Lifestyle Revolution

Breakfast of Champions

2011-12-25T12:51:00.000-08:00

You may have heard the famous quote from author Ken Blanchard that 'feedback is the breakfast of champions'. This means that if you want to be the best at something in your life, then you'll need to learn a lot of tough lessons along the way. And those lessons always come in the form of feedback.

Most of us however, go out of our way to avoid receiving feedback, both positive or negative. We are all living in our little comfort zones, protecting ourselves from the reality that we could actually do better than we are now.

All of us think we already know the best (or decent enough) way to do everything. I am guilty of this, as much as anybody else. We all avoid asking for feedback because it protects us from ego-bruising. And this is exactly why we all don't succeed in a bigger way.

Here's the reality: the feedback that you receive is worth the temporary pain it causes in order to gain a new advantage. In your life and your work, you'll need to change and correct your behavior constantly until you eventually become able to perform at the highest level.

It's worth having people tell you where you aren't doing a great job. It's rarely what you want to hear, but it helps you get where you want to go. Be grateful for every piece of feedback so that you can use the lesson to move to a higher level of success.

Here's a challenge for you: ask one person each day to give you one piece of feedback about yourself. Tell them to be honest and to tell you how you can do better. Eat the breakfast of champions of everyday and watch your success increase dramatically.

Are you a confronter or avoider?

2011-12-12T22:38:00.000-08:00

Long ago, I learned an important lesson. If you have a problem of any kind, it is much easier to face up to it in the here and now, rather than leave it alone hoping it will go away.

I don't really know if I learned this from somebody or whether it was always a part of my personality, but it took me quite a few years into my adult life to realize not everyone is like that.

When I first read Brian Tracy's book Maximum Achievement, I learned that you can roughly categorize people into two groups: 'confronters' and 'avoiders'.

Now rather than start preaching the gospel of confronting, let's first consider both sides.

The upside of being a confronter, it seems to me, is that often you get your problems solved sooner, saving time and sometimes saving pain, money and especially worry.

The downside of being a confronter is you often are quick to charge in and try to solution-ize everything (and everyone) around you. This can cause a lot of mistakes, over-reactions and issues simply by acting too quickly.

On the other side of the coin, we have the 'avoider'.

The upside of being an avoider, it seems to me, is that you can sometimes get away with not having to face up to something. Some problems do solve themselves, and waiting long enough is the key. You also have more consideration time so that you can be more effective in your problem solving approach.

The downside of being an avoider is that you get to worry. The time that stretches between the inception of a problem and its conclusion can be fraught with fear, nervousness and a sense of powerlessness.

I remember reading about a psychology experiment on anxiety-induced high blood pressure. A group of volunteers were positioned alone in a room, at a table. In front of them was clock on the wall. Attached to their index finger was a small wire, which delivered small electric shocks at 1 minute intervals. Whenever the second hand of the clock in front of them struck 12, the volunteers were shocked via the wire.

The 'Confronters' in the group watched the clock the whole time. As the hand ticked closer to the 12, they readied their focus and mentally prepared to absorb the shock. Then they were free to relax again for 50 seconds.

The 'Avoiders' however did not watch the clock, avoiding the ostensible source of the problem. Because they didn't look at the clock, they didn't know when the shock was coming. As a result this created a sense of constant tension.

During the experiment, the volunteers had their blood pressure measured. It turned out that the avoiders blood pressure was consistently 30% higher than the Confronters during the whole experiment.

If you translate this to everyday life, I am sure you can see the link. For me, the benefits of confronting problems and challenges earlier has definitely led to a more empowered and stress free existence. At times, it has caused me a few hiccups an speed bumps, but overall, my approach has worked for me.

What about you? Do you prefer to confront a problem or challenge as soon as you discover it, or do you prefer to avoid it as long as you can? Or are yu somewhere in between?

Please comment below, or on Google+ and share your thoughts.

Are info products becoming the next money making scam?

