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Updated: August 10th 2016 As we enter the first week of a brand new year, your motivations are probably higher than ever to make 2016 the year to finally achieve all you’ve been dreaming of. Whether you’re starting a brand new foray into making money online or you’re hoping to take your current income to the next level, today’s guide is guaranteed to put you on the path to success.
Yet, to do so, I’m not going to give you the information you would probably expect:
- I’m not going to give you a niche idea with no competition that is likely to make you millions this year.
- I’m not going to share any tips on how to get more visitors to your website.
- I’m not going to ask you to opt-in for my ‘little black book’ of online success secrets
That kind of stuff hasn’t worked for you before. If it had, you wouldn’t be curious to read the rest of this article.
Let me be totally blunt with you: The rest of this post has as much to do with life in general as it has to do with making money online. It took me far too many of my 11 years building websites to realise this, but the strategies for success in both certainly seem to go hand in hand.
While there are certainly great resources out there to help you succeed online, they’re everywhere. I’ve written more than 500,000 words on this website alone – that’s enough to fill six marketing books – but knowledge in the hands of those who don’t use it is worthless.
Today I want you to consider achieving online success in a new light.
Not in terms of the niche you choose, how to get visitors or what to sell them, but what you can achieve by what you become and how a new perspective on work and life can dramatically increase your chances of crushing both.
Before we continue, I readily confess that I’m no productivity guru. I haven’t (yet) made 8-figures in a single year and I haven’t created any kind of app that is valued at billions of dollars.
All I can say is that after starting this very website ten years ago at the age of 16, I’ve personally interacted with over 10,000 people looking to ‘make it’ online, and it’s very clear why a lot of them – myself included – fail.
This guide is written as much for me as it is for you. More on that later.
If you truly want to make 2016 your year, get rid of the notion that you need some magic resolution, and be prepared for a mini-awakening. You’ll do far better following the fundamentals I’m about to reveal, than not.
Live Like You’re on Commission, Not Salary
One of the best books I’ve read recently is entitled The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth, by John C. Maxwell. It’s a very straight-forward, practical and to-the-point self-improvement tome. Just how I like them.
John covers many aspects of personal growth in the book, but I particularly like the story of the salesman who looked out a restaurant window and noticed a snowstorm brewing. He asked his waiter, “Do you think the roads will be clear enough in the morning to travel?” The waiter replied, “Depends if you’re on salary, or commission.”
The point of the story is that if you’re on a set salary, you’ll likely phone your boss and tell him the roads are too bad to travel. If you’re on commission, you’ve got to go and make the sale. Otherwise, you don’t eat.
In each scenario, there is a different why.
There’s the “Why would I go?” mentality, when you know you’re getting paid anyway. And then there’s the “Why would I not go?” mentality, when you need to put food on the table.
To have this commission mindset, which is always going to result in a lot more action, you must always keep in mind why you’re doing what you’re doing:
- Are you trying to be a better example to your kids?
- Is there a dream house or car you want to own?
- Do you want to have more so you can give back more to others?
- Are you trying to attract a certain person into your life?
Depending on the country you live in, there’s probably a very easy way to make it to old age – and eventually your coffin – without putting in too much effort. You could find a part-time job, make friends with the local weed dealer and live off ramen noodles for a pretty long time.
Yet since you’ve found this website there has to be something else that is driving you to achieve more in life than the bare minimum.
Have you strongly identified what that why is?
It doesn’t matter if it’s spiritual, material or philosophical; just make sure you’re able to clearly define it.
I personally have far more than just one why for the things I want to achieve, and write down new ones every time they come to me. Just for the discipline of working out, I have eleven items written on the Notes app of my phone to remind myself of the reason I’m putting in the effort. I don’t always need to read them, but they’re there when I do.
There’s more to living like you’re on commission than just knowing your why for doing things.
When you’re paid a salary, it doesn’t matter how much additional work you do, you still get paid the same amount. Yet when you’re working for a commission, the more you sell, the more you get.
Do you want to live this life doing the same things and getting the same results, or do you want to be able to get more by doing more and becoming more?
We are INCREDIBLY fortunate (bold and italics don’t express my feelings strongly enough) to live in a time where we have the opportunity to say “I want to become an online millionaire” and actually have some chance of making that happen. A time where we can say – today I’m going to write five articles on this topic and try to rank this site in Google – and have everything at our disposal to do so.
You have a PC. You have an Internet connection. And you have some way of inputting words and ideas onto the Internet. Even just leaving a comment on this very article could result in someone discovering you for the first time, finding your website and connecting with you in a new way.
We’ll never truly grasp how lucky we are, but at least try to work like you know it.
Find your why and realise how limitless our potential is because we actually have the freedom to put our desires into action.
Trust in the Compound Effect
The definition of compounding, in the investing world is, “The ability of an asset to generate earnings, which are then reinvested in order to generate their own earnings. In other words, compounding refers to generating earnings from previous earnings.”
To put that another way: Over time the small things stack up to help you earn bigger things.
This is an important concept to keep in mind, especially because we live in a society where quick fix solutions are constantly presented to us. We’ve got:
- The fast ways to lose weight.
- The tips to speed up language learning
- The promise of finding a perfect partner, tonight.
- The best strategies to get rich from the Internet, often within a 7 or 30-day timeframe.
If you believe these quick fixes truly exist in some magical manner, the fastest way to rid your beliefs is to suffer the pain of wasting money on them. You will no doubt still be looking for a solution afterwards.
Ironically, positive results tend to find you a lot quicker when consistency becomes your focus, rather than speed.
The headline for this section was lifted from one of my favourite books, The Compound Effect, by Darren Hardy. In it, Darren says, “It’s not the big things that add up in the end; it’s the hundreds, thousands, or millions of little things that separate the ordinary from the extraordinary.”
And doing them consistently over a period of time.
I’m willing to bet that if you were able to travel in time and follow the daily life of anyone in modern history who has been successful, your initial excitement would quickly be replaced by boredom.
If you sat down with Bill Gates through his daily programming, Stephen King through his daily writing, Jay Cutler through his daily workouts or Beethoven through his daily piano practice, likely very little would change day to day.
As exciting as we may often predict the lives of these people are, I’m also willing to bet for the most part – at least while on the path to success – they were very mundane. Not to take anything away from them of course, I’m sure they have fond memories of these moments.
Yet it’s unlikely you’ll feel like you’re living in the movie The Social Network, where everything snowballs, seemingly overnight.
The compound effect can show up in many areas of life. When you start a new fitness routine, for example, you see very little difference in results day by day and neither will those around you. Yet as the weeks and months go on, as long as you stick to the plan, the results will become a lot more evident.
If you haven’t seen certain people for a while, they’ll likely make some comments on your physique that confirm you’re on the right track.
The day to day doesn’t change very much but the end result – where all the little parts of your effort compound on top of each other – shows a far more radical change.
The thing I love about the compound effect is not only the results it can generate, but the entire concept of it.
I mean think about it. All it asks of you is that you do something small, today.
It’s not asking you to jump out of bed and run a marathon. It’s not asking you to write that novel that’s stuck in your head. It’s not asking you to give a speech in Chinese. Instead, all it asks is that you run today. That you write some pages. That you add words to your vocabulary.
And the final thing it asks is to do the same thing again tomorrow. The end result being that all of those little actions you repeat over a period of time will result in something much bigger.
Could you perform some small action today towards one of your goals? We both know the answer to that.
To give a more personal example, a couple of weeks ago I decided to undertake what is probably going to be one of the biggest challenges of my life. I would rather not say what it is in case I ‘fail’ at it once again, but it’s on the scale of writing a 300-page book from scratch, memorising large portions of the Bible or learning to read hieroglyphics.
When you begin to undertake such large challenges, the long road ahead can look daunting. Yet, if you hack away at the mountain of work piece by piece, it can be surprising how quickly you start making some serious progress.
Just writing 500 words per day on your book is certainly manageable, wouldn’t you agree? In a month you would have written almost a quarter of the size of most business books.
Just reading 20 pages of the Bible per day means you will have gone through 600 pages by the end of a month. Learn five words per day of a new language and there’s 150 new words added to your vocabulary each month.
Trust that your little actions over a long period of time can result in huge rewards and watch your results flourish.
Make Motivation Your Habit
I’m a very adamant believer that while being successful is not easy, it is also not complicated. In fact, I think the entire path to becoming successful can be summed up in this section alone.
The first requirement to be successful – in whatever way you define success – is to have the motivation to be successful.
Having the desire to succeed and create more for yourself and others.
Once you have this desire to improve – to change – you then need to look at the disciplines which will best help you make progress.
Let’s assume for a minute that ViperChill is the only thing I have going on in my life. Imagine that I have no goals in life other than to make this the best marketing blog in the world and to share better niche ideas than anyone else on the planet. With that desire, the best disciplines I can possibly implement are to wake up early, and to write.
Waking up early helps me to get more done in a day, and writing is without a doubt the best way I produce content (trust me on this one). I could try to improve sharing my message via other media, but I’ve been doing this long enough to know that for me, the best thing I can do is to produce more (and more valuable) written content.
Once I’ve defined the discipline then I need to…well…discipline myself to make sure I do just that.
As you’re likely well aware, if you do something consistently over a period of time, that action becomes a habit.
If I push myself to perform a challenging action often enough, I will get to a point where it becomes much easier. So waking up early and writing straight away becomes an action I take as if on autopilot. This is actually the case for me right now, but I assure you I have other things I wish to achieve.
Reaching this almost autopilot state is the point where you need far less motivation and far less willpower to actually get something done.
I’m not struggling to write this at all; I’ve been doing this for months at a time, for years of my life. When I take a break and get back into it, writing is initially difficult. But once the habit has resurfaced there is very little mental challenge. You can see from what I shared before New Year that it’s no longer rare for me to wake up and write.
Now if I had set myself the challenge of writing 7,000 words before 3pm and hadn’t written for weeks, I would be lying on the floor, crying for the day to end. To just jump into such a huge workload from nothing is not easy.
Yet when you choose the right disciplines for your goals and again, discipline yourself to stick to them until they become habitual, everything gets a lot easier.
In simple terms – and remember I did say I don’t think success is complicated – the whole process looks like this:
- You have the motivation and desire to change something in your life.
- You define daily disciplines which you think will help you make that change a reality.
- You discipline yourself long enough for those actions to become habits.
- Your daily habits take over and shape your weeks, months and years, as you progress toward your targets.
If you think I’ve simplified things a little too much, I can only guess it’s because you haven’t implemented the right disciplines for yourself, and stuck with them.
The absolute best place to start is to make motivation your habit. Constantly top up the ideas and things that drive you, so the rest of the formula takes care of itself.
As another quick example, here are some pictures I printed to hang up on my wall a few months ago. You may recognise them as having been shared on the ViperChill Facebook page.
I actually took them down from my wall a few days after ordering them as I wanted to paint my office to brighten it up a little bit.
And I never put them back.
Not because I’m lazy, but because I don’t need them. They motivated me enough in a few days to turn certain disciplines into habits, and I only looked at them again to take the photo for this blog post.
Just don’t wait for that motivation to come before taking action, as you’ll read later.
Focus on One Thing
When you’re just starting out online, it’s so easy to get caught in the trap of trying to do anything and everything. There are so many products targeted at beginners offering the route to ‘quick success’, and it’s easy to fall for them.
If you are a total beginner to making money online, I think this is the section you’ll struggle with the most.
Me just saying to someone “don’t go and buy all those shiny looking marketing products” or “just stick with that one website and make it successful” has never actually worked in deterring people as far as I know. Instead, people seem to have to actually go through the pain of buying shitty products or the struggle of running dozens of sites before they realise the advice is solid.
If you’re not a total beginner then just think back to the products you’ve bought in this space before that didn’t even come close to delivering on their promises. Or maybe they did deliver the information they promised but you just ignored the parts which were to do with taking action.
In his book, The ONE Thing, Gary Keller talks about how passion and focus can lead to the kind of results you’re looking for, “Passion for something leads to disproportionate time practicing or working at it. That time spent eventually translates to skill, and when skill improves, results improve. Better results generally lead to more enjoyment, and more passion and more time is invested. It can be a virtuous cycle all the way to extraordinary results.”
So it may be one traffic source, one niche idea, one product you follow or one anything in this space that you decide to focus on. Stick with it long enough for one of three outcomes to happen: You gave it your best and it didn’t work, you’ve figured it out so thoroughly that you’re ready to move on to the next thing, or you see it through and dominate with your growing skillset.
You’ll know whether you’ve given something your all and you’re either ready for a different path or the next level of your current one.
To demonstrate the power of focusing on one thing for my own business ventures, I have a great story about a popular site I used to run.
After a year and a half living in Cape Town, I had moved back to England because my online projects were finally making me more money than my full-time marketing job. I started spending much more time writing for a personal development blog called PluginID (no longer online).
I really wasn’t focused at all on making money with the site; I just wanted to grow my audience.
While reading a personal development book (I wish I could remember which one), there was an exercise which suggested you write to your future self in a year, proud about a goal that you’ve achieved to see how it feels.
You know how most marketing and self-development books have exercises we just skip over? Well, for once, I actually completed this one.
