Circumstances don’t make, but REVEAL you!
Circumstances do not make the man, but reveal him. James Allen.
Truer words have never been spoken. Throughout the ages seemingly great men and great women have been exposed as less than noble, less than genuine and even less than human when faced with challenging circumstances. The reverse is also true – Men and woman who seemed ordinary and average when thrust into the most difficult situations have risen to extraordinary heights of character, leadership and excellence.
Watching this great “revealing” is the stuff history and legends are made of. Observing a person in a challenging situation or circumstance will manifest much about who they are deep, deep inside and what they will likely do in the future. What you are at your core is your center of strength and that ability to do what is right, under pressure or even when no one is looking, is the core of your personal integrity.
Anything that lacks integrity is unstable, as any engineer will tell you. A bridge or skyscraper that has structural integrity simply does what it was built to do. It isn’t necessarily perfect. It could have flaws. But, under stress, pressure and repeated use, it does what it was built to do. Even in extreme circumstances it will do what it was designed to do. If, on the other hand, a structure does not have structural integrity, it will at some point fail, as was the case with the world’s first jet airliner, the British-made de Havilland Comet.
When the Comet was introduced in 1949, the future seemed bright for jet travel and the Comet was the undisputed, front-and-center leader – until three Comets unexpectedly disintegrated in flight, killing all aboard. The planes were grounded as puzzled engineers worked feverishly to understand why they had operated flawlessly at first, only to break apart later in midair. The engineers set up a fuselage in a large pool and pumped water in and out, simulating the effects of repeated cabin pressurization. At first, the experiment revealed nothing, nothing at all. But over time the pressurized circumstances yielded a startling discovery. The repeated stress caused small, microscopic cracks to form around the rectangular windows, cracks that would eventually widened into gaping holes. The planes could not withstand repeated pressure. They lacked structural integrity and the pressurized circumstances revealed what the Comet was at it’s core – a bright shiny pretender that was not secure or safe.
You and I live in a world filled with pressure and pressure filled circumstances – pressure to accomplish, pressure to get ahead, pressure to be smarter than we are, pressure to conform, pressure to be popular, pressure to appear successful, pressure to earn large incomes. None of us are perfect. We all have flaws for sure. How, then, under repeated pressure, can we avoid allowing small cracks in our integrity to form? How can we be sure that our character is structurally sound? How can we stay true to our core regardless of setting or circumstance?
Ultimately this is an exercise of not only looking in the mirror, but looking deep into our hearts and souls and asking uncomfortable questions of ourselves. When you find yourself in challenging circumstances what are you learning about yourself? Do you like what is being revealed? If not, why not? And while we cannot control those around us during difficult time, and it can be devastatingly disappointing to watch false friends or self-serving leaders crumble and reveal their true stripes and identity at such times, ultimately it comes down to ensuring that your own structural integrity reveals your greatness to the world.
© 2010 E.D.G.E. (http://edge.ilearningglobal.tv)
Internet Success: marketing your opportunity on the Internet
When marketing your opportunity on the Internet, it is vital you approach it from a business perspective.
With a bricks and mortar business, you would be branding your business name and offering value to your potential customers. Your online business should be approached in the same way to guarantee your success on the Internet.
So how do you ensure Internet success?
- Personal Branding: use your own domain instead of your company’s replicated site. Consider registering a domain with your own name (eg: johncitizen.com or workwithjohncitizen.com) and setting it up as your personal blog. Your blog gives you the opportunity of positioning yourself as an expert by providing high quality, free content to your readers / visitors in your niche area. This in turn builds trust and relationships; a vital step to branding yourself and becoming an authority in your field, thus, attracting people into your opportunity.
- Attraction Marketing System: without systems that can be duplicated, you will be spending too much one-on-one time with your team in showing them the ropes. Of course, personalised team coaching with your key people is a must to ensure your team grows; but you shouldn’t be spending hours teaching people how to setup their domain, autoresponders and the like. This is why an existing system is paramount to Internet success. Whatever system you have in place, it should be linked back to your blog.