2011-12-08T12:40:00.001-08:00

Like a lot of people, several years ago I started to get emails from 'gurus' who sold their knowledge online in video and eBook format.

It seemed (at the time) that you could get insider information on almost any topic, with the promise of shortcuts to success.For me, my first info product I ever bought was an eBook dating guide by David DeAngelo, promising to improve the skills of communication with the ladies in my life. At the time, I was a young single guy, and I must admit that Mr DeAngelo's ideas did have some effect on my success.

In fact, it helped me so much, that I ended up purchasing a few of his video training programs too. These in turn lead me to branch out and look for online info-products on other topics: Search Engine tips, real estate buying guides, and even one on reducing hair-loss (ok, that one didn't work out so well, but hey you gotta try, right?).

At the time, this seemed like a novel way to share and gain knowledge, and I would often wonder why these information products weren't sold in conventional stores or on sites like Amazon.com.It took me a while to realize it was a business strategy. By cutting out the middle man, these 'info gurus' were actually keeping close to 90% of the profit from their sales. All they had to do was attract a customer, get them to buy and then ship the product.

Of course, this is a brilliant business model. It requires effort in the beginning to compile the knowledge into a 'product' and then from there you need a website, some sales schtick and you're off and running.

Fast forward a few more years, and one day I received an unexpected email from someone called Eben Pagan. It turned out that Mr Pagan was actually the same David DeAngelo I had gained so much wisdom from in the dating arena.Now Mr Pagan was revealing to me (and to his massive subscriber base) that he was actually the 'man behind the man' and that he had developed a huge empire from his info-product businesses. And he was now willing to start selling the information about how he sold so much information.

Of course, this seemed an amazing offer at the time, and I snapped a copy of his Get Altitude training program. The program itself was hugely valuable in terms of business wisdom, and I was highly impressed by the value from it.Throughout the next year, I began seeing more and more of these 'info gurus' starting to surface. Eben Pagan introduced to me a lot of them via his mailing list. Trusting the value of his advice, I subscribed to see what they were about. Soon I was getting emails from about 10 different guys peddling info products.

The peak of the info product craze seemed to be in about mid 2010, when guys like Brendon Burchard, Frank Kern and Jeff Walker were all peddling their breakthrough programs... all about how to sell info products.This to me, was a warning of the cracks starting to show. The catch-cry of a lot of these info gurus was that anyone could be an info guru. They just needed to follow the formula that was contained in their $997 program...

Hmmm...

The sad thing with any type of new craze, is that eventually it starts to rip-off the people who it originally helps. I have seen this same cycle in a lot of different areas: real estate buying groups, life coaching colleges, and even NLP mastery courses. All promise that you will make money from their training, but in reality you are making them money by buying their information at a premium.

The reality is that not everyone can become an 'info guru'. This is mostly because there isn't a market for every single person out there to peddle their specialist knowledge in. At best there is room for a few pundits in each knowledge area who will make the money from the masses.When it comes to sharing insider information on topics like SEO, dating, health and different areas, I do believe these products can have some value.

But when the products become about how to sell info products, in my opinion the cycle has become redundant.

Getting back to Eben Pagan, I do believe his work has merit, and he is one of the few 'info gurus' worth paying attention to. He is one of the pioneers in the field, and if you can get access to some of his material for a reasonable price (it is often resold on eBay at a discount) then its worth checking out.

As far as the other gurus kicking up the dust right now, I am not so sure if they will be around in 5 years or not, once the fad starts to die out, they may move onto other ways to make a buck.

What do you think about online info-products? Do you have any you have purchased that have helped you do better? Are any of them a waste of time in your opinion? And do you think the info-product craze is here to stay or will disappear?

Who do you allow to influence you?

2011-12-05T08:02:00.001-08:00

All human beings are very susceptible to influence. From the moment we are born, we begin learning mostly through imitation, and we take the actions and beliefs of those closest to us as the way the world works.

This affects us more and more as we grow, and through family and school life, we become very heavily influenced by those around us.