I took the time to write myself a letter stating how good it felt that PluginID had passed the 10,000 subscriber mark (RSS was still huge at the time) and how I had got there. I maybe read this letter a couple of times, but honestly forgot about it.
Then after living in Amsterdam and Cape Town (again) for over a year, I returned to England one Christmas and started going through all of my stuff. That’s when I found the letter.
The funny thing is that by then the blog had surpassed the 10,000 subscriber goal, become one of the top 10 personal development blogs in the world and I later sold it for a mid-five-figure fee.
(For the curious, the site was quickly sold again a month later for a $10,000 profit. A devout Christian took over and changed the content focus dramatically, marking the beginning of the end.)
While I am not crazy enough to think that simply writing the letter helped me gain thousands of additional feed subscribers, I have no doubt that because it was a huge, sole focus of mine for the site (I didn’t have any income goals), my mind sought as many ways as possible to make that happen.
It’s important to have goals of course, but I had but a single goal for that site, and I truly believe that’s a huge reason why it was successful.
Surround Yourself with the Right People
Or at least fewer of the wrong ones.
If you’re ready to take your life and your income to the next level, you need to take a serious look at the people around you. It’s an oft-repeated cliché in the personal development world to question your current social circle, but it’s also repeated by almost every teacher for a reason.
Throughout my life I’ve generally had a small social circle and being totally honest, at times it’s something I’ve questioned. Maybe it’s a product of spending so much of my last few years in Asia, which can often attract the ‘wrong kind’ of westerner, but I rarely meet people who I feel like hanging out with on a regular basis.
One of the reasons I’ve questioned myself at times is because I’m a pretty big believer in the quote, “If you think everyone else is an asshole, you’re usually the asshole.” 2015 was a year when I really tried to grow my social circle, as it just felt weird only having a small handful of friends for most of my life.
I really wish I hadn’t.
I made a lot of ‘friends’ but gained nothing from their friendship. I won’t go into the boring details here, but a lot of people turned out to be nothing like the people I thought they were, or who they tried to portray.
However, I did fortunately learn to appreciate the small but awesome social circle I have so much more.
I don’t care if someone has money or they’re successful; the main thing I care about when making new friends is that they have drive. They want something more from life, whatever that may be, and they’re willing to put in the work to get it.
I don’t care about the colour of your skin, your race, your religion or gender. If you’re driven, you’re a positive person and you get shit done – even if it has nothing to do with what I do – I’ll probably get along very well with you.
Sadly it seems those people are not so easy to find.
I’m sure you’ve heard the various quotes about how “you’re the average of the five people you spend the most time with”. I always kind of ‘got’ the idea, but it wasn’t until 2015 that I felt it in action. I felt I was being so dragged down by others that I truly came to understand the quotes.
Right now I only have three friends in my local area that I consider to be close friends. That means I’m missing two spots if you believe we’re most representative of the five people we’re most often around. Well, another thing I learned from personal experience this year is that you don’t have to be in the same vicinity as those five people who make up your average.
This is probably going to sound weird, but I spend almost as much time following some people online as I see those three people offline. The likes of Patrick Bet-David, Darren Hardy, Grant Cardone and Eric (now Dr. Eric) Thomas are among a select number of people I get inspiration from on an almost daily basis.
- Patrick was an immigrant from Iran who moved to the United States before enlisting in the army. He now runs a multi-million dollar insurance company.
- Darren was abandoned by his mother at 10 days old and grew up with an abusive father, yet later went on to found SUCCESS magazine. It sold 1 million copies in the first week of its relaunch.
- Grant is an authority on sales with over $500m in his real estate portfolio.
- Eric is one of the world’s top motivational speakers and went back to get his PHD in his late thirties. You probably know him from the “When you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe” video his voice was dubbed over.
Don’t those descriptions sound like the kind of people you should be spending more time with if you’re looking to be successful in any area of life, not just with making money online?
I’ve watched hours of their video content and read all of their relevant books.If I’m ever feeling a slight lack of motivation I’ll watch one of their videos on YouTube, even ones I’ve already seen.
Just like the three close friends I have offline: They’re positive, they have a drive to succeed and they get shit done. That’s all I look for in people.
What qualities are you looking for in other people around you?
Do the five people you spend the most time with primarily exhibit those qualities over anything else? If not, you need to change that and fast. Please trust me on this one, because I certainly learned the hard way.
Stop Spending Time on Pointless Shit
For two years between the ages of 21 and 23 I read more work by Seth Godin than any other author or blogger in existence. Feeling like I connected with almost everything he wrote made me what some people would describe as a ‘fanboy’.
I haven’t read anything from Seth in a few years now – I should really fix that – but something simple he once said about his productivity levels has stuck with me all these years.
“People ask how I can write so many books or publish so many blog posts. Well, I don’t watch TV, so there’s 3-4 hours per day I get over the average person.”
While I also don’t watch TV, it’s still easy to fill those extra hours with things that really aren’t the best use of my time. It’s easy to get lost on Reddit for an hour, start flicking through Tinder when I’m bored or load up some documentary on YouTube.
I’m almost certain there has to be a snowball effect when it comes to these things. If the first hour of your day is spent browsing Reddit, watching anime or checking threads on your favourite forum, it doesn’t exactly set you up to be productive for the rest of your day.
Similarly, if I ever wake up with a hangover, the last thing I want to do is open up my text editor of choice and start cranking out an article or checking my ad campaigns on Facebook.
I don’t know what you do in your ‘downtime’ but you more than likely have a lot more of it than you should. At least if you have big goals you want to achieve while you’re on this planet.
The first step to improving in this area is to be honest with yourself in defining what those pointless activities are.
I found that I could browse some stupid news site for an hour and the next day I wouldn’t be able to tell you a single meaningful thing I learned from it. I could watch a VICE documentary on hallucinogenic honey and feel like I’m ‘learning’ something, but not be able to tell you what that honey is called or even which country it’s found a few days later.
I’m not suggesting you become a robot and do nothing but grind out tasks every waking hour, but keep in mind that if you don’t control the inputs to your mind each day, it can be hard to focus on the things you know truly matter.
Be honest where you’re wasting time, and create a plan to replace those hours with something that will help make your dreams a reality.
Focus on Giving
Givers are people who focus on the value that they’re providing, with less thought on what they’re going to get in return. Yet from what I can see in every facet of online business, those who give the most also tend to get the most back.
- The people who transition from blogger to successful author are usually the bloggers who have written hundreds (if not thousands) of insightful articles and grown a loyal audience who will gladly pick up their book.
- The podcasters who gain tens of thousands of regular listeners take the time to study their topic in depth and make sure their show is interesting.
- The people behind successful YouTube channels produce videos week after week, for months and years on end, that entertain their target demographic. If you don’t play around with video, trust me when I say those videos take more work to put together than you would expect.
It’s easy to see the end result like the successful book, the chart-topping show on iTunes or the Forbes column telling you how much Supercars of London makes on YouTube, but you shouldn’t forget the consistency of giving over the years to get to that point.
The amount of stuff they put out there that other people truly enjoyed.
In his highly interesting book, Give and Take, Adam Grant talks about the concept of being a giver or a taker. Here’s a quote from the book, which may make you question why I’m recommending becoming a giver, “Research demonstrates that givers sink to the bottom of the success ladder. Across a wide range of important occupations, givers are at a disadvantage: they make others better off but sacrifice their own success in the process.”
Adam went on to further clarify, “So if givers are most likely to land at the bottom of the success ladder, who’s at the top—takers or matchers? Neither. When I took another look at the data, I discovered a surprising pattern: It’s the givers again.”.
He explains that the givers who rise to the top of the success ladder generally gain things that they weren’t seeking from the act of giving, such as a support network that they can rely on. An Amazon review describes how to be a successful giver, “Give, but make sure one is giving with a sense of purpose, and to people and things one cares about. Give, but not when it comes at the expense of one’s own projects.”
For instance, teachers face less chance of burning-out by seeing the great work that their students go on to achieve.
Jim Rohn gives further credit to this idea with his popular quote, “Give enough people what they want and you can have everything you want.”
If Steve Jobs’ goal for Apple was more about making a ton of money than making awesome products, Apple would unlikely be the global powerhouse it is today.
If Brad Pitt cared more about the girls he could get from being famous, rather than the amazing movies he could make, I doubt you would know his name.
If Daymond John wanted expensive cars more than he wanted to make a cool fashion brand, I argue he would be worth far less than the $250,000,000 that he is today.
While we are all of course building Internet businesses to get a financial return, find something outside of yourself that gives you a higher desire to do what you’re doing online. You’ll not only find the journey more rewarding, but research shows you’re far more likely to get that financial return as well.
Accept Criticism Will Come as Part of the Territory
And then make sure it does not get in your way of taking action, whatsoever.
As the saying goes, if you don’t want to receive criticism, then do nothing, say nothing and be nothing. That’s the easiest way to ensure you never receive negative feedback in life. On the same note, don’t expect to receive any praise or accolades either.
You’ll find with any online businesses that starts to get attention (especially if you’re active on social media), there’ll be ignorant people sending less than desirable comments in your direction.
Thanks to the Internet, because people can say anything on any medium, they will.
And those who are angry, disappointed or upset – whether they have a logical reason to be or not – will be far more vocal than those who love what you do and never want you to stop.
No matter what I write on ViperChill, someone will criticise an aspect of my article or the message I’m trying to share. Some will no doubt tell me this article was far too long, as usual. To show you what I mean, here’s some feedback from my latest article about how to get millions of visitors from Google in 2016 (link).
While the overall response was overwhelmingly positive (I never lose sight of the positive these days), some of the comments I received were as follows:
- “Sorry dude but this is nothing new. Seasoned SEO’s know this” – on Twitter by someone I consider a respectable marketer.
- “Yeah this is called Predictive SEO, people have been doing it for a long time.” – a mix of comments on Twitter and Inbound.org.
- “Who is going to read this???” via response to the email I sent out about the article.
Or my personal favourite, from admin@khh.com who left a comment saying:
- “Every veteran webmaster facepalms as you think this is something new and innovative.“
Cute.
As I wrote on a Facebook status not too long ago, this kind of feedback really used to bother me. After putting so much work into an article, it would really get me down.
There seems to be something in our DNA that reacts to negative feedback far more strongly than we react to positive feedback. You can see this in the celebrities who are constantly quitting the likes of Twitter because of the comments they receive.
Rihanna for example has been found attacking users of Instagram who insult her, yet you won’t find her responding so readily to the thousands who say how amazing she is.
So what’s my solution to the negative criticism? Post less? Only post really amazing content? Get more personal? Make sure nobody in the history of the world has ever written about or considered what I’m about to say?
Actually, none of the above. There is no solution.
You just have to accept it and keep doing what you’re doing.
I think the biggest turning point for me – to get to the point where criticism means so little to me anymore – is simply believing I did the best job I could and shared a message I know would benefit at least someone.
As I’ve often said, I write long articles and go into a lot of detail because they’re the kind of articles I like reading. You can find hundreds of alternative sources who get to the point much quicker if that’s your thing.
You’re never going to please everyone, so the best thing you can do is to have 100% belief in yourself. 100% belief that you tried to make something cool, or tried to help at least one person, or thought you would make someone’s day better, or whatever is relevant to your own online journey.
And if you’re still doubting how much awesome value you have to give – in whatever form – please rid yourself of those incorrect beliefs before you produce anything else.
As Patrick Bet-David would say, criticism is a sign you’re on to something good, “Make some noise. Get rowdy. Be bold. Play offense. Don’t entertain small thinking. Don’t tolerate any negativity. Show the world what you’re made up of. And along the way you’ll give birth to a ton of haters and BELIEVERS. One doesn’t come without the other.”
Right now, the USA is deciding who will be their next President. No matter who wins the election, almost half the country is still going to have either not bothered to vote at all, or voted against the person now running their country. Imagine that; winning something and still having 200+ million of your own citizens either not caring or wishing you hadn’t.
It’s OK for your audience to shrink or evolve, because if you’re sticking to the same beliefs and values, you’ll just attract more of the ‘right’ people. Just as important is to never take the criticism personally. You never know someone’s personal situation in life on the other side of a computer screen.
I know it’s not always easy to see the lighter side of negative comments but just remember…we’re dying! One day at a time. Do I really need to care that some lawyer in Austin Texas thinks my ideas are beneath him and I make him facepalm? I’m more concerned he’s focusing on directing hate at me rather than helping his clients.
Read More Books
While there are of course successful people who will claim they never read books, more often than not successful people do tend to fall into the category of being voracious readers.
- Warren Buffett, the world’s most successful investor, says he spends up to 80% of his day reading.
- Bill Gates, who created Microsoft and is now more focused on being a billionaire humanitarian says that he gets through a book per week and has done for years.
- Elon Musk, the co-founder of PayPal and founder of Tesla and SpaceX, has spoken of his love of reading autobiographies of past greats like Howard Hughes, Benjamin Franklin and of course, Nikola Tesla.
- Mark Cuban, the owner of the Dallas Mavericks, insists on reading 3 hours a day.
- J.K. Rowling, the first ever billionaire author, read ‘absolutely anything’ as a child.
According to Business Insider, President Obama, Albert Einstein and Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg are all avid book lovers, too.
