Management

The Dangers of Binary Thinking: Why life is rarely either/or

The Trap Of Simple Choices: How False Dichotomies Limit Our Thinking

Leadership, Management, Marketing, Mindset, With Audio /

As humans, we love simplicity. In fact, it’s in our programming. It just makes everything feel more safe and manageable. So, we categorize the world into neat little boxes—this or that, light or dark, true or untrue, good or bad. But here’s the thing: the world is rarely that simple. Life doesn’t fit neatly into either/or. Yet, we’ve become conditioned to see it that way, often falling victim to what’s called the false dilemma or false dichotomy. This logical fallacy limits our thinking by presenting only two choices, as if they’re the only options. When in reality, there are an unlimited number of of other possibilities. You’ve seen this before: In these examples, the argument oversimplifies complex situations by forcing you to choose between two extremes, ignoring the fact that other possibilities exist. For instance, maybe you don’t have to pick a side, maybe there are other ways to fund higher wages without raising prices, or maybe… just maybe, life is more nuanced than “either/or.” The Everyday Trap of Dichotomies False dichotomies don’t just show up in political debates and news headlines. They’re part of how we navigate the world and show up in both our internal reasoning and the ways we interact with others. Take this simple question: How many ways are there to get the number 5 in a math equation? Most people will default to the obvious: 2+3 or 4+1. But what about 10 – 5? Or 1 × 5? Or even √25? The point is, there’s rarely just one way to solve a problem—or even just two. Life is full of infinite possibilities, yet we often limit ourselves because our thinking has been shaped to see the world in limited, binary terms. For example: The truth is, life exists in the gray areas. It’s rarely just this or that. And when we recognize this, we open ourselves up to a world of possibilities. False Dilemmas and Their Influence False dilemmas are a way of limiting choice, often used intentionally in media or arguments to persuade or pressure people into supporting their stance. The majority of news headlines like “XYZ Happened – This Is What It Means” cater to those who prefer to have their thinking done for them. This is “effect thinking”—reacting to the world and letting others dictate the meaning. On the other hand, “cause thinking” flips the script. It’s about creating your own meaning. Instead of seeing a headline or argument and thinking, “Well, I guess those are my only choices,” you pause and ask, “What other options might exist? What’s being left out?” This shift is simple yet powerful, but it takes practice. Why? Because our brains love patterns and shortcuts. They crave simplicity. But simplicity often comes at the cost of creativity and truth. The Danger of Staying in the Binary Box When we allow ourselves to be limited by false dichotomies, we miss out on opportunities for growth, understanding, and innovation. Worse, we allow others to control the narrative. Here’s an example: Imagine someone says, “You can either quit your job to pursue your passion or stay miserable forever.” This argument creates a false sense of urgency and pressure. But if you pause and think critically, you might find alternatives: The problem with false dichotomies is that they blind us to the middle ground, the creative solutions, and the possibilities beyond A or B. Divergent Thinking: Breaking Free from Binaries The antidote to false dilemmas is divergent thinking—the ability to explore multiple solutions and perspectives. Divergent thinking asks, “How many ways can we approach this?” instead of, “Which of these two choices is better?” Let’s try an exercise to flex this muscle: For example: By forcing yourself to explore additional possibilities, you not only generate creative solutions but also regain control over the narrative. The Freedom of Rejecting False Dichotomies When you stop accepting either/or thinking, you realize just how much choice you truly have. False dilemmas want to box you in, but life is rarely that rigid. Remember, the world is only 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react—or more accurately, the meaning you assign to it. That meaning is yours to create. Don’t let others dictate your choices, your thinking, or your path. The moment you reject the binary mindset, you step into a world of infinite possibility. So, next time someone says you have to choose between A or B, take a step back and ask yourself: The world isn’t just light and dark. It’s full of color, nuance, and opportunity—if you’re willing to see it.

