Attention is the most valuable currency in our current day and age. Most social media networks are free to join.
Have you ever wondered what they’re selling if it’s all free?
The answer is simple. They’re selling your attention to the highest bidders. Your engagement and attention on the platform are very valuable to them. It’s what advertisers are collectively paying billions for.
Guess what?
You’re not getting a cent of it. You’re the product. The commodity. And you’re getting sold daily.
Unfortunately, you don’t benefit from this arrangement, and it’s by design. If you’re starting a business, you MUST be worried about noise.
Noise is the stuff that distracts you.
It’s social media notifications which keep alerting you to pointless posts and updates. It’s the Netflix shows where entire seasons are dumped upon you all at once so that you sink into a binge-watching state and vegetate in front of the TV.
It’s YouTube with its never-ending content. Or the news outlets with all their outrageous fake news.
The ‘noise’ NEVER ends. If you let it into your life, it will consume you. Millions of people check their mobile phones the moment they wake up. It’s as if they’re slaves to their phones.
Where their attention goes, their energy goes.

* Saps your energy
As an entrepreneur, you MUST be aware of where your time and energy are going because these are finite. You only have so much energy every single day, and no energy drink is going to increase it.
In order to give your best in your business, you must conserve your energy for the tasks that matter. Noise does not matter! The important work you need to do is what matters.
Yet, people get sucked into their social media and waste hours daily.

* Can be depressing
When the noise that engulfs you is constantly negative (and these days it is), you may end up feeling depressed or agitated. It’s almost as if the world is going crazy with the crooked politics and the inane things that are happening today.
While this may be true, you have very little control over them. By fretting over what’s happening, you’re wasting precious energy that could be used on more productive tasks which will improve your life.
Countless people spend at least 2 hours a day on social media, but they won’t exercise for 30 minutes. Which do you think will serve them well in the long run?
As an entrepreneur, you’ll need to constantly juggle your time between your family, your health, your business and so on. There will be a hundred and one commitments. You have no time for distractions. You have goals to achieve!

* Constant dopamine hits keep you addicted
The constant notifications, likes, and heart emojis you see on Facebook are designed to give you little dopamine hits. Over time, you’ll get addicted to the way social media makes you feel.
This is why people feel lost and annoyed when they don’t have their phones with them. As an entrepreneur, you don’t want to be in a position where you need to check your social media every 15 minutes.
Avoid getting addicted to the dopamine hits. Go on a digital detox and break the cycle. When your love for these distractions end, you’ll discover that you take more pleasure in your work.
You’ll enjoy doing what you do and your business will get better because you’re pouring your heart and soul into it.

* Impedes progress
The distractions always seem more fun than the ‘boring work’ you need to do. That’s why people turn to their mobile devices rather than do what they have to.
They know that they need to complete their tasks, but they don’t. The pleasure derived from the noise drowns out the voice of accountability. The end result is that procrastination sets in and nothing gets done.
Your progress gets delayed or never happens. Only when you starve the distractions can you feed your focus… and when your focus multiplies, so will your effort and output.
Then you’ll progress, succeed and achieve your goals. You MUST shut out the noise.

“By prevailing over all obstacles and distractions, one may unfailingly arrive at his chosen goal or destination.” – Christopher Columbus

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Ask anyone who has not lived up to their full potential what’s actually holding them back… and you’ll hear a plethora of reasons ranging from their lack of education to the government, and of course, their parents.
All these reasons may have a kernel of truth in them. That’s what makes these excuses so insidious. The element of truth in them makes them very plausible and convincing.
However, no reason is so strong that it can hold one back, if they’re determined to progress. In reality, there are other factors at play, and most are in your own mind.
As hard as it may be to accept it, most of us are architects of our own misfortune and we hold ourselves back. Let’s look at the most common reasons why people fail… and it has very little to do with our parents or the excuses we tell ourselves.

