healthy Habits)

  • Success threatens because it creates change: increased challenges and responsibilities
  • Believe in your ability to change: your skils and talents are variable
  • Flight or fight response is natural: fear of being inadequate and fear of rejection
  • To overcome fear, make it conscious: failure is not the enemy of success. If you don't succeed, try something new. The real enemies of success: complacency, apathy, over-zealousness
  • Fear itself as a motivator is only a defensive tool: engage fully with life, and not timidly.

Frustration (Dragos Roua)

  • accept reality
  • shift your focus
  • talk about it with a friend
  • journal it
  • write a letter about it
  • write a worst-case scenario
  • identify a list of possible actions
  • sleep on it
  • be your own avatar
  • read something funny
  • stop blaming yourself
  • take a walk
  • see it from the future
  • cook a delicious meal
  • go to a party
  • write about your past successes
  • borrow some enthusiasm: get involved in fresh projects and be around enthusiastic people
  • soak and dry
  • watch a comedy
  • attach with the why weapon: why am I broke?
  • volunteer for something
  • stand up and dight
  • stop blaming others
  • do small and repetitive tasks
  • see it from the past: you have a huge life experience, you just don't trust it enough
  • read similar stores
  • assess progress: the more you write, the bigger your progress seems
  • disguise it: it's bad now but look what it can become
  • contrast it with a worse situation: imagine what it would be like to live on a desert island the rest of your life
  • dilute it with meditation
  • get physical: exercise to release endorphins
  • this too shall pass: everything fades away in time
  • write a list of 33 ways to overcome frustration

Remove Distractions (LifeHack)

  • remove bad habits: turn off TV and set a bedtime routine
  • declutter your mind
  • clear your day before you start it
  • prepare your workplace
  • zen your computer: close down email, use RescueTime
  • set your time: create time slots for individual tasks
  • solidify your attitude: pretend you're being watched or that there is an approaching deadline
  • close the door
  • manage the task: break big problems into smaller chunks
  • go an extra mile

Make a Change, Get Out of a Rut & Be Positive (add the good): 67 Tips

How To Have A Great Day Every Day (Inc Magazine)

  • listen to or read something that inspires you
  • make your body stronger and more resilient
  • review and hone your plans for the future
  • do at least one thing that's worthwhile
  • help somebody less fortunate
  • spend 20 seconds appreciating what you have
  • record at least one good memory

Improve Confidence And Self-Esteem (ReachOut)

  • positive self-talk
  • don't compare yourself to others
  • exercise
  • don't strive for perfection
  • don't beat yourself up when you make a mistake
  • focus on the things you can change
  • do things that you enjoy
  • celebrate the small stuff
  • be helpful and considerate
  • surround yourself with supportive people

Stop Being So Busy (Inc Mgaazine)

  • Stop doing work that is not aligned with your talents
  • Be discerning when you book meetings
  • Schedule time for thinking
  • Ask yourself why you are so busy
  • Stop multitasking

Overcome Procrastination (Entrepreneur Magazine)

  • know yourself
  • practice effective time management
  • change your perspective
  • commit to assignments
  • work in productive environments
  • be realistic
  • self-talk positively
  • un-schedule: keep time free for extracirricular activities
  • swiss-cheese tasks: devote small chunks of time to a big task
  • don't indulge fantasies: devise physical steps to achieve results
  • plan for obstacles
  • improve learning behavior
  • help yourself
  • reward progress
  • learn to forgive yourself

Change a Bad Habit (Success Magazine)

  • disgust: enough is enough
  • decision: don't camp at the fork in the road
  • desire: find your hot-button that makes you want it now
  • resolve: promise yourself you'll never give up

Change Your Life In Six Steps (Success Magazine)

  • change your beliefs, change your expectations
  • change your expectations, change your attitude.
  • change your attitude, change your behavior
  • change your behavior, change your performance.
  • change your performance, change your life

Set S.M.A.R.T. Goals (MindTools)

  • set goals in these categories: career, financial, education, family, artistic, attitude, physical, pleasure, public service
  • make those goals S.M.A.R.T.: specific (or significant), measurable (or meaningful), attainable (or action-oriented), relevant (or rewarding), time-bound (or trackable)
  • achieve the goal: make it harder if you hit it too easily, or easier if you didn't make it. set other goals this achievement opened up for you.