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The Power of The Mind: How Focus Can Change Your Life

The Power of the Mind: How Focus Can Change Your Life

Leadership, Management, Mindset /

Have you ever stopped to consider just how powerful your mind truly is? If you’re like most people, you’ve barely scratched the surface of what’s possible. The truth is, with the right mindset and focus, you can transform your entire reality. Sounds pretty incredible, right? Let’s dive into how you can harness this power to not only envision but actually achieve the life you’ve always dreamed of. Unlocking Your Mind’s Potential Why is it that some people seem to achieve everything they set their minds to, while others struggle? It’s all about how you use your mind. By learning to focus your thoughts and channel your energies towards your goals, you can turn the abstract into tangible achievements. It starts with clarity—knowing exactly what you want. What are your aspirations? What do you wish to accomplish? Once you have a clear picture, the next step is visualization. Imagine yourself succeeding, reaching those milestones, and living the life you desire. Visualization isn’t just daydreaming; it’s a focused exercise that primes your brain to recognize and pursue the opportunities needed to make your dreams a reality. The Foundation of Self-Belief Self-doubt is a goal killer. To move forward, you must believe in your potential to succeed. Have you ever noticed how doubt tends to creep in just when you’re about to take a big step? This is your mind trying to protect you from the unknown, but it’s also a barrier to success. Make a firm, conscious decision to believe in yourself. This is more than just pep talk; it’s about setting a foundational belief that you are capable of manifesting your desires. Action: The Bridge Between Dreams and Reality Knowing what you want and believing you can achieve it are crucial, but they’re nothing without action. Action is the bridge between desire and accomplishment. Every step you take towards your goals not only brings you closer to them but also builds the momentum necessary to push through challenges. How to Stay Razor-Focused in a World Full of Distractions Distractions are the thieves of time and focus. George Lucas once said, “Always remember, your focus determines your reality.” This is a profound truth in the journey toward personal success. What you concentrate on not only shapes your actions but also determines their quality and effectiveness. Simplifying Your Goals Do you feel overwhelmed by your ambitions? Are you trying to juggle too many goals at once? Start by simplifying. Narrow down your focus to a few key objectives that will make the most significant impact right now. Prioritizing is not about doing less; it’s about making the most of your efforts. Prioritizing Tasks Like a Pro Take a cue from successful figures like Alex Hormozi, who tackle only three critical tasks each day. This focused approach ensures that each task gets the attention it deserves and leads to better outcomes. If your goal is to build a successful YouTube channel, for example, prioritize tasks that will have the greatest impact—like content creation, editing, and engagement. The Power of Incremental Progress Albert Einstein famously compared life to riding a bicycle—to keep your balance, you must keep moving. This analogy beautifully captures the essence of progress. Whether big or small, every step forward is crucial. It’s about maintaining momentum and keeping your motivational fire lit. Action Without Overthinking One of the biggest hurdles to action is overthinking. Have you ever found yourself paralyzed by your thoughts? The key is to just start. Perfection can come later; what matters is the momentum. Celebrating Small Wins Every small victory is a building block to greater success. If your goal is to improve your health, start with short, manageable walks. Notice how each step makes you feel better and use that as motivation to continue expanding your efforts. Cultivating a Positive Mindset A positive mindset is your greatest ally in achieving success. It enables you to take risks, face challenges head-on, and attract better opportunities. By focusing on positive outcomes and viewing each setback as a learning opportunity, you cultivate resilience and a path towards achieving your goals. Why Focus Matters Ultimately, the power of the mind lies in its ability to focus. By directing your mental energies towards your goals, you set the stage for success. Remember, it’s not just about the destination but also enjoying and learning from the journey. So, what’s your next step? Will you allow distractions and doubts to dictate your path, or will you take control, focus on your goals, and step confidently towards your future? The choice is yours, and it starts now. Why not take that first step today?

