“Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.”
– Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Contrary to popular belief, having knowledge is NOT power.
It’s the ability to apply that knowledge that provides power.
Put this in terms of business, it doesn’t matter how amazing a business idea is if no action is taken. The perfect system is worthless if it’s not applied.
Action is the key to success.
The successful people in this world didn’t just come up with the ideas that led to their success and then sit there and do nothing. They didn’t just keep saying, “I’ll get to it tomorrow.”
Hundreds, perhaps thousands or millions of people come up amazing ideas every single day! But how many of these ideas do we actually witness coming to life?
Very few of them.
The successful people are the decisive action-takers. They are the ones who act on their ideas. They are the ones who are not content to let those ideas grow old and unused in the dark.
They are the ones who make it happen!
This concept applies not only to business, but to every aspect of life. Keep that in mind while reading this. It just might make the difference between success and failure no matter what path is taken.
Procrastination
Procrastination is THE KILLER of success!
And it’s HUGE problem for most people. In fact, the numbers are shocking. An incredible 26% of people admit to being chronic procrastinators. And 95% of the population procrastinates at least some of the time.
Amazingly, one in five people have such a problem with procrastination that it threatens their job, financial security, relationships, and health.
No one wants to live this way! And no one can truly THRIVE this way.
Yet, the phrase, “I’ll do it tomorrow,” is all too common. But what needs to get done tomorrow never is. It just keeps getting put off.
But WHY do people procrastinate? What leads to them to not take action? There are a few things that can be labeled as the culprit and one or more of these can work together to keep things from getting done:
- There is no clear idea of what to do—there is too much ambiguity
- People feel overwhelmed—they feel like there’s too much to do
- There is too much information—people don’t know where to start, which causes paralysis by analysis
- There is no daily system to build the habit of action—taking action is like working a muscle, it gets stronger when used consistently and it atrophies when it’s not used
But there is a way to break the cycle of inaction. It IS possible to create a habit of taking action that will result in major life changes.
And it all starts with the 3 Cs…
The 3 Cs of Getting More Done
All of the reasons why people procrastinate can be nipped in the bud with three simple, yet powerful concepts:
- Clarity
- Chunking
- Consistency
These three Cs will help clear up ambiguity, break things down into manageable pieces, and create a habit of action that will propel a person forward to success.
And when truly embraced, they will eliminate procrastination entirely.
Clarity
Clarity involves having clear goals and a clear system to reach the end destination.
Start by setting SMART goals. These are goals that are:
- Specific—The goal is attached to an outcome that is specified by a number
- Measurable—Progress can be measured and broken into milestones
- Achievable—The resources needed to achieve the goal are at hand
- Realistic—The goal can actually be achieved given the specific target and the timeframe
- Timely—A date is set for achieving the goal
But don’t just decide on these goals—write them down. Writing them down will help infuse them into the subconscious mind. And it guarantees more will be accomplished. In a study conducted by the Harvard MBA Program:
- 3% of students had goals and wrote them down
- 13% of students had goals in their mind
- 84% of students had no goals
After 10 years, these students were interviewed and the results were astounding. The 13% who had goals in their minds were earning twice as much money as the 84% who had no goals. But…
The 3% who had written down their goals were earning an average of 10 times that of the people in the other two groups!
A goal serves as a roadmap. It takes the starting point and the end point and shows how to get there. But there also needs to be a system to follow to get there. A system acts like the vehicle that transports a person to their goal. It helps them accomplish it.
Here are a couple of examples of setting goals…
Writing a Book Example
Writing a book can be intimidating and staring at a blank page is no fun. But getting started and moving forward can be done if a goal is set and a system is used.
The clear goal would be to write a 120-page book in one year.
The key is to outline every chapter and main points to hit. This outline is the system to follow.
Email Marketing Business Example
Starting an email marketing business requires knowledge and consistency.
The clear goal is to start an email marketing business and have it producing a profit of $1,000 a month in 60 days.
In order to accomplish this goal, a system that has been proven to work needs to be followed—a specific system like my 5-STEP EMAIL MARKETING SYSTEM.
Chunking
As the old saying goes, “How do you eat an elephant? One bit at a time.”
Chunking is the act of breaking down a large goal into small chunks or manageable pieces.
