Some of you may know that I am into the self-help niche. I have been a self-help geek since high school and recently came across what I consider to be the most effective Law of Attraction program ever produced-”The Secret Behind The Secret”. Click here to see my special offer.
I shot an arrow into the air and where it landed I know not where. The fact of the matter is that, if you do not have a proper target, you are just as likely to shoot the neighbor’s cat or your own butt (even more likely) than achieve any target of consequence.
Of course, what I am talking about is goal setting. Most people are satisfied to go through life without setting down specific written goals for what they want to achieve in life. The may have some vague dream about what they want but, it remains just that-a dream. In the end they end up with an aimless life and will never rise above the level of mediocrity. When they finally lie down on their deathbed, they will only be able to look back on a life of unfulfilled dream and disapointment. If however, they take their dreams and set them down as specific written goals, they will have been open to all of the opportunities available to us and would have set specific strategies to achieve their goals.
These are the people who on their deathbed look back upon a life of fulfillment and the legacy that they have left behind. They will look back at a lifetime with no regrets.
It is easy to dream but it is only the goal setters that will achieve those dreams. One of my heroes is Tiger Woods. At the tender age of 8, he set his goal to break every golf record ever set and to become the world’s number one golfer. It took him 13 years of practice and work but by age 21, he achieved his goal. Most people may dream about being the best at something or being rich or being a rock star but without specific written goals, it remains just that-a dream and nothing more.
Dreams are only the starting point. If you believe in the Law of Attraction, thoughts become things but, only when you take the next step of writing down your dreams in goal form and then setting strategies to achieve those dream goals. It is the dreamers in life that are responsible for every great achievement of mankind but, only those who took the next step of writing down those dreams as goals.
One final note of proof. Just 3 percent of the world’s population have written goals but those 3 percent control 95 percent of the wealth in the world. When you are on you deathbed will you look back at a life of fulfillment or a life of unfulfilled dreams.
For more information on Success and self-fulfillment, please visit my Over the Rainbow website.
To our mutual Success
Stan Pontiere
I know that this is a bit out of the Shoestring Marketing genre but, I have been a self-help geek since high school-more than 40years ago.
There are few people in the world today who would dismiss “The Law of Attraction” as the basis for self-fulfillment in the modern world. There is, however, a missing key in the way that we implement this natural law.
First of all, it might better be called the law of resonance. Like does not attract like, like attracts a resonant reaction. But, that is just semantics. The fact of the matter is that thought becomes reality. What we think is what we get and if our sub-conscious is filled with positive thoughts our life will be filled with positive results and we can literally think wealth in our existence. On the other hand, “The Law of Attraction” is a two-way street. If our sub-conscious is filled with negative thoughts, our life will be filled with negative events.
Much of our sub-conscious is filled with the attitudes that have been forced upon us. From our parents saying no, don’t do that, peers and well meaning teachers telling us work hard, go to school and get a good job to TV commercials pumping us full of mindless banter. They were probably all well meaning but, this constant negative input has destroyed any real chance of being truly self-fulfilled.
Early on (during high school) I read the classic work on the “Law of Attraction”, Napoleon Hill’s “Think and Grow Rich” It put down a very sound case for “The Law” and I did find that it did start to turn my life around. However, I always thought there was more to this than simple visualization to make the necessary changes in my sub-conscious beliefs.
I always found that the simple visualization being taught by Hill and many of today’s top self-help gurus to be missing something. Simple visualization brings up conflicts between the conscious and sub-conscious mind. You may start out visualizing your ultimate goal but within a few minutes, the sub-conscious fights back bringing up all of the negative thoughts that have been ingrained over the years and with simple visualization, many people end up worse off than they were before attempting to institute “The Law of Attraction”.
Some years latter, while attending a meeting of the PPA (Profession Photographers of America) I turned to my friend Jack Haynes and as the lecture was extremely boring, we left for the local coffee shop. During our little sit-down, I mentioned how I was having trouble with “The Law” and visualization. It turned out that Jack was only a part-time press photographer because he loved the excitement of the work. His true calling in life was as a Clinical hypnotherapist. He explained that my problem with simple visualization was very common and that if I really wanted to make changes to my sub-conscious that hypnosis was the missing key.
He sat me down for the next 5 days and I went through a number of hypnosis sessions. Now, all of a sudden I was able to easily visualize my dreams and goals and my whole world was turned upside down (in a good way). The missing key to making “The Law” work for me was hypnosis. Within a week, I had quit my dead-end job with the local newspaper and suddenly found myself getting assignments from the Associated Press, the New York Times and both the Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Bulletin. I had suddenly become a hot commodity and often had to turn down work if it created a conflict of interest.
What was missing in visualization was the key of hypnosis. It speaks directly to the sub-conscious and there is no internal mind conflict.