- Building Your List: once you have setup your blog and marketing system, it is essential that you have a form on your sites to build your list and maintain relationships. But it’s important to offer something for free to your visitors to encourage them to join your list. Make an attractive offer that will provide quality value and of which positions you as the expert in your field. If you have the right attraction marketing system, you would be offering your visitors free training or similar; and this will be delivered to them automatically through your autoresponder. Your blog could offer the same or something different.
- Maintaining Relationships With Your List: in the offline world of marketing, as a general rule of thumb it takes 7 contacts with a prospect before they take notice of what you’re saying… after 7 times they feel a bond and trust and are more motivated to purchase or join whatever it is you are selling. The online world of marketing is no different. To guarantee Internet success, constant contact with your list is a necessity to form a bond and trust. Autoresponders are a great tool to use and, as long as you are providing value, make it a goal to email your list every week.
- Social Media: networking via social media sites is an excellent forum for you to discuss your ideas, share some quality content, and interact with others. Be sure to never spam your business to new contacts or friends. Would you walk up to someone you didn’t know at a party and ask them to join your business? No. The same etiquette and courtesy needs to be applied to the online world – just because you don’t see them face to face doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be treated as such.
Have you noticed a theme here?
The key to Internet success is in providing value and building relationships. When you take the time to correctly setup your online presence by using the right mix of tools, understand and realise that your online business is long-term (not short-term), then interact with others in a genuine way (as you would your best friend), people will be drawn to you and want to do business with you – if not now, then later down the track.
What are your 3 most challenging aspects of marketing your business on the Internet that you presently possess? Share with me your top 3…
Life Balance: The Urgent vs The Important by Denis Waitley
Of all the wisdom I have gained, the most important is the knowledge that time and health are two precious assets that we rarely recognize or appreciate until they have been depleted. As with health, time is the raw material of life. You can use it wisely, waste it or even kill it.
To accomplish all we are capable of, we would need a hundred lifetimes. If we had forever in our mortal lives, there would be no need to set goals, plan effectively or set priorities. We could squander our time and perhaps still manage to accomplish something, if only by chance. Yet in reality, we’re given only this one life span on earth to do our earthly best.
Each human being now living has exactly 168 hours per week. Scientists can’t invent new minutes, and even the super rich can’t buy more hours. Queen Elizabeth the First of England, the richest, most powerful woman on earth of her era, whispered these final words on her deathbed: “All my possessions for a moment of time!”
We worry about things we want to do – but can’t – instead of doing the things we can do – but don’t. How often have you said to yourself, “Where did the day go? I accomplished nothing,” or “I can’t even remember what I did yesterday.” That time is gone, and you never get it back.
Staring at the compelling distractions on a television screen is one of the major consumers of time. You can enjoy and benefit from the very best it has to offer in about seven total hours of viewing per week. But the average person spends more than thirty hours per week in a semi-stupor, escaping from the priorities and goals he or she never gets around to setting. The irony is that the people we are watching are having fun achieving their own goals, making money, having us look at them enjoying their careers.
Even so, time is amazingly fair and forgiving. No matter how much time you’ve wasted in the past, you still have an entire today. If you’ve just frittered away an hour procrastinating, you will still be given the next hour to start on priorities. Time management contains one great paradox: No one has enough time, and yet everyone has all there is. Time is not the problem; the problem is separating the urgent from the important.
Every decision we make has an “opportunity cost.” Every decision forfeits all other opportunities we had before we made it. We can’t be two places at the same time.
In their excellent management book Tradeoffs, Drs. Greiff and Munter discuss the difficult options that face us in all areas of our lives. One case in point illustrates a common opportunity cost. It’s a true anecdote they call, “Bicycle vs. Mother:”
“John is a precocious eight-year-old boy. Both his parents work. His mother is a management consultant and travels frequently. After being away for several days, she arrived home late one night and hugged her son.
“He said, ‘Mom, I missed you. Why were you away so long?’
“She smiled and replied, ‘One of the reasons I was away was to make enough money to buy you the bicycle you wanted.’
“Young John looked at her reflectively and stated, ‘Mom, I really did want the bicycle. But mothers are more important than bicycles. So please stay home more.’”