Become Smarter (LifeHack)

  • Drink 2 glasses of water within 30 minutes of waking up
  • Read a book summary during breakfast
  • Listen to stimulating podcasts/audiobooks during your commute
  • Drink green tea while working
  • Take naps during the day
  • Don't take sugar during the day
  • Visit social media / meme websites only a couple of times a day
  • Play games instead of watching TV or movies
  • Read a book instead of watching tv
  • Do some programming
  • Watch TED talks while cooking
  • Do some simple exercises during the day
  • Spend time with someone smarter than you
  • Talk to people who disagree with you
  • Go for a walk in nature
  • Carry a notepad
  • Take 10 minutes at the end of the day to plan tomorrow

Productivity & Motivation (get it done): 100 Tips

Time Management To Work Smarter And Not Harder (The Creativity Post)

  • complete most important tasks first
  • learn to say "no"
  • sleep at least 7-8 hours
  • devote your entire focus to the task at hand
  • get an early start
  • don't allow unimportant details to drag you down
  • turn key tasks into habits
  • be conscientious of amount of tv/internet/gaming time
  • delineate a time limit in which to complete task
  • leave a buffer-time between tasks
  • don't think of the totality of your to-do list
  • exercise and eat healthily
  • do less
  • utilize weekends, just a little bit
  • create organizing systems
  • do something during waiting time
  • lock yourself in
  • commit to your plan to do something
  • batch related tasks together
  • find time for stillness
  • eliminate the non-essential

Increase Productivity (Inc Magazine)

  • track and limit how much time you're spending on tasks
  • take regular breaks
  • set self-imposed deadlines
  • follow the "two-minute rule"
  • just say no to meetings
  • hold standing meetings
  • quit multitasking
  • take advantage of your commute
  • give up on the illusion of perfection
  • take exercise breaks
  • be proactive, not reactive
  • turn off notifications
  • work in 90-minute intervals
  • give yourself something nice to look at
  • minimize interruptions (to the best of your ability)

Focus (LifeHack)

  • focus on one thing
  • eliminate known distractions
  • calm the mind
  • de-clutter
  • exercise
  • clarification of goals
  • simplify

Conquer Perfectionism (PsychCentral)

  • remove yourself from the competition: don't return to meetings or groups that stress you out about your progress
  • make up some rules: only check a metric if you feel it defines you
  • do a reality check: distinguish unrealistic expectations from realistic ones
  • return to your exodus moment: recognize the past moments you were freed from fear
  • show your weakness: be real and express yourself from where you are, not where you want to be
  • celebrate your mistakes: accept the things you've done wrong
  • add some color: stop seeing things in black and white. A solution that worked yesterday might not work well today
  • break the job down: break a tough task down into component parts
  • be yourself instead of being perfect
  • believe in redemption: you don't have to get it right on the first try

Take Action (Positivity Blog)

  • reconnect with the present moment
  • be accountable to others
  • be accountable to yourself
  • lighten up
  • use a limited to-do list
  • choose instead of should
  • focus on the how instead of the if's
  • get enthusiastic
  • start small

Taking Action II (Art of Manliness)

  • action is cheaper than planning: the wright brothers beat all mega-corporations for the first flight
  • action allows emergence: keep trying, the solution might be just around the corner
  • inaction is scarier: action gives you scars and makes you grow but inaction makes you soft and decay
  • motivation follows action
  • action is an existential answer: do something
  • action creates courage: fake courage becomes real
  • explanations follow actions
  • action beats the odds
  • action makes you humble
  • action isn't petty: there's no room for gossip

Add More Hours To The Day (LifeHack)

  • remove big chunks: television, internet, games, e-mail, work, chores, schoolwork
  • reclaim gap time: books, listen, problems, articles, creativity, rehearsal, engage
  • triage: e-mail, reading, television, exercise, meetings, relationships

Best Practices to Work from Home (Entrepreneur Magazine)

  • Set and keep regular office hours
  • Plan and structure your workday
  • Dress to impress
  • Set aside a designated work area
  • Take breaks
  • Avoid distractions

Bonus: Probing Questions (deep insight): 272 Questions

101 Questions Self-Reflective Questions

  • If you have an hour left to live, what would you do?
  • If you have one minute left to live, what would you do?
  • What advice would you give to yourself 3 years ago?
  • Are you putting any parts of your life on hold? Why?
  • If you have 1 million dollars, what will you do with it?

30 Journaling Prompts

  • The two moments I'll never forget in my life are... (describe them in great detail, and what makes them so unforgettable)
  • Using 10 words, describe yourself.
  • Make a list of everything you'd like to say no to.
  • Make a list of everything you'd like to say yes to.
  • Write the words you need to hear.

101 Ways to Jumpstart Creativity

  • Read a different newspaper. If you read the Wall Street Journal, read the Washington Post.
  • Make up new words that describe the problem. e.g., "Warm hugs" to describe a motivation problem and "Painted rain" to describe changing customer perceptions.
  • Which of two objects, a salt shaker or a bottle of ketchup best represents your problem? Why?
  • Imagine your idea and its opposite existing simultaneously.
  • If you could have three wishes to help you solve the problem, what would they be?
  • Write a six word book that describes your progress on the problem. e.g. "At present all thoughts are gray," "I am still not seeing everything."

40 Ways to Gain Clarity

  • What are you tolerating/putting up with?
  • Who should you be hanging out with?
  • In what way is the current situation absolutely perf
  • What's your favorite way of sabotaging yourself, and your goals?
  • What would you go do right now with your life if time or money where not an issue?

