Money isn’t Everything
It’s the only thing! All kidding aside, money not being everything is very true and something that I have to remind myself of from time to time when I’m pursuing my goals. I have a few friends who have almost no money and seem to be almost content with not at least making a solid attempt to make more of it. Even on the surface when it seems like they could benefit from more money and they even act as if they would like to do something to get more, it’s quite obvious why they aren’t. It’s because they don’t WANT to. My friends are quite content where they are at and they are happy with how simple their lives are. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that either.
If you are at a point in your life and you have all the money in the world, or you have next to nothing but you are content with whatever you have then you shouldn’t be focusing on gaining more income. Really in the end it’s just a lot more that you can’t take with you when you leave this world. As long as your income is sustainable then you should focus on growth in the other two areas of your life. Your relationships and your health could benefit quite a bit due to the fact that you have the wealth side of your life handled. Put that focus and energy into them and see how quickly your life improves.
On the other hand if you are like me, you want more wealth and a lot of it! I am still tinkering with my finances. Recently trying to cut the fat where necessary and minimize unnecessary bills. I ask myself where certain products or services that I am using in my life have a diminishing point of returns on value for the amount of money I am continuing to spend on them. Also I am focusing on writing more and creating more value on this website and my other projects so that I can gain more value in the form of income long term from them. I am going to school so that I have skills I will immediately be able to transfer over to my current career, but that will also serve me as far as being able to get a job any time I need. I would also have more of a skill set if I chose to free lance, not to mention knowing computers much better will help me in my internet marketing endeavors.
I choose to pursue money because I know more money will allow me to do more in my life in the long run. Think about what you could do with more money. You will be able to buy more cool techno toys which give you a slight competitive edge over those who don’t use or aren’t exposed to the newest technology. You could travel more, meet more people, and ultimately learn more. Money is one of the best tools you can have for growth. Keep perspective when you are going after money in your life though. America is the land of excess. Realize that there a lot of people with a heck of a lot less than you probably currently have.
You don’t need a ton of money. Just enough to get you to the next checkpoint in your journey. Work on getting that much and sustaining it and you will find that your life is as complete and fulfilling as if you won the lottery. The cool part is that it will be even more fulfilling because you have the luxury and experience of the journey. Once you learn the powerful skill of creating value and trading it in exchange for money you will be able to do it for the rest of your life and you will only get better each time you do it.
Invest In Your Success
What do you want to accomplish more than anything else right now? I’ve been asking myself the same question recently. And I’ve tried to take steps to ensure that I’ll reach my goals, push past them, and set bigger and better ones for the future. Here’s what I’ve been up to lately to help myself in the different areas of my life.
Health: I have been doing P90X to whip myself back into shape. I’ve lost around 30+ pounds overall since I’ve started (including P90X and other exercise) and feel awesome. The improved physical condition has translated over into every other area of my life. I feel better than I have in a long time and even though I’ve been slacking off in the last phase a little bit lately, I’m going to finish the program and write a full summary of my experience here.
Wealth: I have been digesting a lot of material on wealth-building which is nothing new for me. I study internet marketing and ways to create wealth no matter what anyway. But what I’ve really changed is the small steps I’ve taken to invest in my future. I never really looked at having my investment plan in order before the past couple of months. I opened a higher-than-average return savings account and an investment account with ING Direct/Sharebuilder and have started looking into ways I can save more and contribute to my retirement savings more actively. This is an area I have neglected for a long time and feel so relieved to finally be learning more about it at this stage in my life. In addition, I have been killing it with my study of internet marketing recently and I’m at the point where I’m ready to really throw everything I’ve learned into practice within the scope of what’s doable for me. In any case, I have a great desire to put more effort into what I want to be a very successful business one day.
Relationships: I recently separated from my wife of 4 years. Yes, it’s sad but true. We still care a great deal for each other, but it was time to make a change and move on. Fortunately for me, I have taken great strides to not mope around on this loss. Instead I see it as an opportunity to become a master at all the social skills I have left underdeveloped all this time. I am a HUGE fan of pickup theory and evolutionary psychology. Being “single” again gives me the chance to go out meet new women and friends and really learn more about myself and others in a practical environment. What was once sadness has now been replaced with the understanding of patience and anticipation for the adventures to come in my life.
Miscellaneous: I’m starting back to college in February for a degree in Computer Information Technology. I’m not overly excited about it because I know it will probably take more of my precious time than anything else. But I do want to finish my Bachelor’s degree and my GI Bill will more than cover the expense. I also know it will greatly enhance my resume and give me the golden “something to fall back on” egg.
