There are some sad facts about this article you’ve just started to read, sad for me as the author and sad because it reflects something unfortunate about our current society.
Today we just don’t have enough time to learn new things. Worse still, most people don’t have the motivation to improve themselves and their lives, and instead choose to use what spare time they have to seek instant gratification, short-lived pleasures from entertainment, food and other leisure activities.
It’s a universal law that what comes quickly and easily is not satisfying for a long period of time and often can have a lasting negative impact. Junk food is tasty while you eat it, but it’s not doing much good for your body. Eating raw veggies is not always the tasty option, but doing it for long enough and you start to feel good.
In the Internet marketing space the same rule holds true. The techniques that are easy to do, for example using automation software to scrape RSS content for use on “spam” blogs, is never going to make you money long term. Yet if you focus on producing quality original content on your blog, and do it long enough, you can establish an asset that delivers income for years.
There’s nothing wrong with having fun, enjoying your spare time and occasionally indulging in instant gratification behaviors, but if you want to experience long term satisfaction in your life, you need to invest in yourself and become a better person. You need to become more than most people ever aspire to in their lives.
Most People Will Not Read The Next Paragraph
I said this article is sad for me as the author because the majority of people who were exposed to this text never read this far. Even if the title was compelling enough to convince them to read the first paragraph, they likely only made it as far as one or two paragraphs, began scanning the document from there, or browsed away.
As a blogger you learn to live with short attention spans and as an Internet marketer you learn that you can do very well if you have the attention of a small group of people who love your work. This is a powerful awareness, once you accept it and learn how best to leverage the situation.
Sadly, the knowledge I just shared with you, which I gained through experience and study, and teach to others through this blog each and every week, is insight most people will never become aware of, let alone go on to benefit from by starting their own blog or Internet business.
Pay Attention And Learn A Fundamental Truth
Inside the words you are about to read is an amazingly powerful lesson, something so profound, that if you read the article from top to bottom, truly absorb the message within and then apply it to your life, you will experience a dramatic shift in how you think and the results you achieve.
Put simply – you will start to realize your dreams – but it will take work to begin with, and therein lies the message I want to share with you now.
We’re quick to point out inequalities in life, and there are many that are certainly just plain unfair and unjust, the wheel of fortune dealing you a bad hand in the game of life. Something as simple as what country you are born into determines much about how your life progresses, as does your physical appearance, what natural talents you are gifted (or not) and who your parents are.
There’s not much you can do about things you can’t change and it’s fruitless to let them control your life in a negative way. Advice that’s served me well in situations of inequality that’s completely out of your control, and as far as I know this is the best attitude to have in all situations, is –
“Do the best with what you have been given”
Unfortunately many people would rather not strive to achieve their best and settle for average or worse, even when they have been given natural gifts.
Rather than focus on what’s not in our control, let’s look at inequalities that are within our control to change. The media loves to report statistics such as 20% of the people control 80% of the worlds wealth. We all know that only a small amount of people are considered rich and the majority of people, most people reading this article right now, are not happy with how much money they make and would like to change things.
Of course intention and action are too very different beasts. It’s easy to want change, but it’s confronting to actually take enough steps for long enough to make change happen. I would argue there is a great divide of wealth not because of inequalities that can’t be controlled (such as being born into a rich family or being exceptionally gifted in business), but because only a minority of people carry through long enough to become better than average at something and have the guts to take actions that are considered risky by “normal standards”.
What is normal behavior is defined by the majority, so if not making much money and choosing to continue to perpetrate the same activities that do not lead to making much money, is considered normal, then to do anything else is unusual. Rich people do unusual things and that’s why they are rich. There’s no secret there, just an attitude shift followed by congruent change of activities that lead to the desired “unusual” outcomes.
I’m not talking about super-wealth here. Just enough money to significantly change your life for the better. The kind of money where you own your house, you can afford to travel, healthcare is not an issue, you can buy organic food, drive a modern car, not worry about paying your bills and afford to take time off from work whenever you want to. Sadly, that’s definitely not the “average” circumstance for most people.
You Already Know This
What I’ve just written might seem abstract to you, so let me illustrate with a few experiences I’ve been noting recently as I work to improve many aspects of my life. This is going to make complete sense to you because you already know it, so don’t worry if you’re a bit confused now.
Every single information product I study that features advice from successful people state the same truth:
In order to succeed you need to force yourself to do certain things that lead to the desired outcome and cease doing other things that hinder the production of the desired outcome. You then need to make the positive behavior patterns a habit, so it feels wrong if you DON’T do them.