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Focus Blog Post

Hack Your Focus and Get More Stuff Done

Leadership, Management, Mindset /

Staying focused is quickly becoming one of the greatest challenges digital entrepreneurs face today. For example, you sit down to write an article and end up surfing the net for the rest of the morning … Or you’ve got an information product that you need to finish, but you check your email which leads to a news site, a sports site, a few entertainment sites, some social media sites and before you know it, it’s already 3 hours later and you’ve accomplished nothing except making yourself feel guilty. Does this sound familiar? According to Dr. B. J. Fogg, Director of Stanford Persuasive Lab, “There’s just one way to radically change your behavior, and that’s to radically change your environment.” Students who transfer to a new university are much more likely to change their habits than students who remain at the same university. This is true for workers as well. People who change jobs or change job locations are much more likely to also change their habits. It makes sense. Let’s say that at your previous job you were in the habit of going to a fast food restaurant with your coworkers for lunch. At your new job, your coworkers eat lunch at a healthy restaurant and invite you along. Soon you are eating healthy lunches every day, even on those days when you don’t go to that restaurant, because you’re now in the habit of eating healthful lunches. Enough time goes by, and fast food can even become repulsive to you. So what happened? Your environment changed and so did the triggers. This made it easy to effect a change. People who have trouble falling asleep are told to only use their bed for sleeping and for nothing else. If they lay down but they can’t fall asleep, they’re supposed to get up and go to another room. After treating their bed as only a sleep location (and not a reading location, a daydreaming location, etc.) for several weeks, they are generally able to fall asleep within minutes of their head hitting the pillow. The bed is now a trigger for just one thing – sleeping. This is why having one location to just work and another location to play is important. If you are mixing your ‘play’ time with your work time in the same home office, you’re asking to get constantly distracted. If you use a laptop or a tablet for work, this is easily remedied. Simply designate one place in your home where you will do nothing but work – no exceptions. If you work on a desktop computer, you might consider getting a laptop or tablet for your Internet ‘play’ time. Another technique is to designate certain times of the day when you are working, no exceptions. This will get you in the habit of always doing work during those times, and it will make it much more difficult to get distracted. Your work times then become routine, eliminating the need to decide each time if you’re going to work. And when you automatically go to work instead of ‘deciding’ to go to work, you eliminate the possibility that you will decide NOT to work. A third technique is to use triggers. For example, if you always start work right after finishing breakfast, it will become a habit to eat and go to work. You don’t have to think about it, you just do it. In one study, knowing exactly when and where participants were going to exercise caused them to follow through a whopping 91% of the time. Those who simply exercised when they felt motivated to do so exercised 35% of the time. Bottom line: If you’re having trouble staying focused, designate an area where you will do nothing but work, combine it with a strict schedule, and you should experience a dramatic increase in your productivity. When you get more done with less distractions, you’ll not only accomplish your goals faster – researchers tell us you’ll also enjoy increased self-esteem, greater happiness and larger over-all satisfaction with your life.

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Discover Your Personal Power and Tap Into Your Inner Strength

Unlock Your Personal Power by Doing More Inner Work

Leadership, Management, Mindset /

Understanding What Personal Power Is Before we get into techniques for developing your personal power, it’s important to understand what exactly it is. Many people associate personal power with force, but it’s actually the ability to take action and make things happen without forcing them. When you have personal power, you’re able to accomplish what you set out to do, whether that means achieving your goals or making decisions about how you want to live your life. Personal power comes from within you. It’s a part of who you are and how you approach the world. Learning how to tune into yours can help foster greater strength and well-being in every aspect of your life. Now that we know a little more about what personal power is, let’s look at some simple ways to start developing yours today! How to Gain Self-Confidence – Personal power doesn’t exist without self-confidence. Being able to access your inner power can be a difficult task, but it is one that is worth the effort. When you tap into your inner strength, you will feel more confident and capable than ever before. To gain self confidence, you must first have a strong sense of self-esteem. Like a seedling nourished with the right nutrients and sunshine, your self-esteem will grow with the proper care and feeding. Self confidence comes from within, and increases/decreases based on our thoughts and self talk. When you look in the mirror, tell yourself how great you look today! On your commute to work, feel good about all the things you’ll achieve! At the end of your work day, reflect on how much closer to your goals you are. Develop a healthy lifestyle so that your body feels and operates at its best. Eat nutritious foods and get all your vitamins. Sleep at least eight hours every night so that your mind is sharp during the day and can feel good about accomplishing goals! You must feel rested and recharged to operate in peak performance. Developing Personal Power By Improving Self-Image and Self-Esteem Your self-esteem depends on your vision of who you are. It comes from a combination of things like your parents’ views, your own experiences, and how you interpret the world around you. If your parents always told you that you were great, and if people always treated you with kindness and respect, then it’s likely that your self-image will be positive. But like anything else in life, developing a strong self-image is not only about what happened to us in the past. It’s also about what we do now. Self-image is not just how we see ourselves; it’s also how we present ourselves to others. You can take control of both aspects by focusing on enhancing the good feelings and thoughts you have about yourself while diminishing the bad ones. To tap into your personal power, there are four steps that you will need to take. The first step is to identify what makes you feel strong and powerful. This may be something that reminds you of your favorite childhood memories or something as simple as a song that always makes you happy. The second step is to find an activity or food that helps increase your energy levels when they are low. Third, take time for yourself every day to de-stress and recharge so that you can be in top form when tackling challenges. Finally, make sure to get enough sleep each night so your body and mind has time to process the previous day and prepare for the next. Learn How to Have Courage and Overcome Fear You know that fear is a normal part of life, but you may not know why. Fear can be an inconvenience, but it can also be a motivating force. It’s important to learn how to deal with fear and recognize the warning signs of other types of anxiety or phobias. Stop letting others push your buttons and learn to take control of your own mind. Personal power is the energy that we give ourselves to live a happy and healthy life. But we must love and respect ourselves, have courage in our thoughts and actions, and not let fear control us. We can recognize when we are using or not using our personal power by understanding the signs of low energy. These are the things that we experience when we are feeling low on energy: Overcome anxiety by taking steps to improve your body’s ability to cope with stress, including food as medicine, relaxation techniques like meditation and yoga, fitness for the mind, positive thinking, journaling, and positive expectations about yourself. Set and Achieve Your Goals Have you ever noticed that it’s easier to set and reach a goal when you write it down? One of the greatest ways to help yourself reach your goals is to break them down into smaller, more actionable steps. For example, let’s talk about making a smoothie. If you’re just starting out, you should avoid adding too many ingredients to your drink. Instead, make two small smoothies. One with some healthy ingredients, and the next with more. Keep doing this until finally you’re able to drink a healthy smoothie without struggling! Patterns are everywhere in life: in relationships, in nature, in the world around us. We can’t stop ourselves from feeling like we need something from someone else or want something extra from life. The great thing about patterns is that they have the opposite effect on some people. They have the opposite effect on me for sure! Every time I’ve tried going through all my clutter and cleaning everything up, I ended up feeling more overwhelmed than before. It wasn’t until I started thinking about what my habits are (how much stuff do I own?) as opposed to just wanting more things that everything started getting better for me. Use the Power of Your Mind to Expand Your Reality In your everyday life, you may not think much about the power of

