Feeling Inspired!

Hi... Its been a while since my last post on consistency... I guess I didn't really buy into that one.

I have been feeling more inspired lately and I can attribute this feeling to having started reading again. More specifically, I'm reading Robin Sharma's book, The 5AM Club.

What I am really enjoying is the way he repetitively emphasises the idea that any of us can be great and inspiring people and achieve amazing feats by following a simple procedure. Whether or not the procedure that is prescribed is specifically relevant to each individual on the planet or not, there are some great insights on building new productive habits to replace old unproductive ones, along with anecdotes about embracing our individuality to achieve our incredible potential.

If not anything else, the book has brought me back to this blog, and I intend to post more regularly with a new aim:

To share my thoughts on ideas and concepts South Africa as a Country needs to embrace to achieve its incredible potential. Some ideas are practical steps specific to our problems as they arise and some are more general ideas that I believe are universally applicable.

I look forward to sharing my thoughts and ideas and hearing yours for it is through open minded productive debate that we expand our minds and grow, not only our knowledge, but our collective Wisdom.

The first law of Blogging... be Consistent

I'm Back...

It has been a long absence and I finally decided that I need to continue what I started, and what better to blog about than one of the most basic principles of success at ANYTHING...

CONSISTENCY

Over the nearly four years that have passed since my last post, I have had different levels of success with the many areas of my life that I have applied myself to, but the trend I have identified is that the most successful areas are ones that I applied myself to consistently.

It is easy to acknowledge this kind of statement and I almost feel people reading this, gently nodding their heads and agreeing with me. Think of your biggest goals that you have had some success with and you will realise that you applied yourself to them consistently over a period of time.

I find it frustrating that it seems like such a simple formula... Apply myself consistently over a period of time and I will achieve what I set out to do... And yet there are so many other things that seem to have fallen by the wayside.  Sean Covey and Chris McChesney refer to "The Whirlwind" in their book, The 4 Disciplines of Execution. I understand "the whirlwind" to be that stuff of everyday life that we are so busy with that we can't find time to get to our goals...

So what makes the difference?

John Demartini's teaching relates your tendency to apply yourself consistently to a goal to how that goal fulfils your highest values. Which is why I included ADD VALUE as one of my Seven Steps to Success. Relate your goals to your highest values and you will find yourself spending more time on them naturally.

What remains is to KEEP spending that time on them... Consistently. Elements of all of My Seven Steps to Success will lead to consistency in following your goals. Creating Accountability is a powerful way to ensure consistency. Whether you hire a life coach, or ask a friend for or associate to check in with them on a regular basis as an accountability partner, the process of sharing the goal with another person and giving feedback on progress is incredibly powerful in creating consistency and ultimately succeeding.

Looking forward to connecting with you all again... next time sooner, and more CONSISTENTLY.

Feedback on the goal...

On 1 October 2014 I set a goal to accumulate 2 Million Rand in 2 months. The deadline was 30 November which was 3 days ago. I said I would hold myself accountable to the readers of this page, so here is the feedback as promised.

My intention was to set up a blog and generate income through advertising and online marketing. My strategy was provide value and inspiration to my readers and thus increase the traffic to this blog. I then signed up for various advertising and affiliate programmes and placed adverts on the  blog.

In terms of results, I have learned a lot about blogging and how to increase views. I have found out more about what statistics are more and less relevant. I have set some small goals along the way, like getting 100 views in a day, which I achieved twice. I have had over 2000 views on this blog in just over 2 months, which I think is pretty good, but not earth shattering. I have started getting shares and learned how to set up a share bar like to one at the bottom of this post. Feel free to use it if you feel there's value.

As far as generating income is concerned, I joined a number of affiliate programmes and if you follow any of the links on any of my posts, you will be redirected to a site that is referenced to my affiliate programme. If you ten buy something there,  I will earn a small commission.

I have also placed adverts on my blog for which I got paid per click.  I was fairly convinced that the income would come streaming in.....

But it didn't... so now what?

I missed the goal of 2 Million Rand in 2 months.... yet this blog is about turning your dreams into reality. I believe I have made a positive difference in at least a few people's lives and this is a fulfilment of one of my dreams.

As for the 2 Million Rand... I'm going to keep at it. One of the most common principles I have read and heard about in personal development books, audio programmes and seminars is persistence. Now is the time to look at what I've done, figure out what I've done well and do more of it, and look at what I could have done differently and make that change.

I am definitely more valuable to myself for having gone through this process and I commit to sharing my continuous growth and improvement with you. I would love to hear your stories.

If you have been inspired in any way, it's time to share...

What do you do if you have a 3 Million Rand idea that you want to sell to Google?

I have done a little bit of research on this topic and I haven't come up with an answer yet. 

There seem to be a lot of developers out there who claim that getting a large company to buy your idea has similar odds to winning the lottery. I say that if you want to win the lottery, the first step is having a ticket. So if I want to sell my idea to Google, I have to at least put it out there. 

It seems as if Google have purposefully kept their contact details as private as possible because so many people out there believe they have the next big thing. If they advertised, they would be inundated with calls and emails and their servers would constantly be full, so how do they find out about new ideas. They would be silly to ignore the potential of the world of knowledge at their finger tips. What they do have is access to what everyone searches for and the sites that they visit. So by now I guess they know I have something I want them to consider. 

The next question is how do I get the idea across to them without giving away the idea completely. This is the problem with an idea, its just that until someone does something with it. There are also probably hundreds if not thousands of other people who have come up with similar ideas. What makes my idea better than theirs? I have looked a little into patenting and it seems as if its not really worth the money that would have to be spent on it to ensure that it is no-one else could reproduce it with just a few small changes.