1. Procrastination
This is one of the biggest culprits when it comes to stopping people in their tracks. We delay doing what we must, because what we must do to succeed is usually uncomfortable and makes us step outside of our comfort zone.
Yet, doing what you don’t feel like doing is key to succeeding in life. If you’re tired of working at your day job, stop procrastinating on your dream. Go out there and start building your own business which generates profits so you can ditch the day job and lead a more fulfilling life.

2. Distractions
We live in a society where college students complain about the ills of capitalism while they post about it from their mobile phones. The irony goes over their heads because they’re so distracted by the noise and are emotionally stirred up by entities with an agenda.
In the same vein, if you let the distractions distract you from your goals, you’ll lose time and energy on meaningless activities. Social media, TV shows, the news, etc. are all distractions vying for a very precious resource – your attention.
Stop giving it to them and instead focus on working towards your goals. Ultimately, your focus will determine your reality.

3. Unwillingness to be a student
You’d be amazed at how many people never pick up a book once they leave college. Formal education has left a bitter taste in their mouth and learning has become anathema to them.
Yet, if you wish to succeed at business, you will have to learn quite a bit to succeed. The good news is that everything you learn will be up to you… and you only need to study what helps your business to progress.
There’s no need to clutter your mind with useless trivia. So, be prepared to be a student again and focus on self-educating yourself so you achieve your goals.

4. A sedentary lifestyle
Nothing exists in isolation. A healthy body will lead to a healthy mind. Very often, you’ll notice that people who lead a sedentary lifestyle often have an almost empty bank account. Their job is nothing to write home about either.
It may seem like life dealt them a bad hand. In reality, detrimental habits have seeped into different spheres of their lives and impaired their performance in each area.
If you exercise daily, you’ll feel better and burn more calories. You’ll start watching what you eat and shed the excess pounds. When you feel better, you’ll work better and have more energy.
Success breeds success. If you want to succeed in life and in business, take care of your health and exercise.

5. Poor habits and self-doubt
Millions never chase their dreams because they fear they’ll fail… or they believe that they lack what it takes to succeed. This self-doubt keeps them rooted in their current situation and causes unhappiness, and they feel the never-ending regret of unfulfilled potential.
You MUST give yourself a chance to succeed. Fearful? That’s ok… but get started anyway. Action will dispel fear.
Don’t have what it takes? That’s fine. Start learning and hustling to give yourself the advantage you need. Be resourceful and creative. You can still progress.
To win the game, you must first get on the field and start playing. If you’re a spectator to your own life, you’ll have a humdrum show to watch. You deserve better than that.
Look at your current habits. They’re shaping your life without you even realizing it. Be proactive and develop good habits so that they transform your life for the better.
Your success is in your hands. Whether it’s your business or health or relationship, you have a lot more control than you believe.
You can reach the pinnacles of success in any endeavor you set your mind to – but first, you’ll need to work on your mindset, your habits and your approach to life.
Once you do that, the world will be your oyster and success will be a badge you wear every single day. It all starts with you… and ends with you. Get started.

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Every one of us has 24 hours in a day. It doesn’t matter how rich or influential you are… you still only get 24 hours a day. Successful people have the same amount of time as unsuccessful people.
So why do so many unsuccessful people keep giving the excuse, “I just don’t have the time” ?
The answer is simple. Where your attention goes, your energy and time flows. If you focus on what matters and do the needful, you’ll succeed.
If you focus on trivial pursuits, you’ll not progress and you won’t have time for anything else. Furthermore, you’ll be so used to being excited and stimulated by social media and entertainment that work will seem too dull to hold your attention.
You’ll squirm like a worm when sitting down to work. So, it’s imperative that you keep your focus on important things that make a positive difference in your life. Let’s take a closer look at what successful entrepreneurs focus on…

1. Delivering value
Every entrepreneur worth his salt knows that money is made only when you serve other people’s needs. The more people you help, the more you’ll earn. So they create products or services to help the masses, and then charge them for it.