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Mindset Shifts For More Success

8 Simple Mindset Shifts That Will 10X Your Success

Leadership, Management, Mindset /

Your mindset controls your reality and shifting it is something that is ALWAYS within your power. So, when things feel slow, stagnant, or difficult, consider how you may be able to shift your perspective to a more empowing and success-oriented mindset. Mindset Shift 1: Time is precious. Firstly, our time is finite, but most of us live contradictory to that. Change your mindset around how you think about time. We waste years at jobs we hate, stay with people we’re not entirely happy with, and tolerate situations that don’t make us feel fulfilled. Remind yourself that time is your most precious resource. Mindset Shift 2: It all starts in the mind. All you have control over is your mindset. You can work to influence the world around you, but that strategy can have varying results. By learning to master the internal world you’ll then be able to influence your external reality and realize a far greater power. The change starts from within. Mindset Shift 3: Be Grateful. The benefits of gratitude are backed by science; it improves your well-being. Gratitude shifts the mind from “I need” or “I don’t have enough” to “I’m so happy” and “I have enough.” Most importantly, the effort to change this mindset is minimal, but the difference is monumental. By expressing gratitude, you’ll draw things to you that are alinged with this new through structure, attracting more things to be grateful for. Mindset Shift 4: Be Present. The ability to quietly be with yourself and be aware of what is occurring around you is a skill you have to work hard on. It will improve the quality of your mind. To be in the moment is a powerful experience full of benefits. Mindset Shift 5: Happiness is not in the material. We all intellectually believe that the quest for material goods will not make us happy over the long term. It was a lie sold to us, that even today, most still think material goods are the ultimate sign of success. They are not. Freedom is success – not stuff. Having money to experience that freedom is a necessary evil. Mindset Shift 6: Remember your WHY. When you’re working towards a big goal, figuring out your “why” is one of the most critical mindset shifts you need to cultivate. If you are struggling with motivation right now, lost your way, or are just starting out, this is the place to begin. With clarity around your “why,” your mindset will be primed for action. Mindset Shift 7: Make Failure Positive. It’s natural to see failure as negative; after all, you did something, and it wasn’t successful. However, you should see each failure as a valuable opportunity for personal growth. A chance to grow that will inevitably lead to more success in the future. Mindset Shift 8: Apply what you learn. Study – practice – teach is my philosophy. It is easy to consume large quantities of information and obtain knowledge. However, there’s very little connection between gathering knowledge and actual achievement. You need to make an effort to apply what you learn actively. As you apply this principle over time, it will become a part of you. Study the information, put it into practice, and teach others around you through your example of creating success in your life. ***To learn more about working with me as a coach – get in touch.