072: Uncover Your Inner Genius and Unlock Your Creativity (On Demand)

January 23, 2016

Maybe you're bored in your internet business right now because there's no real risk, challenge, or excitement in your business? This especially happens if you fall into the trap of "lying" because nothing is real. Let's get you creative so you can think your way out of your current predicament (even if that problem is boredom)...

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Creativity doesn't only mean "get a bunch of ideas." Notice how the word "create" is in it? Creativity = to create. Make something new and valuable. Idea or invention.

  • Why slow down? If you're on a roll, keep going, so during slow times when you're tired, your past self (on a timer) is like an extra employee you don't have to pay.
  • Four minute mile: 100 article days, book in an afternoon, class in an afternoon, airport product. $2k product twice a week. Hack a 100k income, how many products to sell to achieve that goal. $1000 per hour income (webinars). 1 hour per week full time income (Amazon). 1 hour per day income (Fiverr). Think your way out of a situation.
  • Albert Einstein made creative breakthroughs by asking interesting questions, such as: what would it be like to ride a wave of light?

Distill the noise down: do you take 20 pages of notes at a seminar/webinar or 5 bullet points / key takeaways?

Separate the forest from the trees! Getting so bogged down by the details you don't see the big picture, end goal, reason why, do's and dont's. Presentation on 187 types of content? A mile wide and an inch deep. Solve some problems instead. Good for pitching/presenting, bad for a product.

Our Marketer of the week is Ken Evoy from "Make Your Price Sell." He was the first marketer I've seen with a dynamic price. For example, you sell a product where the price increases by 1 penny every minute.

Let's break the stages of you unlocking your creativity and solving any problem into four steps: WHY (reframe), WHAT (mindmap), HOW (insight), and WHAT-IF (creative flow):

Step A: WHY Reframe (change the interpretation)

Hit the problem from multiple angles with probing questions. Questions must be answered! Here's what you need to ask from yourself:

A1: What's the big problem? What happens without this solution? (common enemy)
A2: What am I solving? (specific goal)
A3: What's the current way to solve it?
A4: Why is my solution better?

  • Who am I solving it for?
  • Why does this even matter?
  • What can I learn from this?
  • What's funny about this?
  • How do I start this?
  • What do I do after this?

During this stage, our goal is childlike curiosity (kids ask lots of questions but adults are set in their ways). We want to limit perfectionism and take up exercise such as free-writing. Apply random words to your situation. Think of as many "C" words as possible, for instance. Criticizing in this stage is only good if you ask: how could I have done better? You need to think up good possibilities and ideas to shoot down later.

Step B: WHAT Mindmap (branch out)

Get the structure, outline, manipulation, trimming, and the sequence.

B1: Brain dump sub-problems.
B2: Get it dialed in: Diverge (go big, seek out) vs. Converge (decide, connect, guidelines, reduce). Combine, split, add, remove, edit
B3: Professor Elliot Eisner: boundary pushing (rules are constraining, let's bend them), inventing (useful combinations), boundary breaking (least common: opposite thinking, gap filling, the rules themselves are the problem), aesthetic organizing (order from chaos: most common)

  1. Boundary pushing: can we shave one second off this plugin? Remove one step from the process
  2. Boundary breaking: we host this software for them.
  3. Aesthetic organizing: for example, in every 10-episode chunk of my podcast, I'll plan on having one episode about WordPress, a case study episode, a product pitch, mindset episode, marketing, writing, and so on.
  4. Inventing: A or B eye doctor test: does it work better as "A" or work better as "B"?

Step C: HOW Insight (Professor Arne Dietrich Creativity Matrix)

This is the step where you think of the solution, but you don't implement yet. The reason why you might feel you've "hit a wall" is because you're only using one type of creativity. There are four:

MATRIXSource: http://kauaidesign.com/2012/10/four-kinds-of-creative

C1: deliberate vs. spontaneous, cognitive vs. emotional.

  • Deliberate cognitive: Thomas Edison (I haven't failed, I've just found 10,000 ways it won't work). Build knowledge, pay attention, make connections
  • Deliberate emotional: ah-ha moment. Flash of insight, emotions/feelings. Bad chain of events leads to a revelation.
  • Spontaneous cognitive: Isaac Newton and the Apple. Eureka, dopamine, out of the box unconscious thinking.
  • Spontaneous emotional: Einstein. Epiphanies from artists and musicians. Least controlled.

C2: How to get to these quadrants: Knowledge + time = DC, Quiet time = DE, Escape (incubation) = SC, Random = SE

C3: You need all four.

  1. Einstein's combinatory play: stop working on the problem. Ideas come to you when you're in the shower.
  2. Don't let "that" person's negativity get inside your head.
  3. Magic wand thinking: if there were no limitations, what would I come up with?
  4. Paint yourself into a corner to get out of your comfort zone. Take a risk.
  5. State change: exercise, take a break, Aaron Sorkin shower, Winston Churchill nap

Step D: NOW Creative Flow (it all falls into place)

Implement the solution!