For me personally, I’ve found that reading is almost meditative. It’s something that I feel benefits my life greatly and at the same time is completely relaxing. The books I read are almost always business-related, and I’m constantly highlighting sentences or paragraphs, but the whole process is very chilled out.
I don’t read fiction books, but I like the idea that they open you up to a whole new world and allow your imagination to run wild. With business books, I ironically like when they both reaffirm my current beliefs and when they give a different perspective on an idea that I already had.
If you’re still not convinced you should be reading more, here are some scientific benefits which may help you decide:
- Readers are more likely to exercise…and vote (Source)
- Reading can enhance your memory (Source)
- Reading makes you sexier (Source)
- Reading reduces stress (Source)
- Your vocabulary expands (Source)
- It can help prevent Alzheimer’s (Source)
- You’re more likely to ‘get ahead’ (Source)
- It can make you smarter (Source)
- Reading non-fiction can increase your empathy (Source)
- It improves your analytical thinking (Source)
- It can be therapeutic (Source)
- Better readers make better writers (Source)
I know it was cool to say in school that you never read books, but it’s time to get serious. If you’re looking for a great book to start with, I recommend The 10X Rule by Grant Cardone or Smartcuts by Shane Snow.
Take Massive Action
Because I know you didn’t take enough in 2015.
You didn’t.
I’m not even questioning whether you worked on the wrong things and that’s why you didn’t get the results you wanted. Even if you worked on the ‘wrong’ things, enough action would have seen you move away from them quick enough to recover by the second quarter of 2015, never mind the fourth.
I know I didn’t do enough this year. I probably did 20% of what I was capable of doing.
I feel I worked at least 75% of this year, but it was mainly on the wrong things. Things that didn’t excite me that I had to grind through, and because they didn’t excite me, I didn’t work on them enough. And because I didn’t work on them enough, it took me too long to realise I was not getting anywhere on a particular path and then too long to change direction.
There’s a small, simple quote from Eric Thomas that I like to keep in mind, “You can’t cheat the grind.”
You don’t have to tell me you worked hard and didn’t get results.
You don’t have to tell your family how hard you’ve been working.
You just have to be able to tell yourself that you did the work, because deep down inside you know whether or not you did what you’re capable of doing.
I know I didn’t. Did you?
Only after you’re honest with yourself can you make a change. You can’t cheat the grind because it knows exactly how much work you’ve put in.
I’ve found the stronger my desire to achieve something, the more sources of “Why?” I find and the more action I take. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy, since more sources of why also increases my desire.
Now, not taking enough action doesn’t necessarily imply you’ve been lazy. At times, it’s possible that we greatly underestimate how much time and energy it would take to achieve something. That’s why I actually set longer timeframes for myself in order to get something done and plan to expend more energy than is probably needed.
In the past this would have caused my to delay a task until the last minute – just like in my school days with homework – but I don’t have that issue anymore now that my why’s are strong enough.
If you’re not doing enough then quite simply, your desire to succeed – however you define it – is not strong enough. You need to find some goal and destination that truly makes you come alive. That makes you want to jump out of bed in the morning.
Work on Your Personal Attitude Towards Everything
We’ve all been guilty of blaming outside sources for our current situation in life. Especially if that situation is not aligned with our ideals.
You can blame the economy.
You can blame politicians.
You can blame your parents for not giving you a better start in life.
You can blame your boss for not increasing your salary.
You can blame your age and the idea that you “just got started too late”.
You can say the only niche you’re passionate about is too saturated.
And on it goes. You get the idea.
If you find yourself making any of these claims, or giving any other excuse why you’re not successful, you’ll seriously hinder your chances of any kind of success. The moment you think that success is to be found outside of you for any goal, it will make it much harder to reach, if you can even reach it at all.
Another quote from Seth Godin – which I’m paraphrasing here – went along the following lines.
“So many people reach out to me to try and get me to talk about something they’ve made. They think that if I just give it a mention on my blog, all of the pieces will fall into place and they’ll get what they’ve always wanted.
Well here’s the truth: If your business success relies on someone like me to promote it for you, then you’ve already failed.”
I’ve never shared this with anyone before, but I’ve actually written a book.
Yet unlike the books you’ll find on the personal development or business shelves of your local bookstore, it’s written purely for myself.
Whenever I feel demotivated or unsure I’m on the right path. I read it. Having those feelings often was exactly why I wrote the book in the first place.
The book has no foreword, no chapter numbers and no introduction. Instead, these are the exact words it starts with, “Your success lies in the hands of no-one else. Nobody is holding it behind their back, keeping it away from you as you as you frantically reach around their waist trying to grab it. You don’t need to connect with any ‘influencer’ in order to succeed. This is all on you. You can become the leader in your field. Never ever falter on that belief. You can do this entire thing on your own.”
I have so much belief in how important your personal attitude is that I read my own words to myself every single day. Yep, you heard it here first. ViperChill reads his own book to himself.
And it works.
While it’s inspiring for me to know that I can do anything I want on my own, the more important message is that I’m not putting responsibility for my results (or lack of them) on anyone else’s shoulders.
I proudly accept the position I’m in, and the challenge ahead, as my challenge.
It’s incredible how your attitude towards anything can flow into all areas of life.
Recently, a friend of mine purchased a brand new BMW in Thailand. The car cost around $150,000 so it’s a car out of reach for most people (you’ve got to love those taxes).
If you’ve ever been to Thailand you’ll know how scarily close scooter and tuk tuk drivers like to get to other vehicles as they’re whizzing in and out of traffic. After one close call I asked her, “Aren’t you worried they’re going to drive into your car one day?” She replied without a flinch. “No, that’s why I have insurance.”
Isn’t that a much more laid-back way to look at things?
In his best-selling book, What to Say When You Talk to Yourself, Shad Helmstetter makes a very profound claim about the importance of how we look at things and talk to ourselves.
“After examining the philosophies, the theories, and the practiced methods of influencing human behavior, I was shocked to learn the simplicity of that one small fact: You will become what you think about most; your success or failure in anything, large or small, will depend on your programming – what you accept from others, and what you say when you talk to yourself.
It is no longer a success theory; it is a simple but powerful fact. Neither luck nor desire has the slightest thing to do with it. It makes no difference whether we believe it or not. The brain simply believes what you tell it most. And what you tell it about you, it will create. It has no choice.”
To show you the true power of your attitude in all aspects of life, I want to set you a challenge.
Just for the next seven days, I want you to be the most positive person you know.
No matter what happens, I want you to try and view everything in a positive light. To find the silver lining in every experience.
See how often you can catch yourself with negative emotions when there is a much better alternative. This is one of the things I have to work on much more myself and I certainly will, because I know how beneficial a practice it is.
Only when you put the responsibility of your results solely on your own shoulders will you give yourself the best chance of achieving them.
Wait for Motivation and You’ll Be Waiting for Success
I’ve been working on this article for a few days now and as I’m writing this section, it’s 10:11pm on a Wednesday night, two days before Christmas.
I’m on my 8th Pomodoro of the day, and my eyes are almost closing. Yet here I am, working on an article that isn’t going to be published for almost two weeks – and I’m two-thirds of the way through it at this point. It’s not like I need to be focusing on it right now.
Yet if I didn’t do it right now, when else am I going to do it? There has to be a now to get it done.
And while I recommend that you should make motivation a habit, I’m certainly not waiting for motivation in order to crank out this section.
While it was tough to get started, I know I’m going to feel great when it’s done.
As John Maxwell says, “To do the right thing, I don’t wait to feel like it. I recognise that emotion follows motion. Do the right thing and you feel right. Do the wrong thing and you feel bad. If you take control of your behaviour, your emotions will fall into place.”
He’s not wrong.
Every single day the first task I do, after meditating, is write. I start my Pomodoro timer and write about any topic. It doesn’t really matter what it is; I just force myself to write. Then before I eat breakfast, I complete two more Pomodoros which are focused on writing. I’ve already learned it’s one of the best disciplines I can set myself.
Before most of the rest of the world is up I’ve written for an hour and 10 minutes and at least for me personally, I’ve started my day off perfectly. I rarely know what I’m going to write, and very rarely am I excited to write. Instead, as the Nike slogan goes, I just do it.
While you’re out there looking for motivational quotes to help you get going, someone else is creating a success story that they write motivational quotes about.
It didn’t take me long to realise that browsing /r/GetMotivated or watching inspirational videos on YouTube will not make the work I have to get done any easier. I don’t expect they will for you either. All too often in the past I would wait for the right time or mood before taking action. A wiser Glen realises there is no right time.
You either get started and put in the work, or you don’t.
Going back to trusting the compound effect, if you’re anything like me you’ll notice that motivation also compounds. I get motivation from knowing I can complete tasks and get things done, which in turn builds more motivation and helps me to get even more done.
So the next time you’re waiting for the right time to get started or you find yourself looking for a bit of inspiration to keep going, just try one thing for me. Do the action, then tell me if your real motivation doesn’t come from that, instead of some pretty results in Google Image Search.
I think you’ll find yourself pleasantly surprised.
Hate It and You’ll Hate the Work. Love it and…
…there’s less work. Not no work – I think that’s a myth – but certainly less.
You’ve no doubt realised that most of the points I’ve covered in this article apply to almost anything in life, and not just towards Internet marketing or more specifically, making money online.
I am aware of this.
Something I’ve learned from starting hundreds of different online ventures over the past 11 years though is that if you’re working on the wrong thing, the work is work.
If I’m trying to build a site in an industry I have no interest in, completing tasks really feels like trying to sprint in a swimming pool. Everything is working against you.
To be creative on topics that I don’t care for, like the latest beauty trends or games like Minecraft, is a huge, huge mental challenge for me and something I can easily procrastinate on indefinitely. But when I have an idea that’s close to home, when it’s something that really interests me, the amount of work I have to do is the same, but it doesn’t come with the same emotional and psychological baggage.
Let’s again use this very article as an example.
I enjoyed planning out the individual sections and deciding on their headlines and order. I loved writing key sentences that I know people are going to find powerful and I edited this document with a lot of excitement, partly anxious to see how people will react after I hit ‘Publish’.
But I truly did not like hitting ‘Start’ on my Pomodoro timer at 7am in the morning to write 95% of these words. It wasn’t fun, I didn’t feel inspired and certainly no keystrokes flowed from my fingertips like it all was meant to be. There were a lot of forgettable moments in putting this article together.
Yet, because I was excited about helping people with this post and getting their reactions, that excitement and interest definitely helped me power through the tougher times.
And that’s why it’s so important when you’re doing anything online, to at least have some aspect of the project that’s enjoyable for you.
If you don’t love your product, you’re never going to support your customers.
If you don’t enjoy your finished articles, you’re not going to care about the comments.
If you don’t enjoy recording your podcast, you’re not going to give its editing the time it deserves.
There are no overnight successes online. (Even the guy who created Ship Your Enemies Glitter and made $80,000 seemingly overnight had to have the idea, buy the domain name, set-up the site and tell someone about it.)
If you want to increase your chances of success then you must find some joy in the industry you’re working on, the angle you’re taking, or the people you’re serving. Without that, you aren’t going to push to get through the not-so-fun stuff, because trust me, that not-so-fun stuff has existed for everyone who has ‘made it online’ in one form or another.
While the saying “focus on an industry you love” is the most overused phrase in Internet marketing, it’s the only thing that’s going to make sure you do the work you don’t love, besides sheer willpower.
You Must Keep Aiming for the Next Level
Maybe you didn’t do too badly last year. Maybe you set out to follow some New Year’s resolutions and actually stuck with them. If that’s you, then congratulations.
But what did you do next?
Celebrate a little and then sit on cruise control for the rest of the year? Fall back into bad habits? Reward yourself too much and forget to set bigger goals?
Once you’ve hit one goal, move on to the next.
I’ve met enough multi-millionaires to know that once you hit certain financial goals, life gets boring very quickly if you just sit back and relax.
To demonstrate my point, think of the CEO’s of all the top companies around the world. People like Richard Branson, Bill Gates, Larry Ellison and Tim Cook. They could spend a million dollars per week for the rest of their lives and still have enough to leave for their families for generations to come.
Yet, they are still on a mission. They’re still putting in the work like never before.
- Richard Branson wants to spread the Virgin brand into more industries.
- Bill Gates is trying to fight malaria across Africa.
- Larry Ellison is fighting to keep Oracle’s huge marketshare in an industry rapidly gaining competition in the form of well-funded startups.
- Tim Cook wants to continue the legacy of Steve Jobs and take Apple to new heights.
It’s not about the money. It’s about having bigger goals linked to their personal mission of what they want to achieve in life.
These are the people who you could accept would hit the snooze button and coast through life because they’ve ‘made it’ yet they’re probably putting in more work than anyone reading this – myself included – day in and day out.
Success and moving forward has become a habit for them.
I would go so far as to say this mission to go further is why they were successful in the first place. As Jim Rohn would say, if you want to have more, you have to become more.
One thing I love about building a business online is that you can constantly find yourself hitting milestones.
An article may go viral and you hit a traffic goal you hadn’t expected to reach for a few months. Maybe you write something that resonates with people and your blog post receives 50 comments. An influencer you’ve been talking with could finally tweet about you and send you 100 email subscribers.
There are so many angles to ‘win’ and grow that building a successful Internet business can be incredibly rewarding; not just from the fact that you can make money from anywhere you choose.