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ideal client

How Your Ideal Client Saves Your Time And Money

Management, Startup Basics /

Why is an Ideal Client important? One of the most fundamental aspects of your marketing, product development and business plan is knowing who your ideal client is. Without this knowledge, you won’t know how to write your content in a way that’s attractive to your clients, and you won’t be able to tailor your products or services to their unique needs. When I talk about content I mean everything that you develop for your clients or potential clients to draw them to you and help you solve the problems that they face in their everyday lives, so everything hinges on this. When you know who your ideal clients are, your client attraction efforts will become vastly more effective, because you’ll be able to pinpoint what they want, what challenges they have, where they’re looking for information about your industry, and what trends and mindsets influence the way they search for products and choose who to buy from. In this blog post, I’ll bust some myths about having ideal clients that cost businesses thousands of dollars each year, and I’ll tell you the nine things you need to know about your ideal client, as well as how to choose your ideal client if you aren’t sure who they are. Why some businesses avoid having ideal clients: One of the costliest myths that businesses fall for is the idea that they don’t need an ideal client. Some of their reasons seem sound, but they’re based on misconceptions about what clients want and how client attraction works. Here are two of the reasons why people fall into that trap: Reason 1: They’re afraid of driving clients away. If you could potentially target a wide range of different demographics, why would you want to alienate some of them by narrowing your niche? That’s a fear that many business owners have when they first start to consider identifying an ideal client. They believe that the wider the net they cast, the more clients they’ll draw in. Reason 2: Their product could be used by anyone. Some businesses could, in theory, serve almost any client under the sun. Life coaches who teach universal success principles that apply to anyone, chiropractors who could work on anyone who has a spine, and businesses that sell food are all examples of people with a very broad potential audience. If you’re in such an industry, why would you want to narrow your client base? Why not having an ideal client WILL cost you: If you share these concerns about having an ideal client, here are four truths about client attraction that should put your mind at ease: What’s attractive to one client won’t be attractive to others. People are the most inclined to make a purchase when your marketing speaks to their exact challenges and needs. When someone looks at your offer, they should think “Yes – that’s EXACTLY what I need! It’s like that product was made for me!” If you try to create and sell offerings that are meant to apply to everyone, there’s a good chance that they’ll be partly applicable to everyone, but ideal for no one. Your clients will look at your offer and think, “Some of that looks good, but a lot of it just doesn’t apply to me”. If someone is motivated enough that they’re actively looking to buy, the chances are good that they’re looking for something in specific. An offer that’s only a partial match, or that seems to be designed with a different demographic in mind, will be rejected. One excellent example I’ve heard a few times is that of a pharmacy. If you try to sell an “everything pill”, will anybody trust it enough to buy it? Probably not – and even if they did, there’s a good chance that they wouldn’t think to look for it. If you have a headache, the chances are good that you’re looking for a pill designed to treat headaches. Unless you were already aware of the “everything pill” before your search began, it probably won’t even occur to you to look for it. You could walk right past it and not even register it. When you know exactly who your clients are, what they need, and what they struggle with, you’ll be able to create products and marketing materials that are exactly what they’re looking for, and you can learn their language and phrase your marketing in ways that appeal strongly to them. You don’t want to waste your time and budget on people who are less inclined to buy. Your ideal clients aren’t the ONLY people who will buy from you, but they are the people who are the most likely to make a purchase. If you were fishing, would you cast your line or drop your net repeatedly in random parts of the lake, or would you specifically target the areas where you knew you’d catch the most fish?  Would you use bait or a lure that’s good for all kinds of fish, or the ones that will attract the specific type of fish you’re looking to catch? The same principle applies to marketing. You’ll never have the time and budget to reach ALL the possible demographics at once, so you should spend that time and money on the demographic that needs and wants your product the most, and that’s the most likely to make a purchase. You don’t WANT to attract every type of client. Not every client is a good one, especially if you’re selling services as opposed to products. If you’re going to have to spend any amount of time working with a client, you don’t want to attract the kind of people who are lukewarm about your services, and who will drag their feet, complain, nitpick, make unreasonable demands, hamper your efforts, and prove impossible to please. You also don’t want to attract people who aren’t able to get the full benefit from your offering. If something outside of your control will prevent you from getting

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9 Steps To Building A Successful Business