2. Setting ambitious goals
Entrepreneurs set big goals and constantly try to achieve them. When they achieve one goal, they celebrate a bit and then set a bigger goal. They know that happiness is found in progress. They can’t stop themselves from wanting to win.
It’s an addiction and they live for it. If you want to be successful, you must focus on your goals.

3. Where their time and energy goes
You’ll notice that most high performance individuals have a personal assistant that maintains their schedule. An entrepreneur knows that his/her time is valuable and their energy each day is finite.
You won’t see them wasting their time at countless meetings or speaking to staff unnecessarily. Only middle management does that. The entrepreneur only focuses on big decisions that affect the business as a whole.
If you wish to be a successful entrepreneur, you must track your time and the activities you engage in. Only focus on what will help you succeed.

4. Assets and not liabilities
When starting out, most entrepreneurs invest in themselves and in their businesses. They’re not interested in fast cars or mansions. The flashy lifestyle means nothing if you don’t have the income to sustain it comfortably.
Even when successful, these entrepreneurs focus on accumulating assets and increasing their net worth. Only posers on Instagram concern themselves with lifestyle photos of them living the high life.

5. Delayed gratification
Entrepreneurs know that sacrifice and success go hand in hand. They focus on the opportunity cost of the decisions they make and most will bite the bullet in the present so that they can enjoy success in future.
Focusing on what they’re giving up and what they’re working on helps them to stay motivated. If they lose track of things, they’ll be sacrificing for nothing – and no entrepreneur wants to pay a price without getting a reward.

6. Automation and delegation
To be successful, you really only need to focus on a few important things. Successful businesspeople always look to automate systems and processes to free up their time.
They also hire people so that they can delegate the less important but still necessary tasks to others. This will free up their time and also their energy to focus on what truly matters.

7. Their network
Wealthy people are always looking to level up their network. That’s why countless deals are struck up at golf courses. Have you ever noticed that country club memberships are expensive?
There’s a reason for that. It’s to keep out the riff-raff… and have a place for successful people to socialize.
Entrepreneurs realize that to reach the highest levels of success, they’ll need good relationships with other successful people. In this way, they can exchange ideas or even have arrangements that help elevate their businesses.
There’s no denying the fact that even in these relationships, there may be an underlying tone of competitiveness and many times it’s all superficially cordial. But business is business and the successful entrepreneur knows that and focuses on being friends with people who can help him/her level up.
Now that you’re aware of what successful entrepreneurs focus on, you can focus on the same things too and watch how your business and life improves.

“You don’t get results by focusing on results. You get results by focusing on the actions that produce results.” – Mike Hawkins

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Countless biographies have been written about successful businesspeople. There are even movies on Netflix, and motivational videos littered all over YouTube, describing how people went from nothing to something.
These stories of success are interesting and entertaining… but only AFTER they succeeded. Most successful people will tell you that there was tons of struggle, pain, heartache and self-doubt during the journey. There was no rousing Hollywood soundtrack in the background either.
More often than not, it was a grim, dreary climb to the top – but they did it anyway. The qualities displayed by winners are the best of humanity. We all want to be like them, and believe they were born with it.
In reality, most had a few common traits that kept them going. We all have them. It’s a part of us. The only question that remains – “Will you tap into these qualities and harness them for your own success?”

* Passion
Successful people are passionate about what they do. They love their work even when it aggravates them. The promise of success makes the challenge worthwhile.
Passion is what made Thomas Edison keep going even after 1000 failures while inventing the light bulb. Passion is what made Michael Jordan win 6 NBA championships when he could have just rested on his laurels after the 3rd one.
You must have passion.

* Be logical
Most successful entrepreneurs take calculated risks but they approach it in a logical manner. They’re not looking for ‘get rich quick’ schemes or overnight riches.
To be an entrepreneur, you’ll need to think logically and not let your emotions get the better of you. Running a business is usually accompanied by emotional highs and lows. Despite that, you’ll need to keep a level head.