D1: Anthony Robbins would say you're looking for a Type 1 experience that: feels good, is good for you, helps others and helps the greater good
D2: Repetition is the mother of skill: Unconscious incompetence, conscious incompetence, conscious competence, unconscious competence.

  1. Figure out your routine: write every day, certain hours of the day. What motivates and demotivates you.
  2. Rush to get things done during alone time.
  3. Blue backgrounds = creativity, red backgrounds = attention to detail
  4. Brain tricks. Set a time limit. Get back to a state when you were excited, crazy, unstoppable

What's great about this system we've laid out is that there's a huge "well" of techniques and ideas you can draw from anytime you're stuck thinking of a save to "save" a dead launch, increase your income, revive a dead email list, or even flesh out the chapters of your next book.

Speaking of your next book and eliminating your writer's block, we highly recommend the Make a Product course to get your next book finished and published on Amazon within the next few days.

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071: Procrastination Solver: How to Achieve Absolute Razor-Sharp Focus and Improve Concentration On Demand

January 16, 2016

 

Are your goals S.M.A.R.T. goals? Specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound. Tune into today's program to uncover the tried and true techniques (16 total) to keep yourself motivated, focused, out of the procrastination zoned and focused on getting it all done and achieving that goal:

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Our marketer of the week is Jim Edwards from TheNetReporter. My biggest takeaway from him: just point and shoot PowerPoint for your video. It doesn't need to have quick cuts, fancy edits or be professionally done -- at all.

General Motivation

  1. Four Daily Tasks: Business-Building, Deliverable (no degrees of doneness, no chipping away, no to-do lists)
  2. Seinfeld calendar (do something small every day so the cycle isn't broken) + 5 day sprint
  3. Formula and checklist: for example, 3 part podcasts and "research heavy" blog posts: 100 solutions, group into 4-5 categories and whittle down so it's all meat and no grissle, which leads us to...
  4. Reduce and rearrange the raw materials -- SIMPLE mindmapping with FreeMind helps with this.

Absolute Focus

  1. Dual monitors: left for viewing, right for creating
  2. Remove: distractions, phone, social media, email, TV, news
  3. Clear the clutter: delete temporary EverNote notes and delete after you've made the blog post or product. Clear off desktop items at the end of the month. Quick calendar reminders later in the week to "check on" things and then delete.
  4. Micro-projects: start on Monday, end on Friday or Saturday. You can restart on Monday, but don't leave things open-ended. (Optimistically pessimistic.)

Procrastination

  1. What quick 10 minute activity have you been putting off? Do it now.
  2. Accountability partner. Call every hour if you have a really bad "problem."
  3. Shut down distractions. Close tabs, uninstall Facebook.
  4. Change the pattern. Commit. Don't ask yourself how you "feel" about it. It's a must.

Concentration

  1. What are the top 3 things to focus on? Avoid going an inch deep and a mile wide.
  2. Meditation (meaning silence and reflectiveness).
  3. A state change is as good as rest.
  4. Appointment based business: webinars, meetings, Google calendar, TimeTrade coaching calls.

Wise Words to Live By

Three simple rules in life: 1. If you don't go after what you want, you'll never have it. 2. If you don't ask, the answer will always be no. 3. If you don't step forward, you'll always be in the same place.

What seems to us as bitter trials are often blessings in disguise. -- Oscar Wilde

You may think the grass is greener on the other side, but if you take the time to water your own grass, it would be just as green.

Philosopher Karl Popper: True ignorance is not the absence of knowledge, but the refusal to acquire it.

Resources

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New Month’s Accomplishment: This is A Way Better Alternative (and Solution) to New Year’s Resolutions

January 9, 2016

New Year's Resolutions don't "work" and a "New Month's Accomplishment" is what you need instead. Let me explain...

New Year's "resolutions" are silly for a few reasons...

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They usually aren't S.M.A.R.T. goals (specific, measurable, achievable, results-oriented, and time-bound). SMART goals are pretty self explanatory but let me lay it out so there's no confusion: when you set out to do something, make sure that it's:

  • simple and clearly defined (specific)
  • something tangible so it's 100% clear whether or not you accomplished that goal (measurable)
  • enough of a stretch to move you out of your comfort zone, but not a shot at the moon (achievable)
  • all about an outcome instead of an activity (results-oriented)
  • in such a timeframe that it creates a sense of urgency for you (time-bound)

I think when most people set a goal that they're serious about, they intuitively and automatically make it specific, measurable, and achievable. The two biggies here are "results-oriented" and "time-bound."

Issue #1: You're Not Results-Oriented & Time-Bound

People don't know WHY they're doing something, for example, someone tells me their big goal is to write a book for their business. Why? Just because. Someone told them to do it. There's no real plan beyond that, and their heart isn't in it (no emotional reason-why) so it's just not going to get done. (It probably won't get started.)