9 Simple Steps To Build A Successful Business

Leadership, Management, Marketing, Strategies /

Follow these nine simple steps to build a business more effectively, efficiently, and with less wasted time and money. Step #1 Get super clear on your BIG “Why” The most important secret to having a successful business is to be very clear about why you’re doing it. If you have a thorough understanding of what this business means to you on a personal level, it will motivate you and see you past the stressful times. Step #2 Have a solid, yet flexible plan You wouldn’t drive across country without a map. It’s even more important to chart your course when you’re starting your business. Of course, you need the traditional elements of a business plan like your company’s description products and services, strategy, market analysis, financial projections, etc. You also need to think about some other things like It’s critical to set very clear goals so that you know what you’re working toward in your business. Otherwise, it’s too easy to get distracted and lose sight of your goals. Step #3: Understand your numbers. Treat your business like a business and not an expensive hobby. You’re in business to make money. You started your business to do what you love, but you have to remember that you can’t accomplish any of it unless you’re bringing in cash. Your numbers don’t lie. Either you’re bringing in cash which means you’re making more than you’re spending, or you need to make some changes. You might need to change your prices, increase your marketing, cut some expenses, or rethink your products and services. Know how much money you want to be making each year. Divide that by 12 and you have your monthly goal. Be smart about where your expenses are going. Will you get a clear benefit from the money you spend? Step #4: Don’t reinvent the wheel. Drew says that he’s always been a big believer in shortcuts. If someone else has already done something that he wants to do, he will model what they’ve done for himself. He doesn’t have to start from scratch – research others in your field, study their companies and model that behavior. Research successful people in general – success is success. Here are some timeless principles of success: For Drew, working with a coach or self and being part of a mastermind group has helped him build a business. This might or might not be the best strategy for you. Decide what is best for you based on your own personal needs, what motivates you, and what conditions will set you up for success. Step #5: Focus, focus, and more focus. A successful business requires intensive labor and focus. You will need to cut out of your life anything that is not moving you in the direction of your vision. Exactly what that is you decide in your own personal life, but anything non-essential has to go. In a corporate job you’re basically paid for putting in hours. As an entrepreneur, it’s all about results. Excellent time management is critical. You may need to build a support system with your spouse or your parents or housecleaner or babysitter or personal assistant. You might want to shop online or use a grocery delivery service. Look at all your current activities to see where you can find some extra time to devote to your business. A lack of time is really a lack of priorities. Revisit your ‘why’ statement, then take another look at your priorities. Make sure you’re focusing on the tasks that are delivering your results. Step #6: Get comfortable with self-promotion. In order to be successful with your product or service, people have to be able to find you. As an entrepreneur, marketing must be your top focus, especially in the beginning. You need to get out there and market yourself based on a solid, well thought out strategy. Marketing and sales is something you do for people – not to people – because you have the answer to their problem. An authentic way to market your business and sell your services is to demonstrate to potential customers that you do care and that you have a solution for them. You can get this point across to potential customers without being pushy. Here’s how Drew phrases it:“Just so you know, I’m here and I have the skills to help you stop struggling and to reach your business and lifestyle goals. So, if it feels right for you and you think that working together would be a good fit, I’d be more than happy to help.” Sounds like the right approach, doesn’t it? Step #7: Done is better than perfect. Drew calls himself a lifelong perfectionist, so he struggles with this one himself all the time. But he’s learned to let go a little because if he didn’t, he would still be in the pre-launch stage. He puts it this way:” Don’t let analysis paralysis hold you back. Just implement, implement, implement.” Take action, then take the next logical step, and continue to make forward momentum every day. If you’d like more on combatting perfectionism, check out this post: https://alphadogsuccess.com/blog/perfectionism-procrastination/ Step #8: Fail fast and forward. Sometimes the only way to know what will work and what won’t is through trial and error. Failure is an essential component to success. Successful people know this, and aim to fail quickly. The key is to learn from your mistakes very quickly and make the necessary adjustments. You need to course correct right away either by tweaking your approach or by taking a different route altogether. For instance, if enough people are not signing up for new a program, is it the copywriting that needs improvement? Is your page user-friendly? Do you need to edit your video? Is the pricing off? Nothing is permanent – especially in the online world. You can change things very quickly. As the head of your company, it’s your responsibility to do so and there’s no corporate red tape to cut through.