* Focused and determined
To succeed at anything in life, you’ll need to be highly focused. Don’t try to do everything. That’s a sure-fire recipe for failure.
* KFC sells chicken. It doesn’t go into the toothpaste business. It’s focused.
* Steve Harvey does comedy. He doesn’t try to be an action hero. He leaves that to Stallone.
* John Grisham writes books. He doesn’t try to be a runner like Usain Bolt.

All of them stay focused on one thing and they succeed at it. Specialization is crucial to success and profit.
Determination is a prerequisite for success because when the going gets tough, you’ll need the grit and resolve to keep going. You’ll also need determination and self-discipline to do what you need to even when you don’t feel like it.
Successful people have a very high level of self-discipline. They’ll willingly delay gratification in the moment for better rewards in future.

* Charismatic, bold and courageous
Successful people (even if they’re introverts) will willingly put themselves in the spotlight to further their goals. They’ll network with other successful people and form mutually beneficial relationships.
No man is an island. You need other people to help you take your business to the next level. Remember the African proverb – If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.
Success will be accelerated when you let yourself go with the flow and share your goals with others and let them help you.

* Dare to be different
The best businesspeople are creative, innovative and willing to be different. In fact, to succeed in a noisy and crowded marketplace, it’s a necessity to keep innovating and branding yourself from new angles.
You don’t have time to get comfortable. The world moves at breakneck speed these days. So, if you wish to be successful, you must constantly reinvent yourself like the singer, Madonna. It’s no wonder she stayed relevant for decades.
Now that you’re aware of what successful people do and how they act, you’ll realize that they really aren’t that different from you and me. You just need to be willing to emulate them, step outside your comfort zone and act in a way that’s in alignment with your goals.

“The secret of success is to do the common things uncommonly well.” John D. Rockefeller

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Success is a game and it has rules. Anyone who wants to play the game well and succeed will need to abide by the fundamental rules.
Ignore them and not only will your game be immensely laborious, but your chances of encountering failure will be higher.
Let’s look at the rules you must remember if you wish to be a successful entrepreneur!

1. Set big goals
NEVER set goals based on your current circumstances. Big goals will motivate and inspire you to keep going. If your goal is small and insipid, when the going gets tough, it’ll be hard to galvanize yourself to keep going.
Bigger goals will challenge you and strengthen you. When you achieve them, they’ll be worth the sacrifices you make. Bigger is definitely better.

2. Break the goal down
Setting big goals can be daunting, but it’s necessary. Now, you’ll need to chunk down the goals into smaller milestones, all of which lead up to the big goal. By doing so, you’ll have short term, manageable targets to meet.
This will help you focus on the smaller target and hit it. Step by step, you’ll climb the ladder of success until you attain your goal.

3. Learn something daily
Forget the days you spent in school memorizing irrelevant facts that helped no one. When you have your own business, you’ll want to learn as much as you can about the different components that make it work.
Like Jim Rohn used to say, “Formal education will make you a living. Self-education will make you a fortune.”
You must be willing to spend time learning whatever you can to improve your business. Then apply what you learn. Application of theory is what separates the winners from those who remain mediocre.

4. Don’t let your emotions dictate your behavior
So often, the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. We know what we need to do, but the work is tiring and makes us uncomfortable. Most people will shirk the work and procrastinate.
Winners will grit their teeth and carry on with the work, because they know that their feelings don’t matter. Only the work does.
Author, Tim Grover, has a line in his book Relentless – “I’m not telling you to love it. I’m telling you to crave the result so intensely that the work is irrelevant.”
That pretty much sums it up perfectly.

5. Be grateful and don’t complain
Despite your current situation (no matter how tough it may be), avoid complaining. Instead, find things to be grateful about. An attitude of gratitude will help you to feel better and more positive.
You can’t give your best effort from a negative mental state. So, focus on being grateful and positive and know that success is on the way.