They say the journey is the best part, and mostly I would agree, but we’re only on the journey to get to a destination. It doesn’t mean we’ve ‘arrived’ in life. It just means we’re checking in to the next stop, and then you’ve got to pack your bags again and get ready for the next take-off.
If you find yourself reading this article for a second or third time in the future, be more wary of how easy it is to reward yourself and ‘take a break’ once you’ve hit some initial goals. If you don’t set higher ones, you may find yourself back where you first started.
Believe That You’ve Got This
It’s no secret that most entrepreneurs fail far more times than they’re successful. It’s certainly the case for me. I’ve started more than 100 websites targeting different industries over the years and I would say 90% of them went on to achieve little to no success.
Sometimes the reason these sites ‘failed’ is because I went into a niche for the wrong reasons – such as focusing almost entirely on their income potential – but often it was because of my own personal doubts that I’ll actually have success in that industry.
In 2015, I spent over $10,000 building an online community for women and while I started with a lot of enthusiasm, every single hurdle I came across made me doubt that I should actually be undertaking the project. I made back exactly $0 from that site, and that $10,000 doesn’t include the investment of my time, which I value at a much higher price.
On projects where I have a sense of confidence that I can really make something happen, coupled with an interest somewhere, I end up sticking with them and more often than not that confidence helps me succeed.
I started a website last January that now has 650,000+ Facebook likes and is one of the top brands in a multi-billion dollar industry. This has allowed me to make connections with some of the richest and most influential people in the niche I’m targeting.
While this probably sounds egotistical, from day one I’ve known that I could make the website a huge success because I saw so many things that others in the space were doing wrong. That belief – which I would prefer to call being confident rather than arrogant – helped drive the growth of the site immensely.
If you have any doubts about your ability to make more money from the Internet than you do in your current job, please do your research so you can eradicate them immediately.
Start by researching success stories of people who have been in your shoes and reaching out to potential mentors and ask if they ever doubted they could make it. You’ll be surprised how much you can learn from both.
Write a Book for Yourself
THIS IS BY FAR THE MOST IMPORTANT SUGGESTION I CAN GIVE YOU. (Highlight, caps-lock and bold, check. It’s that powerful.)
Imagine for a second that our brains have a very limited capacity when it comes to retaining anything we read.
The capacity is so limited that by the time you’re on the third Harry Potter book, every subsequent chapter you read overwrites your memory of the beginning chapters of the first book. If this were the reality for the human brain, would you find yourself reading more of TMZ.com or more of Inc.com?
Fortunately our brain capacity is not so limited, but I like to sometimes think of it in this way as a reminder to control the input sources which affect my thinking, habits and ultimately, my life.
This is one of the main reasons I wrote a book for myself.
My book contains what I believe to be the most important advice I can follow, and the most important things I can do, in order to reach my own personal definition of being successful. While it’s not something I could ever sell or release publicly – it’s written in a very personal manner – you can find key aspects of what I cover in the book on this very page.
The single reason why I wrote a book just for myself was because I wanted everything I believed to be true in one place, for times when I doubted what I was doing or believed.
Now, I certainly don’t read this book daily because fortunately, I don’t need to. I’ve read it enough times to be able to repeat every word aloud without looking at it.
Yet there are times, maybe for a brief 10-15 minute window once per fortnight, where things aren’t going my way and work isn’t progressing as I would like, that I need a little ‘pick me up’. This book reminds me that I’m on the right path, encourages me to keep going, and includes a few other important messages which I genuinely believe to be true.
Zig Ziglar, one of the most recognised names in business and leadership, recommends that people who purchase his motivational tapes listen to them at least 16 times. That may not sound too extreme until you realise I heard this while half-way through a 7-hour recording!
While listening to 7 hours of information more than 16 times may sound a little ridiculous – it did to me when I first heard him say it – I later understood his point. Listening to something so much means not only that you can finish most of his sentences (and recall bad jokes of snakes not having a leg to stand on), but the content literally spreads through your entire being and belief system.
And that’s the important point I want to get to before you just start writing anything in your book (if you’re going to do it at all).
You must believe what you’re reading or hearing.
If there are some aspects in Zig’s message for example that you don’t quite follow or relate to, then you probably shouldn’t listen to it again, never-mind 16 times.
Your book should be made up of the disciplines, action steps and truths about success that you – and you alone – believe will help you get more from this thing we call life.
It doesn’t matter if anyone else agrees with them. If you believe them, that’s all that counts.
Someone reading this might say that I should focus on public speaking and improving my podcast so I can reach more people. Yet in my book I tell myself to ignore that at all costs and to focus on what (at least I believe) I do best, which is sharing my ideas through writing.
If they’re right and I’m wrong I’ll figure that out through right action anyway, and I’ll update that section of the book. It’s only a few pages long so I can reprint it anytime I like.
If you take nothing else from this article today, could you at least start putting together that book? A book that covers things like:
- The steps you need to take to make your dreams a reality.
- The disciplines you wish to become your habits.
- Reminders why you’re working so hard, if you ever doubt the work is worth it.
- The people, besides yourself, that will benefit most from your success.
And anything else you feel would inspire you if you’re ever feeling low.
Make it as personal and emotional as you can, because only you are likely to ever read it.
In 2016, I’m going to produce more content for ViperChill than I ever have in a single year. I would love to support and mentor you on your own journey, and hope that you’re interested in supporting me on mine.
If you’re ready to start tackling a new niche with your new found motivation, here’s a great place to start.
Thank you so much for reading. I’m not a fan of New Year’s resolutions, but we certainly have some big things to do together this year, so buckle up…
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great article… I believe I could summarize the meat of the message in this:
love the process, and understand that only through process will you experience “lucky breaks” and “success”. You can’t get to the “success” part without the process (working hard, failing, getting back up, iterating, losing sleep, pushing forward when no one else sees what you see, etc…).
Thomas Jefferson said “I am a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it.”
thanks for the great post!
Thanks so much for the comment BM,
Glad you liked the post!
Thank you for writing this letter for me. As I read it, it felt just as though you know my biggest struggle and were providing me with the tools I personally need to be victorious, one day at a time. ViperChill, how did you know my biggest hurdle lies within? Yet, conversely, I’m my greatest asset. You know because this is a universal truth.
I always know when someone gives me really valuable personal development suggestions. Shiggity that when I apply it consistently will absolutely do as it promised. I used suggestions very similar to some of what you suggested to change some behaviors and largely change myself more than 25 years ago. And I help others, even when I don’t accomplish as much as I could for myself.
Please know that I plan to read your letter with some people retuning from prison to our community over the next year. I have an opportunity to help these men and women learn about addiction recovery, democracy and micro-enterprise, based on my experience as a former owner of a small or micro-enterprise. I had a catering business here, in Roxbury, a neighborhood of Boston, MA, USA. I taught myself business planning and development and eventually took a ton of courses. Eventually added in self-development into my business development tool box as I recognized that my personal changes propelled my business ahead. Abundance Catering Service was quite successful. Helped my then-teenaged sons bring this program we called “Cookin For Change” to some of their boys who were, well caught up in the street life with slim to none opportunities to get out. So, we adapted the business planning lessons I had acquired to their needs. It worked,too. We never publicized it- these youth had been so exploited by adults who promised to help them and instead got famous just talking in the media about what they proposed to do. Were offered jobs or grants by foundations and politicians and left the youth worse off.
I flew pretty high. Fell pretty hard. Been talking about rising back up for years. My youngest son, my Consigliori, if you will is now 39. He keeps telling me, “Mom! Do one thing not 3: you can’t re-open Abundance Catering and our non-profit Cookin Fo Change and open HOPE Addiction Recovery Coaching For Body, Mind and Spirit!”
Oh, yes I can. Already HOPE Recovery Coaching has a contract.
If I only use three things you wrote of I will win! 1. Act my way…Do my way into achieving small, really accessible objectives. The motivation will come from achieving my objective, I.e. Get up 1 hour earlier or move into my day, not NETFLIX, upon rising. Work on one thing for my blog every day. I’m so crazy, I paid for Bluehost package in late November ain’t started yet!
2. Write My Book for me, to me.
ViperChill, when you visit BOSTON someday, let me cook for you to thank you!! Know that much of what you suggest is similar to tools I’ve used for 25 years to help support people recovering from addiction, as both a peer volunteer as well as a Recovery Coach for most of the past nine years. I just had lost my own way for a minute. Couldn’t find my way to start again AND for first time since I was a teen, I have been working for exactly 15 months in an entry level job with hours that are killing my older behind, leaving me emotionally and physically drained.
That changes next month- got a contract that pays twice what I earn now in half the hours, some of which I can do from home.
Only when I implement what you suggest with what I know from my experience will I accomplish damn near all of my mission. Otherwise, I can continue to talk a good game and just coast into retirement.
Peace & Love,
SistahZa
Happy New Year, homeboy! May this be a productive and memorable 365 days and beyond for you and your loved ones.
Funny, you mentioned your book. I actually keep a log of best practices called “pronotes” on my machine in which I document all the tactics that work on spreadsheets and text files. I’ll rename it “playbook” and give it more structure thanks to your advice.
Talk soon, brother! My doors are always open for you 🙂 Give my regards to Diggy.
Playbook sounds way cooler 😉
Diggy said who is Neal? Haha, jokes.
Cheers my man!
Glenn,
This is one of the best post of yours and such an engaging and comprehensive read ! Checking the inc preview now !
Cheers Naveen! 🙂
Nice post, man.
You mention “do something you love” and I find that an interesting topic. On the one hand, you have the “do what you love crowd” and on the other you have people who say “go for something boring and profitable”.
My experience has been that it may not matter. Whether you’re doing something you love or something that’s just “meh”, you’re bound to find things IN that job you love. (or things you hate) It’s your ability to sculpt your work around those passions that makes it succeed/fail.
Anyway, love the no-joke VC posts, as always. 🙂
Exactly, just find something in there.
There’s always going to be work, but the love will help push you through it 🙂
Thanks for stopping by!
Absolutely agree.
Although I work within the energy industry which is often perceived as being boring, I help people to be superheroes battling the climate change monster. My motivation is to look in the mirror and know I tried my best. Curiously I just wrote a post on how to balance life with work and do the best job you can.
Thanks Glen I’m grafting hard and putting all of your advice into action.
You are twisted my friend. 10975 words of quality.
Keep on smoking whatever you are smoking! Will be eagerly following your moves this year.
Appreciate the support bro. Know you’ve got BIG things happening this year also!
THANK YOU.
Thank you!
Thank you, Glen! This is one of the best new year advice I have read this new year – very practical. The commission mentality, similar to the gun-to-the-head mentality is what I have also found to motivate me most – getting into the mindset that there’s no boss to tell your excuses to, there’s no salary at the end of the month, if you slack. And psyching oneself to not-slack is so much easier when one is playing in a field they find interesting.
*Thanks for taking the time to write this post – it’s very timely. I’ll have to read this over and over again, and take massive action.
Appreciate you taking the time to comment, Stella, and glad you got something out of the article.
Best of luck to you this year!
Another grand slam! This is such a great post, Glen. It’s inspiring and practical. I think you hit on a few things I knew was true for me, but I was ignoring. Happy 2016!
Couldn’t ask for better feedback than that, Peyton.
Thank you so much!
Dear Glen,
There is a reason why I read your mails and your posts, they don’t promise a magical formula or overnight result. Being a realist and down to earth person, I appreciate your approach. I have run amazon affiliate websites and failed. No regret there. Just a part of the learning experience. Now focussing on my air freight site. Focussing, as you say, on ONE thing.
Every word is appreciated
Regards and thanks
Suren
Best of luck to you Suren,
Thanks for taking the time to comment!
I’ll be honest – I’ve read half of the text, but it’s great read, no doubt about it.
“While reading a personal development book (I wish I could remember which one), there was an exercise which suggested you write to your future self in a year, proud about a goal that you’ve achieved to see how it feels.”
Think I have heard that from Eben Pagan’s (David Deangelo) videos. He has some great self-improvement stuff IMO.
THANK YOU!!!
Passion and quality through out this entire posts. Blessings in the new year!
Thank you Daniel!
Epic post bro! Has anyone ever told you that you should be an author before? 🙂
Love you bro <3
Glen, I love you.
Seriously though, great new years motivational pep talk. Just what I needed and I’m sure many others need as well.
Great to read Jay! Best of luck this year 🙂
“write a book for yourself” … phew ! your suggestions are hard to follow when we have customers and providers to attend.. How do you do to find times to write a book ? 😀
I am not a big “writer” .. so am I already condemned to ? 😀
I am suscriber of Private Inc since 3 years. Silencious in the forum but it is very inspirating !
in fact, my new project (spanish website) is inspirated by all YOU write here and in the forum.
Thank you Glen 😉
Awesome sharing and vulnerability thank you Glen.
Good to hear that you are getting better at ignoring the whiners, not easy but mostly it’s people who have achieved nothing and never will anyways.
Shine on you crazy diamond.
Appreciate it Mr. Kyle!!
Wow! Incredible read. I truly appreciate your content and have enjoyed it ever since I discovered Viperchill. I run a successful business but this is more eye opening that anything I’ve read in the last year. It’s incredible how much time and opportunities I wasted in 2015 after reading this post.