For anybody who has been raised in an environment that they felt held them back, you may have consciously chosen to not accept, or not be influenced by the opinions of those around you.

This is an important step in the growth of an adult, and as an individual, we all have to decide who we will allow to influence our thoughts and our behaviour.

Speaking for myself, I was never a strong willed child, and I went along with the thoughts and opinions of others for most of my childhood and early teen years. It wasn't until I had the influence of people like Earl Nightingale, Brian Tracy and other personal development authors that I started to filter who I allowed to influence me.

Today, I am extremely conscious of who I allow to influence me. I read a lot, I listen to the views an opinions of others, but I dont immediately take on their views as my own. I have learned to separate their view from mine, and not be affected by it.

This has helped me greatly to focus my thinking, remain positive and move forward in certain areas of my life. And I wanted to share this idea, as it really has helped me, particularly in business and my personal life over the past 5-10 years.

So what about you? Who do you allow to influence you? Are you less susceptible to the influence of people than you used to be? And what has been the result?

Please leave a comment below, or on YouTube.

Is mainstream news still relevent to you?

2011-12-02T14:57:00.000-08:00

The way we experience media has certainly changed during the past 5-10 years. But, have we changed our intake of news as well?

It used to be that all 'news' came through the newspaper or television; I clearly remember my grandfather and father religiously watching and reading the news each day. For much of my early life, that was the way people stayed up-to-date and learned about the world.

But in the past 10 years, the shift away from conventional media has started. And more and more people are turning to online news sources, blogs, and even social media sites as their first source of 'new news'. It seems the way we take in information has changed, and that begs the question: is mainstream news still relevant?

A few years ago, I read a book by Tim Ferriss called The 4 hour Work Week. It was an interesting read (check out my review here if you like) and one of the key ideas I took away was the 'low information diet'.

In the book, Tim tells how we decided to stop watching and listening to mainstream news and current affairs, to test whether it had any effect on his attitude or lifestyle. It turned out that he didnt miss too much, and if he did miss something important, somebody would tell him about it.

I decided this was a good idea to test, and in the past few years have put myself been on a low information diet, especially when it comes to news reports. I don't watch it, or subscribe to any of it online. In fact, I have now created a view about this: other people's news is none of my business. And lo and behold... I think my attitude and general world view has become more positive as a result.

Now, do I occasionally miss an important news story? Of course, but I have found that - same as Tim experienced - people around me generally tell me pretty quickly if something big happens.

So, that is my view, and I am interested to hear your thoughts too: do you watch or read less news now than you did 5 or 10 years ago, do you have different sources you trust now compared to then? And if you have changed, what has been the effect for you.

Feel free to comment here or on youtube.

Is the book a dying technology?

2011-11-12T08:50:00.000-08:00

This is a question I have been asking myself lately, with the collapse of Borders, and the growth of eBook readers, like the iPad and the Kindle, it seems like the days of the book are numbered. Maybe one day, we will be telling our grandchildren that we actually used to read on paper...

Of course, there are two sides to any argument, and here are my thoughts on both sides:

One on hand, I can see the value of the eBook approach. Digital media is much more transferable, the information is instantly available and you can duplicate it. It is also much more environmentally sound, as no trees are needed to make the paper.

On the other hand, I know there is a certain joy in laying down to read a book, turning the pages, and experiencing it as a physical object. The paper book doesn't need batteries, and can be stored for years or given away to someone else once finished.

The main concern I have with books going digital is that all the older books may not make it into digital format. I have one particular book in my collection I bought on eBay for only a few dollars, that is over 100 years old. It is an old business how-to guide from the turn of the 19th century. I have personally loved reading it, not just for the knowledge, but also the aesthetic. You can feel the history in the pages, and even though I'll never know who owned it before me, I know this book once helped someone else too.

Now that I have shared my thoughts, what do you think? Do you think eBooks are the way of the future, or will the book be around for centuries to come? Which format do you prefer?

(Share your thoughts here, or comment on YouTube.)