On a scale from 1-10, how would you rate your business and mindset right now? Do you think you’re thriving or could you use an injection of excitement, innovation, and increased profits?
If you’re like most Internet marketers I know, then it’s never quite enough. You always want to do better. You’re either in a mindset slump or you need a pump-up.
It’s hard to think of new ways to get reinvigorated, though. Still, why do so many of us settle for doing “just good enough” in our business and having a “good enough” mindset?
I’ve studied this phenomenon for several years now, and I think the biggest piece to the puzzle of success is mindset. You’d be financially set for life if you could snap your fingers and get in the perfect mindset to do more, create more, and be more consistent.
Nothing about this is impossible. But, you put barriers in your own path. We turn the tasks we do in our business into monsters. It seems impossible to get more traffic. It seems like trying to find the Holy Grail to getting more subscribers. It seems like an impossible dream to reach that next income bracket.
But, it’s not impossible. People who are technically less intelligent than you do it all the time. What’s the secret?
Often, it’s simply that they do more than you and have a better mindset. They create more than you. They don’t let things get in their way as much as you do. They might not spend more time at the computer than you and they certainly don’t shed more blood, sweat, and tears than you do. But, they do have one thing figured out— they know how to produce a lot in a short period of time and they constantly work on their mindset or have a naturally positive one.
Getting traffic? It’s no problem at all for these people. They don’t even think about following steps they know will lead to increased traffic. They don’t even mind paying for traffic, if they have a mindset of confidence that it will almost always lead to profits higher than the expenses.
Earning more money? It’s easy for them— they know how to do X, Y, and Z to take their income to wherever they want it to go.
Getting more subscribers? They know the “secret” formula and they aren’t worried about putting it into action.
Again, it’s not that these more successful marketers are any better or smarter than you are. They are simply less afraid. They don’t let typical fears and issues set them back. They aren’t afraid to push themselves and take their business to the next level. They’re able to instantly shut emotions and fears off and just get in and get out to do what they need to do to earn more and grow a larger base of customers and subscribers.
Some of these very successful marketers really had to work to get to this place. I can’t tell you how many times I wanted to release products and earn more earlier on in my career. Now, I’m at a place many envy— I consistently release popular products and have incredible relationships with JV partners, affiliates, and my customers.
But, there’s a big difference between me and some of the other successful marketers out there. Some of them simply don’t understand why other people struggle to have a breakthrough in their business. I think some of those successful marketers do others a disservice because they’ve lost touch with the typical IM’er, if they ever were in touch to begin with.
I’ve seen good marketers come and go. I’ve seen people get burned out. I’ve seen really smart people give up before they even get started. I’ve seen others that seemed much less brilliant succeed so well that it honestly has astonished me.
Challenging Yourself Is the Secret
What’s the secret to those who finally have their mindset and productivity breakthrough? It’s often that they take the time to challenge themselves and they have a great mindset while doing it.
I’ve thought about these problems and what I can do to help. I do a lot of work in investigating the typical mindset of the Internet marketer. You could call that my specialty, because I think it’s so important.
It was really weighing on my mind that people were struggling so much to get traffic, subscribers, and customers and have such a poor mindset as either a cause or result. It was really heavy on my heart that people really wanted to work but couldn’t seem to get motivated to follow through with anything.
Now, you should know something about me. I’m a very competitive person. Though I teach, “good enough is good enough”, that’s for product creation, to encourage people to avoid the trap of striving for perfection and get products done and on the market.
However when it comes to personal excellence, good enough isn’t good enough. I’m constantly pushing myself to do better. Whether it’s as simple as an affiliate contest (with or without prizes, it doesn’t matter) or earnings, I like to keep improving, month in and month out, year in and year out.
That’s why I came up with the idea of challenging yourself to put you in the mindset of success and do incredible things for your business. You’ll be training yourself to adopt a pattern of success.
There’s something really cool about challenges in that they take you out of the status quo. They put you in a different, more fun, mindset. It’s almost like you’re playing a game and you know you’re going to win.