Appreciate that so much, Armando.
Best of luck to you in 2016!
Dear Glen and Readers,
When in 2007 I decided to go to climb Mount Aconcagua, I was driven more than anything by my internal motivation.. I shared some of those drivers such as climbing the mountain, which is one of the Seven Summits – the 7 highest summits of all continents, getting into extreme sports or being one of the few blind people to do it. There were also some hidden drivers, which stayed for me longer, throughout the next 4 years of expeditions to different mountains and spots of the world.
I think, that you need to have some higher purpose or just reason to stick to something fr a longer period of time. If you have it – great, if you don’t have it – just make it up – the result will be the same. Right now, I treat the filler reason when I lack the real one the idea of getting my own island.
Asking yourself questions why you want to keep working and equally important how yu want to reward yourself, can give you alot of insights.
Here are a few questions you can ask yourself:
Why do I get up early in the morning?
Why do I wake up early on weekends?
Whom do I want to impress and why?
What is my ratio of work and play?
Greetings!
Pawel
This is so true…what a great analogy. Enjoyed your article very much! “If you haven’t seen certain people for a while, they’ll likely make some comments on your physique that confirm you’re on the right track.” TRUST IN THE COMPOUND EFFECT.
Funny you mention that sentence Jean. It was the final sentence I was going to remove seconds before hitting Publish.
Guess that’s a sign 😉
Thanks for taking the time to comment!
A long post – but well worth the read!
Glad you think so Dave!
Wow. Great article and one that I’m going to put in Evernote and read again later. I’ve spent far too long lurking around online business sites and looking for the perfect idea – this year is time for me to take massive action. I love your comments on positive attitude as well. Something I am working on to get me through the day job.
Loving your content and looking forward to reading more. Thanks
Hey Glen,
One of the best “Make Money Online” article I’ve ever read. I found that “Make Motivation Your Habit” is often the biggest challenge for me. Time to find out more and bigger “Why”.
Thanks for the great post!
Take your time with it Adam, it’s an important step.
Thanks for taking the time to comment 🙂
What did I just read?
I feel so calm now and excited for what the future holds. I’m definitely gonna be positive from now on. I’ll follow your advice. I can make it.
Thanks a ton. No article has ever inspired me so much, hence the question above :).
You read your future brother. Exactly how I felt when I first read it to myself.
You’ve got this!
It’s good to see you back Glen. And such a well-done post as usual.
Still in Chiang Mai?
Haven’t been there in more than a year bud.
My dogs are still there though 🙁
Thanks for stopping by! Hope all is well your side
Thanks. I’m doing well 😀
Gonna be more active this year too.
Great article, Glen.
I have just started focusing on taking the compounding approach. My goal is to have enough consulting clients to fully support myself by the time I start grad school this fall. Right now I am starting to build a foundation – a website, a twitter presence, and slowly a reputation in the marketing space. Putting in 5 hours a week right now while I still have a reliable income will ease the pressure of “taking the plunge” later.
Thanks for putting in the time to make this goliath of a post!
Thank you for this article. It’s like a God send. I was about starting another website when I have one that is underperforming. With this, I’m going to work smarter…
You’re very welcome Ismail.
Thanks for taking the time to comment!
Thanks Glen – this was exactly the motivation I needed to start 2016 on the right foot.
You got it GG!
Hi,
Great read and perfect timing. I have made the decision to take control, quit my job of 10 years and started working, piece by piece on something amazing.
For too long I was that person you refer too here – bought the software, ebook and the t shirt. Took the minimum action and became distracted.
The “Why’s ” are so important. I reflect on them all the time. Last year they proved so powerful that I wrote a letter to myself, to be posted back for Christmas – I achieved everything in that letter including handing in my notice!
Thanks Mate!
Had to tweet this one dude.
Sooooo epic!
Congratulations, and please let me know if I can help along the way.
Will do. Though you have helped alot already over the years, for that I am already very grateful. The 180 day challenge was powerful!!! 😉
“You just have to be able to tell yourself that you did the work, because deep down inside you know whether or not you did what you’re capable of doing.
I know I didn’t. Did you?”
A: No, I did not.
Glen, I appreciate the words of wisdom and the care and effort you put into this post.
Here’s to 10X (thanks, Cardone) 2016!
You passed the first step buddy!
Really appreciate you taking the time to comment. Let’s crush 2016 🙂
Thanks for the post, Glen! I thought I will have many more things to say to you in the comment while I read the post but as I finished I forgot most of them, maybe because I’m a slow reader:) So just thank you again and I’m gonna skim the post again the note some ideas, hope to discuss them with you later. Finally wish you happy new year, bro, you’re great!
Take your time bro, we’ve got all year! 😉
Seriously though, thanks so much for reading and leaving a comment. Happy New Year to you and your family.
Thanks for taking the time to write this article – very motivating stuff. I’m going to take on your 7 day challenge to be the most positive person around!
All the best to you, Glen!
I’m going to test you in a few days 😉
Best of luck Kirsty. Thanks so much for taking th etime to comment 🙂
Glen this is a stunning article.
I shall be reading everything you write from now on.
Tim
Thank you so much, Tim!
Bravo Glen! This to me is your awesome Success Manifesto! David Gladstone
Thanks so much David!
Thanks Glen for writing such a long article for us. I will try to follow your tips in 2016.
thanks glen for your advice. i recently started my online business through blog too. this article is suits me!
Thanks William!
Loved that Glen!
Your past articles have sent me in the direction of Jim Rohn and Zig, and since I’ve listened to their work for hours and hours.
In fact, reading this article reminded me of several ideas personal development/motivational speakers have come across in the last few years. You’ve put together a wonderful piece on how to be successful.
I now look forward to reading about Patrick Betdavid, Darren Hardy, Grant Cardone and some of the other authors you mentioned in this post that I’ve not yet discovered.
Cheers,
Josh
Loved this post! One thing though – Jay Cutler?!!!
First bodybuilder that came to mind Brandon 🙂
Glad you liked the post!
Awesome article Glen – just wrote the first 250 words of my own personal motivational book.
I previously wrote out my own inspirational “SOP,” but I love the idea of turning it into a story much more.
-Alex
Nice one for taking such quick action, Alex!
Best of luck bud 🙂
Love your posts! They are like a storm,they don’t come often,but when they come,they break everything! I love to read your posts!
Thank you Gabriel!
Hi Glen
I’ve always loved your stuff. It’s researched well and actionable and that is all I ever want from a post.
As for getting up earlier and doing ‘stuff’, I get up at 5am most days and I have done a ton of work before my family wake up or my phone starts ringing.
The single biggest change I have ever made to my life and one that affords me the most benefits.
Thanks again…Mark
Thanks for the post! Helped me a lot.
Hugs from Brazil
Cheers Eduardo!
Thank you Glen
Very inspiring and powerful post!
Keep up the good work.
All the best.
Hi Glen, great post, in a way such different from your usual ones – and outstanding for this exact reason. One thing that I wonder about the book-for-myself: is it a different form of positive affirmations, or a mixture of them and visualizations – involving thus future goals?
How long is your book?
Amen.
As everyone else says great post Glen!
Positive thinking and motivational reading changed my life.
I went from a low paid gardening job to managing European business for a software company within 5 years.
Anything is possible if you have the confidence and will.
Awesome, as usual.
Having been depressed for most of life (after being bullied almost every day for nearly ten years as a child), I am at long last beginning to *feel* more optimistic – and I put that down to taking small, positive steps. Plus I had a couple of cathartic ‘break-downs’ in 2008/9, which helped to ‘clear the decks’.
I have long known that motivation is the key to success but you also need to apply yourself in order to build on that drive for success. Reading does help but like you so rightly say, it is all too easy to ingest information without really digesting it. I suspect that hiring a personal coach may be the best solution to that particular problem.
Recently I discovered a really good product/service that I would be happy to promote as an affiliate, so I am focussed on building a suitable sales funnel, then promoting it. In that respect I look forward to you resuming your Facebook series, on advertising. After 20+ years of being a would-be Online Entrepreneur, I am finally believing that I may actually get there! I despaired of ever thinking along those lines just a few years ago.
Finally, I have ordered The 10X Rule by Grant Cardone and Smartcuts by Shane Snow – I look forward to reading them.
Good luck with your massive project!
Cheers,
Richard
Definitely bookmarked!
I have couple questions if you don’t mind:
I have problem with writing content, I just can’t get myself to write anything, even stuff I’m experienced in.
I don’t know how to start article, I don’t know how to make it entertaining (It’s amazing how you do it for 11k long article) and I simply can’t write long article.
I know it’s just about trial and error, but every time I read your article I think about asking you this, maybe you have some tip that helped you overcome some of this problems.
Thanks.
I’m sure I replied to this but I guess it didn’t go through.
Writing may just not be the best media for you to express yourself. Have you considered audio or video content?
There are far more successful bloggers than me – i.e. Seth Godin – who write very short articles much more frequently. You certainly don’t have to mimic my strategy because it’s clearly not the best option.
Seems I had wrong approach all the time.
First thing when I turn on computer is check facebook, email, forums and other stuff, which made me unproductive.
Today first thing was writing articles, and I did 3 articles without problems (500 words each). Which is good for me.
Thanks again.
Great job Vasa!
I’m an ‘information’ guy so the long articles are amazing! The thing I need to get better at is taking action – there’s plenty in here to help me do that!
Thanks again for amazing content!
You’ve got this Matt.
Thanks for reading!
Been following you since pluginid, so you are in my circle :).
Just wanted to say: wow. Very inspiring!
Thanks!
Dank je wel Richard!
Such a nice comment 🙂
🙂 graag gedaan!
This didn’t even feel like reading it felt like I was talking with you. Thank you Glen for giving me a clear focus for 2016 and I now have a brighter outlook on the goals I want to achieve this year.
LOVE that, George.
Thank you so much for taking the time to comment!
This post could not have come at a better time. My business had a major setback today and I really started doubting if my goals were achievable. After reading your post I’m positive again, and although it’s going to take time, I will work harder than ever to get back on the horse.
If you’re ever back in SA, I’ll have to buy you a (non-alcoholic) drink! 🙂
And you’ll come out much stronger because of it, Johann.
You’ve got this bro!
Back in April 😉
Glenn, this post really got me thinking.
It’s time to take action and focus on the positive aspects of work and the “whys”.
Awesome work. Keep it coming!
Couldn’t ask for more than that.
Thanks so much thack!
I loved the article. I am going to print this out to re-read it, and also ask my business partner (aka the wife) to read this also. There are a lot of great ideas for productivity and self-motivation that we could both use. I never heard of a pomodoro timer before, I had to look it up, but I am definitely going to get one!
Get the app Tom, it works just as well.
Actually have a post about Pomodoros coming out tomorrow which you might enjoy 🙂
Ridiculously good content in this article. I had no problem taking the time out to read this.
Your content has always been great. I am seriously looking forward to your coming posts this year.
My goal is simply to produce QUALITY content at a high, but sustainable volume. And if I don’t do it this year, I’ve seriously failed.
My problem is.. can I sustain producing quality content it in a niche even if I’m passionate about it?. The answer is simple. I won’t know until I try. Maybe I’m worried about what people will think by putting myself out there, but I’ve spent too long thinking that way and it’s gotten me nowhere. I know that if I just give and put the proper time in, in 6 months I can be standing on better ground.
The key is that whether the niche works or not, it is a learning experience. The skills and knowledge gained can then be used for future projects. That’s what I did in 2015 and what I’m carrying forward in 2016.
Thanks Glen for all that you do!
Having tried and failed a number of times over the last 18 months or so and feeling somewhat dismayed this has given me a fresh outlook. Brilliant stuff.
Cheers mate! 🙂
You’ve got this Dan!
Come back here (or read your book) if you ever doubt it.
Beautiful stuff Glen, as usual.
Lots of great advice on so many different topics.
I was actually curious to see your take on “negative comments” and your reply here made me giggle.
Whenever I read a comment like: “Pff, this is nothing new…” I often ask the question: “Well why haven’t you written such article and let thousands of others read it? It may be now new to you but it could be ground-breaking stuff for 99.9999% of the population” … I usually just get a stare as a reply.
Anyway, haters gonna hate.
To a happy, healthy and successful 2016!
– Alex
Just took the Eminem 8-mile approach when I sent the email to minimise the replies 😉
Thanks so much Alex!
Hey Glen
Brilliant post and I think a sign of maybe even your thought process from an early age?