Even though we all are aware of the tradeoffs of “quality time vs. quantity time” in our relationships, we are not used to thinking specifically about how our decisions cost us other opportunities. Without this understanding, our decisions will often be unfocused and unrelated to helping us achieve our most important goals.
You may have heard the story about the analogy of the “circus juggler” to each of us as we try to balance our personal and professional priorities. I have heard the story repeated by many keynote speakers and have used it in previous books, but have never been able to trace the identity of the original author.
When the circus juggler drops a ball, he lets it bounce and picks it up on the next bounce without losing his rhythm or concentration. He keeps right on juggling. Many times we do the same thing. We lose our jobs, but get another one on the first or second bounce. We may drop the ball on a sale, an opportunity to move ahead, or in a relationship, and we either pick it up on the rebound or get a new one thrown in to replace what we just dropped.
However, some of the balls or priorities we juggle don’t bounce. The more urgent priorities associated with self-imposed deadlines and workloads have more elasticity than the precious, delicate relationships which are as fragile as fine crystal. Balance involves distinguishing between the priorities we juggle that bounce from the ones labeled “loved ones,” “health,” and “moral character” that may shatter if we drop them.
The reason I always ask my seminar attendees to list the benefits of reaching their goals is so they can arrange them in the true order of importance to them and give them a sufficient amount of attention as they juggle them within their time constraints. Handle your priorities with care. Some of them just don’t bounce!
To live a rich, balanced life we need to be more in conscious control of our habits and lifestyles. Actualized individuals have a regular exercise routine. They pay attention to nutrition, with lean source protein and fiber-based carbohydrates as their basic food choices. They relax through musical, cultural, artistic, and family activities. They get sufficient sleep and rest to meet the next day renewed and invigorated.
In addition to blocking periods of time for recreation and vacations, they also schedule large, uninterrupted periods of work on their most important projects. Contrary to popular notions, most books, works of art, invention, and musical compositions are created during uninterrupted time frames, not by a few lines, strokes, or notes every so often. Every book or audio program I have written has been done with the discipline of twelve to fifteen hours per day during a specific block of time.
True enough, I may have sacrificed a ski trip or an escape vacation once or twice. But by trying to focus on prime projects in prime time, the opportunity costs have been outweighed by the return on invested resources.
With your material, time and energy resources allocated well, you should be able to use your innovative powers to focus on goal achievement. Effective priority management creates freedom. Freedom provides opportunity to make decisions. We make our decisions and our decisions, over time, make us.
Freedom from urgency …. that’s what will allow us to live a rich and rewarding life. You may have thought your problem was “time starvation,” when in truth, it was in the way you assigned priorities in your decision-making process. Have you allowed the urgent to crowd out the important?
Each day we will continue to encounter deadlines we must meet and “fires,” not necessarily of our own making, we must put out. Endless urgent details will always beg for attention, time and energy. What we seldom realize is that the really important things in our life don’t make such strict demands on us, and therefore we usually assign them a lower priority.
Our loved ones understand when we are preoccupied with our urgent business, but it’s hard for us to understand, many years later, whey they appear preoccupied when we finally find some time for them. Harry Chapin’s classic song, “The Cat’s in the Cradle,” is still a mirror reflecting our priorities.
All the important arenas in our life are there awaiting our decisions. But they don’t beg us to give them our time. The local university doesn’t call us to advance our education and improve our life skills.
I have never received a call or e-mail from the health club I joined insisting that I show up and work out for thirty minutes each day. My bathroom scale has never insisted that I lose thirty pounds. The grocery clerks have never made me put back on the shelves the junk food I put in the cart, nor has a fast-food restaurant ever refused me a double cheeseburger and large fries because of my high cholesterol.
Nor have I ever been subpoenaed by the ocean or the mountains to appear for relaxation and solitude. Yet I receive hundreds of urgent phone messages and e-mails each week from people with deadlines.
You see, it’s the easiest thing in the world to neglect the important and give in to the urgent. One of the greatest skills you can ever develop in your life is not only to tell the two apart, but to be able to assign the correct amount of time to each.
Beginning tomorrow, throughout the day, and every day thereafter, stop and ask yourself this question: “Is what I’m doing right now important to my health, well-being and mission in life, and for my loved ones?” Your affirmative answer will free you forever, from the tyranny of the urgent.