The average person makes a silly goal like, "I'm going to run 2 miles every morning all this year." That's bad. It's open-ended, and it's not time-bound. A better goal would be that you're going to walk 10 minutes every evening for one week, and that's it! Nothing recurring.

Issue #2: Your Goals Are Too Big

Second problem, the goals are the wrong size. Usually too big. They're so big that you've subconsciously set yourself up for failure before you even started. You could have made your goal "write a 1/2 page blog post" but instead you said you'd write a 200-page book, including editing.

Can you please be honest with yourself? If you don't want to do anything different this year to grow your business and change your life, I honestly think that's okay, but ONLY if you're honest with yourself about it. That leads us to...

Issue #3: Belief & Honesty

Third, there's no real belief behind these S.M.A.R.T. goals. Maybe you're going through the motions and setting these goals because you think you "should", and you feel "bad" for not having one. Maybe you feel excited when you plan it out. But that excitement wears out in a few days, doesn't it?

The problem with a New "Year" resolution is that you probably start thinking of a goal around December 1st (Thanksgiving is over and it's holiday time), decide on that goal around December 5th, and then give up on the goal completely by December 15th. A small portion of people make it until January 10th, and even less until February 1st.

Gym-Collage

The solution to your "belief" crisis is to gain a small victory so you can not only see what's possible, but you've also broken that vicious cycle of:

feel bad -> over-engineer a pie-in-the-sky solution -> give up on it -> feel bad again

The Answer: New Month's Accomplishment

I have a better path for you and it's actually pretty simple:

  • Don't wait until January 1st to do something different
  • Don't have a huge year-long or recurring goal (just hit the next milestone)
  • Do something SMALL and ONE-TIME, like writing one blog post or going on one walk (anything is better than nothing)
  • Don't tell others you're going to do it (just do it and brag about it later)
  • Use the new month as an excuse to run a new "experiment", but keep doing more what's making money and less of what's not making money

Let's just call this a "New Month Accomplishment." This way, it's something small and S.M.A.R.T. that you can knock out. The reason why the end-result is so small is because the journey is more important than the destination, you're trying new things (and re-visiting old things that worked but you forgot), and if you get some small successes, you're more likely to be happier and more confident about those small achievements of yours. You're more likely to repeat those things and make them good habits.

What's Your New Month's Accomplishment?

My "New Month's Accomplishment" for January was recording an audiobook. That's something I've wanted to do for a few years, and I have eight books on Amazon at the moment, but no audiobooks. A few days ago, I sat at the computer, and did nothing that day but dictate (read aloud) the first half of my first book (100 Time Savers).

That took almost exactly two hours. The next day, I didn't check my email or Facebook until I recorded the second half (two hours), then adjusted the audio according to ACX's (Amazon and Audible's) specifications, and sent it off. It takes a few weeks for them to approve the audio book, so I'm just waiting on that.

My business partner Lance Tamashiro's New Month's Accomplishment (just from my observation) was sending a handful of thank you cards to some of our customers. This is something we used to do every day, but we stopped and forgot about it. Now we're doing it again. Simple!

Let's say you're sick of that messy garage. Instead of making a "commitment" (yuck) to "try" to "clean up better" this year, take one of item out of that garage, take a picture of it, and list in on Craigslist within the next few minutes. Done! New Months' Accomplishment finished.

If you have trouble writing: Ernest Hemingway only wrote 500 words a day, but he did it every day. Stephen King writes exactly 2,000 words (7 pages) daily. If he hits 2,000 words and he's in mid-sentence, it doesn't matter, he stops!

If he writes 1,500 words and gets to the end of the book he's writing, he types THE END and writes the next 500 words for the next book. Your New Month's Accomplishment could be to only write 500 words tomorrow. Don't worry about the next day or month or the rest of your life, just get 500 words out of the way.

I'm curious to know what your New Month's Accomplishment is, but don't tell me!

In fact, don't tell anyone what you're doing. Finish something simple that you can complete in a day (or two at the most), or preferably just 10 minutes today, and now you've finished more than those schlubs who "planned" their "resolution" for the "New Year" and never even started.

Also see: Time Management on Crack to beef up your productivity, Income Machine to get that passive income system of yours up and running, and Make a Product to publish that book on Amazon.

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069: The Big Gaping Hole in Your Evil Internet Marketing Business: Do You Practice What You Preach, Is It Okay to Be a Recommender and Do You Need to Fake It Till You Make It?

December 25, 2015

What ways is your marketing talking you OUT of a sale? Some ways are ok: being true to your personality, because you're polarizing -- repelling some and attracting others. You don't have to apologze, and I'll explain why!

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But if you repel the "serious buyers" and only attract the "tire-kickers" -- that hurts you long term. What's your goal?

Our marketer of the Week is Robert Cialdini, author of "Influence":

cialdini

I've used his "six keys to influence" in my speaking, webinars, sales letters and more. The are: reciprocity, scarcity, liking, authority, social proof, and commitment/consistency. Are you missing one or two of them, or are you skewed way over towards one of these six factors?