Its an inspiring read and also exciting to see I follow similar paths to yourself (a sign of good things I hope)
I can definitely be guilty of over thinking things and it halting my progress…but the days I say balls to it and do it anyway the progress is insane
I spent about 11 hours writing yesterday so my neurons are not entirely firing correctly, but I still wanted to comment here
I’m glad you’re writing more again-Its said that the things that happen to us, define us
I think its actually how we choose to react and use those circumstances instead…and the stories we hear, the messages we tell ourselves, and the surroundings we choose all play into that
I’ve been conditioning my mind recently:
I’ve always meditated or exercised but when you set big goals the first thing you seem to skip are the actual things that got you there
The days I dont walk I dont write nearly as well (I put off my walk this morning and I am struggling to write this let me tell you!) so im off to walk in a second
During my walk I condition my mind
I walk alone and only listen to specific things-the “book” I created to remind me of my goals, my reason why and to focus on the steps of the path
No shit-I have 45 minutes of me repeating the same mantra to myself with Conan the Barbarian instrumental overlaid on repeat…
After that I listen to 1 of 3 things:
Something to motivate or inspire me that I can do this and others have done it before me
Something to help change my mindset and beliefs on my life
I never did that until after actually having some success…its very easy to hit the brakes and slow down
Likewise its incredibly easy to self sabotage…
I have opportunities available to me that are huge, and I have delayed and researched and tweaked for months
About 3 weeks back I started back on my 2016 goals (ha headstart in November yeeeew)
I do the same thing daily
I write before I find inspiration
I’ve read about 40 books in the last 6 weeks alone
I block out all external noise and also pomo up that shit (resting the brain is underrated and a 5 min gap here and there will get far more done)
I’m still cranking out information you wrote in a previous article-i’m trying to become the go to expert in my niche
I set up a new blog and gave myself a 66 day challenge-I would exercise and do the scary tasks each day to attempt to hit 66k in 66 days with this new site
(66 days is the time to take an action and form a habit apparently)
Within 15 days we had 50,000 visitors to the site
In 66 days we hit 45k in revenue (I turned down around 40k so as to actually do the work and build some other revenue streams)
In the last 3 months my revenue has 10x’d
I’ve been on 5M private jets
I’ve had content shared by Ryan Deiss and Digital Marketer, Neil Patel, Inbound.org article of the week, Growthhackers, Sean Ellis, multiple interviews and more… (A case study where I helped an ecommerce store do $18,750 in sales for $114 in ads in 48 hours went kinda viral)
2 Years back I started a clothing company and took your and Diggy’s advice and made more cash in a day then I had in months
3 weeks before that I worked in a surf shop
A few years before that I was homeless living on a friends floor at the end of his bed (admittedly this was a hard choice to make but it was the one to make to save and hit my goals at the time)
Fuck the haters and self professed experts
We both study marketing and sales and we know their comments are more a reflection of their own struggle than the work you’re doing…
Know that you are making a difference and you are helping people
You don’t need to come up with the latest methods or tactics to provide value
(Heck most of sales and marketing si the same it has been for 60 years-its the tools and platforms that change, and the peoples reactions to methods as they become in vogue and then overused)
“Everything under the sun has been said before, or done before…fortunately no one was paying attention the first time so you can repeat yourself”
I can never thank you guys enough for the direction and inspiration that you have given me so keep it up
Jabba
P.S
I’m about 5 hours behind on my tasks for the day
Its 12pm and I normally exercise about 6:30 and then write
I have 1 choice to make (but it may seem like 2)
I can go outside-start my day exactly how I should, meditate now and then exercise and then write and do the work…
Or I can say “I’ve cheated on my diet today, fuck it ill carry on eating crap and then diet again tomorrow”….
Balls to that-thats how you dont hit your goals
I’m off to go start my day right …
Great article! Yes focus is key I know I have days where I struggle with motivation but after the gym if I sit in front of my PC the articles and productivity flows like crazy, but yes self-drive and motivation are key to doing things
Thanks Rod!
Wow well that took a while.
But thanks for this Glen. Great quotes and actions to start implementing into my life. The part about living like im getting paid commision really hit home. Im going to start hustling like im homeless. I feel like im comfortable living in my moms house taking a break to watch movies. I need to feel “uncomfortable” to really light a fire under my ass to keep working.
Ill also try to write my personal boom.
Cheers.
Really glad you got something from this, Aalim.
Let me know how you get on!
Glen,
I’d never even HEARD of writing your own book before, nor the concept in general of having everything you believe in right on hand in written form. That, my friend, is a great idea. I’m starting tonight.
Let me know how you get on, Josh.
It’s probably a little weird to others but hey, if it works it works.
I’ve got a real good gut feeling it’s going to work for me too.
Thanks brother….I’ll keep in touch.
Best of luck bro!
I really enjoyed this one Glen! It really struck a chord with me and how I should look at various aspects of my life and my business as well.
I’ve been doing a little soul searching when it comes to marketing online and my music career as well. Whether I was struggling with writing some articles or stuck on creating some music, I didn’t want that frustration to kill my dream. Your post really shows that there is work to do but the mindset that is created is amazing when you achieve that balance.
I am going to apply these things and work toward that passion I have for my craft. I am a big fan of your work from past to present and appreciate the timing and inspiring messages of this post. Game changer for me. Day 1
You’ve got this bro!!
Remarkable and inspiriting words. I wish you the best!
Thanks a million
All the best to you too, Dario!
Thanks so much for your continued support and inspiration. Your a true example of giving back to the blogging community, and I look forward to each and every post here at viperchill. Thank you.
Thanks you so much Terrel,
Appreciate the comment bro!
Huge thank you from my heart!
This post was so kick-ass motivational and relational that I’m propelled to immediately feedback my appreciative THANK YOU x3. (newbie: first ever comment on your site. Second ever publicly online)
Hey also want to THANK YOU VERY MUCH for all 39 other posts I’ve consumed since I came to your website 23rd Dec 2015 (yes I counted my print-outs since I know you love stats like I do). It was intensive ViperChill University and well worth time invested.
Your succinct, pragmatic, well thought, structured and written style (with a little humour!) resonates.
What rocks are your strategic insights with no BS.
Highly ACTIONABLE and not over whelming.
I also like the simplicity of Cloud Blueprint.
I feel excited now armed with a blueprint, actionable notes and lists of steps to take to make my online business to help career women forge paths to boardrooms, to launch this year. This post felt like lift off!
Please keep going. You have a gift. You’re going to make a difference to a lot of people.
(p/s no website yet, but will make happen this year!)
Poh, I have screenshotted this comment to print out later.
Always incredible for me to read how people use ViperChill and go through the site.
Thank you so much for the kind words, they are very undeserved. Best of luck going forward and I wish you huge success with your site!
Geez Glen, I love you man!
Love you too, Ant!
Thank you Glen, deep and inspirational, I’ve had several epiphanies after this deep dive!
You speak from the pain and really serious struggle within, I can tell – and man, I can feel. My frontal lobes almost went into overheat from processing my own interpretations of all the concepts and ideas you touched above 🙂
I’ve started micro-journaling in Notes not too long ago, trying to store and organize the gold dust of best wisdom I come across as well as reflective and critical weekly thinking: I’ve hit some serious professional and personal crisis in 2015, and life is forcing me to re-wire my habits, look my fears in the face, and fight my demons.. As well as look for advice in all the proper places. I feel blessed to have found many virtual and real mentors like J. Abraham, R. Schefren, Chet Holmes and many, many more personal and business productivity experts this year.
I want you to know that I feel equally lucky and grateful to have signed up for your list years ago… Thanks for being a huge inspiration with your passion, content, your deep insights..
do, or do not. There is no try, right?
Wishing you lots of energy and will to deliver your best (both spiritual and physical) work in 2016! Let’s crush it. Thank you for this post, again!
Awesome writing Glen.
About negative comments. The reason I see why people care about bad reviews is that people think those who post good reviews or comments are just being nice to you and those go write bad reviews or comments are being honest.
I have a note pad with some notes that helps me to keep going, I work on it every now and then. I should expand it and make a small personal book out of it.
Thanks for the great article. Happy new year!
Sounds like you’re already on a great path, Ricardo!
Thanks for your support, as always.
Thanks man. Still far away from what I want to be. I keep working in every aspect and hope to get there soon. I read 12 books in 2014 and 24 in 2015. I’m aiming 40 this year, I just set it up in GoodReads. In 2015 I cut alcohol off and I only drink it in holidays. No video games or Fantasy sports. I Exercise at least 3 times a week. I meditate. Kept learning. Growth is ongoing. A few things I want to do work:
Read more old books. Produce more content. Take more action and stop over-thinking stuff.
Be more consistent in growth and scale. Focus in client acquisition.
I’ve reweatched the Marketing Inc content and keep using it as a reference. Thanks for everything Glen.
Phew.. that was a long read. Good and long, just the way Trebek’s mother likes it!
All jokes aside, great stuff. Didn’t pay much attention to your “this is for you and me” angle until about 10 minutes in when I was thinking, hey, this IS for me. Really good to get some new perspectives and reaffirm the ones you previously held.
Two questions:
1. About “doing” and not procrastinating while waiting for the moment. Since I read this while at my 9-5 job, I procrastinated my actual salary work by 45 minutes but feel like I’ve gained something positive on a personal level. Is this an overall net positive or negative?
2. About writing a book for yourself. Can this be “themeified” do you think? Like write a book on a topic you hope to improve on/focus more on? I wrote a book about learning Chinese and feel it helped at that time. Then I wrote an erotica.. and can’t say I noticed much of an impact personally.
Thanks again Glen for the truly epic post. Interesting to see a “time on page” screenshot for VC.com after this week 😉
Erik,
I would say it’s a net positive, but only if you do something with it. That’s a big problem this article tried to address: Information overload without any action. If it inspires you to actually do something towards your goals then it’s great. If you just slacked off work for 45 minutes and you’ll forget it all tomorrow, you should have been working.
As for number two, sure, but it’s not something I’ve tried. Mine is pretty general to all of the different things I wish to achieve.
Time on page isn’t that huge surprisingly. Only around 7 minutes. I think a lot of people get scared by the length 😉
Thanks so much for your comment!
I love:
You have the motivation and desire to change something in your life.
You define daily disciplines which you think will help you make that change a reality.
You discipline yourself long enough for those actions to become habits.
Your daily habits take over and shape your weeks, months and years, as you progress toward your targets.
Cheers Claudinei!
We’re taking over the whole by storm, Glen.
It took me time, but I went through each and every word. I must tell you that the reason I visited the page was to know how to earn online. And, I actually earned a lot today. Thank you so much.
Amrit,
Such a nice comment. Thank you so much!
Hello Glen,
I have already read some of your posts and I can say this is “The Best” post. Thanks for this really helpful and motivating stuff.
Regards,
Subha Sadiq
Thanks so much Subha!
Wow, huge and epic post. Added to my bookmarks. Your article reminded me 4 hour workweek by Tim Feriss.
Thanks for great motivation in 2016!
Absolutely fantastic post as always Glen, and I am a long time fan!
It seems that online marketing is moving towards a fully blown business model now. Takes a longer time, but the rewards are far greater and sustainable.
For me, I would say the best part is working on your attitude. It so easy to blame everything around you when you are not seeing any success, but by changing the way you think can have a huge effect on how you move forward.
Perhaps a negative attitude will keep you static and a positive one will move you forward?
Focus and taking massive action is what I am going to do in 2016. I have been lazy throughout my life and its the best time to control my life and move onwards and upwards. Thanks a lot Glen for keeping your readers engaged and motivated. !
Nicely sum of the important things, thanks! I absolutely agree that the small steps every day are more important then a heavy workload here and there. The good thing is to make some small step for every day – prepare the plan in advance – like I will upload a photo every day to my portfolio or I will write a paragraph every day. And put that into some reminder like coach.me or trello, evernote…anything. Many things online definitely take a much longer then expected – slow indexation, slow SEO results, slow social profiles growth. But then suddenly you have a ride never expected.
This is awesome.
At first i thought of not reading the post, not because of its length but becoz it wasn’t giving me any ideas for the week.
But when I started to engage with the content then it turned out to be the best advice for 2016. “Focus will be my word for this year” from now on. I promise:
>> “I will focus one project at a time”,
>> “Will schedule my day”
>> “Will be more productive”
>> “And will focus quality”
And I am sure I will surely get results I always want to see. Thanks a lot for the write up, as it is certainly is for “ME”.
This was just the thing i needed to read! Although i have used some of the things you wrote to motivate myself and keep me bettering myself there were so much new things i will probably make a habit of doing to help me reach further and achieve my new goals.
One other thing that your words just confirmed to me is that i have to start giving more because that is what i think will make me feel better for myself and make me reach my new goals.
So far the last couple years i have been doing pretty fine… Got cash to build myself a nice house, bought two cars that i wanted so bad, got married to wonderful wife and have two wonderful boys.
Aside my family So far my goals were only income related and my methods of earning were lets just say greyhat to blackhat using Facebook and its features to spread not so beneficial to users content and affiliate products but that did the job to achieve what i planned, to provide for my family home and some financial security.
Along the way i helped my brother and his girlfriend and son to earn with the methods i have similar to what i earn i did that for my mother too but aside my family i haven’t helped anyone and i haven’t created anything worth saying that is my own creation.
I miss that and i think that will be my goal for 2016 and if it turns out to bring me good profit so let it be.
Thank you Glen for the inspirational read. Keep up writing i will keep on reading 🙂
Regards,
Atanas
Fantastic article. I’ve followed you for a while and I can truly see how you have grown in wisdom and character over the years. Thanks for openly sharing of yourself so generously. Keep up the good work.
Thank you so much Clarissa,
Best of luck on your projects this year!
My God Glen!
I’ve maybe commented only once in this site before, but after going through this piece in my mailbox I couldn’t resist.
I’ve never seen you write this way, and guess what – it is fantastic! (But you already know that.)
