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Invest In Yourself
Time spent on self improvement is time well spent. Investing time into educating yourself is of the utmost importance on your journey through life and it can also be great fun.
I’ve been interested in self improvement for many years and during time I collected many gigabytes of information.
I realised I needed to organise this knowledge into a coherent form, so that I could retrieve and deploy it when needed. I figured it was not enough just to discover and learn the information, but far more importantly, to make use of it.
People talk about the benefits of education; reading books, watching tutorials and sometimes they’ll brag of reading a few books a week, but how much of that knowledge is forgotten over time? Before I’d developed the model, I’d forgotten much of what I’d learned previously.
I decided to record what I’d learned and try to break things down into a framework that would help me make the most use of it. I intended to do one for business, one for marketing, one for spiritual wellbeing and one for health.
However I realised that what I’d developed could be transferred from one area of life to another.
This is the deep down framework is focused on how people actual behave in the wild; why they do and don’t do things, how thoughts form into beliefs and instruct behaviours, and subsequently, experiences. And how experiences feedback into thoughts and beliefs and ultimately influence our motivation, knowledge acquisition and productivity going forward.
After developing the basis of the GETRESULTS model, I developed other subject specific layers on top of it, which could be used in particular areas of life, such as business, marketing, spiritual wellbeing, health and relationships. These included specific strategies and tactics. – for instance marketing requires winning and keeping attention at its heart, and there are a number of tactics that can be executed to achieve this.
This website is a labour of love. I have other business interests, but enjoy helping others on their self improvement journey, and use this website as a vehicle for doing that.
Have a good look around the site, and thanks for taking time to check us out.
Creating Content For Your Website / Blog
When it comes to creating content for your website or blog, it can sometimes be difficult to know what to write about. This post is here to help you generate some content ideas.
When it comes to creating content you can either…
Be a facilitator, by providing access to and curating other peoples/experts content, and providing additional insight and commentary in order to provide additional value.
You can create your own unique content from scratch, although this takes more time and effort.
Or you can document your journey and provide insight to those following you. This can have the added bonus of ingraining recently learned knowledge for yourself, and giving you an opportunity to better understand what information you’ve just acquired.
There are really only 3 types of content
- Escapism and entertainment content – fun stuff, games, videos, movies, that are humourous, clever, insightful, inspirational, scary, emotional, intriguing or interesting
- Information and utility content – calendars, diaries, to do lists etc
- Social content – around people and community
It’s important to understand that context matters. So make sure your content bares some relevance to your website and business. For example it doesn’t make any sense talking about the latest gadget releases if you’re trying to promote a gardening business. Keep your content relevant to your target market, help them or entertain them in a way that adds value for them.
Content can be made up of:
- Opinion
- Expertise
- Information
- Insight
- Access
- Passion
Be cautious of the following pitfalls…
- Focusing on the wrong topic,
- Using the wrong media,
- Or both
In order to ensure you don’t fall foul of these pitfalls, you must have some understanding about the type of people you’re wanting to attract and cater for.
Ask yourself…
- What do your visitors want to know?
- How can you best provide value for them?
- What content will help built, trust, credibility and generate some goodwill with your target audience?