Reproduced with permission from Denis Waitley’s Weekly Ezine. To subscribe to Denis Waitley’s Weekly Ezine, go to www.deniswaitley.com or send an email with Join in the subject to subscribe@deniswaitley.com Copyright © 2005 Denis Waitley International. All rights reserved worldwide.
What It Takes To Be An Entrepreneur: Do You Have It?
Throughout my coaching career I’ve had the pleasure of coaching entrepreneurs and start-ups, as well as individuals who aspire to get away from the 9-5 job and realise their dreams by going into business for themselves. However, for some, the reality of going it alone and making the transition from employee to entrepreneur is far more different than they thought.
Whilst the rewards are huge, the reality is that it takes a lot of hard work, sacrifices, and the capacity to step out of your comfort zone. As Zig Ziglar said, “The elevator to success is out of service. But the stairs are always open.”
So what is the Entrepreneurial success formula?
1) Take the Entrepreneurial Quiz to determine if you have the right personality.
2) Doing something you are passionate about
Have you ever heard of someone being really successful at something they don’t like? Whatever you decide to do in your entrepreneurial journey it should 1) be aligned with your values; and 2) be something you love with a passion. When you are building a business that you are passionate about, you are better able to handle the speed bumps in your entrepreneurial journey and climb the mountains that suddenly appear before you. When you are in a business which isn’t aligned with your values, or something that you are not passionate about, the speed bumps are harder to get over and the mountains appear insurmountable… this leads to a “this is too hard, I’m going to quit” outlook.
3) Thinking long-term, not short-term
As an entrepreneur, you are building something valuable, so it goes without saying that your entrepreneurial journey is going to be a long one. There are no short-cuts or get rich quick schemes. This is why it is also important to do something you are passionate about. When you are passionate about something, you WANT to be in it for the long haul. Map out your vision and clearly define your 1, 2, 3 and 5-year goals. With so many networking marketing opportunities popping up every day, it is vital you stay focused and committed, and not jump around from one opportunity to another. All highly successful entrepreneurs think long-term, not short-term. If you continuously have a new flavour of the month, how do you think you will build a profitable long-term business?
4) Making sacrifices and working hard
As Jeffery Combs stated, “you need to let go of situations or obligations that do not serve you, and instead have a profit consciousness and borrow your time from somewhere else”. 9 times out of 10, this will result in you making sacrifices in your personal life and doing the things that other people are not prepared to do to grow a successful business. 9 times out of 10, this will result in you working your butt off until you’re so tired you can hardly keep your eyes open. 9 times out of 10, this will result in you foregoing your favourite television program, or foregoing the day at the beach, or foregoing the trip to the movies. 9 times out of 10, this will result in you taking a risk that will have your heart jumping around all crazy. This is the trait of all entrepreneurs because they are thinking long-term, not short-term. Short term pain for long term gain. When you are doing something you are passionate about, when you have a vision or dream larger than life, then you have the capacity to break through the short term pain because you know, without a doubt, that it is all part of the journey and will yield far bigger results than taking the easy path in life.
5) Engaging in continuous learning and masterminding with others
Brian Tracy said it so well: “Your time and life are precious. The biggest waste of time and life is for you to spend years accomplishing something that you could have achieved in only a few months.” A successful leader understands the power and importance of continuous learning and masterminding with other successful people. You can not possibly know all there is to know. Make time to invest in your personal and professional development to enrich and expand your mind and you will reap the rewards ten-fold. Commit to reading at least 15-30 minutes a day; commit to listening to an audio whilst exercising or driving in the car. And importantly, apply the knowledge you have learned. Then take it one step further and mastermind with other successful entrepreneurs. Napoleon Hill, author of Think & Grow Rich, said “Success in this world is always a matter of individual effort, yet you will only be deceiving yourself if you believe that you can succeed without the co-operation of other people.” Successful entrepreneurs get out of the way of their own ego, and commit to learning and collaborating with others. If that’s something which excites you, then contact me to learn more about coaching and mentoring.
