NOTE: This article has been abstracted from a talk by Sterling and Jay, the brains behind an incredibly successful internet business. The habits listed here relate to internet business, but can equally be adapted to any area of work you are involved in. To know more about them, and to get free access to one of their most popular audio programs ever – The 3 Pillars of Designing Your Ultimate Internet Lifestyle – go to Get 3 Pillars
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How can you make 2011 the best year ever? What do YOU want this year to look like for you?
To make this year the best, we should be spending more time this year doing those things that will not only make us more successful and make more money, but also importantly doing things that will leave us fulfilled, and will deliver better value to other people. Continual success often comes down to some having very fundamental ideas, habits and systems in place. These habits need to recur, and need to be regularly revisited and looked at.
The Power of Habits
We may or may not all have plenty of discipline. The problem lies in the fact that often we are disciplined to habits that are not in line with the goals that we want to achieve. And so the key to experiencing increasing amounts of success is to form new habits, new habits that are now in line with the places that we want to go to, the things that we want to achieve, the goals that we want to reach.
So how do you form new habits?
The way that you form a new habit is by doing it daily and tracking it for 21 days straight. That’s how long it takes to re-form those pathways in our brain and whatever muscle memory might be involved. To make it part of the daily routine, do it for 21 days straight. Then you’ll find that you no longer have to think about it very hard. And the key is that you’ve got to not just do it, but you’ve got to track it. That’s how you’re going to keep yourself accountable and know that you actually have been doing it.
It is best if you can make it part of a routine where maybe at the same time every day you go into doing that thing. You do it and you track it on a calendar that you did do that thing. And then after 21 days you can move on to the next habit.
If you form a new habit every 3 weeks, think how many great new habits you could form over this new year.
How many habits should you work on at a time?
A usual New Year’s resolution list is a list of ten or twenty things that we want to change right now, such as “Oh I want to lose weight”, “ I’m going to go and re-sign up for my gym membership”, “I want to read more books so I’m going to start reading more books right now”, and so on.
In the real world, it’s hard to change more than one habit at a time. So you need to pace yourself. Keep it simple, just do one habit at a time. But if you do a new habit every three weeks then things are going to really add up. When forming a habit, schedule a time every day to practice the habit. Now preferably that will be the same time every day so that it becomes part of you. Consistency is powerful in forming a habit.
Recommended 7 Habits to Make 2011 the Best Year Ever
Habit 1 - Be Very Proactive About Your Learning
Put into action this ‘just in time’ learning idea of only spending time learning things that you are going to be putting into action right away. Set aside time where you spend your time learning. Sometimes we tend to become knowledge junkies. We keep learning things, but don’t apply them. Determine that you will spend time on learning ONLY things that you will apply right away, where it is going to help you grow your success.
Habit 2 - Consistently Work on Areas that Will Bring You Success
Consistently work on areas that will bring you success, and schedule the times that you’re going to do it. For example, you may decide to work on your business every day Monday through Friday for an hour or half an hour. You are going to do it from 9-9:30 after you put the kids to bed, or it’s going to be first thing when you wake up in the morning – you are going to get up a little earlier and it’s going to be from 6 AM -7 AM, and then you go exercise and eat breakfast. Plan it in whatever way it works for you and your schedule. But plan it so that you’re consistently working on your business, and even scheduling it in your life.
Even if it’s a 5 minute thing that you plan to do, make sure it’s on a schedule. It becomes more real when it is scheduled somewhere, on Google calendar for example. You can color code different types of calendars, you can color code a new habit, so that when you look at the schedule for the week it just seems real and solid, and you can see your schedule for your new habit easily.
Habit 3 - Create a content creation schedule and be consistent with it
Our business and our audience, and our lists, and our income all grow the most when we’ve been very consistent about creating our show, our audio show, the podcast goes out in a number of other channels as well. We start being very consistent about having them come out every Thursday so that the audience knows what to expect. That consistency has helped a lot in growing our business, because the content is what attracts the attention of our market. It immediately pulls them in, and we show up in iTunes, we show up in Google, we show up in YouTube, we show up in these different places and that’s how we get traffic. And then we bond with our audience because of this great content we’re putting out. And sticking to that schedule is important, because it’s that consistent creation of fresh content that creates a very loyal audience for you that are going to be ready to buy.
Habit 4 - Reach Out to a Current or a New Partnership Relationship Daily
There’s so much in business that is about relationships. One of the fastest ways to grow your business is to have people that you’re partnering up with in strategic ways. It may be to do cross promotions, or to have them be an affiliate for you, or they’re creating content for your site or you’re creating content for their site, or a mastermind relationship or a business partnership relationship. These kinds of relationships hold us accountable, they bring us new opportunities, they bring us new traffic.
You could also find an accountability partner, just one person checking up on you, “Hey, did you stay on track?” Or sharing their progress, “Here’s what I did today” to inspire each other and keep each other on track. With your accountability partner, decide that for the next three weeks every day at the end of the day you are going to check in with each other for five minutes on how each progressed on their plans for the day.
