This document provides a summary of strategies for online entrepreneurs to improve productivity and focus on skills development. It recommends focusing on specific, measurable skills rather than vague goals. Goals should include the desired outcome, steps to achieve it, and plans to overcome obstacles. Positive thinking is also important, but clear-eyed realism about challenges is necessary for success. Regular practice and filtering information to focus only on relevant topics can help online entrepreneurs steadily improve skills and make progress even when fast money is not achieved.
2. Please Note:
These slides are complementary to the full presentation and
Might not always make sense on their own (without narration).
To see a video of the full presentation, go to:
http://imimpact.com/breakthrough-productivity/
34. • write 50 blog posts
• create 30 videos
• redesign 25 landing pages
• create and test 40 ppc ads
• read one book per week on my topic
• contact 20 potential clients
• ...
44. vague, non-typical, ballpark timeline:
product release
good income
begin focus
no income
10 months
no clue
no income
niche sites
some income
6 months
begin product creation
6 wk.
59. fantasizing about positive outcomes
can lead to lower rates of success.
fantasizing = imagining something you hope will happen in the
future and experiencing it as if it were happening right now.
Oettingen and Mayer, Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology
60. “In order to reap the benefits
of positive thinking, a clear
sense of reality is necessary.”
Gabriele Oettingen
62. 1. Pick a big goal.
2. Focus on skills and what’s measurable.
3. Keep “training” and do ensure forward momentum.
4. Filter information and be an observer.
5. Visualize process and possible obstacles.
SUMMARY
66. Thank you for watching! See the video with the full
presentation here:
http://imimpact.com/breakthrough-productivity/
Notes de l'éditeur
I never talk about making money online. Have you noticed? But that’s what a lot of people are after. And they generally fail.
This reality is seldom dealt with. Everybody’s too busy shouting and the reality of the matter is not marketable. This slide doesn’t put you in a buying mood.
It’s important that we cover both. Don’t worry, I will get to the very practical how to do this part, but we have to look at a few interesting facts, first.
Also more predictive than dozens of other factors like social standing, family situation, family income, etc.Angela Lee Duckworth - Grit: http://www.ted.com/talks/angela_lee_duckworth_the_key_to_success_grit.html
Popularized this idea.K Eric Andersson – Deliberate Practice/10K hours: http://www.psy.fsu.edu/faculty/ericsson.dp.html
Makes the important distinction of how you practice, not just that you put in the hours.
Explain the grind. Persistent practice. When you start out, you suck at it. And yes, it will be difficult. There will be obstacles. You have to grind it out and get through them.These people know what they’re talking about. There’s solid scientific evidence, here.
I don’t want you to feel sorry about me. I’m just an example, but this is not about me. There’s an important point to be made. I truly felt like (and it truly seemed like) I was destined to fail. I felt like I was missing something that people need, to be any use. Luckily, I was wrong.
Your background doesn’t matter. Your history doesn’t matter. Talent doesn’t matter. Whatever you may think is holding you back doesn’t actually matter. What matters are the choices you make from now on.
Premise: you have a limited amount of time. You get good at the things you practice. You can’t have anything instantly (because the world owes you nothing and it’s already given you far more than it owes you). So, it’s about what you want later. Knowing that you can’t get good at everything, what skill set do you want? That’s what you should work towards.
Envisioning this skill vs. other possible paths. What if I was great on social media, but I sucked at selling? What about the reverse? This is how and why I made my decision (not that you have to make the same one).
The difference in the models is in scale and in removing yourself from the process. That’s why I personally prefer product-based businesses, where there can be a complete disconnect between my own time and the success of the product.
We tend to think of success as something that’s “out there”, something set in the world and something we either achieve or don’t achieve. If you think it’s subjective, you must be fooling yourself.But this is not about looking at what you have and declaring it a success. It’s about setting yourself up for and recognizing success.
Story:Dating analogy. “Nobody likes me” teenager problem.This story is happening every minute of every day, all over the world: a boy sees a girl. He likes what he sees. After some (usually quite a lot of) time, he works up the courage to go talk to her. He asks her out. She (probably very politely) rejects him.
Usually, this is experienced as a crushing defeat. It can lead to extended periods of crying, depression and wallowing in self pity.This used to be me. What I didn’t realize is that it was my own fault. I was setting myself up for failure.
Why am I telling you a highschool dating story? Because you know at least one side of this story, right? And we make the same mistakes in our business and other life goals.
Problem: you set out to do something, you’ve got it all planned out and in your head, it seems like you can’t fail. The plan is perfect. The problem is that humans aren’t perfect. In reality, we lose motivation, we lose focus, shit goes wrong.
Life gets in the way.
Further than 2.: is forward momentum built into the plan? Was it created to facilitate the success of an actual human being? Or is it just a theoretical plan?When I look at how people plan their businesses and lives, the answer is usually: no, it’s just a plan. A plan for robots, not people.
You can’t prevent life from getting in the way, but you can make sure you have forward momentum and motivation, by setting your goals correctly.
You do this knowing that you come out the other end with valuably increased skill assets.You set out to do this, knowing that every hour you spend on deliberate practice is a success.
What about ambition?That’s definitely not the point. If there’s anything I don’t lack, it’s ambition. Big goals are good, but you have to use them correctly.
If you set it up right, the big end goal is big enough to get you excited and get you out of bed in the morning. At the same time, every step you take towards it is a success in it’s own right.
If you want to bench press 150kg, just loading all the weight on the bar and going for it is the wrong approach.The great thing is: even if you’ve never stepped into a gym and never intend to, you know how this works. You know that if the weight is too light, you’ll never get strong. And if the weight is too heavy, you won’t, either.Solution: you always have to be pushing beyond your current comfort zone. That’s how you work towards your goals. If it’s comfortable, you aren’t making progress.
How it all fits together:You decide on an ambitious, exciting goal.You consider what skills are needed to reach that goal.You break the goal down and focus on factors you have control over.You set yourself mini-goals that keep you growing your skills and keep forward momentum and motivation going.
Highly practical: 30-day challenge.Hammering out (the basics of) necessary skills in bursts.
Begin focus is the pivotal point. Everything good that happened in my business happened after that point. That’s why I’m telling you to start there.
What “skill assets” means, in practice: people have asked to hire me for most of the skills I’ve ever focused on developing (video, sales/landing pages, conversion optimization, product creation/consulting). That’s with 0 advertising on my part.
Tim Ferris on how he looks for startups where the founder has a history of getting up from hard knocks. Unfortunately, can’t find the source anymore.
Those who make it aren’t the ones with the right system or the right method. It’s the ones who focus on skills and grind it out through the hard times, keeping their eyes on the goal and setting themselves up for success.
One of the most frequently touted issues. You’re not a special exception, if you suffer from this.There actually IS too much information out there. It IS overwhelming. When trying to learn about IM, it’s compounded by the fact that everyone wants to sell you stuff and they’re all using superlatives.
Information overload is the normal state, unless you have a system to deal with it.
They’re all going to use superlatives. They’re always going to make it seem like it’s the one and only new thing you need to get in on. That’s their job. Which is the segue into the next topic.
Part 2: being an observer instead of a “victim”Learning by real-world example.
Be an observer, have an analytical mindset. “What’s happening here? Why is this working?”If you’re angry or afraid or otherwise emotional, you’re not an observer anymore.
Process is important: athletic source of the visualization myth. Athletes are not asked to visualize holding the medal. They visualize the process, the race, getting off the line etc.
I have a lot to say about this topic and there were many things I originally planned to add. But instead, I wanted to give you less information. Only the most important stuff. Reason: go and do these things. Nothing else matters as much.