Scenarios We're Talking About Today... Are You Guilty of Any Of These

  1. I'm viewing a sales letter for a live chat plugin, but there's no live chat on the page.
    I'm about to buy a course on copywriting taught by some of the super-old "legends" until the sales letter tells me: by the end of module two, you'll have an idea of how to start your sales letter soon. What?!
  2. I sold a WP sales letter that wasn't actually on WordPress. Better fix it.
  3. Selling an "alternate" webinar service but you're pitching it on GoToWebinar.
  4. Selling an "alternate" landing page plugin but you're selling it on LeadPages.
  5. Blog post saying not to use "admin" as your WordPress login because it's easy to see if it's a valid account. I go to their WP login page, admin is a valid user on that blog.
  6. Selling a podcast course, no podcast. Or just one short episode of a podcast. That tells me you're not a master.

Checklist to "Check For Holes" to Your Own Business

  1. Background: What does someone find when they do their quick "research" on you, or Google search? Selling a book writing course, better have a book in print. Article course, better have some articles. Something impressive.
  2. Testimonials: better check the URLs under each testimonials in your sales letter (don't hyperlink them though) to see if the websites are still there. If not, remove the URL and ask your list for some fresh testimonials.
  3. Bottlenecks: is there an area of your sales letter that "scares" people? Long video, mentioning of too much work (3 weeks)
  4. Negative Social Proof: 100 copies total, only 96 remaining? No one wants it!
  5. Beware of Victim Copywriting: I suffered for 20 years making this so you don't have to. Great, so you'll only get buyers who "delight" in your pain. This is 500 pages, 50 hours, no one cares! Now you're talking me out of a sale.
  6. Gray Areas: fake scarcity, countdown timer, launching/closing/reopening. Unpredictability and urgency to a point. It's a booster, but don't let it become a crutch.

Internet Marketing Lessons

  1. Don't overthink it, but put your best foot forward.
  2. You don't have to be a master with 20-50 years experience, but don't leave yourself vulnerable to research.
  3. Be very careful with "distractions" like live action video, demos, lots of features and case studies to understand it -- less is more!
  4. Because I Can: you're free to say whatever you want, the only consequence is they "vote with their wallets" -- don't condone customer bullying.

Life Lessons from Robert Plank

  • Any action is better than no action.
  • It's easier to edit crap than air.
  • Time sorts out impostors from those who are truthful. Meaning, people aren't going to pay for ads or pay to keep a site going forever if it's not making money.

What to Do Now

  1. Check out Speed Copy to get the best copywriting training out there and close the bottlenecks on your websites
  2. Download and install Paper Template to get your sales letter the best it can be (with a copywriter built into the software)
  3. Setup Your Income Machine (SEO blog, autoresponder sequence, traffic, etc.) to setup a passive income business

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068: My Biggest Failures (and Biggest Successes) in Internet Marketing

December 18, 2015

I'm going to get really personal today and talk about times I've screwed up...

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Marketer of the week: Stu McLaren from stu.me and Wishlist Member. Rather than share a "breakthrough" I picked up from Stu, I want to tell you that when I present (a webinar or podcast), I imitate his speaking style.

When you speak, speak deliberately! Especially if you're an American and your natural tendency is to slur your words like I do.

Is there anyone in your life who speaks slowly and carefully, without becoming monotone? Then I would suggest you imitate that person's speaking style when you present.

stu

(That's us a few years ago at Inc. Magazine headquarters at
7 World Trade Center in New York City.)

I often "channel" Stu to slow down my speaking, enunciate, and speak more clearly, focus, calm. You can be intense but still make sense. See also: Ray Edwards, Armand Morin.

Fourteen Key Principles: The Common Thread That Runs Through These Successes & Failures

  1. Four Daily Tasks: I said it before and I'll say it again...
  2. Finishing everything that I start, less notebook doodling
  3. $997, $47 every 2 weeks, 5 payment option, experimenting! Charging high ticket AND low ticket.
  4. Investing in myself: attend conferences instead of stock trading which is gambling and a distraction. Dave Ramsey instead of Jim Cramer.
  5. I don't trust myself: get to the Minimum Viable Product because of the 3 day window.
  6. I'm not smart: I don't know what's going to sell without experimenting and I'm open to new ideas.
  7. Weekly focus: email for the same thing all week. Stick to your guns, don't psych yourself out or let customers bully you
  8. Membership sites: organize both high and low ticket, group multiple sites (but no all-in-one site)
  9. Pitch webinars: do something unexpected, teach a lot and sell hard. Give them a wow moment and not necessarily an aha moment.
  10. Re-marketing: phase out what's not selling and go back in future weeks to promote what's selling (Backup Creator)
  11. Don't delete old sites or content
  12. Your most popular content, marketing and products are the "beginner" stuff
  13. It's ok to repeat your most "powerful" ideas and phrases. How many times have I mentioned Income Machine in podcasts and blog posts? A lot!
  14. Don't be a timid marketer. Welcome pitch emails, upsells, ads. Don't have a buyers only email list or a monthly digest email list. Be on the lookout for what you can absorb/apply, for example, an affiliate bonus package.