I know you haven’t heard from me in a while, and these are the reasons why. I’ve been investing in myself and my future a great deal. This article is about that very topic: Self-improvement in all areas at all costs.
It’s easy to just sit around the house all day and play PS3. I go through many days where I do that as well. But throughout my time, I’m very conscious of taking little steps to ensure success will be commonplace in my life. Here’s a little bit of what I’ve learned recently:
1. You HAVE to invest something, whether you want to or not. You have to invest time, money, resources, focus and energy just for starters into whatever outcome you desire in your life and there’s no way around this. You may say “I don’t have to invest anything.”, but in all fairness you are then investing in whatever it is that you are choosing to spend your life doing by not actively pursuing the things that you REALLY want. Time is the most precious of these. The time I spend mindlessly web surfing and playing PS3 is time I could be spending building my blog, internet business, and getting things done that have more priority in my life. This is a habit I am working on improving into something more manageable.
2. Don’t be afraid of failure. I fail all the time. I’ve even written an entire article dedicated to not caring about failure. The thing is to not consider small setbacks failures, but instead to frame them as feedback. Dwelling on setbacks is failure. Correcting them and improving in those areas is inevitable to success. Know the difference and implement it.
3. Evaluate the weak areas of your life and see where you can improve. This one has been big for me and it’s the entire premise of this website and a philosophy I live my life by. What is dragging you down and really feels out of order in your life? Health, Wealth, or Relationships? If one is out of balance from the other two, you will feel it. It may even get to the point where it begins to affect the other areas of your life in a negative way. Find weaknesses and take those initial steps to improve them.
4. Maintain and build upon your strengths. This one is easily accomplished. Best example: My fitness and diet habits have consistently yo-yo’d throughout my life. I’ve gone through many periods of being in shape, working out and eating right. These would then be followed by me settling for my physical condition and then allowing myself to eat junk food and not work out as much resulting in me getting out of shape and having to work hard just to get back to where I was. Now that I’m in a good position with my fitness and diet, I am making it a priority to stay there. I even let myself indulge a little bit with dessert and the occasional beer. Moderation in indulgence is okay. Just don’t let it ruin the habits that got you the success in the first place.
5. Make a plan. This can be an improvement to whatever plan you have in place now or a start from scratch manifesto. Just get something down on paper. I went through Tony Robbins’ Get The Edge program a couple of months ago and it was eye-opening. I was able to write down what I really wanted in life, set timelines of when I wanted to get there and immediately begin taking action towards those goals.
6. Be CONSISTENT. Half of the game is just showing up. Once you have your plan and action steps set up, follow them with conviction. You might get sidetracked or derailed, but keep pushing. A little effort is better than no effort at all. It definitely helps to have the right people around you as well. Try to maintain a peer group who consistently moves towards goals similar to what you are trying to accomplish and this makes your successful progression almost inevitable.
If you’re slacking on yourself and what you want, don’t wait until January to get cracking away on your dreams. January 1st is not a fresh start, but just a date like any other date. Get your fresh start now. Even if you take small steps only, they will still be small steps in the right direction.
Embrace The Failure!
Is that title a bit scary?
If you think so, then let me refresh and then reframe you a bit.
I have been stinking it up so far for my goals this year. I have lost money on Adwords doing campaigns for the Arbitrage Conspiracy and Clickbank. I have all but abandoned my exercise and diet program. My relationships with friends and family have come in second as I try to touch all my goals and barely scrape the surface of any of them. I am trying to do too much and by doing that falling into some of the very traps I have warned you about. Things seem to be going bad so far this year right?
Although I get a little discouraged at times, I don’t think so. The very first day I tried out some of the tips from Infomillionaire, I made a sale. Then it happened again the next day. I thought I was awesome. Then from the second sale came my first refund. I was ridiculously disappointed as if somehow I had something to do with someone being unhappy with a product I didn’t create. After a few days of disappointment on spending on ads and getting no sales, I had a breakthrough weekend: 4 sales, and my first 2-sale day. Since then: NOTHING. All things considered, I haven’t even broken even on what I’ve spent for ads on this campaign. But the biggest victory for me is that I have learned how to set up a campaign, and I have made SALES. The psychological barrier of making that first sale online is out of the way for me. Now I just have to continue to tweak and refine how I do things so that my business will go in the other direction and turn profit in this department. Another good note is that I’ve been discussing this business with a friend and he’s turned a couple of affiliate commissions already as well, which makes me happy that I can help someone.
