4 Keys To Success In Anything

Welcome Back! We've already uncovered the reasons why building your platform and an audience that loves you (brand loyalty) is something you need to do. No matter what your product or service, to do that, one thing you must first recognize is that people don't just buy WHAT you do, they buy WHY you do it. Simon Sinek said this beautifully in his Ted X presentation. I take it a step further with my concept of a 3D Brand which also includes the aspect of HOW, which you'll learn about later... It still baffles me how few people have actually clarified any kind of defining purpose or vision, mission statement of any kind, for any part of their life. Really. As an Expert/Artist or Personal brand this should be the driving force of your brand and everything you do as a business.

You Need a Focused Plan of Action My strategy, and the strategy you are in the process of implementing is to clarify things on a higher level, and then dial In and consistently execute on a focused plan of action. You have to see the big picture, (the forrest) understand and define clear objectives, form the plan, and THEN start working on the trees. First things first. You are Building A Brand. To leverage the tools and resources we have to understand how and where we can gain the competitive advantage, narrow down into that, and EXECUTE... Learn, than implement. BUT also execute highly optimized strategies, in highly efficient ways. In order to compete today, the consistency is as important as superior strategy, and both are required. For Modern Content Creators, you need to see your efforts online as building a BRAND. It is a multi-faceted, leveraged set of higher level objectives to create a viable, and uniquely appealing online presence that attracts and engages an audience to build a loyal audience and strengthen your platform.

The Four Keys To Success in ANYTHING There are Four Basic Keys that when combined, and consciously developed, can unlock anything you want. Again, this stuff almost sounds too good to be true... But make no mistake about it, it IS true... Just remember, although it may sound simple, it is certainly NOT easy. Otherwise everyone would have everything they ever wanted. Right? ...Yesterday you met your best friends, Clarity and Focus. You got acquainted with them through the process of defining your Purpose, Vision, Mission, and Goals. You may or may not understand the power and impact they can have on virtually every aspect of your world just yet, but you've at least committed something to paper by completing your first real assignment and answering the four mission critical questions. Today, you are going to learn about the other two non-tangible parts in the equation of doing great things, at a very practical level. Let's start by touching on the first two.

1) Clarity Clarify what you want to do, for whom, why, and then also what you want out of the business you are creating. What the lifestyle you want to live looks like, and what involvement and activities you'll actually be doing at that point. Clarity is critical to the next step and will greatly accelerate the entire process, but it CANNOT replace the second key, or do it's job.

2) Focus Of course i'm talking about FOCUS. I don't mean partial, sort of distracted-checking Facebook, your email, talking on the phone while ticking off trivial to-do's... I mean TOTAL Focus. Single focus on one objective, one mission at a time. As you go through this course I want you to understand that when you are assigned a mission, that mission is a start to end process. Even if you have to break it up into multiple pieces, it is first and foremost a completely undistracted exercise in total singular focus. Again, that means uninterrupted immersion, and consciously directed attention throughout the process, solving any problems as well as noticing any important insights along the way. The only thing that really exists is THAT mission. You are prepared, have all the right tools and you have structured your environment through self-management, self-discipline, and blocked out periods of uninterrupted time to do the heavy lifting you've been putting off or keep getting distracted from. You gotta do the right things, and you gotta do them the right way. It's not complicated. It's simple. It's not easy. It's hard. What happens is often times we forget that THIS certain way of doing things is like a muscle that if not exercised can atrophy and weaken... ALL the way up to the point where we are almost unABLE to focus on a singular thing, and become trapped in the perpetual cycle of marketing messages, media stimuli, and endless barrage of meaningless communications-likely from people stuck in the same state. It really does take courage, discipline, and persistence to detach from this cycle of unconscious, interrupt driven behavioral patterns and choose to devote our conscious energy and powers of focus on something that matters at the deepest level. Something that is inspirational, and something that naturally draws you to it. This is your purpose. Many of us have locked that down, or are not EXACTLY sure what the ultimate, OVERALL purpose is, (which is fine) but have in intuitive sense of knowing that this is the right thing for them to be doing at this time. If not, no problem, go back to the starting point (the last lesson) and complete the mission. Remember. It will likely evolve and progress in many ways, but what's important is that you get something written down right now. So make sure you do that. Progress not perfection.