6) Realising that your business is a people business
It’s not about you, it’s about the customer. Learn to understand people and different personality types so you can better relate and build rapport. I highly recommend “Personality Plus” by Florence Littauer which takes you through the four personality types. After reading this book you will be able to ascertain, within a few seconds, which personality type a person falls under, and how to say things so you hit their hot buttons and get them on-side instead of off-side. If you are in a global business, take the time to learn different cultures and communication styles so you don’t offend.
7) Becoming a master at cold-calling and asking for the sale
This aspect feels many with dread, but if you look upon cold calling as presenting someone with a solution to their problems, then it’s not about you… it’s about the customer (or the prospect, if you are cold calling for your business opportunity). When done right, you are being helpful, thoughtful, respectful and credible. Cold calling isn’t about email spamming or hounding people.
When we stop looking at cold calling from the sales person’s viewpoint and from the customer’s viewpoint, and start seeing it from a business perspective, cold calling becomes a wonderful opportunity that any one can enjoy and optimize:
| how sales people typically see cold calling | how customers see cold calling done poorly | what successful cold calling should be |
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Obviously the aim is to move cold calling behaviours and methods into the third column, and definitely to stop anything which produces the feelings and effects of the first and second columns. (Source: http://www.businessballs.com/cold_calling.htm)
8.) Understanding that you can’t do everything
Your activities should be income-generating. Think about it: what’s your time really worth? How much do you generate per hour (or forecasted to earn)? Do you really need to spend 5 hours designing a flier when you could outsource it for $20? What has that 5 hours cost you in monetary, income-generating terms? Let go of controlling all aspects of your business and learn to outsource.
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With focus, commitment and passion, the Entrepreneurial journey is highly rewarding and satisfying. When you align yourself with the right business, the right mentors, and the right team, “there are no limits to what you can accomplish except for the limits you place on your own imagination. And since there are no limits to what you can imagine, there are no limits to what you can achieve.” (Brian Tracy)
Are Your Monsters Gobbling You Up?
For some reason, my dog thinks the toaster is a monster.
He has such a fear of the toaster that as soon as I pop some bread into it, he charges out of the house to hide, tail between his legs; convinced the toaster is going to jump off the cupboard, chase after him and gobble him up!
In fact, his fear is so massive that despite him hating the rain with a vengeance, he will go and sit out in the rain just to get away from the toaster (normally he wouldn’t let a drop of rain touch his head!). Same thing goes if it is 40C (104F) outside; he would much prefer to swelter in the sun and nearly cark it than be inside with ‘The Monster’.
I have no idea why he has such a fear of toasters, and unfortunately, unlike us humans where we can get guidance on our fears, talk through all logical outcomes, and walk out the other side free of the fear, my darling little dog can’t do this and seems destined to be afraid of the monster all of his life, despite my best efforts to reassure him.
His situation and the way he carries on reminds me, on occasions, of what us humans put ourselves through, just to avert what we perceive as ‘pain’ due to an ingrained fear that we possess. We will jump through hoops, run 10 miles backward, and climb the wrong mountain; just to avoid ‘it’.
In jumping through those hoops, running those miles, and climbing a mountain, we’ve expended more energy than we should have which has taken our energy off what matters. Did you know that it takes more energy to fight your fear than it does to face it and move through it?
Fears are self-limiting beliefs that do not serve you in any way. And without evaluating your fear they sit in your subconscious, allowed to fester like a wound, and prevent you from fulfilling your dreams and desires.
What beliefs and fears are holding you back from stepping out with passion and purpose?
Please feel free to download this worksheet to work through your beliefs and fears so you can transform your thinking and eradicate the monsters! 
Does the Law of Attraction REALLY Work?
Earlier this week, I was in a call with my coach Julie (yes, coaches have coaches too!), and I opened up a topic about some eBooks I had written and published back in the 90’s and that I continue to revise on a regular basis; and how an idea had popped into my head about doing something different with them.
Some thoughts were jumping around in my head, but I hadn’t really clarified clearly what I wanted. So, as all good coaches do, Julie fired some questions my way and, by the end of the call, my vision was clearer and I had started to map out a path and journey that I wanted to take with my eBooks.
Before I share with you this amazing story; firstly, a little background.
Initially, I sold my eBooks as a standalone product, which I changed in 2001 and incorporated into some software that I developed – so they were no longer a standalone product.