When there’s a challenge present and the deck is stacked in your favor, you’re more likely to follow through. When there’s some kind of task that you know is very likely to pay off for you in a big way, you’re more likely to follow through. When there’s a time limit, you’re more likely to work harder and push your mind to do things you didn’t think you’d be able to do.
That’s why I recommend you think of your biggest problems or hold ups in business or what earns you the most in your business. Design a challenge for yourself that makes your heart pump faster with excitement. Challenges are fun and give you an instant mindset boost. You’re going to be able to earn more, do more, get more subscribers, grow your expertise, and establish yourself in your marketplace.
Challenges are something you can do whether you’re brand new or are very experienced in the world of Internet Marketing. Doing this honestly adds a lot of fun to your business. It takes you out of the ordinary and takes a lot of the pressure off. It’s something new and different you can do to shake things up a bit— and that’s something we all need every now and then.
How Challenges Help You Grow
Your business, no matter how great it is, can’t stay the same forever. You have to innovate, take risks, and pay attention to what works right now. You also have to maintain a mindset that keeps you open to new ideas. You have to want to push forward to succeed more, earn more, and reach more customers, no matter what.
Sometimes, that means shaking things up a bit. Many people thrive on a life where they do the same thing every day— a routine. I enjoy sticking to a fairly regular routine myself. But, there are days where I crave more. I know that to take my business to the next level, I need to take some time to stretch my mind to the limits to see what’s really possible.
That’s the thing— you may have a routine that works and maybe you’re even earning a solid income. But how much more could you be earning? How much better could your work be? How many more subscribers could you have? There are always ways to improve what you’re doing.
It’s really hard to get there if you’re stuck in the same patterns and headspace. It takes a pattern interrupt to help you see that there are different, often easier, ways of improving your business. Challenges are a pattern interrupt.
Consider how much you’ve grown in the time you’ve been in business. You’re different than you were when you first started out. Your business is different, too. If you analyze the situation, the biggest changes have probably come as you pushed yourself to grow and tried new things.
It hasn’t always been easy and it hasn’t always been comfortable. But, it’s always been worth it— even when you’ve made mistakes. You’re here now because you’ve dusted yourself off time and time again and have proved that you are someone who’s going to make it big in this business.
Now, it’s time for you to take it to the next level. You’re going to try things you’ve never tried before. You’re going to push yourself in ways you’ve never even considered. Your business is absolutely going to improve when you design a business challenge for yourself to complete.
Challenges Allow You To Front Load Your Work
Have you ever tackled a project that seemed to drag on and on— you thought you’d never get it finished? You eventually got it done (or maybe not), but it took way too long. Whether the payoff was bigger or smaller than you expected, the process itself was disappointing.
In contrast, have you ever tackled a project that seemed to fly by? You were “on,” excited, creative, and passionate. You felt like nothing could stop you, and nothing could. The process was incredible and you’d become an instant millionaire if you could bottle that feeling.
I want you to have more of the latter and less of the former. Have you ever heard that projects tend to take as long as we allow them to take? Meaning, if you give yourself an unlimited amount of time to work on something, it’s going to take a long, long time— especially if you’re not super motivated to get it done.
If you have a compressed amount of time to work, that same project can be completed in a shockingly short period of time. The difference is mindset— and the fact that you’ve given yourself a deadline you’re motivated to meet.
I’m not saying you can write an ebook in 2 minutes or anything, but I am telling you that you can challenge yourself to write one in a day and succeed. You could even write an entire ebook, the sales copy, and get it up and making sales in a day.
Your challenges have to find the balance between being completely, humanly impossible (but who’s to say what that is?) and reasonable. At the same time, you have to push yourself into doing things you never thought you’d do before. You have to challenge yourself to write those 20 articles or make those 20 YouTube videos… and you have to give yourself a solid, almost scary, time limit to do it in.
There are so many great things about challenging yourself in this way. One of the best things is that this allows you to front load your work. Wouldn’t you rather complete an ebook in a day instead of having it take weeks or months? Wouldn’t you rather get all of your traffic generation for the next two weeks done in one day?
