When we are confronted with situations in our lives, one of the easiest ways to handle it is to give up. It’s too hard; we tell ourselves.
It’s easy to get to a point where it seems as though all that time you’ve invested in a dream or goal and the time till its fruition can be very daunting and even unobtainable.
There will be times of excitement, enthusiasm, creativity, but they can quickly be followed by despair, discouragement, and the desire to quit.
The trouble is, those situations often get worse because we choose not to confront them. They may take some time and especially perseverance. That is the main reason why we choose not to deal with them.
It’s just simpler to bury your head in the sand, but you’ll never grow if you keep doing this and you won’t have the kind of life that you truly want and deserve.
In all honesty, I think that us humans are just simply wired to want to give up; sad, I know, but it appears to be true nonetheless!
This stems from the fact that we crave instant gratification and if you are striving towards a distant goal, the brain doesn’t like delayed gratification; it wants results and rewards NOW!
So, basically we’re born to look for instant gratification. And this could be for good reason in the past as we may have needed immediate benefits to ensure our survival. But do we need that instinct now in the modern day world? Not really.
We are very much present-oriented, and so when we’re not getting what we want immediately, we get anxious and want to give up.
Maybe you’re disappointed or tired because you haven’t succeeded yet after lots of trials and attempts with nothing to show for it.
Believe me, you are not alone. I can pretty much guarantee that everyone has experienced this in their lifetime.
But, if you found ways to persevere, those situations would go away before they got out of hand.
If your situation is a financial one where you don’t have the necessary funds, you may need to seek other ways to make money.
Of course, it’s bad enough having to work one job as many people are not happy with their jobs. Adding yet another job into the mix can be a hard pill to swallow.
However, if you focus on the goal of taking care of the situation, this can get you through it. You may only need to work that other job for a temporary amount of time.
Life can get even more difficult for many people as they get older.
When you get past a certain age, you are not as easily employable as you were when you were younger. If you are having trouble finding work after being let go, will you keep going until you find something? There are a fair number of people who will simply give up.
Perhaps you have thought about starting your own business. It’s certainly much easier to do that with the internet these days. This too, takes a lot of work, especially since it is getting more competitive all the time. But, those who put in the time tend to make it happen.
Others, simply quit. It’s interesting to note that people who quit, often do so right before the time where they would start seeing some successes in their business.
We tend to have more medical issues when we are older as well. Taking better care of ourselves requires perseverance and habit changes. Many people will simply throw in the towel and take their chances with their health as they age.
Whatever situation you find yourself facing, giving up seems to be the easiest option.
It’s not usually the correct choice, however. It can take a commitment both in time and attitude (preparing yourself to be ready) but it can be well worth the effort of knowing that you won’t have to handle worse conditions later.
The thing about instant gratification is that it is a mirage, an illusion.
When you look at successful people, many think of them as overnight successes but actually NOTHING could be further from the truth!
Most successful people have failed and suffered rejection many times. Did you know that Sylvester Stallone was rejected over 1500 times when he first approached Hollywood with the script for Rocky?
And to make it worse, they offered to make the film for him, but only if he didn’t star in it!! But he stuck to his guns and it worked out for him eventually when Rocky and Stallone became an “overnight success!”
So, bear this in mind when you feel low and want to throw in the towel. Don’t suffer for mediocre and live a life of regret. Persevere and do what your future self will thank you for.
If you really feel like giving up remember these 7 points to hopefully keep you on track:
Life can be tough sometimes and it is very easy to give up and live a less than fulfilled life, but you really owe it to yourself to become more resilient and to persevere whenever you encounter any obstacles you meet.
Everyone deserves to have a rich, meaningful life full of happiness and success but it takes work and you must be willing to do whatever to takes to overcome life’s challenges.
As mentioned in the bullet points above, gratitude plays a huge part in how you approach life and if you want to learn more about gratitude, there are some more posts here and here.
Good luck and NEVER give up 💪
Do you make mistakes? Do you make a lot of mistakes?
Of course you do. We ALL make mistakes and this is how we learn and grow as human beings.
So, why is it that when we make a mistake, we spend so much time dissecting and agonising over it and wondering “what if?“
Often times, we allow a mistake or wrong decision to negatively impact our lives long after the incidence occurred. By doing so, we end up being unable to actually enjoy the present and take advantage of new opportunities and experiences.