In 2005 – around 10 years after I wrote the original version – I suddenly felt motivated to register my eBooks and apply for ISBNs. I had no idea why I needed to do that; but the urging was strong so I listened to my heart and did it. As the ISBN Agency states on their website: “The ISBN (International Standard Book Number) is a 13-digit number that uniquely identifies books and book-like products published internationally. Each number identifies a unique edition of a publication, from one specific publisher, allowing for more efficient marketing of products by booksellers, libraries, universities, wholesalers and distributors.” The significance of this will become clear in a moment.
For a little while now, I have had this ‘feeling’ that I need to separate the eBooks from the software and, once again, offer as a standalone product. In fact, the feelings have been getting stronger, so I realised it must be for a reason, and that is when the thought popped into my head that I need to do something with it – and this is when Julie stepped in with some coaching to help me define this ever-persistent pull.
If you have ever worked with a coach, you know and understand the POWER of saying your thoughts out loud and then working through your ideas to arrive at some solid solutions and, importantly, an action plan to see that solution to fruition. One of these powers in saying your thoughts and intentions out loud, is that you are bedding it down and throwing that conscious thought out into the Universe.
And so it began for me. My thoughts and intentions were out there… my journey was starting.
Almost every night I fall to sleep with special affirmations that I have recorded… that day (which was a Monday), I re-recorded my affirmations to incorporate my intentions with my eBooks.
Starting that day, I played my own movie and saw my vision; saw myself in that vision. I was there already.
Starting that day, I took action steps toward my vision and acted with urgency. And, as I do every day, I took time to reflect and give deep gratitude for what has happened in my life that day.
Let’s fast forward to Friday.
Whilst I had taken action steps over the last four days, the eBooks were still ‘wrapped’ as a bundle with my software products and my plans were still in the beginning phases, including revisions, new website, new marketing plans, and so on.
At 10.15 Friday morning, I received a phone call. I find this time significant. Because on Monday, I finished my coaching call with Julie at 10.14am.
Who was on the call? An International supplier of (ISBN-registered) technical and academic printed books and eBooks to public libraries and university libraries. This organisation wants to promote my eBooks to libraries within Australia and Singapore. WOW!
Was it a coincidence that I felt a need to register my eBooks with ISBNs? No.
Was it a coincidence that I felt an urgent need to overhaul what I am currently doing with my eBooks? No.
Was it a coincidence that I felt a need to discuss it with my coach that galvanised me into action? No.
Was it a coincidence that this company rang me out of the blue? No.
Does the Law of Attraction REALLY work? Yes, it does. It has been proven to me, time and time again.
There are no coincidences in life. You DO attract what you think; on a conscious and subconscious level. When you have a desire for something – which comes from a place deep within your heart – when you apply consistent efforts and positive thoughts, coupled with a genuine gratitude for what you have in your life, RIGHT NOW, you will be astounded at what starts to transpire in your life.
What has happened in your life using the Law of Attraction (or happened without you even knowing it was the Law of Attraction at play)? Please share with me your stories and / or thoughts.
Are Your Doubts Holding You Back?
I was watching a video by Mary Morrissey in the new iLearningGlobal website today, and I’d like to share it with you.
It was all about directing power to create dispelling doubt.
When doubt creeps in, it can change the whole outcome of your entire life. Whether it’s doubt for something personal happening in your life… doubt for something you want to do with your business (or doubt that sees you not even getting off the starting block)… doubt for something in your relationships… and so on.
By entertaining the doubt, you are altering your decisions and outcomes; the entire vibration of your mind, which gives rise to ideas that make available the answers for you. This therefore can change the whole outcome of your entire life.
Can you recall a time when you initially listened closely and deeply to something that ‘felt right’ and, after making a decision to go forward with it, some doubt crept in that prevented you from taking action – from following through on your decision?
Maybe it was your own saboteur, maybe it was worry about “how” it would all come to fruition, maybe it was something negative you read in the newspaper, or maybe it was a lack of support or doubt by people close to you in your life.
The thing is, when you listen to that doubt and let that doubt rule your decisions (that you knew, instinctively, were right in the first place), you are altering the whole course of your life. You are holding yourself back from stepping out with passion and purpose to live your dreams!