Three Biggest Failures

  1. ClickSensor: should have made it an online service
  2. WPLetter (now Paper Template): should have built it out more and controlled the market faster (16k overnight from a 12 minute video)
  3. Action PopUp: should have got the entire marketplace using it, added tons of templates
  4. Bonus: all the PHP products, which made money, but not enough. Lesson: keep publishing things to get to "the good stuff."

Three Biggest Successes

  1. Bulk content creation: books, Daily Seminar, Webinar Crusher monthly, blog, podcast. Just make 12 pieces of content to last you an entire year.
  2. Must-have tool for everyone's business such as Backup Creator: pitch is all about what you can do with it, 100k sites, tie in with our other stuff (Membership Cube) -- yearly renewals, developer license
  3. Pain of disconnect in Membership Cube: selling high ticket, playing with the payment plans, pitching on webinars! (35k in a couple hours)
  4. Bonus: platinum coaching program. Lesson: the first step is getting the button online!

Wise Words to Live By

When you can't change the direction of the wind, adjust your sails.

If you don't change the direction you're going, then you're likely end up where you're heading.

Albert Einstein: "Try not to become a person of success, but rather try to become a person of value."

Napoleon Hill: "Keep your eyes and ears wide open--and your mouth CLOSED, if you wish to acquire the habit of prompt DECISION. Those who talk too much do little else. If you talk more than you listen, you not only deprive yourself of many opportunities to accumulate useful knowledge, but you also disclose your PLANS and PURPOSES to people who will take great delight in defeating you, because they envy you."

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17 Ways to Instantly Increase Your Productivity Starting in the Next Few Minutes

December 15, 2015
  1. Complete four daily tasks (of one hour each) every single day
  2. Run Cool Timer to time-box each task and make sure you complete them on time
  3. Clear your desk of all papers, clocks, cell phones, and TVs right now!
  4. Ditch Outlook and use Gmail for your email (don't forget to Archive or Delete emails whenever possible)
  5. Leave your computer on overnight, plan your four tasks the night before and leave whatever programs (like Camtasia or Word) open for the next day
  6. Start and stop your day at the same time every day
  7. Only commit yourself to one "project" at a time
  8. Use Google Alerts to minimize forum browsing and web surfing as much as possible
  9. Identify and remove "problem words" such as work which kill your productivity
  10. Start every day with a walk or run around your neighborhood
  11. Finish any tasks (especially freelancing) way before it's due
  12. Stay off your computer, laptop, and email as much as possible throughout the day, and don't check email until the afternoon
  13. Make decisions quickly
  14. Schedule as many blog posts, autoresponder emails, and membership sites ahead of time
  15. Only strive to be 80% perfect
  16. Stop using your whiteboard and spend 24 hours of continuous downtime from the computer this week
  17. Install and use the Roboform browser plugin to manage your passwords

066: Avoid and Stop Disappointment: End the Waste, Conquer Disillusion, Get the Magic Feeling Back and Become Excited About Your Business Again

December 4, 2015

Internet marketer of the week: Big Jason Henderson from BetterPostureGuaranteed.com BigMarketingOnline.com.

big-jason

My big breakthrough from him: a membership site doesn't have to be a recurring forever monthly payment. You can create a single payment, or even better, a fixed term site, instead of that old and tired download page, using Member Genius.

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Things Angering Me This Week

  1. Black Friday deals, discounts. It's a drug for your business. Get that quick "hit" that you pay for later.
  2. What you're trying to obtain from the discount is to get non-buyers to buy something low ticket. Get the juices flowing.
  3. I buy from you and you say, check your email for the download link. What? Send me to a membership signup so I get an email and have a lost password link for later. Member Genius takes care of all that.
  4. No support link from your sales letter or your membership site? Time to change that.

Five Things to Identify So You Can Get the Magic Feeling Back

Signal #1: Fear-driven thoughts. Have you been told to "manage your expectations?" Then you're always expecting to be let down. That's not a solution. That's settling!

Serve the needs of those who deserve it (customers), and cut out those dragging you down. Avoid lists of your failures, enemies. What's the point? We become what we focus on AND we become what we repeatedly do. There will be up's and down's in your business.

Signal #2: What's the pattern? Buy that course, find one thing you don't like with it? Refund or just don't implement? Off to more of the same stuff?

What if you implemented exactly as they showed you? Don't be smarter than the person. Who cares if you don't "like" the person. The real test: does it do what you said it would?

Signal #3: Can I just get one thing out of it? Go through it all. Do it all. Russians who copied WW2 planes. They left the dents in.

Signal #4: What can and can't you control? Don't depend on anything external for happiness. Only you can be happy, satisfied, and fulfilled.