Some additional info
Chart your own progress
- Your journey to build your business – moving your business online
- Your progress in a new job
- Learning a new skill – learning SEO, PPC
- Put sale techniques into practice
- Sell something different every day testing your sales skills
Cover current niche trends
- Current photography trends/techniques
- Software trends
- Explore the topic more freely and in-depth
Cover local issues
- Real estate – local amenities, history of area – reasons why it’s good living here
- Local relevant events
Content formats
Content can come in many formats, here are a few ideas…
List pages
- Check lists
- Resource lists
- Lists of lists
- News lists
- Demonstration
- Series
Infographics
- How-to guides
- Researched statistics
- Timelines
- Did you know
- Flow charts
Whitepapers
- Research
- Trends
- Topical guides
- Beginner overviews
- Downloadable guides
Live Blogging
- Event coverage
- Covering fast changing situations
- Live Q&A’s
Round-ups
- News round-ups
- From around the web
- Summing up events
Q&A’s
- Q&A for interviews
- Q&A FAQ
- Informal Q&A
Opinion pieces
- Controversial posts
- High level breakdown
- Forecasting trends
- Deep dive
- New angle
Interviews
- Industry leaders
- Innovative companies
- Topical expert
Some more content formats (excuse any duplicates to previously mentioned types)
- How to’s
- Content curation
- Case studies
- Charts/graphs
- Ebooks
- Email Newsletters/Autoresponders
- Cartoons/illustrations
- Book Summaries
- Tool Reviews
- Giveaways
- FAQ’s
- Q&A session
- Webinar
- Guides
- Dictionary
- “Day in the life of” Post
- Infographics
- Interview
- Lists
- Mind Maps
- Meme
- Online Game
- Helpful Application/Tool
- Opinion Post
- White Papers
- Vlog
- Videos – screencasts, talking heads, illustrations, graphics, film roll
- Podcasts
- Templates
- Surveys
- Slideshares
- Resources
- Quotes
- Polls
- Podcasts
- Pinboards
- Photo Collage
- Original Research
- Press releases
- Photos
- Predictions
- User Generated Content
- Company News
- Announcements
- Timelines
Overcoming Fear
Often the thought of fear is enough to hold you back
fear of loss
fear of failure
fear of disappointment
fear of uncertainty
That fear can convince you that you are better not to even try
but just ask yourself
what if…
what if you gain
what if you succeed
what if life is better
The fear of anything is often greater than the reality
Life has a way of working out if you face it head on
If you can make peace with uncertainty
If you can consider failure as a learning opportunity
Change the way you think about life, and life changes
Don’t Quit – Poem By John Whittier
I love this poem by John Whittier called Don’t quit. Words can be inspiring, and help generate positive, forwards momentum. They often help us re-focus our motivation, and gentle push in the right direction. Hope you enjoy…
For more about motivation, click here.
Self Imposed Limitations Are Coping Excuses For Failure
Self imposed limitations are the stories we tell ourselves why we can’t do something, or can’t reach a certain level..
- People won’t like me
- I don’t know enough
- I’m not an expert in the field
- I’m no good at writing
- I’m not good at running a website
- I don’t have the money
- I don’t have the time
- I don’t have the resources
- I’m not thick skinned enough to be able to deal with any criticism that might come my way
- I don’t have the talent to earn £500k a year
These stories start with “I don’t”, “I can’t” , “I’m not”, so look out for them.
These are all reasons why you shouldn’t take action, so you don’t get hurt. They are designed to protect you from failure. They are coping excuses for not pursuing your goals and feeling okay about it. Coping excuses are one of the main reasons goals don’t get chased down.
Tell yourself more empowering stories. Stop trying to protect yourself from everyone else, start protecting yourself from yourself. Get out of your own way, because deep down you are your own worst enemy.
Failure isn’t something to fear, it is an opportunity to learn what doesn’t work, so you can get closer to what does work.
Failing often, means your pushing boundaries, you’re trying things out.
The worst thing is making all the same mistakes, over and over again.
Just make sure you’re listening to the market, to the feedback it gives you, even if it’s critical and be prepared to pivot when necessary.
A caveat here though, figure out what you are truly good at, ideally something you also like doing, and what you’re not so good at. It is a case of horses for courses, you can’t be great at everything, so be honest with yourself, enlist of people close to you, who will give you honest feedback, or let the market tell you. Improving your self awareness is a critical first step for success. You can then focus on your strengths and enlist the help of people who are better at the things you’re not so good at, or figure out a way forward that better suits your unique skills set.
For more about coping strategies, click here.
Laughter Is The Best Medicine
Laughter is one of mankind’s greatest gifts, it can get us though the toughest of times and situations.
The ability to laugh at yourself, lifts the burden of taking yourself and life too seriously.
It frees you from the worry of other people’s opinions about you; if you don’t seriously judge yourself, why should anyone else.