All work and no play makes for a dull guy or girl. Challenge yourself in ways that are profitable and exciting and you can front load your work. You’ll probably earn more money while working less and getting to do more of the things you love. You really can’t beat that, right?
Make Work Exciting
It’s a shame, but even the Internet marketing lifestyle wears on you sometimes. It’s a great thing to be able to make money from the computer. It’s something that wasn’t even possible just a short time ago but now anyone can do this.
It’s easy to fall in love with sales letters that promise you unlimited riches at the push of a button. But we quickly see the reality of the situation— sure, we’re working online, but we’re still working hard.
Not to mention that the work can sometimes get monotonous. You have to do things to drive traffic and woo your customers. You have to write articles, communicate on social media, and more. You have to do some repetitive tasks and some tasks that are just downright boring. Sure, you really like some aspects of Internet marketing, but the chances that you love every single part of it are slim to none.
That’s why it’s a great idea to add some excitement to the mix. Challenges are a lot like a game you play with yourself. Can you really record an audio that you turn into a video, podcast, marketing email, and website article? Can you really do 10 of those in a day? You might not be so sure right now, but you sure as heck want to try.
It’s time to make marketing exciting again. You don’t have to desperately follow the same plan day in and day out. It’s time to follow a plan that’s going to put a smile on your face and make your blood pump a bit faster.
Get Yourself Motivated
It’s one thing for me to tell you that you should be getting excited about the challenge you decide to complete, but it’s another thing altogether for you to actually be excited.
It’s time for you to find your motivation. There’s a reason you’re excited about challenging yourself right now.
There’s a reason you’re in business in the first place. There’s a reason you’ve chosen the specific area of marketing you’ve invested your time in. There’s a reason you really want to challenge yourself to do more and earn more.
Figure out what that very specific reason is for you. Maybe it’s that you want to pay off your debt. Maybe you want to save up for your child’s college fund. Maybe you want a shortcut for making a name for yourself in your niche.
It can really help if you write your reason down. Revisit this reason before you dive into each challenge. That will help keep you motivated and get you into the right mindset.
Also, remember that we are fairly simple as humans, as complex as we sometimes feel. Give yourself a really juicy reward for completing each challenge you come up with and you’ll be a lot more likely to push yourself to follow through.
Reach for the Moon and You’ll Land among the Stars
Some of the challenges you dream up might seem so hard it scares you. Others might seem easier, but will hopefully still stretch you from your daily routine. What do you do when it seems like a particular accomplishment seems out of reach?
It’s sometimes a case of reaching for the moon and landing among the stars. It’s fine to aim, really, really high. You can do everything in your power to reach as high as you want.
The first time around, you might land among the stars. The second time around, you might make it even further. Eventually, you might land on the moon, but the stars were pretty great too.
The point here is that the journey is half the benefit. By challenging yourself, you’re going to learn so much about yourself and your business. You can keep trying to achieve that 4-minute mile. It’s still pretty great to run a mile in 4 minutes and 30 seconds, right? It’s something you didn’t think was possible before. Eventually, you might reach that moon, reach that 4-minute mile, but the point is going through the challenge and getting a lot done for your business as a result.
Again, if you create challenges to complete in your business, there’s no way you won’t see incredible benefits. There’s no way you won’t get more traffic, more customers, a bigger list, and more recognition, unless you tryreally hard to screw things up along the way.
Following through with challenges works to boost your mindset and business, and that’s the plain truth. It’s impossible to follow through with challenging yourself and not succeed— in ways that may really surprise you. Allow yourself to reach and dream and you’ll see out of this world results you never thought would come your way.
Example Challenges
You might challenge yourself to:
· Write a 5,000 word ebook in a day
· Set up a blog and write 5 pieces of content in a day
· Write 10 articles in a day
· Record 5 videos in a day
· Record 5 podcast episodes in a day
· Contact 20 potential JV partners in a day
· Write a short book for Kindle in a day
What can you dream up? Get excited about your challenge, work hard to complete the challenge, and get an instant boost in mindset and success.