Don’t be concerned about needing to know the answers immediately, or worrying about how it will all come together. When you are in harmony with your vibrations, the “how” will present itself to you.
“Stand guard at the portal of your own mind.” Emerson
Visit Mary Morrissey’s website for a free dream-building kit: http://marymorrissey.com
Power Thoughts
I was watching a video on the ‘States of Mind’ by Dennis Deaton; where Dennis provides insights into habitual thought patterns and mental circuitry, and how you can change your life around by thinking powerfully and consistently – after all, our thoughts can either make us or break us.
One concept Dennis shared throughout the video series was in having your very own power thoughts that you can tap into to switch your thinking. And I just loved his powerful thought when dealing with fears that may be holding you back: “If it looks like death, it’s probably life… run to it.”
What power thoughts can you come up with? I challenge you in thinking about it now, jotting them down and memorising so they are ready when you need them.
Dennis mentioned another concept that I found very interesting; and of which I am also guilty of doing on occasions. And it is this: rather than repress your thoughts, acknowledge and redirect.
After all, if you’re already thinking the thought, it is in your brain so there’s no point in trying to squash it. Instead, acknowledge the thought you are having and redirect the thought in another way so it is positive. Dennis gave a very good example of this in respect to chocolate cake. If you’re thinking about the cake but you know you can’t have it, you try and forget about the thought. Instead redirect, and then move on.
Think powerfully and consistently and your thoughts will make you, instead of break you.
“The fundamental and distinguishing characteristic of high achievers… is their thought processes”
~ Dennis Deaton
Are Your Goals Buried In The Garden?
Whilst we have good intentions at the beginning of a new year in setting goals, it’s a bit like planting something in your garden.
We love what we’ve planted and so we begin to water it and look after it. There’s a growth spurt so we water it some more. Then some distractions enter our life, and we forget to water it, suddenly the weeds encroach on what we’ve planted, and it dies. It’s a bit like goals.
Harvard Medical School conducted a study and the results were quite amazing. 70% of people who set goals don’t achieve them. However, 98% of people who call them Promises achieved their goal.
That’s a startling difference, don’t you agree? Would you prefer to be in the 98% or the 30% who achieve their goals?
America’s billionaire, Bill Bartmann (named as “One of the Top 100 Entrepreneurs of the Last 100 Years”), has a fantastic 10-step process for setting and keeping your Promises:
- Ensure it’s YOUR goal, your vision, your quest; not someone else’s. “Our life is the most precious asset we have” Bill Bartmann. Don’t give up your dreams to make someone else happy.
- Call your goals a ‘PROMISE’. Our brain is an amazing instrument. It is usually inherent within us to keep our promises… when we promise to do X by X date, our brain and our heart kicks in and we want to fulfil that promise. On the other hand, our brain can associate goals with failure. Think about that for a minute. How many times have you promised something either to yourself or someone else, and you fulfilled that promise? Then think about how many times you have set goals and the amount of times you achieved those goals. Promises will outweigh goals.
- Clearly identify your Promise. Don’t be vague. Instead of saying I would like to lose weight, be specific… how much weight would you like to lose and by when?
- Use the tools around you as motivators to keep you going. Positive motivators may be the people you love – negative motivators may be those who say you can’t do it; prove them wrong and use it as a driving influence.
- Create a Promise Plan. Promises aren’t promises until you’ve written them down. Define what your Promise is; when you will achieve your Promise; where you will be when it happens; why you want it; who you need help from to fulfil your Promise; and an ongoing list of how you will fulfil your Promise. It is not necessary to know ALL of the how… have faith that you will find the answers as your travel through the journey. Bill Bartmann provided a great story as it relates to the how:
You have set off on a 200 mile trip in the dark. Your headlights are on which shines a 200ft path for you, which you follow. You don’t need the headlights to shine up the whole 200 miles… you only need to know each 200ft to get there. Your ‘how’ is like the 200ft path. You don’t need to know the whole 200 miles.
