Monday September 10th, 2007: Issue #839
One of the biggest gulfs in the world - wider than the Grand Canyon - is the gap between your intention to take action and the reality of actually getting off your backside and doing something about it.
Don’t worry - I’m not singling you out. Almost everyone I know suffers from the problem. In fact, I think I only know less than a handful of people who DON’T suffer from it.
Whoever said, ‘The road to hell is paved with good intentions’ had it right on the money. None of us MEAN to let things slide, they just do.
How many times have you said ‘I’ll give you a call’ or ‘Let’s have lunch’ and never done anything about it? How many emails have you MEANT to reply to, but just forgot? How many friends have you lost contact with because you didn’t take the action needed to keep in touch?
And how many opportunities have you let slip through your fingers because NOT taking action was so much easier than taking it? Even though you started out with every intention to really make it happen this time?
It is the human way. I do it, you do it and everyone reading this does it to some extent.
It goes way beyond simple procrastination and it drives me nuts!
If I’d actually done even a tenth of the things that I’d intended to do over the years my life would be vastly different (I don’t know if it would have been better, just different) and I’m sure yours would too. And yet we don’t seem to learn the lesson.
Well maybe we can.
My resolution for today is to ‘Take More Action’. One day at a time I intend to turn more of my intentions into realities. Starting with this one.
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I figured out how to turn my Second Life Avatar into a man and to put some clothes on him. Wooha!
But I’m still trapped on a tiny island where all the signs are in Spanish and all the other inhabitants seem to speak Spanish. I’ve checked that ‘English’ is specified in my preferences and tried everything I can to see if I can change my starting point, but to no avail.
I suspect that if I want to be bothered to get into Second Life I may need to erase it from my computer and start over.
For now, though, my First Life is exciting enough.
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A big thank you to everyone who wrote to tell me that they’d bought Michael Green’s 20/20 course that teaches how he made $20,000 in 20 days. Between Michael and me we seem to have a complete list now.
And he has completely revamped his affiliate program so that the link now tracks as it should.
I mentioned above that there are only a very few people that I’ve ever met who don’t appear to have a huge gulf between their intentions and their realities. Michael Green is one of that tiny number. He is a man who has an amazing ability to set himself targets and then work single-mindedly towards achieving them.
His ability to focus so efficiently has brought his immense success in almost everything he has done - and makes him an ideal tutor for anyone who wants to emulate that success. He is successful because he has a great ability to break tasks down into manageable steps and then follow those steps right through to their successful outcome.
His 20/20 course is just like that. He devised a plan to make $20,000 in 20 days, then put that plan into action to prove that it works. In fact, he proved to himself that it would work for anyone, regardless of experience.
Only then did he decide to offer to teach his methods to others.
Here is what Michael wrote in a forum post recently:
“The 20/20 Challenge is indeed intended for people of all internet marketing abilities. The skills required are straight forward enough, it’s the implementation that counts.
I walk owners through every step of the way in just 20 days (or you can take longer if you prefer) and I provide all the information you need to do everything, including finding JV partners and writing a good sales letter.”
In another forum post Michael was asked if there is any other investment required beyond the purchase price of the 20/20 course. His reply:
“Fortunately there isn’t any great back-end investment required once you’ve purchased The 20/20 Challenge. In fact all you’ll require is a domain name and some hosting space. Perhaps $3 to $4 per month depending on which hosting provider you use. I personally like GoDaddy.com
Other than that the trick is nothing to do with spending money on advertising and there are no other products mentioned back-end that you’ll require, other than your PLR product which you’ll purchase off the shelf (start at around $2 and don’t go much higher than $7 and you’ll need one or two).”
All I’ve seen of Michael’s 20/20 product is an outline so far. I haven’t yet seen the final product (which doesn’t launch until September 29th). But from what I have seen in the outline, and from what I know of Michael and his methods, this will be a good investment. Especially as if you buy it before the launch deadline, the price is substantially reduced.
Take a good look at Michael’s web page for more information and then imagine what you could use $20,000 for.
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My daughter just sent me one of those emails that you are supposed to send on to all your friends. I never do send them on and think that whole ‘if you break the chain you’ll get bad luck’ is horrible.