After all, our time here is limited and each passing moment cannot be replayed or started over. It is difficult to enjoy the newness offered in each day when your mind is constantly troubled by regret and negative self-feedback.
In this post, we will discuss why it is perfectly okay to stop beating yourself up over a mistake and how habitually doing so can affect your own well-being, as well as the people in your life.
And, as the title of this post suggests; if you are making mistakes, it is proof you are trying!
So, here are 3 quick ways to stop beating yourself up over all your mistakes.
In case you haven’t noticed, human beings are literally programmed to make mistakes. We are not given an instruction manual at birth detailing the correct way to handle the vast array of decisions and events we experience throughout our lifetimes.
Of course, you should strive to make the right decisions and handle situations to the best of your ability, but only with the knowledge that you will not always do so. Yes, it is fine to make mistakes, really!
Any mistake you end up making should not come as a total surprise, but should instead serve as a reminder that you are a fallible human being, just like the billions of other people around you.
Being human is a beautiful thing. We are capable of so many emotions, creations and discoveries. However, we are far from perfect and mistakes are sure to happen. Always keep that in mind.
A great way to avoid beating yourself up over a shortcoming or wrong decision is to not always regard the situation in a negative manner. Instead, try to realize that mistakes are a mandatory part of the learning process.
Consider this, every single thing you have ever learned how to do with any level of expertise has been achieved through trial and error. This process in no way ends just because you have become an adult.
For as long as you live, you will continue to encounter new situations.
That being said, it is silly to think that, as an adult, you will somehow be able to respond to new situations the right way from the start.
In fact, if you ever reach a point in your life where you fail to make a mistake here and there, this is probably a bad sign. If nothing you do poses a challenge, this means you are at a place of stagnation.
It is important to consider each and every mistake as a lesson that allows you to adjust, modify your actions and do better the next go around.
That sounds like a really strange thing to say doesn’t it?
Well, look at it this way; almost all of us do our best to forgive other people after they have messed up. This is especially true when thinking about the people closest to us.
Sure, we may be upset and even angry for a while, but we usually don’t hold the issue over the offender’s head for long periods of time.
Considering this paradox, try to change your vantage point the next time you are avoiding granting yourself forgiveness.
After all, nobody is closer to you than you.
Knowing that forgiveness is a mandatory part of maintaining external relationships, you must also realize that this requirement holds true for nurturing your own mental environment.
OK, so there are 3 quick ways to get over the mistakes you are making in your life.
If you want to have even more peace and clarity in your life then you should really think about using the practice of mindfulness in your daily life.
If you want to learn more about mindfulness, download a Mindfulness Tips Report for free here
The pressure to come up with ideas can be overwhelming. Constant content creation seems to be a requisite of the workplace these days.
There’s a demand from your boss to find new ways to improve the workplace, your college lecturer wants to see a different approach than anyone else has shown, or you’re an entrepreneur and you recognize that without flagging yourself as someone who stands out different to the rest, you’re going to sink among all the other “me too” product creators.
The first thing you need to do is quit thinking of ideas as things that just happen. You’ve heard of brainstorming, right? That’s a situation where people decide to cognitively generate ideas.
They make the decision that they will create ideas within a timeframe – not that they will sit around the office for days, weeks or months waiting on some mysterious Muse to appear and give them a sign.
So, what exactly is brainstorming?
Brainstorming is a method people use to generate ideas to solve clearly defined design problems. In controlled conditions and a free-thinking environment, people approach a problem by such means as “How Might We” questions. They produce a vast array of ideas and you can then draw links between them to find potential solutions.
So, in essence, brainstorming is an activity that helps your organization generate more innovative ideas. Brainstorming is just one of many methods of ideation (the process of coming up with new ideas) and it occurs near the beginning of the creative process.
The complex business challenges of today require new solutions—trying to use what worked in the past simply won’t work any more.
Brainstorming is an effective way to:
Before we begin, here are a few brainstorming rules:
OK, now you’re ready to gt started, the first thing to do is write down all known facts and assumptions about the subject at hand. Then for each fact or assumption, ask “what if…?” Take the opposing view in your question.
“What if something else could create the same result?”
“What if we didn’t have a specific resource, then how would we create this?”
“What if everyone called in sick one day, then how would we minimize the damage?”
“What if I had only 10 minutes to do this – is there a template I could use over and over again to speed things up?”
Always challenge assumptions.
And remember, anything and everything is on the table; don’t stifle your imagination as you can cull ideas in the next step.