And this is so important because it is super easy to get overwhelmed when faced with big goals. But even when there is a large goal, that goal should not be the daily focus.
Break that huge goal into the smallest bits possible. Each bit should be something that is NOT intimidating. Something that feels entirely doable. This will make it easy to take action.
Think of it this way—these small chunks are like simple “on ramps” for taking action. The final destination doesn’t matter at this point…
Just as long as you hit the next on ramp that will ultimately lead to that destination.
Writing a Book Example
A 120-page book is a scary and overwhelming thing to face. But what about writing one page? Two pages? Three pages? These smaller goals are much more manageable.
So, don’t worry about the whole book! Break the 120 pages down and write 3 pages every day.
Email Marketing Business Example
There is so much involved in getting a business up and running. Just the shear thought of it can paralyze anyone.
But don’t focus on setting up the entire business.
Just focus on getting one of the 5 steps done. This can be something small, like choosing a niche.
Consistency
The goal is set, the plan is laid out, and the system is in place to make it happen.
Now is the time to work toward that goal consistently. And that means creating daily habits.
Did you know it takes 21 days to create a habit? Working at attaining a goal every day for 21 days will make that a habit, a regular part of life. Working it every day makes it grow stronger, like a muscle. Soon it becomes second nature.
However, the key is to focus on the system, not the goal. Having a goal is critical, but the focus should be on the daily system to get there.
Is getting this level of focus a problem? I have developed a problem-solving system like no other. It’s called the PEG Method and it can help solve problems in any area of life.
Look, it’s this simple. It’s like driving a car. Sure, it’s good to put the destination in the GPS, but no one stares at the GPS the whole trip. Even with the destination entered, the focus needs to be on the part of the road right in front of you.
It’s all about persistence. This is literally the secret weapon of successful people. The people who achieve great success in anything are masters of persistence and consistency. They also have a long-term mentality.
Essentially, they know how to plan for the long-term, while still focusing on the path directly in front of them.
You see, people tend to overestimate what they can do in a week. Yet, they underestimate what they can do in a year. This means, they overload themselves in the short-term, rather than stretching that out over the long-term.
Then they burn out or give up because they feel too overwhelmed.
Successful people have a much better grasp on what they are capable of doing. They plan their time accordingly and they follow through consistently.
And even when things don’t go as smoothly as planned, they persist at it until the achieve their goal!
Writing a Book Example
Remember that goal of writing 3 pages per day? If this is done consistently—every single day—the entire book will be written in 40 days!
Imagine writing an entire book in 40 days! But it’s only possible by writing 3 pages a day consistently.
Email Marketing Business Example
The same goes for the business startup. Don’t focus on the big picture.
Instead, keep focusing on one step per day. Or even part of a step each day. Break down each step into micro-steps and do one micro-step each day. One micro-step could be brainstorming/outlining a free gift offer. Then the micro-step the next day could be creating the free gift.
That’s all it takes!
Then once the business is set up, break the routine maintenance into daily tasks. For example, write one email per day or do one thing every day to drive traffic and build the list.
Soon, the business will be thriving!
We live in a busy world. In fact, it seems as though people never slow down. But when we want to make big things happen in our lives, when we want to make real change happen, we need to set big goals and then work small.
In other words, we need to set specific SMART goals. Then we need to split those goals up into small, manageable chunks and focus on those.
To make the progress necessary to achieve goals, the three Cs will help. Again, the three Cs are:
- Clarity—Setting goals and getting a good idea of where to go
- Chunking—Breaking those goals into smaller, more manageable chunks that are less overwhelming
- Consistency—Establishing daily habits that will ensure small-scale progress is made each day
These things are NOT difficult. In fact, they are quite simple concepts. However, it takes persistence to build the habits and follow through—the level of persistence the most successful people in the world have.
But anyone CAN do this! And anyone serious about getting more done in their day and succeeding in what they want to achieve MUST do this.
So it’s time to take action. And this is where we can help.
Join us at our Free Digital Bootcamp and get started building an online business.
In this bootcamp, I will walk everyone through my complete 5-step formula for building an online business. This is the formula I have built over the past 15 years. And I will share it with you for free!
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I look forward to seeing you there.
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