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Overcome Fears

How to Overcome Your Fears and Step Out With Courage

Leadership, Management, Mindset /

How to Overcome Your Fears British adventurist Sir Ranulph Fiennes has been called the world’s greatest living explorer. He’s navigated some of the world’s most challenging and inhospitable places on earth including trekking the Antarctic and both North and South Poles, unsupported and on foot. When Fiennes was in his 60’s, he decided to overcome his severe fears of heights by climbing Mt. Everest. On his second attempt, hundreds of feet short of the summit, he suffered severe chest pains, at night, dangling from a rope on a near vertical ice wall at 29,000 feet. Frozen and in pain, he turned around and somehow managed to descend. He lived to tell the tale, running a marathon a mere 16 weeks after his near fatal heart attack. When it comes to facing your fears how daring are you? Do you turn tail and head in the opposite direction? Do you waver and hope the feeling passes? Or, do you, like Fiennes, stand firm and always face your fears head on? Picture what your life would look like if you consistently faced off against your fears, both big and small, with the fearlessness of someone like Sir Ranulph Fiennes. What would it feel like to boldly stare down and confront your fears, never letting them interfere with what you want to accomplish? Imagine what you could achieve if you never again let fear get in your way. The truth is, the closest most of us will get to scaling Mt. Everest is flying past it en route to a comfortable vacation destination. But there is good news; you don’t have to be an adrenaline junkie, risking life and limb, to be fearless. Life offers plenty of everyday opportunities for us to face our fears. Whether it’s asking your crush out on a date, speaking in public, or asking for a raise, no fear is too big or too small to challenge – and we all have within us the potential to be fearless. The first step to overcome your fears and become more fearless begins with understanding fear. What it is, what scares us (and why), and how fear holds us back from living a full and fulfilling life. Once we gain some insight into our fears, fearlessness can become second nature. If you want to be more fearless, more often, let’s start by exploring what scares you. “Don’t be afraid of your fears. They’re not there to scare you. They’re there to let you know that something is worth it.” C. JoyBell C. We all know what fear feels like – dread, tension, difficulty breathing, rapid heartbeat, sweating, racing thoughts, and ‘butterflies’ are just a few of the feelings we associate with fear. It’s no wonder so many of us choose, one way or another, to sidestep our fears. After all, who wants to feel those uncomfortable feelings? What if these fears aren’t designed just to scare you? What if, instead, your fears were a doorway into new and exciting prospects? Could fear be an opportunity for personal growth in disguise? What is Fear? The word ‘fear’ derives from the Old English word faer, meaning sudden attack, peril, or danger. Simply put, fear is an emotional response to a perceived threat. It’s primitive, powerful and universal. Fear is like an internal alarm, it’s design warns us and protects us from danger. There are two types of fear responses: biochemical and emotional. Biochemical Fear is a natural emotion resulting from a perceived threat and its design makes us more alert and responsive as a way to survive. When this happens, our bodies respond in specific ways such as sweating, increased heart rate, increased awareness, and high adrenaline levels. This state of fear is often referred to as a “fight or flight” response. Emotional Fear differs from person to person. Because fear involves some of the same chemical responses in our brains similar to happiness and excitement, feeling fear under certain circumstances can be seen as fun. For example, the fears you experience with watching a scary movie, riding on a roller coaster, or venturing into extreme sports, create emotional fear. Some people like emotional fear, however, there are others who have negative reactions to emotional fear and try to avoid fear-inducing situations all together. Although the physical reaction is the same, this type of fear may be perceived as either positive or negative, depending on the person’s perspective. What are We Afraid of? While most of us aren’t facing the same threats our ancestors did, we still face threats in our day-to-day lives that cause us stress. What are we so afraid of? Quite a lot, as it turns out. Public speaking, flying, and death are often touted as the things we fear the most and, while those fears are real, our dread go much deeper and wider than a potential bruised ego, gravity, and our inevitable demise. According to The Chapman University Survey on American Fears, our biggest fears of 2018 include: government corruption, the state of the environment, danger befalling loved ones, and personal finances. Fears that didn’t crack the top 10? Public speaking (#59), death (#54), and flying (#82). Regardless of ranking, the survey suggests there is no shortage of fears to keep us up at night. The survey also suggests more people than ever are afraid, and fear, in general, is on the rise. All this dread is having a significant negative impact on our lives. For example, fear can make us; hesitate, procrastinate, experience creative blocks, and be averse to risk, all of which can lead to low accomplishment. That can cause stress. That stress can lead to cognitive impairment, an increased risk of heart disease, premature aging, relationship conflicts, depression, and more – and a cycle of fear is born. That cycle can leave us feeling like we’re just going through the motions of life without really living. “My life has been filled with terrible misfortune most of which never happened.” –Michel de Montaigne Putting