At all points along the learning curve, you always face the same sticking point, either a bad behavior that needs to be eliminated, or a good behavior that needs to be repeated (usually both).
If it’s your health you want to improve, then eating good food and avoiding bad food is critical. If you want to lose weight or gain muscle, you need to exercise and spend less time being inactive. Stop sitting on the couch watching TV and start lifting weights. Exchange one behavior that doesn’t help for one that does.
If you’re looking to meet a new girlfriend or boyfriend, then you need to stop staying at home, or sitting at the table wishing you were talking to a certain person, and instead get up and go talk to them. You have to meet new people to give yourself the chance to find a partner.
Last year I was studying a home study program about having success with eBay, presented by Andrew Lock. Part of his basic premise was that most people never make good money with eBay because they never implement the few steps necessary to beat the competition, things like using images and video, and learning how to use the right keywords in auction titles. Even after being taught these techniques, still the majority don’t bother using the knowledge they have gained and thus continue to earn mediocre results.
Just this last week I’ve been finishing up studying John Reese’s Traffic Secrets 2.0 course. John shows all kinds of simple techniques with a huge range of websites that most people never do. If you do them, and make them a habit, then you get lots of traffic. Yet most people never own a website that attracts 1000 visitors a day.
Can you see the pattern here?
The answer is everywhere. The techniques to learn how to do almost anything are available to you and you can, simply by doing something smart and doing it often, enjoy above average results. Thankfully, when you start to get above average results you start to enjoy compounding too, so your rewards are magnified exponentially the longer you do something smart.
Put another way, if you keep doing what rich people teach, then you yourself will become rich.
Study People Who Have Want You Want
From an intellectual perspective, for you to discover the smart way to do things, you need to find people who have the result you want and study their work. The information is available and you can learn the techniques because there’s money to be made teaching people things. Lots of money. Obviously I’m proof of this, as are every other online information publisher, university institution and teaching college, there is incentive to share what you know.
However that’s only half of the equation, and the easier half at that. Understanding something intellectually is relatively easy provided you put in at least enough effort to read the book, watch the video, listen to the audio, or like you are doing now – read the blog post (most people never get this far). It’s what you do after gaining the insight that matters most.
Unfortunately, whether it’s because of laziness, or fear, or lack of self esteem – definitely something to do with belief systems and not reality – most people are incapable of follow-through. It’s just too hard.
Once you break passed the “too hard” barrier and stop listening to all the people around you who choose mediocrity as their life condition, then you can succeed. Fill your life with successful, positive people who encourage unusual behavior, find mentors who have done what you want to do, study, and then form habits doing what most people never bother to do, and you will enjoy the fruits of life.
A Simple Start
Since much of this article is about personal motivation, it can be overwhelming at first to know what to do next.
I have a simple first step for you, something you can do once and repeat as often as you like for infinite rewards.
Starting now, I want you to find one behavior that hinders your progress towards what you want and swap it for something that moves you towards a desired outcome.
You can pick any aspect of your life – health, money, relationships, spirituality, education – and apply this change. Stop doing something that doesn’t help you and instead do something that does. I don’t need to give you examples – you already know your bad behaviors and what you should be doing instead. Use this blog post as impetus to make the change and as a reward for reading to the end.
Time is a resource we all have an equal amount of, yet a special few people do so much more with the same resource. You can be one of the elite, the unusual, the above average, if you decide to make use of your time in a productive manner rather than being just like everyone else.
Good luck!
Yaro Starak
Living Productive
You are so right on here Yaro,
Collecting the information is relatively easy, but the effective implimentation is where the rub is.
Most don’t muster up the amount of inner drive to get them to do what is necessary, which is usually against their current habitual thoughts and actions, long enough to actually become effective in the right ways.
This overriding of long standing behaviors can be tough as factors including beliefs, self concept, doubt, fear and confusion can contribute to what one must overcome in order to properly take command of thier thought and actions.
This is the same with basically everything in life, which is why any change is difficult for many.
Digging down deep to discover your reasons why you want to do things differently is important in stimulating your inspiration, drive and self discipline to change to purposeful actions that support the desired results.
It’s great that you wrote this post for so many to see.
John
Hi Yaro,
I have to admit that this article really is spot on. As a Hypnotist this is the type of stuff I deal with each and every day. I see people who come to me for stop smoking, weight loss, motivation or whatever the situation is and while they are seeking to use hypnosis to help them it comes down to a basic principal.