Are you setting yourself up for disappointment, because you know you can't control it? My old reliable thought is: "what's good about this, or what could be good about this?"

Signal #5: Have a good support system. As in, a helpful mastermind, mentor, and role model. Kick out those toxic people and instead, get some positive perspective.

What's your goal, anyway? To pick up one extra thing? To master Facebook ads? To figure out how this person got 800 webinar attendees?

This Week We Talked About...

Quotes of the Week

  • "You cannot change others but you can change yourself"
  • "The highest form of ignorance is when you reject something you don't know anything about." -- Wayne Dyer
  • If someone is able to show me that what I think or do is not right, I will happily change, for I seek the truth, by which no one was ever truly harmed. It is the person who continues in his self-deception and ignorance who is harmed. -- Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor

It helps to know what goal you're after, and then you can monitor those who have what you want.

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062: How Is Your Online Business (And Your Personal Life) Doing, on a Scale From One to Ten?

November 6, 2015

Are you scared? What if you became more aware of what made you anxious, scared, or nervous? Could you dissect those into smaller pieces? If you did, you'd be able to change and improve those small, manageable pieces...

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What if I asked you to write down a page of words to describe a "bad mood" such as: flustered, dejected, beat-down?
What if I asked you to then write a list of words describing a "good mood" such as: happy, energized, bubbly?

My guess is, that list of "bad mood" words would be longer than the "good mood" list. Let's change that for you.

To become more successful in both our personal lives and our businesses, we need to become more detailed about the positive things and less detailed about the negative. Whatever you apply more detail to is where your mind will focus.

What's the "trick" for overcoming that fear and thinking more positively and effectively?

Answer on a 1 to 10 Scale

When you go to the store, the clerk asks, "How are you?" Both of you are expecting your response to be a mono-syllabic "good" or maybe a "great."

Instead of doing that, ask yourself how you are on the 1-10 scale. Maybe you're having a "better than average" day, so you say 8.1.

Not only do you cause a "pattern interrupt" for the clerk, which might get you a nice laugh, but it will help you out by causing you to actually think about how you feel, instead of just replying generically with a word that has no real meaning.

Use the 1 to 10 Scale in Your Own Business

Okay, so we can see how evaluating yourself on a 1-10 scale can put you more ‘in touch' personally, but how does it help in your business? Here are a few examples:

Writing and Revising: The majority of people are not the greatest writers but if you are in internet marketing, you have to put out content. You need to be able to put out on okay first draft and for the most part a first draft is good enough. This isn't school and you're not going to triple your income by making some small edits to an email.

If you're writing a book, you might need to spend more time than on a blog post, but the principle is the same. We don't want to spend an hour writing 1 chapter of a book and then spend 5 hours doing edits.

How do you edit quickly so you don't consume all of your time? Again, the answer is scale from 1 to 10. Once the book is written (and it's been typed/spell-checked), you could just skim paragraphs and rate each one on a scale from 1 to 10 for substance.

Then, you quickly average those to get an "overall" rating. If you come up with an 8 or 9, great. But, if you come up with a 7.0 book, and you wanted an 8.0, your strategy would be to just go through and focus on fine-tuning the lower-rated paragraphs.

Overall Business Strategy: What if you're not making enough money from your online business? What if someone asked you, "How are you doing with Facebook ad campaigns?" If you answered with "good" or "okay", that's not going to help. "Good" is not measurable and it's an "automatic" response, instead of one that forces you to look for clarity.

Use that 1 to 10 scale to pinpoint issues. Rating gives you better accuracy about what/where the problem is and where you'll improve it.

Here are 10 areas that you could focus on and maximize to improve your business overall and make more money.

  • Time management and Mindset
  • Building the List
  • Email Follow-up and Auto-responder sequences
  • Membership Retention
  • New Customers
  • Joint Ventures
  • Free Traffic
  • Paid Traffic
  • Info Products and Recurring Income
  • Big-Ticket Sales and Coaching

Write a number next to each of those above items. Look at these factors individually and "score" them. This draws attention to areas where you'll capitalize to improve the overall picture.

For example, if a real problem that you have is not emailing, rate that lower. If you need more traffic, then you'd rate those lower.

Doing these one by one will help you think of solutions to improve that specific aspect of your business. Then, look at that average number. You'll see where you are and where you're headed.

Today's Winning Quotes

  • "Great minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, but small minds discuss people." (Eleanor Roosevelt)
  • "I found that luck is quite predictable. If you want more luck, take more chances, be more active and show up more often." (Brian Tracy)
  • "1 in 160 are Millionaires in the U.S. 1 in 1460 are millionaires in the world." -- Dan Kennedy

Check out Robert's proven method for writing a winning e-book at Make a Product, his A-Z strategy for developing your own "free traffic-generating" podcast at Podcast Crusher, or his fun and easy course on creating your own graphics at Graphic Dashboard.

You can also get more personal guidance in his monthly mastermind at Double Agent Marketing.

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