Habit 5 - Track Your Time Daily, Evaluate How You Used It
This has a huge, huge, huge impact on our business and success. Make sure that we’re spending enough time on money-making activities and not just on random clean up activities. Also make sure that we’re not working too hard. Make sure that we actually stop ourselves when we hit whatever our current goal is, and we step away then for the rest of the day and spend time with our family or our friends, or doing other personal activities.
Habit 6 - Measure How Much of Your Time You Spend on Your Most High Value Actions
Once you are in the habit of tracking your time, the next is to decide what are your most high value actions right now. High value actions are the things that will directly lead to bringing in new money / success, things that are in line with your biggest business goals right now. For you the high value actions may be bringing in new traffic, or getting your business started, or learning the ropes of this whole internet business model so that you can get started. So, choose a high value action, plan out how much time you will spend each day on it, decide what those two or three things are that you’re going to do towards this high value action, and measure how much of your time each day you actually spend on doing the things you planned.
Habit 7 - Spend Time Daily Working on Something that Will Bring in New Money
This is an advanced habit. It’s a combination of a traffic habit and a time habit. Sometimes we can get caught up in all the different facets of our business and sometimes forget to make money or do the things that will lead us to money. Maybe it is that we spend four hours going through a course and feeling real good about ourselves because we got through the course. But did we spend any time today actually implementing something that’s going to bring in that new money?
There are four main areas that bring new money to your business – (1) bringing in new traffic, (2) converting traffic to become customers, (3) creating new value to give customers, and (4) retaining existing customers by upselling them or getting them into a continuity/membership program. Doing something on a daily basis in one of these areas will eventually lead to more money in your business, and so it’s a good habit to get into. Then track your action for the next three weeks.
Work on these 7 habits this year, and you will surely make this year the best ever.
Please feel free to share your comments about this article, and also how you plan to apply it, or your experience in applying it.
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This article has been abstracted based on an audio a talk by Sterling and Jay, the brains behind the “Internet Business Mastery Academy”. To know more about them, and to get free access to one of their most popular audio programs ever – The 3 Pillars of Designing Your Ultimate Internet Lifestyle – go to Get 3 Pillars
Here is a decades old message that is going to change your life, as it has the many people who have heard it. It was delivered by the dean of personal development, Earl Nightingale. He was a man of creative genius, a world renowned author and speaker, a man with enormous scope and knowledge who inspired everyone who came in contact with him.
In 1956 he recorded this message for the sales force of the insurance company he owned. This message, the strangest secret, has become one of the most famous recordings ever made.
Tremendous transformations have taken place for those who followed the simple steps contained within this 30 minute message…
Leadership – Men and women who worked in companies rose to positions of senior management, becoming presidents and CEOs
Leadership – People in politics have won election
Business – Sales people have earned record breaking in commissions
Entrepeneurship and Wealth- Self employed professionals and consultants attracted new clients and increased their income
Business owners saw their businesses and profits rise – such as regular business, small business, internet business, home based business, entrepreneur
Life Goals and Goal Settings – People who were stuck in a wrong job found their true calling
Life Coaching – Those who dreamt of being their own boss discovered the springboard that led to their success.
But the position, money and visible signs of success were only a small part of what these people really gained.
Now YOU will make similar discoveries as Earl Nightingale uncovers the strangest secret in the world for you too. His message is as valuable and pertinent today as it has ever been. For all of you who follow it, be prepared to leap to the top, and we’ll see you there.
Please share your comments and tips below on how YOU would apply Earl Nightingale’s The Strangest Secret message.
September 22nd marks the 265th day of the year 2010. At this time, when we have only 100 days left of the year 2010, I would invite you to ask yourself this question:
Based on my performance year to date, 265 days down, how well have I performed —
Am I on target?
Or am I ahead of target?
Or am I below target?
If you answered YES to either one of the first two questions, CONGRATULATIONS! Believe me, you are among the minority.
However if you answered YES to the third question, you are among the majority. Because, unfortunately in today’s challenging times, the vast majority of people are well below target.
Introducing Gary Ryan Blair and his 100 Day Challenge program to help you finish the year STRONG, here is an overview about the program…
Tens of thousands of people from all over the world have used this exciting program to achieve goals on a grand scale that in the past THEY themselves would have considered IMPOSSIBLE.
The 100 Day Challenge is a life altering program that is appropriate for
the BOARD room,
the CLASS room,
the LOCKER room, and
the LIVING room.
It is the MOST EXTREME PERFORMANCE ACCELERATION PROGRAM on earth, and
it will turn you into an unstoppable powerhouse
it will unleash a performance explosion
that will change your life for the better. MUCH better.
So what exactly is the 100 day challenge? And why should you participate?
Very simply, the 100 day challenge is a revolutionary EXTREME PERFORMANCE WORKOUT that
will transform every part of your BUSINESS
and your PERSONAL life
Over the course of 14 highly disciplined weeks,
you WILL make monumental performance gains, and,
you WILL also dramatically EXCEED your own BEST expectations
Now the secret behind the 100 day challenge – is its
ACCELERATED COACHING &
ACCOUNTABILILTY SYSTEM
which fast tracks your results by
keeping you FOCUSED ON,
and COMMITTED TO
YOUR priority goals.