Sure our teenage years are all about fitting in, conforming with our social circles. It’s a time when we’re genetically wired to care about how others view us, but as we get older, we can appreciate our individuality a little bit more objectively.
We can relax our critical, judgmental side in favour of a more accepting, look-for-the-funny-side-of-this situation, disposition.
I used to take life far too seriously. I was in a very responsible management position, and played the role the way I thought it should be played, with a great deal of seriousness. I used to get really uptight about presenting the best impression to senior managers and peers.
There was another more junior manager that came along some time later, who was refreshingly lighthearted, a self -deprecating sort of bloke, who was popular because he was so easy going, jovial,and easy to work with. Sure he’d get the work done, and make sure he didn’t get taken advantage of, but he did it with humour and humility.
I learned a lot from him, and let go of my stuffiness, I worried less about what others thought of me, because I judged myself less harshly. It was amazing how less stressed and worried I became, it really was like a weight being lifted from my shoulders.
I now love to laugh, I try to find the funny side of any situation and am happy to laugh at the silly things I find myself saying and doing from time to time.
I came across this poem by Walterrean Salley that I really like, so I thought I’d share it with you here.
Laughter is infectious.
It is a joyful sound that
Once it starts ringing,
Passes all around.
Laughter is infectious.
Some folks have no clue
As to what another’s laughter
Could do unto you.
Laughter is infectious.
You can get it on a whim,
But chances of it harming
Are very, very slim.
For more about self improvement, click here.
The Journey
Motivation is often the biggest struggle for people. You can find countless questions of Quora.com and forums around the subject of getting motivated, indeed much of this website is dedicated to the subject.
The easiest way to get motivated is to make sure the journey is motivation enough for you.
Most people focus solely on the GOAL, and the journey required to reach the goal is relegated to being a “means to an end”, or a “stepping stone” to the goal.
But the journey is the part of the process that you’ll be engaged in most. It’s made up of the daily tasks and activities that are going to allow you to realise your goal.
You’ve got to pay much more attention to your journey. A goal that involves taking a journey where you struggle to motivate yourself each day is surely not a goal worth the effort, because it becomes a grind, an effort, a struggle, and life is too short to be engaged in such a lifestyle.
On the other hand a journey that you love, that excites you, that you are enthusiastic to engage in, that you are fully immersed in, is what life is really about.
Sure having a goal to aim for, gives you necessary direction, but the journey itself is what truly matters, because this is what’s going to take up much more of your actual time.
Focusing on the quality of the individual tasks and activities, is what dictates the quality of the end result. Like any great recipe, the finished meal is only as good as the quality of the ingredients and the quality of the methods used to produce it. A great chef, loves the process of creating, mixing different flavours to produce something special.
So love what you do and motivation is not a problem.
This website is a labour of love. I don’t do it for money, I do it because I love the subject matter, I love learning new stuff, I love writing, I love creating graphics and videos.
I love business, I love marketing, I love health and fitness, I love spirituality. I love to learn, and I love to share.
With over 200 posts, I find it so easy to add new content, designed to help people understand the concepts and principles behind getting great results, and I’ll continue to do so, until I don’t enjoy it any longer.
I don’t do it for the result, for the consequences, I do it because I love doing it, day to day, and hopefully you get something from it as well.
Gary Vaynerchuk is a big advocate of loving the game of running and building a business, to the degree that he says he’s even wished he would lose it all so that he can go through the process of building it up from scratch again, he so loves it. His primary drive isn’t to earn millions (even though he’s a multi millionaire now), but this has come as a consequence of his true passion, of building businesses; made up of solving problems, selling solutions, building systems, hiring and firing, generating assets, and creating a brand.
So if you can find something you love to do, and figure out how to make a living out of it, you’ve won. Good luck on your journey, and make sure you enjoy it, otherwise what’s the point?
For more motivational info, check out our motivational guide.
The Main Components of Marketing
I recently created this graphic to illustrate the main components of marketing, as I see it.
There are 3 components to it, these include
- Winning or buying ATTENTION.