3) Knowledge & Skills The third key, and here's where it gets even more fun, SKILLS. Everything you ever want to do can be reduced down to a learnable skill. While some may have higher aptitudes in some areas than others, our value, the value we can provide largely comes down to some combination of knowledge and skills. By exercising clarity and focus you can significantly shortcut the process of learning or doing just about anything you can think of. For this journey, to get to YOUR NEXT level, there are certainly required skills, many of which you already have, some of which you don't, all of which are in continuous development. Content Marketing, Market Research, Project Management, and Traffic Generation, are some of the core  knowledge and skills that you are going to be developing in the next 90 days.

4) Habits Once that is established the fourth and FINAL key, the part that will make or break your achievement and ultimately your success, are HABITS. Habits are engrained actions we repeatedly do. Most of them are unconscious, and ALL of us have them. MOST of us even have some bad ones too.. As you are working through this course I want you to work in a very CERTAIN way. You're going to block out 30 min-to-3 hour chunks of time to work uninterrupted on what needs to be done. All you really need to have are two things, you need to have a set TIME when you will commit to doing x work on x project, and you need to know EXACTLY what to do before you go and do it. Of course the things must be done in the right way, and then the process needs to remain active in that you are observing and understanding the feedback you are getting in terms of results.

These two simple things are the basis of effectiveness and the key to getting important stuff done. This stuff is scientific. Better results, if acted upon, are guaranteed. I do make it sound simple, but it there is a PHOENOMONAL amount of obstacles threatening implementation of those two basic functions. In terms of Habits, you only  need to worry about ONE for now. Here it is...

Just disciplining yourself to make your work a process of single focused work blocks that are time slotted and scheduled if necessary. Again, you can do anywhere from 20 minutes to 3 hours depending on how you work best. But before you start working, INSTEAD OF quickly rushing and just starting, wait. Sit there patiently, completely relaxed, not engaging in any of the thoughts rattling around in your brain bucket for 20 minutes. Just stillness. Silence. Peace. ...and then get to it. Start your first block. When you are done with that block, take a little break, and do it again. That's it.

That's the ONLY habit I want you to worry about. Nothing else. !!!!!!! !!!! It's more a "process" at first, but will turn into a habit eventually if you discipline yourself to stick with it. In three months you are going to email me and tell me how amazing the results you're getting are, and Im going to smile and thank you for telling me! But seriously, this will change the way you work, it will make you more productive, focused on more important things, and will affect your entire peace of mind. Do it. Let me know in a few months how it worked for you. Heck, do it and let me know how it works and helps you next WEEK. My favorite thing is to hear of the successes and case studies of those of you using this stuff and seeing good results!

I Practice What I Preach So now that you are going to be working in a CERTAIN way, now, how about the other part... The part where you have to figure out exactly what you have to do before you go and do it... This is a bit more difficult. That's where I come in. After 9 years of trying to figure this out, I finally did. You see, I also walk the walk, and I'm going to teach you how to do this in a very systematic way, and that's what you are actually in the process of going through now! You have seen the bootcamp breakdown and now you are currently weaving along the best path to get you to those outcomes. I want to instill this ability in you. ...Designing the path at a high level all the way down to a practical detail oriented next step. To finish up today's lesson, here is your second solo mission.

================================== Today's Mission: Complete by answering the questions and finishing =============================================================================== *(Hit reply, fill in the blanks)

1) When it all boils down to it, what are the core or Primary SKILLS you continue to develop and master that are most essential to your success as a Modern Content Creator? Try your best to identify them clearly.

2) What habits do you have that you think are helping you, progressing you, and what habits do you have that you think are hindering your progress, or NOT helping you? Again, try to identify them clearly.

3) Next, you are going to establish the time and effort you are able to devote to fully focused work on achieving this specific outcome(s) over the next 90 days. Do you have 1 hour a day to commit to it, 10 hours a week, how much time can you realistically commit? Definition and clarity is POWER.

4) If you are already very busy, you have to ask yourself how many things do I NEED to do, absolutely have to do, and where does getting this outcome ACTUALLY fall in the priority list? Effective Project management is really about PRIORITY management.

*Hint: Always refer back to your vision, purpose, mission, and goals for clarity and focus.

See You Tomorrow.

As always, I welcome your comments, questions, and suggestions. Also, if todays lesson was helpful for you, please share this page with any of your friends, family, or audience that you believe could benefit from it. Circle me on Google+!

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