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8 Important Tasks for One Person Marketing Teams

Management, Startup Basics, strategy /

You could easily succeed if you had a dedicated team, a million-dollar marketing budget, and 48 hours in a day. But that’s not how real life works. Especially for a new entrepreneur or one-person marketing team. It’s easy to get into the “if only” mindset when you’re the only employee/marketer at your company. But if you want to grow your business, it’s important to get solution-oriented. Try to focus on getting the biggest ROI from every marketing activity you have the time and resources to execute. To help you out – I’ve compiled eight incredibly important marketing activities that a one-man or one-woman team can execute that will start moving key metrics. No more dilly dallying around with things that don’t move the needle. 1) Set strategic and measurable marketing goals. Before you start posting, sending emails or scheduling tweets, be sure you’ve properly set goals for your marketing. Think of your marketing like a road trip. You wouldn’t start driving until you’ve found your destination, and mapped out the most effective route to get there. In the same way, you should always make sure your activities and goals help you drive your business forward. You wouldn’t want a goal of converting more leads into customers if you aren’t converting visitors into leads already. You can’t pull people through the funnel until you’ve gotten them there in the first place. And of course, ensure the goals you set are measurable. For instance, if your goal is to increase visitor-to-lead conversion rate, think about whether you have the tools in place to measure whether you’re doing that. If you need help determining which goals are right for your business, check out my guide to setting SMART goals. 2) Establish exactly who your target audience is. With only so much time in the day to devote to marketing, you want to make sure that every piece of content you produce (ebook, landing page, blog post, or email) is on-target and effective. Wouldn’t it be frustrating to spend a ton of time creating content that falls on deaf ears? The best way to guard against wasting your time creating content is to create and use buyer personas/ideal client/customer avatar/etc. If you’re not familiar with buyer personas, they’re models for what your ideal customers are like. A persona includes information such as what sort of person they are (education, income level, or job, for example) as well as what’s important to them (saving time or money, for example). If you haven’t developed them yet, or you think you could put a little more elbow grease into ones you already have, here’s a free checklist to help you nail down your market research and target audience. If you put together buyer personas now, and then create every piece of content with a persona in mind, your content will work harder for you — in fact, you may find persona-driven content results in your audience marketing your content for you! 3) Focus on the right social media platforms. Now that we have some important baselines established that will make your subsequent marketing efforts pack a more powerful punch, let’s figure out the right places to spend your time (so it’s not wasted in the wrong ones). And if there’s one area rife with opportunities for misspent time, it’s on social media. It’s tempting to try to be on all of the social media platforms because everyone else is doing it, and it feels like that’s what good marketers do. Fortunately for you, they are most definitely wrong. Instead of wasting your time engaging on social networks that won’t help you achieve your SMART goals, strategically choose one or two platforms to be on and knock them out of the park. To find out which social networks you should spend your time on, check out your analytics. In your sources report Identify which social networks are already sending you the most traffic, and then capitalize on them. If you have closed-loop analytics, I also recommend drilling down further to see which networks are sending you the most leads and customers. Have access to all of this information will help you make better decisions on which social networks you spend your marketing time. You may find that a top social network for you isn’t Facebook or Twitter, but rather a niche social network specific to your industry. Instead of wasting time on a big social network because it’s something you’re just “supposed” to do, switch your efforts to social networks that will pay off big time for your business. 4) Schedule out social media posts/updates. Now that you know where to spend your time on social media, let’s make your time spent on it both efficient, and effective. First, let’s talk about scheduling your content in advance. Instead of freaking out every day trying to find something amazing to post to social media, sit down once a week to think of all of the subsequent week’s social media content. While you may have a couple things come up that warrant posting – like breaking industry news, for example – bucketing your time like this will make you more efficient. (platform itself, buffer, later, hootsuite, etc.) Alright, now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s make your time on social media more effective by thinking about the best times of day to publish your content. I encourage you to look for timing trends for your own social media presences. 5) Create evergreen content to reap short and long term benefits. Since content creation can get pretty time consuming, focus on creating evergreen content – content that stays relevant over a long period of time — to pack the biggest punch. This type of content pays for itself over and over again. Because it’s not time-sensitive, search engines will continue to drive traffic to evergreen posts, helping to drive leads long after you hit publish. If you’re having trouble finding an evergreen topic to write about on your company’s

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