I’m big into self-help. I’ve read many books and thousands of articles on the topic, but trust me, I’ve never seen so much packed into one piece. It’s like you have put together wisdom from thousands of articles in one piece in a very comprehensible way!
Thank you! You are a blessing to us all, and may this new year the universe bless you more than it ever has before! 🙂
Noor,
Thank you so much for this. You are way too kind.
Best of luck with your online ventures this year. Please let me know if I can help in any way 🙂
Great stuff Glen, above and beyond online business, insightful and absolutely spot on.
And while I have you on this comments I have emailed you a couple of times, coz I lost my password to the Vault and the reset link doesn’t seem to email me the password reset link needed.
Would you kindly check the link out or email me directly/ reset my password ?
I am dying to take action with the phenomenal content you had on vault but I can’t access it.
Help please!!
Thanks
A
Thanks for this Glen another great article. I really enjoyed this and exactly what I needed to G me up for 2016. Last year was good, this year will be better
Very detailed article.Old school beating the pavement and finding content holes! Great read. I plan on trying to do the same thing on my websites. This will be interesting to see how it goes. As always, great post bro, keep em coming.
-Tom
Glen, thanks for taking the time to write this. I can always count on you to be real about what it takes to be successful, not only online, but in any business or personal endeavor. You are wise beyond your years, young man!
Glenn,
I had to digest this post in 3 sittings but I did it and I’m glad I did, thoroughly good read and it has given me some ideas to kick start my online ventures once again!
Cheers!
Andy
Reading this article was like having adrenaline injected into my veins.
I recently started a website, and I was feeling my motivation fall and the doubts creep up. I was missing the TV shows abandoned in my queue, and the hours of doing nothing I used to have.
Your words spoke to me like nothing has in a while.
This is the article I’ll be reading every day, to remind me why I’m doing what I’m doing.
Thank you.
Reading this article was like having adrenaline injected into my veins.
I recently started a website, and a freelance career. I was beginning to feel my motivation drop, and my doubts rise. I was missing the unwatched TV shows in the queue, and the hours of doing nothing that I previously enjoyed.
This will be the article I read every day for a long time, to remind me why I do what I do.
Thank you.
Bloody amazing!! Thanks for another brilliant post, Glen. If I wasn’t pumped before reading this, I am now. Here’s to an ass-kicking, amazing 2016 for us all!
Great article to start off the new year. Bookmarked for a daily boost to my motivation. Just created a new website for my consulting business and this article was exactly what I needed. You rock Glen!
Glen,
Your post really resonated with me….what thought you put into this article! Your insights are very valuable.I noted the books you mentioned and will be reading them this year. Thanks for the time and effort you put in this posting.
Carolyn
Awesome article Glen, you nailed it right on when it comes to success in general.
Ive been a follower of your site for awhile now and also part of your private group. Not heavily active in the group but still follow up and read your post. Your site is actually one out of the few sites that got me actually staying in my consistency with the online game. It made me refocus my search for the right answers and now actually start seeing progress being made.
As far as consistency thats hands down the biggest part. Keep doing it each day and it eventually becomes a habit of just brushing your teeth it seems each day.
My old boss is one of my biggest role models, this guy dropped out of highschool, started up a construction company and the pain and journey he went through to succeed was amazing and just how he kept his attitude is by far the biggest reason for his success!. But i remember he told me this one day when i was getting frustrated with my sales and just felt like no one had money and just feeling negative about it.
He goes “Jon, i remember a time it was my 10th year in business i was 29 years old, half of my guys just quit on me. The other half i didnt even have enough money in the bank to cover payroll, my payroll was 30 thousand for that pay period. So i remember i was sitting there thinking damn this sucks, screw this i should just quit im tired of all the stress and not making money, maybe ill just run away and go get a job where my brother works. But then he started thinking to himself i shouldnt think this way, what should i be thankful for. He was telling himself things like, i got a healthy family, close friends, i have some employees willing to die for me i should be thankful. Right before he was changing his attitude he said he still remembers a guy just walked in to his office from an old lead he went on months back and ended up bringing in the check for 80 grand of construction work,!” Now he said he didnt make money but it least was able to cover his payroll.
Point he was trying to tell me was he felt like giving up but because he changed his attitude and stuck with it all, through the bad and the good. Good things will happen. At one point of his biggest downfall of his company he lost his house at one point and was living in a month to month hotel but still always told me he kept his attitude and didnt give up. He remembered sitting in that hotel room telling himself im not going to let this get me down im going to find a way to grow this to be as big as possible. 5 years after that point he grew it into a 6 million a year profitable construction company.
He would always tell me all these amazing stories throughout his journey but key thing he would say its all about staying CONSISTENT, consistent with attitude, with what works, and over time it just becomes an everyday thing.
Didnt mean to make that too long guys, just wanted to share some insight.
Also for some good quick book reads you guys probably already know about these but the “Go Giver” and “e-myth revised” are pretty great. ps: e-myth revised is nothing to do with online, its about putting together systems and procedures like clock work.
inspiring ! hat off to him !
Enjoyed your piece Glen, certainly motivational in its own right.
My favourite section was the Compounding effect, because it helps me realize that small efforts often made are rewarding in the long-term. Especially in online marketing where you don’t see any significant results for months sometimes.
Secondly, the reason why negative feedback is more heartfelt than positive feedback is the 2:1 ratio. In the world of investing, we feel losses twice as much as we feel gains. This logic can be appplied to so many things.
Great content Glen!
Thanks,
Cris
Great post Glen, thank you. So much wisdom and honesty. This is the year that I am personally going to succeed online. I know it with certainty. I look forward to the rest of your posts. Take care and happy 2016.
Exceptional post Glen. ive just finished reading this before I go sleep, I want it to be the first thing on my mind when I wake up tomorrow morning to help me start the day positive.keep planting those seeds, sunshine is the positivity and hard work is the water.
Bravo Glen, Bravo.
I love these posts because we get to see into your mind and how you think – keep em coming!
I can’t agree more with you about the point you make on focussing on less – I made that realization in the last 6 months, made some changes, and it’s been the best decision I’ve ever made in regards to online biz…hands down.
P.s. I’m also a non-believer in new years resolutions. I’m more of a fan of setting 1 and 3-month goals 🙂
Thank you! I’m reading lots of books now, I find it’s helping me to heal. Writing a book for yourself is a great idea.
blessings,
Cynthia
This might be the best blog post I’ve ever read! Seriously! And that is coming from someone that has been an internet marketer and blogger for almost 13 years myself. I’ve been a reader of this blog for years and you’ve always put out killer content but this one is above and beyond. Well done, Glen! And if anyone hates on this post then they are just a sad person with no hope.
Thanks a lot for this inspiring post Glen. 2016 couldn’t have started better! 🙂
Thank you Kuna!
Wow!
Glen, this is a remarkable article, full of wisdom, motivation and down to earth honesty. I found myself nodding throughout because it’s true that our success is down to us and no one else. But we feel better when we attach blame on situations or others, we find excuses not to push ourselves, we don’t discipline ourselves and focus, and we give in to laziness and procrastination. Then we wonder why we don’t get to where we want in life.
Thank you for the new year motivation and kick in the butt. Truely inspirational.
May we all have an amazing 2016!
You’re very welcome, Adie!
Thanks a lot for the comment, and best of luck in 2016!
Hi Glen,
thank you very much for this article.
I have had some of the same realizations, for example I have had a list of disciplines for a while (that I am REALLY struggling to implement lol) and I write messages to remind myself what it is I am doing and why.
It is SO VERY soothing, comforting, supporting to see confirmation, in a way, that I am on the right track – by seeing an accomplished person doing similar things. And also I am very grateful to you for describing your motivation struggles – and for doing it in such an honest and personal manner. What a relief to know that a successful person like you has the same struggles as I do. I feel so much less of a loser now))) I am so used to beating myself up over not doing nearly as much as I am capable of. And that’s completely wrong and harms me, and then completely demotivates me.
Thank you for sharing your journey and showing that it IS possible to change our habits, be in control of our productivity and life.
Elena
What an anecdote !!
It was such a nice read.
Nowadays, it’s really hard to find selfless people like you. I must say you are kickass motivator. Keep it up. Would be happy to see you more in my inbox this year.
Thank you very much for this post Glen. Take care.
Hey Glen,
I have begun to see you among the “blogging Gods.” This post was undeniably “unskimmable.”
If I ever grow up to be a marketer in any way, whether it’s in blogging or any other job, then I would like to inculcate in myself some sort of the qualities which you possess as a human. You inspire me.
The inspiration isn’t because of the “viperchill crown” or the money you earn, but you as a person. I can relate to your journey and every bit of your struggles to myself. (I’m also talking about some posts I had read previously here).
Stay blessed Glen, I shall definitely be among the people who would sing your praises and share your stories some years later. Your presence has been imprinted in these times of blogging as immortal.
Wow, Glen!
This is EXACTLY why your PluginID blog was such a success! You’re SUCH a great motivator with solid, well thought out, structured advice. And I must say, I really missed your voice on PluginID after you sold it…so finding this article here..dejavu! Awesomely well written and preciously informative…and so timely for me too!
I’ve finally found a niche (after following you here for years) that I’m passionate about , that has the potential to rock, and am going at it with a friend that has all the right stuff that I don’t to make it all happen – we’re a perfect front-end and back-end fit! I’m SO super EXCITED!
I took the time to read this article in sessions (having just returned to my day job), but now I’m roaring off to go do the DO’in on my very own website 🙂 It’s going to take a LOT of hard work setting up but I’m super stoked that it will work and that I’ll be able to build and support a super Tribe with it, so I’ll pop in again and let you know when it launches and how it’s doing.
I’ll be applying everything I’ve ever learnt from you on VC Glen..and I’m SO glad I found PluginID on Zen Habits all those years ago…it’s the best thing online that’s ever happened to me, Glen, you’re super awesome dude!
Keep it comin’!
Thanks for givin’ to us all with love & passion
Marlene
Great job Glen! This was a great post. I can’t remember how I found your site last year, but everything you write is fantastic. I’ve been putting your methods to the test and they create amazing personal results! Thank you!!
Thanks so much Luke!
I’m not going to lie, it really confuses me when you get comments about your posts being too long.. like hasn’t the commenter seen even one other ViperChill article? And if so, shouldn’t he/she be expecting the next post to be really long?
So confusing. Like complaining a Stephen King book is way too long. Everyone knows that’s part of his style; if you just don’t like reading long books, why would you even bother looking up something by Stephen King?
Anyway, back to the post. Completely different style on this one. Very motivational and yet still manages to touch on some concrete aspects of what you’ll need to do to make money online.
Gonna say that my favourite bit was the part about the compound effect. It works, it really does, and anyone who denies that it works just hasn’t stuck to it long enough.
Glen, This was such a good article. It was incredibly motivating and makes me want to be a better person and more successful. Thank you for putting so much thought into it and I can’t wait for future posts!
Hey Glen,
Reminder about the vault, could you kindly get back to me asap ?
Thanks
Al
Glen, GREAT post. A simple comment like this doesn’t do it much service – the time, energy and effort you expended writing it (and getting up early to do so), however just wanted to let you know it’s impacted me a lot.
I often tell myself that I’m doing all right (been earning decent income from online ventures for the last 5 years), but posts like this give me a jolt (particularly the “Take Massive Action” section) and realize that I’m not doing nearly as much as I can be, so thanks for the wakeup call!
Great to hear Jeff,
Thanks so much for taking the time to comment!
I had to really double check multiple times whether I was reading the right article on the right website – yes, I sure was on viperchill and the article URL said “make money online”.
But boy, did it deliver the most sought after thing – inspiration.
This was awesome, Glenn. No longer how long your articles are (are they getting longer – I’ve to do some sneaking around your site), they are excellent and a delight to read.
Great article Glenn, followed you for years and will continue to do so. Have a great 2016
Hi Glen,
This is a great article, and quite different to other posts I’ve read about making money online. You certainly know how to write at length and in detail. One point that really stood out to me was where you advise to focus on one thing. I’ve been guilty of jumping around from thing to thing, trying to develop content for too many websites at the same time, trying to learn email marketing, PPC, SEO, creating quality content, promoting all manner of different affiliate offers, that at times I feel like all I’ve done is confuse myself.
Sure, it’s important to learn and implement many of these things, but I’ve tried to learn and master it all at once.
One of my main websites is in the make money online niche, which is so competitive, and I have doubted at times whether I can become successful in this niche, or whether I’m just spending a whole lot of time creating a website that will amount to nothing in the end. But having said that I’ve also tried to offer useful information that will help people whether I earn any income from it or not.
Thanks for the great post.
Darren
Hey Glen,
Just a quick note from someone who doesn’t comment much but hopes you’ll never stop.
Thanks for this great post and for putting in all the Pomodoros to grind it out 😉
Here’s to 2016.
Cheers,
Paul
I am still reading your article. I will leave another comment when I finish reading it in its entirety. So far, it is really good. I totally agree with what you said about how INCREDIBLY lucky we are to have this internet connection and a computer.
We are so lucky.
I will keep reading now…
Jason.
As mentioned before, I would leave another comment.
This is inspiring to me. YOU have done a job that you should be proud of.
I am inspired to write a book to myself now, I have never really thought of the idea.