Of course, consulting a clinical hypnotist can be rather expensive but, as an alternative, there are many extremely good hypnosis sessions available on recorded media (CDs, Tapes, and MP3s). Not only do they work very well, they are for the most part rather inexpensive. A note of caution, there are also a ton of subliminal products available and although they also may work very well, you can’t be sure of what you are getting. Many of the most expensive subliminal programs have been discovered to have no message at all. If you choose to try subliminals, try to get some feedback from someone who has had experience with the product you are considering.
Either way, If you really want the “Law of Attraction” to work for you rather than a against you, consider hypnosis as an alternative to simple visualization. It has made a world of difference for me.
For more information on success and self-help, please visit my success website at “Over the Rainbow”
Not only can success be habit forming, in order to become a success, you need to build some new habits.
I know that if you have been reading my articles, that you have a pretty good idea about how effective Shoestring Marketing can be but, if you don’t put this knowledge to use (take action) then you will have no success at all. The best method I know of creating success is by making the action step a habit.
The commonly held belief is that if you can do something for 21 days straight, it will become a habit. While you may have all of the knowledge in the world, if you don’t make taking action a habit, you will be no better off than if you had no knowledge at all.
There are many techniques to Shoestring Marketing. Take just one of them and turn it into a habit. For example, article marketing has been extremely effective for me. So, for the next 21 days, write and publish an article. Before you do anything else in the day, write your article. Don’t read your email, surf the web or anything else, just get right into writing and publishing your article.
At the end of 21 days, look back at the results of your article marketing. How many responsive hits has your website had? Google your name. How many results do you get back? I can tell you right now you will be shocked at the results. Not only that, having done this for 21 days, you have developed a new habit and will look forward to writing your articles.
After that 21 day period, you can then take on one of the other methods of Shoestring Marketing and watch as your success grows. You are not only developing the habit of applying the Shoestring Marketing methods, you are developing the habit of success.
Don’t wait until tomorrow, start your habit of success today. Like anything else in life, success is just a habit that you need to develop and taking action is the primary foundation for all success.
There has never been a better time to be and Internet Marketing success and make your millions on the net.
But, being an internet millionaire doesn’t mean that your life has become a success. Quite the opposite, you can be a millionaire and your life could still be a total failure.
I have long touted the idea that all you need do is develop a business mindset, use shoestring marketing strategies and take massive action and you can become the next internet millionaire. However, I think that I have been doing you a great disservice.
Just take a look at the Hollywood Movie Stars. How many movie stars have completely wasted personal lives. They are at the top of their game in the movies but, their personal lives are filled with drug abuse, divorce, and forced incarceration in a rehab center. Or, how about the success of becoming a Governor of a major state and then get kicked out of office because you can’t control your penchant for the “ladies of the night”. Highly successful and totally wasted lives.
The same thing can happen to you. You become so involved in becoming the next internet millionaire that your personal life goes to Hell. Your children hate you, divorce is on the horizon and you have no spiritual life at all. Having money is only part of the success scenario.
What I am saying is don’t just build a business mindset, build a success mindset. Set goals for all areas of your life and become a true success. Besides financial goals, you should also set goals for your family life, spiritual life and any other area of your life that will make you a total success. Don’t just be an internet success, become a total success. There is an old cliche that you should remember-Money isn’t everything. It doesn’t make you happy. I admit that it is easier to find happiness if you don’t have to worry about paying the bills but, it is only one measure of success-just a part of the whole.
So when someone teaches you how to become a financial success, don’t forget the rest of the picture and set your goals to become a total success.
For more information on goal-setting and success, you might want to check out the works of Brian Tracy. He offers (at last count) 35 free one-hour CDs-all you pay is a small S&H charge (I think it is about 3 dollars). Brian Tracy Home Page
If you are an internet marketer, the only thing that I can guarantee you is that you are going to fail. But, this is a good thing.
While a few (extremely rare) marketers will hit it lucky on their first marketing attempts and achieve instant success, this is the exception to the rule. Most marketers in their early stages are bound to have some spectacular failures. If you truly desire marketing success, it is how you react to the failures that determine your ultimate success.
This, in fact, is the case in all fields of endeavor, not just internet marketing. No one doubts that Tiger Woods is the most successful golfer in history. But, every time he takes a shot, he almost never hits the target that he was aiming for. He fails on almost every shot. That doesn’t stop him. On the next shot or the next hole, he makes the necessary corrections and gets back into attack mode. Ultimately, he becomes the ultimate winner.
Every one knows how successful Donald Trump is. He has gone bankrupt many times but, he always got back into the game, altered his strategy and ultimately has become one of the richest men in America.
A man by the name of Fred Smith nearly did not get his Master’s Degree. In his final project, he proposed a business plan that only earned him a grade of “C”. The academics thought that his business plan was unworkable. That business plan became a somewhat successful company called Fedex.