- Brand building
- Selling – transacting
Let’s have a closer look at each of these.
Winning or buying ATTENTION
Being found
Winning attention requires being present, wherever your prospective customers are hanging out, and where they are more easily targeted.
Most people are online these days, in some capacity, so having an online strategy makes good business sense. This might be via social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram or Linkedin to name just a few. As I write this post, there are literally dozens of social channels to target.
To be able to effectively target your prospects, you must know and understand who they are, what they want, and how to best engage with them. Without this understanding you’re fumbling around in the dark.
Standing out
Being in the right place is the first part of the equation, but then you have to stand out in some way, from your competitors, who are also trying to convert your prospects.
There are a number of strategies here, depending on where you’re actually marketing. If you’re able to use visuals (images and graphics), they should allow you to stand out from your competitors enough to draw attention, but not so much that they look out of place.
Your headlines should encourage prospects to stop and consider what you have to say. You can do this by inducing curiosity, or saying something that resonates with your prospects.
Test your approaches to see what works best on the various platforms, either by split-testing or just testing various approaches.
Brand building
Once you have the attention of your prospects, you have two options, you can either try to sell to them straight away, or you can look to build brand.
Selling directly is okay for those actively searching for your solution at this very moment, but the difficulty you have is building confidence and trust enough for them to risk engaging with you or buying from you, without knowing much about you previously. Reviews and testimonials are good trust builders, because prospects can see how you have serviced previous customers. Case studies, name dropping well known past customers can also help out in this respect.
There will be a large number of prospects that are not looking to buy just now, but will in the next 30, 60 or 90 days. This provides an opportunity for you to build your brand with them, so that when they come to wanting to buy, you have already build up some goodwill.
To do this you have to provide some value up-front. This might be in the form of free advice, information, entertainment, insight or access. It needs to be value that is relevant to what you’re selling, otherwise it won’t make sense to the prospect and won’t be deemed relevant to what you’re actually selling and you won’t get that associative goodwill you require to get the sale.
Selling – transacting
Hopefully your brand building activities have built up some trust and liking in the minds of your prospects. This will make it easier to get the sale, because you’ve already proved yourself to be a trustworthy and generous supplier.
If you’ve not had the opportunity to build brand, you need to use reviews and testimonials and other 3rd party endorsements to help you build some trust, quickly.
You must look credible,even expert and able to deliver on your promise. How do you look credible or expert? Well maybe do some “How to ..” video tutorials, so that prospects can see you in action, doing what you do best.
You must look stable, by having a physical address, a shop is more credible than working from home in many prospect’s minds. In the same way a website looks more credible than just having a social media page.
If you’ve got a lot of follows on social media or a good ranking on Google search results, this demonstrates you’ve been around for a while and this will make the prospect more confident in you.
For prospects to buy they have to WANT or NEED some form of CHANGE. They have to have a REASON to move from the status quo, to being willing to part with their hard earned cash in exchange for what you are offering.
Most purchases are done emotionally, but justified rationally. So helping them to justify why buying is a good thing, is your job as a marketer. How will your solution solve their problem? How will your solution make their life better? What’s the benefit of what you are offering?
Lastly you MUST deliver on your promise. Don’t over promise and under deliver, because this will result in bad reviews. It is your job to manage expectations to avoid disappointment. It’s much better to under promise and over deliver over the long term.
For more about marketing, check out our marketing guide, here.
You Are More Than Enough!
We’re are bombarded with messages telling us to..
“Buy this [car/makeup…] you’ll get [girls/guys/success…]”
Marketers telling you “YOU ARE NOT ENOUGH!”, so that they can sell you their stuff
You can’t truly love others if you don’t love yourself
Self love is not to be feared
We’re told vanity and arrogance are bad
But it’s okay to feel good about yourself, it really is
You might ask yourself..
“I wonder how should I act?”
“How do I love myself?”
Some people are busy filling other people’s cup but are irresponsible with their own cup
Treat yourself like someone you love
Look through all your fear
know you are already enough!
For more, check out this inspirational video below