Often, we get caught up in finding new ideas to add to the existing processes we have in place. But it’s as valid to think about cutting away ideas as it is creating new ones.
You might have two different products in mind to create, and two different websites to market them through.
But by focusing on cutting out ideas you may discover that there is a core group who require both products – and then build just one website aimed at that core group.
Many people swear by mind maps. Some prefer a word processor document – and others prefer spreadsheets.
Get away from your comfort level by using a different medium to dump your ideas out into. The process will feel different and make your brain respond differently – and often more creatively.
OK, so there are a few techniques that you can use to make the most of your brainstorming sessions.
And you can use this process to create a really strong stand out brand that is instantly recognisable. And if you want to learn more about branding the right way, then check out this free report here.
Chances are, you’ve already heard about the importance of building a trusted and unique brand.
Words like “brand awareness” and “brand recognition” are often tossed around, and are synonymous with achieving success and gaining a strong foothold in your market, especially when there are thousands of other businesses competing for your customer’s attention.
That’s what this little post is all about.
When it comes to maximizing your income, and establishing a strong foothold within your market, you absolutely need to build a unique and recognized brand that aligns with a clear and direct brand message.
Your brand message explains to potential customers what you have to offer, and how committed you are to providing quality and value.
But here’s the thing: you aren’t the one who defines your brand message – your customers do!
It’s your job to lay the groundwork as to what you want people to know about your business and then work towards supporting that identity through demonstrating knowledge, skills and capabilities to deliver what was promised.
However, your customers will be the ones who decide what your overall brand image is based on their interactions with your business.
A well-defined, strategic brand message can build instant credibility in your niche, while helping you gain authority in your market and shape how customers perceive your business. It’s quite often the key difference between a well-structured online presence, and a faltering business that is struggling to connect with its audience.
So, how can you build a recognized brand that provides a clear message that resonates with your market?
Start by thinking about your target audience and what is most important to them. Once you’ve evaluated your niche, you will be able to position yourself so that you are directly addressing their most burning questions, concerns and needs.
To do this, you need to gather as much intelligence on your market as possible, which you can do easily just by looking at the competition.
What are other business owners and product developers offering your audience? What kind of products and services are they successfully selling?
Take things to social media and begin by evaluating social signals – which are clear indicators as to what is currently in demand, popular and selling well. The higher level of interaction, the more advertising dollars spent, and the more engagement; the better.
Knowing how to develop a strategic brand message begins by recognizing what is already successful and improving on it within your own business.
You want to become the go-to person in your niche market, the obvious choice when customers are considering who to turn to when making their purchasing decisions.
When you work towards building an unwavering presence in your market, starting with a strong foundation of trust, you’ll immediately eliminate the barriers standing in the way of you connecting with your target audience.
To do that, you need to learn as much about them as possible so that you can build a brand around what is most likely to capture their attention.
And how do you do begin? It starts with what is called a U.S.P.
Let me get right down to it. USP stands for unique selling proposition (or unique selling point), and it is critical that you establish what yours will be right from the start.
Sure, those are components of your overall brand that help people identify your products and recognize you, however, a USP is far more important than that when it comes to building your customer base, and breaking through the barriers of resistance that most businesses experience when they first appear in their market.
A USP is what truly tells potential customers how you are different from the competition. It helps to align your goals with your customer’s. Your USP tells them that you can be trusted, that you have their best interests at heart, and that you fulfill all promises. And most importantly, a USP ensures you aren’t a faceless brand.
This would include key factors that differentiate a product or service from its competition, such as the lowest price, an extended, no-risk guarantee, a unique or exclusive product or offer not found anywhere else, or the first-ever product of its kind.
To start, think about what your product or service has that the competition doesn’t.
Consider ways you can highlight those differences and emphasize the benefits. Paint a clear picture as to why a prospect is making a wiser, sound decision to purchase your product instead of someone else’s.
Your USP is the driving force behind clearly illustrating value and giving potential customers a reason to purchase from you rather than the competition. That’s its one and only job.
OK, that’s it for now but if you want an expanded version of this post covering other points such as creating a powerful brand, the 4 essential elements of a killer brand, plus a handy check list, then click here and you can download a handy pdf to read whenever is convenient.
And if you want to learn more about how businesses use branding then check out this great course called B.R.A.N.D. here.
If you are new to online marketing, you may not know what a lead magnet is so let’s start there.