Thank you for a great motivation Viperchill.
I also have to thank my friend from Darren ( bit.ly/1RdFDf5 ) from WA for recommending that I read this.
Best,
Jason.
This has to be one of the best, most heartfelt things I’ve read. I loved this post and many of the things you mentioned really rang true – especially creating disciplines I want to become habits.
Thank you for this Glenn; you’ve made my day.
Hi Glen,
Thanks for a great post that really hit home for me in many places and I’m going to write my private book as you suggest.
At 55 I have my mental library of both self-made wins against the odds – along with some epic fails due to ego, arrogance and plan stupidity. I find re-living these mentally in detail as the need arises is really helpful.
Enjoying the wins again inspires me and reminds me just what I can do if I give it 100% and really want it bad enough. Re-visiting the bad experiences, in detail, is painful at times but keeps me on track. For example I’m a recovering alcoholic, sober since 2008, and when I feel like a drink I just recall in vivid detail some of the most painful moments I did while drunk. Oddly enough, while cringing at that point I no longer fancy that drink. 🙂
Anyway, it’s my first read of ViperChill and I love it – looking forward to much more
(and in getting my teenage / adult sons and daughters to be inspired by your writing)
Have a great 2016!
Great Post, Glenn.
The whole idea of idea of wrting a book about myself, reminds me of my experience in Taiwan writing a speech about myself in Chinese. I had only been there a couple of months at the time but I entered the speech contest anyways. There was a whole team of teachers coaching me so that I could help represent their language school at the Sun Yatsen Memorial Center in Taipei. I went over the speech about my experiences in Taiwan so many times that by the time the contest was over, I could speak fluent Chinese. I didn’t win anything but I was able to speak a new language. I think writing a book about oneself and how to succeed would instill a lot of confidence as well. While reading this post, I hit some milestones and took a couple of breaks and wrote a couple of articles about Chinese philosophy for one of my websites.
Great experience. Happy 2016.
All I can say is wow!
Hi Glen,
I am MOST impressed with this post. You have put into words basically an outline for success that anyone can tap into, no need for Zig Zigler or other sources. If readers just read THIS 16 times (as you were told to do by Zig) they will have the right attitude and with the calls to action be successful key is taking action)…
This was a long read but well worth my time. I thank you for that, and am sure that you are going to achieve ever more success in 2016! We need more straight from the heart information out here to blow away the ever increasing useless pablum that seems to permeate every corner of the internet!
Cheers M8!!
Dave : )
Thank you Glen!
Hello, I am writing from Mexico , I was reading an article about viralnova on your site and I want to ask you something , I wonder if publishes viralnova items that are extracted from other sites ? and writing a more catchy title , this can be done and get paid with adsense ? thanks for your help and receives a hug from mexico
This my friend is not something I read every day. Thank you for putting it together and clicking the publish button.
In 2015 I wrote 0 books and published 0 posts. There is one thing I learned in 2015 and that is how to balance between work and family and to keep reading books at the same time. I’m all geared up for 2016. It’s going to be great.
Hey Glen!
I haven’t red any motivational book in years, but your honest article was worth a read (it felt like reading a good book).
Thanks for sharing and Happy New Year!
Thank you Marius!
Happy New Year
Dear Glen,
I only wish your blog should grow to Top 10 blogs in the world.
Seriously, in today’s world of gambling you seems to be writing honestly.
Good job and please continue and help new comers like us.
I wish you all the very best and success in new year 2016.
Good bless you friend.
Thanks
Satish
Thanks so much Satish!
Thanks for the great start to 2016, Glen.
It’s just the push I needed to stop waiting and start doing.
I especially enjoyed the part on motivation as it paralleled the ideas in another article I read a few days ago (http://www.wisdomination.com/screw-motivation-what-you-need-is-discipline/) which I thought it did a good job of dissecting the differences between motivation and discipline. As you said, if you wait around until you “feel” like doing something, you’ll never get around to doing it, so better to simply go and do it!
Cheers
Hey Glen, loved your article. you absolutely smashed it. This is the stuff for an entire year at least to practice. And I must say you have poured your heart in writing this.
Good luck, I guess you don’t need it 😛
Cheers
Thank you so much Raj!
This isn’t great…
This is EPIC.
I’ve read into your posts ever since I dipped into the IM space, but never have I felt the need to comment until now.
I feel your energy and determination, though I definitely thought you were one of those people who is already packed with success and mastermind-plans :), I still think you are after reading this.
I’ve never been about new years resolution but I’m always about looking at the big picture.
So here’s my plan this year…
I’m into bodybuilding, and naturally being a “ex-hardgainer”, I feel the need to teach and preach through my website.
I’m leaning towards supplements since I feel more drawn to them (just love the science I guess!)
I’ll produce more content, gain more subscribers (social and emails) and I’ll make sure I’ll take the small steps to get there.
Even though it’s a 2 year old site, and have only made 100 bucks from it (sad ya), I’m ready to kick more ass than ever!
I’ll be with you all the way, Glen..
Keep going! 🙂
Nader
I definitely agree with focusing on mastering one thing, especially when you first start out. It’s not super beneficial to try a shotgun approach.
Just WOW. Going to be reading this 16 times Glen. Awesome post and very inspiring. Thank you.
Great article, thank you for writing it. I’ve been a truck driver for the last 10 years and my motivation is my family, I’d like to spend more time with them… Whatever I have to do for that to happen, I will.
Hello Glen, thanks for such great article!
Very inspiring 🙂
You’re very welcome!
Do what you love doing and get paid for it..There is no better way to make money.Thanks for the motivation and stress relief.
Glen you sexy beast you. I just added 2016 to the title of a couple of my websites homepages and I got instant 1st place rankings (well in 24hrs) …1st place for payday loans 2016. Hi5
Glen,
Just finished listening to this and it’s really hit home. It’s so easy to sit back and let life pass by. One of the things I’ve started to do is write a list of goals. This has really helped me keep motivated. Everything you said is spot on.
That was one long long article! Really loved it specially when you mentioned to focus on one thing. It’s really important to stay on a single subject or project, finish it fully and then go to the next one. Not being focused is one of the biggest reasons why most people fail at start.
Thanks so much Glen for this insightful article, I am proud to say that I have read every word, from the top to the bottom.
It is exactly what I needed to read, at this crucial time of the year, as I set my goals and where I am planing to go.
Though I have wanted to write my plan for the year, i have not managed to do it. Right now, I know the best thing that I can do for me is to set time aside and get to it, and write that mini book to myself, for myself.
Thanks so much, this post did move me in the right direction
Thanks for taking the time and effort to help others. I’m a graphic design and art student who also works full time as a plant operator running boilers. It sucks but is semi decent pay.
My real goal is to work online or in the arts. I been telling myself to just go for it, I’m only 6 credits away from graduating so maybe it will come to fruition, but my biggest problem is wasted time and no production. My full time job saps most of my energy so I usually slack on my creative endeavors. But I need to pay bills and debt…
Hey Glen,
Even though its well past the start of the year, I think this article will always apply. I totally agree with you and think we can always work harder and smarter. Even though some people tell me I work hard I know I could be working harder.
Great quote by the way “You cant cheat the grind because it knows exactly how much work you’ve put in”
Good luck with the rest of the year. I might not have the same experience as you but if I could help in any way, I would be happy too.
Full of impactful information. Thank you, I just bookmarked this page for further use. It’s all about taking little steps and continuing the process. Thanks again keep grinding for 2016.
This is very inspiring! It is ready worth reading. Keep on inspiring others. Cheers!
Hi Glenn,
Absolutely AMAZING article. I had to spend about 2 hours to get through this mini-book but it was well worth it.
Out of curiosity, what are your reasons and personal motivation for the work you do if you don’t mind me asking? It would be great to hear.
Personally, I’ve long believed to work with a purpose. I wasn’t satisfied with simply making an income but to make a difference positively in the lives of others.
Interestingly, much of what you mentioned can also be found in the Bible.
– As a man thinks in his hear, so is he. (Proverbs 23:7)
Regarding the importance of your repeated thoughts and mediation. It’s a simple but true fact.
– “Daniel had an excellent spirit and the king gave thought over setting him over the whole Kingdom” (Daniel 6:3)
As you succeed, haters will be there. In Daniel’s day, the people tried to put him in the lions den. I suppose, today they try to attack your reputation
– Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he. (Proverbs 29:18)
It’s important to know your path and your direction.
The problem I find is not the knowledge but APPLYING the knowledge. I think many times we know what’s good and right to do but we struggle with doing it. I think it was said that success is simple but it’s extremely difficult.
Excited to read more content from you. If it counts for anything, it’s economically sound to focus on your competitive advantage!
In the process of reading your articles, I’ve also ended up opening another 10 tabs (mostly Google searches about your mentors and for curiosity including the Austin Lawyer’s).
Best Regards,
Benjamin
Great post man! You end up reading/watching Patrick, Darren, Grant and Eric for motivation, but I swear, whenever I lack motivation, I end up on your blog and it helps give me that kick I need to get working again.
But I have a question, I’m in a situation where my close friends (whom I consider family), don’t have the strive that I have and some of them settle for less, which if I’m the average of my five friends, then that’s not making me do very good when it comes to accomplishing what I want and work on my drive. I’m obviously not going to cut off people who I consider family but I need more people with drive around me. What do you recommend in this case?
Thanks for all the great content you always provide!
Jay
It was great coming across this post! I am happy to have implemented some of these strategies myself. Look forward to keeping up with your blog..
I love motivational stuff like this and your long-winded approach really speaks to me. I have a lot to improve upon and this article has spurred my motivation again. Thank you.
Hope this year is a blast for me to make money online, Thanks for sharing this.
Hi,
Thanks for such wonderful article.
I have scanned couple of your articles but not find any ads, i am sorry to ask how to make money but in fact i read you made some millions. If this question bothers you then please don’t mind and you can delete it.
I loved your article. Great post and lot of things to take and learn.
Great Bro
regards
Well said and important stuff here. Thank you Glen, for taking the time. So many gems. I like the attitude and practicality here. I totally agree with the book idea at the end. I did that and thought I was alone here. I downloaded this mp3 to listen to again!
thank
Wow, huge and epic post. Added to my bookmarks. Your article reminded me 4 hour workweek by Tim Feriss.
Thanks for great motivation in 2016!….
Thanks Glen for this excellent post. It’s stimulated a lot of ideas for me and I’m going to implement them. The video course is great. I’ve paid hundreds for the worst information. Thanks for helping us out.
long but very inspiring. keep it up.
Thank you for this post Glen. If I may add my 2 cents:
1/ I cannot agree more about FOCUS. One thing at a time. I have met enough people who kept telling me they can multi-task. The end result? The projects never meet their goals, let along major milestones. More people, I find, have attention span deficit. That being said, I fall victim to this as well because when you don’t see results within the first few months, especially for online businesses, many people, including myself, are tempted to try something else. The bills keep coming but the money isn’t. It’s easy to fall back into a part-time or day job.
2/ Wasting time. You mentioned facebook ads. I used to pour myself over facebook stories and just waste all my time looking at others’ photos, what they eat, food photos, restaurants, did I mention food photos? I just had to quit FB unless of course, like you, I start running ads. Social media is great but it can also be a SUPER time waster.
Thanks,
Joycelyn
Glen, this is one of the best, and I mean BEST articles I have ever read on the internet. I’ve also taken note of some book titles you mention and I’m interested in checking those out. I am hungry – no, I mean RAVENOUS – to make money online but have no idea how to proceed. I’ve done weeks of Googling and digging for solid advice. Your article, while dealing more with motivation and the psychological and emotional makeup required to succeed, was a pleasure to read, but I was wondering if you have any other pieces offering basic advice. Personally, I love the idea of writing humorous eBooks: I spent four years writing statuses on Facebook before a couple of dozen people said to me, ‘you should put all those into a book and sell it online; I’d buy it.’ Also I’ve looked into Wealthy Affiliate which seems genuine and interesting but I don’t know a single person in the real world who’s used it or can give me a no BS lowdown on it. The information and opportunities and advice that’s out there is overwhelming and often conflicting. But I MUST get going. I’m moving abroad for a year and I have enough to live on for one year, but after that I need to make income. I’m willing to work like hell during that year. I’ll understand if you can’t reply or recommend a starting point; I’m guessing from the length of this article that you write a lot and probably don’t get time to answer every comment, but if you do, great! Thank you. Great piece.
Glen,
Valuable content not only its content, but the writing skill as well. Really inspire me !
As a non-English speak personal, I read this article comfortably, whether from sentences constructing or words preciseness. The whole content shows professional as well, i don’t know how long will take me to achieve article like this. But i like to work on it as hard as i can.
3 days ago, I copied it into my notebook, translated to my mother Language. From yesterday, i have already read it for 5 times. Today i am trying to translate them back English for my best to match your original. in the end, mine have a lot of errors. But i can feel my writing skill much better. Put more time, taking more action, follow your logical, practices more. I think it is a best way to improve my write skill.
I have no idea how difficult for me to read Economist article. Now I believed even simple words also building a professional article. but i have no ability to construct the sentence as you did.
Probably, read and write more is a way to go. If you/anyone have any recommendations about write a epic article like yours, i ‘d appreciated such a lot.
Good days !!
John