However, the story in the email did appeal to me so I’ll reproduce it here. Without the warnings about not sending it on!
His name was Fleming, and he was a poor Scottish farmer. One day, while trying to make a living for his family, he heard a cry for help coming from a nearby bog. He dropped his tools and ran to the bog.
There, mired to his waist in black muck, was a terrified boy, screaming and struggling to free himself. Farmer Fleming saved the lad from what could have been a slow and terrifying death.
The next day, a fancy carriage pulled up to the Scotsman’s sparse surroundings An elegantly dressed nobleman stepped out and introduced himself as the father of the boy Farmer Fleming had saved.
“I want to repay you,” said the nobleman. “You saved my son’s life.”
“No, I can’t accept payment for what I did,” the Scottish farmer replied waving off the offer. At that moment, the farmer’s own son came to the door of the family hovel.
“Is that your son?” the nobleman asked.
“Yes,” the farmer replied proudly.
“I’ll make you a deal. Let me provide him with the level of education my own son will enjoy. If the lad is anything like his father, he’ll no doubt grow to be a man we both will be proud of.” And that he did.
Farmer Fleming’s son attended the very best schools and in time, graduated from St. Mary’s Hospital Medical School in London, and went on to become known throughout the world as the noted Sir Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of Penicillin.
Years afterward, the same nobleman’s son who was saved from the bog was stricken with pneumonia.
What saved his life this time? Penicillin.
The name of the nobleman? Lord Randolph Churchill. His son’s name? Sir Winston Churchill.
Someone once said: What goes around comes around.
Work like you don’t need the money.
Love like you’ve never been hurt.
Dance like nobody’s watching.
Sing like nobody’s listening.
Live like it’s Heaven on Earth.
[Note from Martin: The above story is a complete load of nonsense. Fleming did grow up on a remote Scottish farm, but he went to London to study at age 14 because his older brother (a doctor) was already there. There is no evidence that anyone outside his family paid his way. Winston Churchill was struck down with pneumonia but was treated with drugs completely unrelated to penicillin.
Don’t believe everything you read in emails!]
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An Inspirational Thought
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Look Well to This Day
(Anonymous, 50 B.C.)
Look well to this day,
For it and it alone is life.
In its brief course
Lie all the essence of your existence:
The Glory of Growth
The Satisfaction of Achievement
The Splendor of Beauty
For yesterday is but a dream,
And tomorrow is but a vision.
But today well lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness,
And every tomorrow a vision of hope.
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Who do you know who would love Kickstart Today?
Don’t keep it to yourself - send them to
http://www.kickstartdaily.com today!
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The Quote of the Day
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Carl Sandburg said,
“Time is the coin you have in life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you.”
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Today’s Power Thought
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When you are feeling lost for ideas, here’s a good trick that I often use myself.
Go shopping!
Not to buy anything, you understand, but to shop for ideas.
Wander around and ask yourself questions.
* How would I go about attracting more people to this shop?
* How could I get people to buy more here?
* Why have certain items been placed where they are? What is the thinking behind the displays?
And look at specific items:
* How could I improve that? What could be added to make it better?
* Could that be combined with something else I’ve seen in another shop?
* Who are the manufacturers aiming that at?
Exercise your curiosity!
I find the best places for doing this are antique shops - where you can ask yourself questions about all kinds of strange looking things that you really have no idea what they were for! Shops that sell a wide array of designer knick-knacks are great too - odd door handles, strange shelving units … you know the kind of places.
Your thinking and your questions will be driven by who you are. I’m a marketing man, so that is usually my first line of thought, but it is good if you can start to get into the habit of asking yourself questions that are outside of your experience.
Remember - you don’t have to come up with the RIGHT answers, just stimulate your mind to come up with ANY answers.
And the cardinal rule is this: take a notebook! Jot down everything that occurs to you. These random notes will guarantee that next time your mind runs dry you will have plenty of ammunition to prime the well. (Pardon the mixed metaphors!)
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Fascinating Facts
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In WWII airships (dirigibles) came to be known as blimps.
The reason was that there were two types of dirigible, designated as
A-rigid
B-limp.
Naturally, blimp stuck.