The concept of the 100 day challenge is built around two motivational tenets:
A fixed period of time that is deadline driven, and,
A strong desire to accomplish worthwhile goals within that deadline
The 22nd of September is a very important date, because it marks the final 100 days of the calendar year.
So what is your plan? How are you going to execute these final 100 days of 2010? How are you going to finish the year strong?
The 100 day challenge program, without a doubt, is your opportunity to redeem yourself, TO FINISH THE YEAR STRONG!
to motivate you to break free from comfort zones or self limiting thoughts
and to enforce both - massive action and accountability.
The result is …
… PURE MAGIC.
And unlike any other program, the 100 day challenge
will change the way you think,
will strengthen your focus,
will intensify your commitment, and
will add discipline and order to your priorities,
and most importantly, will UNLEASH THE GIANT WITHIN YOU!
The 100 day challenge is a life altering program, as already said before, is appropriate for the boardroom, the classroom, the locker room, and for the living room.
Every one …
every where …
regardless of SITUATION
or VOCATION …
CAN benefit from this extreme performance workout. The only question left for you is, WILL YOU BE JOINING IT?
PS: Here’s what some famous people have to say about this program …
“… an exciting, hands-on approach for defining what you desire in life and for charting a course toward that end. This goal-setting and life planning program is a vital tool to help you turn your dreams into reality!”
- Ken Blanchard, Best Selling Author of “The One Minute Manager”
“… a powerful, practical program that shows you how to set goals and plot strategies for each area of your life. It’s a serious program, for serious people, who want serious results!”
- Brian Tracy, Best Selling Author of “Maximum Achievement”
“… is not only thought-provoking but highly effective … helps you find your personal mission, articulate your goals and develop action plans for their accomplishment. I highly recommend this program to everyone.”
- Harry Paul, Coauthor, FISH! A Remarkable Way to Boost Morale and Improve Results
“… is a great find and must do program. It superbly achieves the goal of providing a roadmap to excellence and performance breakthroughs, both for individuals and organizations. But the true genius of this program is its universal relevance, as it combines a highly effective common-sense approach with frank guidance to enhance results in all areas of life.”
PPS: You get my bonuses, if you purchase before Sep 30, 2010. Forward the order confirmation mail that you get from the 100-day-challenge program to Binod@MaximizeLearningProductivity.com and I will give you access to the bonuses.
CONSUMER NOTICE: You should assume that the sender of this email has an affiliate relationship and/or another material connection to the providers of goods and services mentioned in this message and may be compensated when you purchase from a provider. You should always perform due diligence before buying goods or services from anyone via the Internet or offline.
Thanks to all those who have responded to the questionnaire
In case you have not responded to the questionnaire yet, I’d love to hear from you: http://bit.ly/GoalsQ
To get on the Priority Notification List for the amazing online goals training/coaching program that is going to be launched very soon: http://bit.ly/PriListGoals. It comes highly recommended by very famous people:
“… an exciting, hands-on approach for defining what you desire in life and for charting a course toward that end. This goal-setting and life planning program is a vital tool to help you turn your dreams into reality!”
Ken Blanchard
Best Selling Author of ”The One Minute Manager”
“… a powerful, practical program that shows you how to set goals and plot strategies for each area of your life. It’s a serious program, for serious people, who want serious results!”
Brian Tracy
Best Selling Author of ”Maximum Achievement”
“… is not only thought-provoking but highly effective …. helps you find your personal mission, articulate your goals and develop action plans for their accomplishment. I highly recommend this program to everyone.”
Harry Paul
Coauthor, FISH!
A Remarkable Way to Boost Morale and Improve Results
“… is a great find and must do program. It superbly achieves the goal of providing a roadmap to excellence and performance breakthroughs, both for individuals and organizations. But the true genius of this program is its universal relevance, as it combines a highly effective common-sense approach with frank guidance to enhance results in all areas of life.”
Bill Bartmann
Billionaire Business Coach
If you want SUCCESS in anything, you need to be good in PLANNING.
Be it success in a project, in a small business, in a business plan, in home based business, in developing business ideas, in making money from home, in professional development, in personal development, or in self improvement … you need goals. You need to be able to set and achieve goals.
All the success stories you can think of, all the self-made millionaires (and billionaires), all the successful executives that you respect, or all successful self help groups, they have all used goals. They have all used goal setting, and they have tracked goals and corrected them when and if required. But they not only made plans, they also kept focus on their plans, they kept working on their plans and goals till they were completed.
This is a simple but powerful key and secret to success in anything you undertake. This almost seems common sense. However, it is easily understood but very often not remembered, or very often not done.
Simple … but … NOT so simple???
What do you think? Do you agree / disagree with this? What in your opinion is the reason that many times sufficient time is not invested in planning?