I guess the guys at Google have to risk the fact that most ideas will already have been developed in some way or another... but what if my idea is in fact that one that is unique, or at least there is a feature that gives it enough of an advantage over whatever else is out there that could make it the next big thing. What if my idea could make the difference that would take Google+ and make it surpass any other social networking platform available?

The only way they could ever find out would be to find some or other post like this and read into the belief of its writer and contact him to ask about it, set up a meeting, get the details and enter into an agreement with him...

Am I living in a dream world?????

Lets see.

R1 999 999.98 in 10 days... This challenge is getting real.

As you will see,  I have started generating income from my site. I'm a bit behind schedule, yet super excited about it.

Throughout this process, I have been adamant that it's not about the money, and that it's all about adding value and making a difference. One of the points of setting a money goal was to prove that the process works and provide inspiration to anyone who wants to follow My 7 Steps to Success. So I've had to up the ante a bit and start asking some more hardcore questions.

So the questions I have started asking are: "What do I have that is worth 2 Million Rand?" and "How do I get someone to agree that it's worth that and pay me for it?"

That one idea that came to mind was for a social network type application/website. (Details not included ;) I believe the idea is worth more than the 2 Million I'm looking for in the long run, and I could develop it myself or find developers that would take on the project for me.  I would prefer to sell the idea, contract for a royalty and let the guys who have the resources do what they do best and make it awesome.

I would love to hear from some more experienced online entrepreneurs to find out the best way to approach this. Mail me at guy@dreams2reality.co.za.

Asking the right questions?

What to do when you're feeling stuck...

So you've set a bold goal, developed a plan, taken action and things are starting to move along quite nicely. You have accessed your creativity and resourcefulness and ideas were flowing, now you need more inspiration and it just doesn't seem to be coming. You made some plans and they didn't exactly work out the way you expected... what now?

What Question do I need to ask myself now?

I find that the best thing to do when I start to feel stuck is pay attention to what question I need to ask? What is the answer I'm looking for at the moment?  

In Life and Executive Coaching, one of the more scary situations that arises is where the client feels stuck and the coach has run out of questions to ask? Sometimes the best way to deal with this is to simply let the client come up with the question by asking "What question do you need the answer to right now?" It can be quite surreal when the client responds with the question, the coach then asks the question and the client has a breakthrough by answering it. 

The situation above doesn't only have to happen in a coaching scenario, it can be self manged. If you are feeling stuck or without direction, ask yourself the question "What question am I looking for the answer to right now?" and then ask yourself that question. Putting the question out there activates your subconscious mind to find an answer because the human subconscious really doesn't like unanswered questions.

Napoleon Hill, in Think and Grow Rich, relates a story about Henry Ford's response to a question put to him while he was in the witness stand in a libel suit against a newspaper that had referred to him as ignorant. The lawyer had been badgering Ford with general knowledge questions in order to prove his ignorance. Ford eventually retorted that he had a row of buttons on his desk that when pushed, would summon to his office the person with the answer to any question that he might need the answer to. Henry Ford, despite his shortage of formal education, had realized the power of getting answers to questions and set up a system for getting answer to them. These days, finding answers is a lot easier, yet the challenge is to identify which answer is the right one.

Developing the skill of asking questions

Dan Rothstein and Luz Santana identified a potential shortcoming in generally accepted education processes relating to the skill of asking the right questions. In school, there is often a belief that the teachers are there to give the students the answers to questions that they will be asked in examinations. In their book Make Just One Change: Teach Students to Ask Their Own Questions , They suggest that a change in emphasis to asking students to come up with question would both build this critical skill and stimulate a much more participative learning atmosphere in the classroom.

Questions as a Guide to Decision Making

In her book, The Right Questions: Ten Essential Questions To Guide You To An Extraordinary Life, Debbie Ford puts forward that where we are at any moment in our lives is a result of the choices we have made along the way. She discusses the following ten questions that can be asked relating to any choice we are faced with in our lives.

1. Will this choice propel me toward an inspiring future or will it keep me stuck in the past?
2. Will this choice bring me long term fulfillment or will it bring me short term gratification?
3. Am I standing in my own power or am I trying to please another?
4. Am I looking for what's right, or am I looking for what's wrong?
5. Will this choice add to my life force, or will it rob me of my energy?
6. Will I use this situation as a catalyst to grow and evolve or will I use it to beat myself up?
7. Does this choice empower me or dis-empower me?
8. Is this an act of self-love or self-sabotage?
9. Is this an act of faith or an act of fear?
10. Am I choosing from my Divinity or am I choosing from my humanity?

While these questions are all binary (Either/Or) in nature and clearly guide you to which is the preferable option, the answers will highlight the consequences of any choice and will allow you to make decisions with much greater clarity of mind.

Useful Resources

15 Great Quotes on the Importance of Asking the Right Question

   

Defined by dreams...?

Who am I?

Interesting question... I have been wondering what defines us? What is it that you want to know about me? I will give a brief synopsis of my CV and then share with you my dreams, some of which have been realised to a greater or lesser extent, and some that I am busy turning into reality.... for what defines us better than our dreams...?

I am Guy... (Pronounced Ghee) and I am all about changing the world, one small step at a time.

Qualifications and Accomplishments

Junior International Oarsman
Aeronautical Engineer.
Air Force Pilot.
Life Coach.
Ironman Triathlete.
Blogger.
Visionary.

(Most visionaries only get called that after their visions have become reality. Watch this space...)

My Dreams

I Make a Difference
I Inspire Everyone I interact with.
I am Financially Independent
I can Fly Any Aircraft in the World
I am a Competitive Athlete in Peak Physical Condition

These dreams are fairly general and I will  share how I have turned them into specific goals in posts from time to time.

Feel free to ask me a question at the address below and I will make every effort to reply.

guy@dreams2reality.co.za
Follow @GuyduS