This principal is behavior and habits. The way our brain works is that it enjoy things that are familiar. This is one of the reasons why people stay stuck in the same place or complain that life isn’t what they want. These people have been doing the same habit of not taking action or not learning new information and so when they decide to finally take action it usually only last a week or two because the mind always goes back to what is familiar which is usually the old unproductive habits.
Think of working out as an example. We all say we’re going to get in shape, work out and we do for a few days, maybe a week than our old habits kick in and we stop working out.
A big problem is that too many people think Will power is all they need. Will power was never meant to cause a lifelong change within us. I like to think of will power as nothing more than mental adrenaline which gives us just enough motivation to get things going, but once that adrenaline is used up we seem to go back to our own ways.
The problem with habits is that we want to make a change at a conscious level, but habits exist on a subconscious level and the best way for people to affect that part of the mind is by using their imaginations. The brain doesn’t know the different between real and imagined. So if you combine the imagination with taking action you will see much better results.
Every morning before you get ready for work and before you go to bed. Imagine or pretend that you are putting some of Yaro’s techniques to action and they are working or stuff you learned from John Reese is moving your business forward.
The reason this works is since the brain doesn’t know that this isn’t real it’s creating a new habit or behavior for you. You know as I know that habits are created as we do something over and over. As far as your mind knows you are actually doing whatever activities you are thinking about so each day it becomes easier and easier.
As Yaro said in the post we want to reinforce the good habits and spend more time and energy on them . I didn’t mean to ramble on here, but this post is just so spot on and if people only knew how much success is breed in the mental world rather than the physical world. It’s all about being congruent. When we are aligned with our conscious mind and subconscious mind. In other words, when your habits and behaviors match with your intent for outcome. This is when real success starts to happen.
Once again Yaro thanks for producing such great material because in the end it is all about quality and it shows in each post you write.
Thank You,
Joshua Houghton
It is posts like this one that make me squirm for not taking action based on all the data and skills I have. Thanks…for the nudge.
These are all great points, and I agree with all of them. If you want to succeed you should focus on the things you have control over and not things you can’t control such as the attention span of the average internet reader.
Your post is wise beyond your years Yaro.
I think it’s safe to say we all started out asking the right questions but in the wrong order, ‘Where to make money online?’ instead of ‘What is the best way for me to make money online?’, the answers you get will be different.
Thank you again for writing a post that has meat on it:)
Wow quite the read Yaro, I really like the doing your best with what you have been given quote, as I trying and live that on and off line.
I think this translates well into weight loss and overall health practices as well as blogging and online business. In fact I’m sure you could apply to almost every aspect of your life.
Great Post,
Steve
Personal motivation plays the most direct role in a human’s self-improvement and perfection. And it is a pity to realize that the majority of people spend their free time on the things that will not lead to any kind of perfection. And this is their 1st mistake. The second mistake is that not everyone realizes that for better result he should focus one just one aspect and do his best to succeed. Once you succeed in this, you are free to pass to another aspect of self –improvement.
I’ve attended many workshops on self esteem and self improvement, and I can say that the motivation part is the hardest. If you can stay motivated, whether its working on a new blog, or a new ppc campaign or even posturing yourself properly in the public eye is important. Staying up once your perceived as such is as hard to do, but very rewarding for the person with calm, poise, perserverance and patience.
Great post!
Great article Yaro.
I think the hidden issue in these discussions is the ability to manage ones self-esteem and personal optimism (getting that nagging inner voice onside). It seems that a lot of striving entrepreneurs struggle to maintain an ‘even keel’, and instead bounce between extremes. This is destructive to self esteem, productivity, and personal optimism. Certainly that has been something I’ve struggled with.
I’ve followed your progress for many years Yaro, and one thing you’ve always struck me as is well balanced.
The more successful entrepreneurs I meet, the more I think that this is the ‘secret sauce’ everyone is desperately searching for. You do see the odd ‘extreme personality’ success story, but it’s my feeling that these people are a minority popularised by the press (they make better superheroes).
All the best,
Hugh
Oh my lordy Yaro, words can’t express how much your wisdom inspires me. Here’s a quick story of my experience with “habit replacement” which I found by accident but probably saved my life…
Just over a year ago, I lay in bed with an ambulance officer by my side, truly believing I was “checking out” from life. I was 36yrs old, weighed 38kg, couldn’t hardly eat, and was smoking about 30-40 cigarettes a day. I was utterly depressed and suffering chronic anxiety and panic attacks. (Actually I’m still dealing with those but it seems to be fading over time).
On what felt like my death bed, terrified, I made a decision that I was never going to put another cigarette to my mouth again. I really didn’t want to die despite my wishing to be dead for so many months. I decided desperately that I really did want to live, and I’d do whatever it took to haul myself back up to the land of the living.