- Review your plan and Promise on a regular basis: 20 MINUTES EVERY DAY. By doing so, the how will materialise and the pieces come together. You are melding your conscious and subconscious which will give you the answers you need. Create a Tangible Vision of your Promise and stick it in a prominent place where you can see it every day.
- Remove any negative thoughts from your mind and tell yourself you WILL succeed. Feed your mind with positive affirmations. You could do this by sticking them near your computer, on your mirror or wherever else you see fit. Another great method is recording your affirmations and then playing them as you drift off to sleep.
- Inform others of your Promise… don’t hide them in the cupboard! Commit to your Promise and share your vision.
- Envision the results. Play your own mind movie and picture yourself already there. Mark Victor Hansen and Robert Allen cite a great exercise in their book ‘Cash In A Flash’. Write an article (from a journalist’s perspective) that appears about YOU and your Promise… imagine a journalist writing about your accomplishments – it’s made front page news!
- START! Do something now, today, to begin your Promise Journey.
What tools and resources do you use to accomplish your Promises? Share with me your thoughts 
Business Plan: How to Develop An Effective Business Plan
Can you imagine taking a 6 month holiday – the holiday of your life – without first giving thought to where you would like to go, where you would like to stay, and what attractions you would like to visit? Whilst it may be fun and exciting at first to just set off into the sunset without a plan or care in the world, it would begin to wear a little thin when you get lost and don’t enjoy the towns or cities you’re visiting.
This is why it is important to plan first.
Your business plan gives you the opportunity to objectively look at your options, analyse your market and competitors, devise appropriate strategies, and set your goals so you can hit your targets and have success in your business.
With thousands of people starting and failing in business each year, your business plan will be your blueprint to staying on track and, importantly, saving yourself time and money in the long run.
Why Research Is The Backbone To Your Business Plan:
Consider your research as the backbone to your business plan. The research you conduct now will form the basis of your plan and allow you to objectively analyse each key component of your business plan, namely: the industry; your target market; your competitors; and your operational requirements.
Once you have researched and defined these areas, you can then begin to develop your business plan.
But before your begin your research, take time in thinking about the questions you would like answers to; in alignment with the industry, target market, competitors and operational requirements.
- What do you need to know?
- What problems must be solved in each area?
- Who are your customers? Dependable on the what you wish to be involved with and how you intend to market, there will be certain customer characteristics that need defining such as: geographics, lifestyle, age, gender, customer requirements, motivations, brand loyalties, and so on.
- What type of people would you like to attract
- What type of marketing channels will work best for you?
- What type of product do your customers buy and why?
- What do your competitors do to attract those customers?
- What have been the trends in the industry; and what are the forecasted trends?
- What are the legal or regulatory requirements in your industry / niche?
- What are the costs to starting your business?
- How should you structure your business (i.e. sole trader / company / trust / etc)?
Prepare your questions beforehand so you don’t waste valuable time in re-visiting your research sources to gain additional information.
Your research can be conducted via a number of different methods, including (amongst others):
- Reviewing the competitor websites and marketing material.
- Reading third-party reviews.
- Accessing statistical data by Government agencies and other independent bodies. This is also important to define industry trends.
- Gathering information from trade or industry associations associated with your niche.
- Contacting educational institutions to access research projects.
- Examining the competition: opt in to lists, talk to leaders from competitor companies, and research competitor websites.
- Consulting with a qualified accountant.
- Networking with other people and leaders who are already involved in your industry.
The 6 Key Parts (or Elements) In Your Business Plan:
- Executive Summary: This is an outline that may describe such matters as your background, goals, assets, financial returns, vision / mission, and so on.
- Business Description: Outline your business name and structure and describe your product (or service), industry, your market, customers and so on.
- Competitor Analysis: Outline your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) in accordance with your own business and competitor analysis.
- Sales & Marketing Plan: Outline your sales and marketing strategies, which should also link to your financial plan.
- Financial Analysis: Include an income statement, cash flow statement and balance sheet which also provides a break-even analysis and ratio analyses to determine stability of certain aspects of your business.
- Appendices: Include references, examples, case studies, spreadsheets, etc.
FREE RESOURCES:
- SWOT Analysis Template, including methods and examples.
- The Game of Business and How To Play It by Paul Gorman: free eBook
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