As far as the Arbitrage Conspiracy goes, it’s got a similar theme. I haven’t been able to turn out as many campaigns as I would have liked so far. I have gotten a lot of VALUABLE information from them though. They have made this course very informative so far. I have learned a lot about writing ads and doing research. I can’t wait to see what the coming weeks bring. I have made a grand total of 3 conversions the last time I checked doing this program. NOT a lot. But I believe I can do better.
I feel like I haven’t put my best foot forward and I’m hoping to change all that by focusing a little more on one thing at a time. I’m stretching myself a bit thin between my commitments. In the beginning I thought I’d only play around with the Infomillionaire stuff and focus completely on Arbitrage. That’s what I want to get back to now because after the initial successful conversion rate I wanted to push harder. Now I know it’s the time to draw back and pay a bit more attention where it’s due. Arbitrage will be my biggest focus now.
I also have school to think about. I am back at The University of Phoenix after a brief stint away. I enjoy the classes and I think they really give me some great ideas. I’ve already taken away a few gems from my first week of class I can apply to my business and my life.
I also joined Bally’s Fitness with my wife last night. It will give us some quality time together to grow closer this year and reach our fitness goals in the process.
Why talk about all these mini-failures? I promised I would share my journey with you. I feel like after all these “how to be excellent” articles I’ve written, I should also share the other side of it. There’s a valuable lesson in this though: You have to be able to take the bad with the good, and keep moving FORWARD.
I don’t get too bent out of shape over my failures and setbacks. They are part of the game. If you are really trying to accomplish something, roadblocks will get in your way. It’s inevitable. The thing that will be necessary is to fight through the failure until the only outcome left is success. I truly believe that and that is why I persevere through setbacks, losing money, and spending every waking moment thinking about my goals.
Anybody who is familiar with Arnold Schwarzenegger knows his theory on the “pain period”. If you can push through the pain on your way to a goal, you will not only accomplish it but more than likely blow it out of the water. The thing is that most people move away from pain and/or towards pleasure. It’s the animal condition in all of us. Most successful people embrace pain and failure and realize it’s just a part of the road to success.
Another thing to realize is that through your efforts, you probably haven’t failed as much as you think or even at all. I realize all the little things my efforts have gotten me. My site is starting to get more readers. My SEO efforts have gotten me a Pagerank of 2/10. It was “No Pagerank Available” last year, so not too bad for a part-time blogger! I have learned a lot about the business and continue to do so. I was 220 pounds at one point last year and I am much lighter (around 195) now. My relationships have been through many ups and downs in the last 2 years and right now I feel very blessed to be in the position I am in with the quality of people I have in my life. Even though I am working my butt off to the neglect of those I love sometimes, they are still there for me with support and encouragement.
My message is this: Things are never as bad as they seem. Don’t EVER give up chasing your dreams. Do what you have to do. Refine your processes. Always try to do better, get better, be more. The things that may seem like failures in your life may be successes in more ways than you can realize. A year from now, how will I look back on this post? My best guess is as a step I had to climb to reach another level of success.
Don’t be overwhelmed when looking at the size of the stairwell you will have to climb on the way to your own personal success. No matter how you look at it, you will still have to take it one step at a time. Why not get started?
Are you ready for 2009?
First up, let me say that I hope you enjoyed your holidays as much as I enjoyed mine. I spent some quality time with my wife and daughters and the rest of our family and had more fun than I’ve had in a long time! As Christmas passed, the New Year loomed large in my mind and my goals, resolutions, or wants(pick your poison) came to the forefront of my focus.
I saw a very influential video that Frank Kern put out to promote his new Infomillionaire product. It was titled How To Get Rich: A Guaranteed Approach. After an entertaining Cribs-style video, Frank gave a 4 step plan on getting rich. It had some excellent points that really rang true with me. Most importantly:
1. Being specific about your goals i.e. KNOW YOUR OUTCOME
2. Developing a plan, sticking to it, and BELIEVING it will work
My favorite quote from the video: “Rich people believe that what they’re doing is going to work. Successful and wealthy people never begin a project and say ‘This probably isn’t going to work, but what the hell’!”
This really got me thinking about what I want in 2009. I determined that my goals for the big 3 in my life this year will be the following:
Health: Get to a weight of 180 pounds or lower while consistently going to the gym and eating a balanced diet.
Wealth: Create an internet marketing company that nets $500k this year through CPA arbitrage, affiliate commissions for digital products, creation and sales of digital products, ad commissions, and various other income streams.