I had always wanted to learn how to play acoustic guitar, since a child, but never made any effort to give it a go. I’ve always had music in me, played by ear, and learned piano from a young age. I knew there was a guitarist inside me waiting to come out and play! So I replaced what would have been my next pack of cancer sticks with a $15 piece of wood disguised as a guitar from eBay!
Man that guitar was crap! But to date it’s been the best damn ebay purchase I’ve made. (These days I have a nice $600 guitar, paid for purely with the savings I made from giving up smoking).
Every single moment that I ached for a cigarette, I’d pick up that damn rusty-stringed out of tune joke of a musical instrument I sniped on ebay, and strummed the living hell out of it. I spent hours and hours on YouTube learning to play the guitar, and spending nearly every minute I had free every day and night, just playing and playing and playing.
Through sheer determination, I focused hard and long, playing until my fingertips were the consistency of minced meat, to not only comfort myself during those horrid cravings and withdrawal symptoms I was experiencing, and to be finally free of the chemical prison I was sure to die a horrible death in, but to also live the dream of being a sexy rock chick up on stage in a band playing to thousands of adoring fans!
Okay, well that part is still in my dreams, and will no doubt stay that way as my dreams have shifted to more realistic goals! But unlike in my early twenties when I did get to play locally on stage in a couple of bands, sang at a couple of weddings, and won a couple of karaoke comps… as a nearing-40 single mum who just wants to make a great life for herself and her two sons, I’m just extremely joyous to be able to pick up my guitar any time, and entertain my stresses and anxiety away instead of sucking down fumes of poison and feeling like utter crap.
Funny now that I see how smoking actually never really did anything to relieve my stress! They in fact had the exact opposite effect on me though I tricked myself, thanks to the addictive crap they consist of, that they were helping me in some way… how sad!
So, from chain smoker to smokin rocker chick, with not a single nicotine patch or gum stick! Just hard-arsed pure replacement with another activity that required my full attention to learn until it became second nature.
After that kind of proof, it’s clear to me now that anything truly IS possible, if you just set your mind to it. It really shouldn’t take a terrifying near-death experience to get you moving though. If only I’d had that kind of urgent determination when I was a teenager… I could be kicking Tommy Emmanuel’s butt now darn it!
Well, thanks for listening, and goes to show how much I’ve been inspired by you Yaro. I have never in my life written what sounds kind of like a sales letter (am I reading too many of those lately?), let alone one that sells absolutely nothing! Well except my excitement about having the power in me to make change and improve myself.
Now, I could probably eradicate my habit of reading other blogs instead of working on my own abandoned site (which when I read those posts now it’s kind of embarrassing to realise how different I was just that short time ago)! But some things are just more important right now, like self improvement! Especially learning new thinking and working habits. I am so aware of the serious work I need to do on myself in order to achieve what I dream of doing and having in life. The gap from “here to there” seems to be getting smaller though. Your site is one that is definitely helping me transform myself into the person I believe I can be.
God bless you Yaro! And all those who dream of being better somehow than what they are right now.
Cheers,
Annie
Well I also think that the power of brain can break any chain and it’s the mindset that makes things happen.
The power of brain and will to do anything is the key to break the walls. Like there was an incident in which a lady turned the whole car just by her neck in order to save her kid.
I have always believed that life is not about what is given to you, but what you do with what is given to you.
Well as I say, there is power in small groups. It’s true that most don’t aspire to become anything greater then just mediocre, but that’s the way the world runs. Everything that is ever great and successful requires work, and everyone knows it deep down, but sometimes they don” want to admit it, or they don’t want to have to do the work. As you say its important to make small changes in your life that will help you out in the long run. Of course, its also important to make “small” changes so that things don’t seem overwhelming.
-Randy
Hey Yaro,
This is a great post! I have been reading your blog for a long time now. You actually are the one who inspired me to start mine over a year ago now. What you are saying is so true. I have been so persistent with what I am doing and the end goal and I am getting there!
Thanks again!
David Foster
This is great, thank you. Entrepreneurs thrive off of groups and word of mouth to get started. The more you give into the universe, the more comes back. I want to show something cool with the power of Twitter in the realm of your discussion. Getting recommended electronically similar to word of mouth. The link on my name does nothing for value of the Internet (like SEO), but provides an abundance of authority when it’s done naturally.
“You then need to make the positive behavior patterns a habit, so it feels wrong if you DON’T do them.”