Embrace your failures, study what went wrong, create a new strategy and then work your new plan. If you do this with each failure along the way, you will ultimately win the battle. As long as you continue the good fight, you will finally find the right methods that work for you and achieve success. The successful internet marketer does not believe that he has had a failure, only a learning experience.
The only true failures come from the fear of failing. If you embrace the fear of failure and fail to take corrective action, then and only then are you truly failing. As President Roosevelt (FDR) said: “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”
Certainly, the best way to learn is from the failure of others but, given that may not always be the situation, learn from your failures and get back into the game. You might not be an overnight success but, given repeated application, you will find that success was always there, just waiting for you to make the right moves.
When you first start out on the internet marketing path, you are barraged with an almost overwhelming wealth of information. One of the best methods of overcoming the information overload, is to find someone who can teach you the best practices in the industry. However, extreme care should be taken in who you choose to be your teacher.
I am not saying that you need to go out and hire a consultant. Certainly, a personal consultant could be a great influence on your internet success. However, the cost for good consulting can be rather costly. I, primarily, use the concept of modeling. I chose a number of successful internet marketers (some of them are called gurus) and modeled their behavior.
In modeling, you try to take on the attributes of your chosen mentor. You study how they market, how they started, what kind of content they put in their newsletters and carefully study how they put together a sales page. This only scratches the surface but, you can see that by studying a successful marketer, you can improve your marketing prowess.
I said earlier that you should choose your teachers wisely. By this I mean that you should only model successful marketers who have achieved success through the highest standards of marketing. There are many marketers on the net who will be more that happy to teach you underhanded techniques, but, if you learn from them you are only setting yourself up for failure.
With many of the methods being taught today, you could rapidly find yourself banned by your ISP, blocked from ever being listed on Google and possibly subject to criminal or civil litigation. You can usually predict who these unscrupulous marketers are by simply reading their sales letters. If they promise instant gratification, no work involved and riches beyond belief, close the page and distance yourself from them and their methods. You can’t go wrong from learning from someone who has built there reputation and business on the simple concept of integrity. In internet marketing, you have only truly built a business when you have built your reputation on expertise and integrity.
In addition to modeling, you may also want to contact you local Chamber of Commerce or SCORE. SCORE “Counselors to America’s Small Business” is a nonprofit association dedicated to educating entrepreneurs and the formation, growth and success of small business nationwide. SCORE is a resource partner with the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA).
Either way, model the best to become the best.
To be good is not enough when you dream of being great! What a beautiful idea. I agree with it entirely but, the modern equivalent of the snake-oil salesman has also latched onto this sentiment and used it to take our wallets right out of our pockets and not only that, we are happy to give them our money.
One statement that almost all of the self-help gurus quote is from a 1953 study at Yale University. As the story goes, the graduating class of 1953 was asked who had written goals. The answer was 3%. Twenty years later the class of 53 was contacted and the results were startling. The 3% who had written goals had acquired more wealth that the other 97% combined. It is certainly a great proof for the power of goal setting and every single self-help guru quotes this survey. The only problem with this is that when Yale was contacted, they said that the survey never took place and that it was only Urban Myth.
Noted self-help guru Denis Waitley states “The secret to productive goal setting is in establishing clearly defined goals, writing them down and then focusing on them several times a day with words, pictures and emotions as if we’ve already achieved them.” and I am sure that Waitley truly believes this. Self-deception is a wonderful thing.
In response to statements like this author Paul Kerr in his PDF online book Goal Setting Garbage said: “The first real problem with goal setting is that every time you focus on your goal, as many strategies prescribe today, you come face to face with the fact that you don’t actually have it. Rather than inspire motivation this can, more often than not, spark of a train of negative self-talk, doubt and the reality that you don’t have what you want.
I am not saying that goal setting does not work. In the proper context, goal setting can be extremely helpful. In fact, Yale University teaches a program called SMART Goal Setting. The word SMART is an acronym for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time framed.
In the business world, we might call this a business plan. We look at our resources, build strategic plans and then dedicate ourselves to taking the actions necessary to reach a specific measurable goal. If you have set an achievable goal and you have a good plan, you will be able to attain you goal.
The latest self-help gurus are now jumping on the bandwagon of “The Secret”. More or less it is the old power of positive thinking combined with the misuse of Quantum Physics theory. Hey guys, I don’t live in the world of Quantum Theory, I live in the real world and need real world answers.
I am not saying that goal setting does not work-it does. What I am saying is that no amount of visualization and self-deception is going to help you achieve your goals. I am a believer in goals. They help us set a direction in our life and can help us achieve far greater things in our life than we believed possible. Just remember, dedication and hard work are necessary. I also believe in what Andrew Carnegie said: “Aim for the Highest.” If you set your goals too low, you will find that the goal itself becomes self-limiting.
One final note, today is the only time that we have. We can’t live in the past and if disaster strikes, there is no future. We can only be thankful for what we have today and we should make the best we can out of it because it is all that we truly have.