The idea is that once they have opted into your email list, you can then send them regular emails with tips and tricks and the occasional offer. You can read more about using autoresponders to send automated emails here and you can read this post about finding great lead magnet ideas.
So, how do you create a desirable lead magnet that your visitors will be unable to resist?
Well, follow these 5 quick steps and you’ll have a great lead magnet put together in no time at all.
This is by far the most critical part of creating anything for your prospective visitors and buyers. You must know the audience you are trying to attract, and you must know them on a deep level.
A lead magnet is a highly targeted gift that solves one problem for your readers. Remember, less is more.
Your niche may have a number of sub-niches and you can create different lead magnets for each different sub-niche.
For example, you may be in the Internet Marketing / Online Business niche and you could develop a separate lead magnet for those interested in using blogging, Amazon Kindle, Ecommerce etc.
These are all types of online business but vary dramatically in what the audience needs.
You can create a generic lead magnet for “Online Business” but it won’t be nearly as successful as more specific, targeted lead magnets.
If you already have a website, listen to your readers. If you allow comments on your posts, what are they saying? Any questions you see are potential lead magnets.
Browse forum boards in your niche to see the kinds of questions people are asking for more insights into the problems your readers are encountering.
OK, so you know your audience and what their problem is. Onto step 2.
Now you have an idea as to what problem your lead magnet is going to solve, it’s time to get creative.
DO a brain dump and get everything out of your head. Nothing is off limits at this point as you will go through everything later and discard what you don’t need.
The important thing here is to always have in mind the research you carried out in step 1.
It can be very easy to go down the wrong route and to start creating a lead magnet that you think your readers want.
If you find yourself doing this; STOP.
You already know what your readers want so just give it to them.
Go through your brain dump, get rid of what you don’t want, and then start to think about what type of lead magnet you want to create which moves onto the next step.
OK, you’re really moving now!
You’ve done your research and got a seed of an idea for your gift which will be irresistible to your visitors.
Are you creating a “how-to” type gift? If so, this may work well as a quick tutorial type video, unless your niche tends to dislike video (although this is rare nowadays)
Are you creating a checklist, tool list or resource guide? If so, then a simple pdf report may be best.
Are you creating a motivational type of gift? Then perhaps an audio would work best.
Once you have decided on the format, now you can move onto the next step and actually start creating it.
OK, now it’s time to put everything together and create your amazing free gift.
Research the topic fully and make your explanation as to how your readers can overcome the problem as simple as possible.
If you are writing a report, make sure it is easy to read with good use of headings, paragraphs, bullet points, graphics etc.
You can create great reports in MS Word or Pages and convert them to pdf’s, but if you want to take your reports up a notch, then consider looking into either Designrr or Sqribble to create eye-catching pdf reports.
If you are recording a video, you can use free or cheap screen recorders such as Screencast-o-matic and if you want to edit it, you can use something more powerful such as Camtasia.
If you want to record and edit audio, you can use a free tool called Audacity.
Once you have created your lead magnet, the final step is to get it live on the internet, so onto the final step.
So, you now have your sexy new lead magnet. That’s great, but now you need to get it online so people can find it, opt-in and then download it.
Firstly, you’ll need to sign up to an autoresponder service such as Active Campaign or Aweber. You will use these to generate some code for an opt-in form, and, more importantly, to send automated emails to people who sign up for your free gift.
Once you have signed up to an autoresponder, go and create a form that people can fill in. This will then generate some code that you will need in a minute.
You may also want to create an email sequence to welcome your new subscribers.
Now you have your opt-in form code, you need to create a web page for people to visit to read about your free gift and to opt-in. This is normally called a squeeze page or landing page
There are many page builders out there, but I prefer Convertri or OptimizePress.
Choose a template and create your squeeze page. Keep it simple, perhaps an image of your gift and a few bullet points explaining what they’ll get.
Once you have designed it, you need to add the form code from your autoresponder to the page so there will actually be a form that they fill in with their details to get their gift.
The final part is to upload your free gift so they can download it after signing up.
You can upload it to your own website or use something like Amazon S3 which is incredibly cheap; in fact, you get the first year free.
Once you have uploaded your gift, you can add the link to it in your welcome email.
OK, there are the 5 steps you need to create a desirable lead magnet.
I know there are a number of technical moving parts involved in doing this, and if you have any questions feel free to contact me.
And here is a handy infographic that you can use as a reminder of the steps to follow.