That one is so big. When you finally hit that point, things can only get better. We’re wired to want to avoid pain much more then we want to gain pleasure (which is half the reason people never get off their ass in the first place – fear of failure etc).
Mate you are one of the best bloggers I’ve seen in my limited time in this field. I’m bummed I missed your talk at the Brisbane Grant’s Workshop.
I think this is one of the greatest blog post I have ever read. I have just created a blog myself, and I hope to use your message to my advantage.
Best Regards,
Terrence Taitt
Hi Yaro!
I have been researching blogging for a whole month now: happy b-day to me. Have been deciding on content, as well as studying how-tos. And am getting ready to start working on content this week, and this blog was a motivational seal-the-deal with myself.. Thanks for all that I have learned from your blog.
Debra
A Great Article Yaro. In the control of the mind lies the greater success.
As the old saying goes: time and tide wait for no man. Nothing can be accomplished if nothing was started. Don’t let just words do the job, act on it!
Truly excellent post, Yaro. Your words were very inspiring and your advice very practical. It’s articles like these that I use as a benchmark for quality. I look forward to the day when I can create as much value as you in my writing.
Hey Yaro,
I know I am 8 months late in reading your this blog post. Let me tell you that, I have read it from to to bottom!
Frankly, I visit your blog everyday and scan your archive posts to find the one that resonates with my current situation. I always get one!
Keep going,
God bless you.
Yaro,
Why did it take me so long to finally start reading your blog? I think this article answers that -most people don’t act. I came to your blog trying to learn how to improve marketing techniques, but I learned about life. One of my best friends, when asked what time it is says, “Right now!” This article reminds me of that.
Right now is time to act!
Thanks for your insight that will help me so much in my life!
Yaro, it’s posts like these that inspired me to take the leap and have a go at an Internet business. I’ve been reading your blog for quite a while and you still give me faith that this unpredictable nail-biting ride will eventually smooth out…
Dude,
Spot on here. The reality is most people will NOT do anything, even when you spoon feed them the answer…
On one hand it is depressing thinking about humanity as that apathetic – on the other it leaves more pie for the 20% (or realistically 6%)
spot on dude.
want more on this subject: check out Illuminate: Harnessing The Positive Power of Negative Thinking (wiley 2009) (http://tinyurl.com/kk28ch. It will blow your mind.
Let me know what you think.
i know all about the need of instant gratification. These days doing something that is a long term investment is not appealing. I know I waste far too much time worrying about entertaining myself during the day instead of doing something constructive. It reflects how lazy society has become.
I’ve been reading your blog for quite a while and you still give me faith that this unpredictable nail-biting ride will eventually smooth out…
Yaro,
You always have something to say that helps keep me focused on succeeding with my online business. Although it has taken me a ton of time and I have felt like quitting so many times that I cannot count them, I continue to apply the lessons I learn from your site, from Gideon’s site, Tyrone’s site and West/Andrew’s site plus many others who speak to this mindset truth about which you have articulated so clearly.
Thanks for continuing to show by example what everyone here wishes to accomplish, namely, success in life through business, personal relationships, health and spirituality.
You’re the best!
Joy
If you want to change the way you live your life it has to come from inside of you. The inner part of you is responsible for the change that you see on the outside. So if you have a weak mind frame this will show on the outside.
Like Yaro mentioned if you have a bad behavior, you need to replace with good behavior to achieve your desire outcome. It all start from within you.
I enjoyed reading your article. I agree that we must be willing to evaluate ourselves, make necessary changes within our life and move in a positive direction. In addition, we need to maintain a sharp focus and take immediate action toward achieving goals leading to our success.
Hey Yaro,
You’ve touched so many points that are so valuable in this post..
For me its all about understanding what works, plan to do it in your schedule, then going ahead to execute it , take massive actions and to complete the loop by reviewing what worked well and what didn’t..
I think subconsciously we know what we need to do, but things in life do get in the way…
Daniel
Excellent stuff — words to both live and work by! The industry would do well if there were more people willing to put the time into helpful articles such as this one.
Hi Yaro,
Great post. Totally agree with you. I started to make money only when I stopped making blogs on what other liked and started blogging on what I like i.e computers, pda etc. People read my post, felt my enthusiasm and bought my shit….as frank kern puts it.
cheers,
tyler.
Great post! Indeed it is sad and stunning to see how many people complain about their life and yet do nothing to change it, too many of them are afraid of change because it means that they would need to get out of their comfort zone and do something, that may seem like hard of frightening at first, but there is no other way around it, if you actually do it and turn this positive behavior into habit then you’ll see your goal come true.