Relationships: Build on and improve the relationships I have with the loved ones in my life while continuing to meet cool, inspirational, and successful new people to learn from and grow with.
Miscellaneous: Read 3 good fiction books and travel to 3 cool places this year.
I tried to be as specific as possible and it has really helped my focus and drive so far. My internet marketing efforts thus far have been met with a lot of failure, but I am learning a lot and I understand that failure is refining the way I do things so that I am moving towards success.
My wealth node is my biggest focus this year. I am in the Arbitrage Conspiracy to learn the best CPA tactics available and I also picked up the Infomillionaire system to get me started and moving in the right direction as far as my digital product efforts. Not to mention I am starting back with college again to round out my career aspirations just a bit more. I have specific goals in place, great teachers and knowledge to draw from, and the drive and motivation to push through failure and meet my goals NO MATTER WHAT.
Why am I telling you this? I am giving you a blueprint similar to what Frank discussed about getting rich. If you follow the 4 steps he gave in the video… (which are):
1. Know your outcome and begin developing a plan of action to go and get it.
2. Believe that what you are doing is going to work.
3. Work hard.
4. Sell what rich people are selling and do the same business they are doing.
….there is no way you can fail! If you have goals for your relationships or health, then just adjust Step 4 into: Model and do what healthy or social people are doing.
What are your goals for 2009? Have you clearly defined them? Are you developing a plan of action to get them? Are you willing to do WHATEVER IT TAKES?
Get going. I will share my successes and failures(learning lessons) with you as we go through this year together. Please don’t hesitate to drop a comment and share yours as well so we can learn from each other.
My best wishes for your successes and mine for 2009.
Clark
The Number One Way You Can Improve Yourself Today
One of the things I am constantly trying to do in my life is improve. There are many ways to do this in each area I want to improve. If I want to lose weight, lose fat, and/or gain muscle, I know I can lift weights, do cardio, and change my diet accordingly. If I want to have more relationships I put myself in social situations and push myself to meet new people and social circles, or even just build upon the relationships I already have in my life. If I want more money, I have to either work harder or work smarter in some way to increase my income. I made these all sound very simple, and the truth is that they are not that simple. There are small steps, tactics, methods, and techniques to doing each that can very well make the process successful or not. The one way I most improve my life in anything that I undertake to do is this: READ.
If you are not reading regularly, then start. Education, and more importantly, self-education is the number one way to ensuring success or improvement in any area of your life. I have purchased and borrowed books, read blogs, looked at internet forums, and talked to people better than myself to improve in all 3 of these areas and that is how I continue to approach each one every day. I have always done this to some extent throughout my life, but I remember having an epiphany about it a while back. It came while (no surprise) I was reading!
I was reading Mark Cuban’s blog and he listed reading as possibly the biggest key to his success. He said that he thought that since every book and magazine out there was just sitting there for anyone to pick up that everyone would have all of this information and it would be worthless. But then he noticed that no one consumed the amount of information he did, and that he could compile it and come up with brilliant ideas for his business and his life. He said he still averages around 3 hours of reading time a day. I realized at that time I read a lot and that the more I read, the more valuable ideas I got. If I read AND implemented what I learned, then I got even more.
It really takes a lot of effort for some people to admit to themselves that they need to improve something in their life and sometimes twice as much to actually getting around to doing something about it. Taking the time and effort to actually get a book or do a Google search on a subject and read up on how you can improve is that first big step. If you really want to fix that nagging issue in your life, here are a few pointers:
1. Make a list of things that you are unhappy with or would like to improve. Identify which one irks you the most and make a conscious decision to get that area of your life handled and under control.
2. Begin your search: ask some friends who have conquered a similar problem, do an internet search, go to the bookstore, or drop in at the library. Find out the best book or books to read and get some information on how to improve yourself in that particular area. Buy or borrow.
3. Actually READ! Read all at once or a chapter a day, whichever you are comfortable with. If you get good ideas (which tends to happen when you’re reading), write them down and go over them at your leisure.
4. Develop a plan to implement. This could be a diet/workout regimen, a social calendar with missions to meet new people, or a plan to get a raise/start your own business.
5. Implement the plan and make observations. Experiment a little bit. Notice what works and what doesn’t and start phasing out what doesn’t. Don’t be afraid to ask someone you trust for help if you need it. If you don’t have anyone, consider getting a mentor.
6. Continue to read and feed yourself good information and come up with ideas for what you are trying to accomplish. More knowledge can only give you new perspective on your quest.
So go out, pick up a good book, and take action to making things better for yourself. It’s your life and you only get one, so make it count!