6. Monitor your progress
Hold yourself accountable. It’s easy to go off track and slip-up more than you should. Aim for a high level of compliance with your daily routine. You must have a productive daily routine replete with positive habits which will help you progress and win the game.

7. Step out of the comfort zone
If you want something you’ve never had, you must do things you’ve never done. Being where you currently are and doing the same things will get you nowhere. You’ll keep spinning your wheels but making no progress.
To win at life, you must take logical, calculated risk and push yourself to do more than you’re accustomed to. Progress begins once you step outside the comfort zone. Embrace it and keep going forward.
These 7 rules are crucial to success. If you neglect any of them, you’ll be sabotaging your chances of success. Remember them and obey the rules.

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Here’s something many people are unaware of – you can feel successful even if you’ve not achieved any success yet. This is similar to happiness which we keep chasing. You can choose to feel happy wherever you are.
You just need to reframe your thoughts and you’re halfway there. Now, it may seem like you’re fooling yourself by pretending to be a success when you’re not.
But here’s the contradiction – you need to FEEL like a success before you can BECOME a success.
Because if you feel like a failure or a loser, you won’t even try. Why would you?
You’ve already counted yourself out… and that will be such a pity.
So your goal is to first feel like a success. Then you’ll instil positive habits in your daily life and engage in productive work which will ultimately lead to you achieving the goals in your life.
Which brings us to the first point…

1. Write down your life plan
Where do you see yourself in 5 years? 10 years? 25 years?
You must have clarity and know where you want to go for you to have any hope of getting there. Set goals that are NOT based on your current circumstances. Do not hold yourself back. Dream big.
This action alone is enough to help you feel that greatness is possible for you. You’ll feel like a success when you feel like you’ve got worthy goals to aim for.

2. Stop complaining
No matter how bad life is, avoid persistent complaining. It’s fine to vent and rage once in a while. The pent-up frustration within you needs an outlet.
However, making complaining your default setting will hold you back and you’ll never achieve success. There are many people who go through life complaining about anything and everything.
If you looked at their lives, you’d realize that most have sub-optimal lifestyles. They’re either out of shape, broke, unhappy or all of it combined. Their toxic attitude has created a life for them with lots of opportunities for them to complain about.
This is no way to live. Complaining will stifle your success. Avoid it at all cost, if possible.

3. Do a digital detox
Look around you. Just about everyone has their faces glued to their mobile phone screens. We live in a society where people live online, rather than in the real world.
Social media intrudes into every setting you can think of. If we’re not on the phone, we’re in front of the laptop. If it’s not the computer, we’re on our tablet or watching TV.
Most of our lives are spent in front of the screen. It’s no wonder that depression and unhappiness affect more people now than ever before.
Want to feel successful? Do a digital detox. It could be anywhere from 1 to 3 days. Avoid all digital devices.
You’ll be shocked to see how many times you feel like checking your phone and so on. Most people are addicted to their notifications, alerts, social media stats and so on.
After a digital detox, you’ll break your dopamine addiction and feel less stressed. From here on, aim to use social media sporadically. Less is more here. If you want to be successful in life, you need to focus on the stuff that matters – not social media.

4. Sweat it out
Engage in exercise daily. Just knowing you got some exercise into your daily routine will make you feel more productive. Most people dread working out. So when you do, you’ll feel a sense of accomplishment.
You’ve disciplined yourself to do what you need to, even if you didn’t feel like it. That’s what success is. Control over yourself.
If you enjoy exercise, that’s fantastic. You can challenge yourself to beat your personal bests and feel like you’re winning daily.

5. Avoid toxic people
You can find them all over social media. These are the people who love to argue and debate. They’re the ones who will find a solution to every problem. They’ll constantly try to show you how intelligent they are and make you feel clueless if you’re not agreeing with their views.
Avoid these toxic creatures. They’ll negatively impact your mental state. In most cases, they’ll be total strangers you never ever meet. So why concern yourself with them?
Cut them out. The same applies to friends and family members who make you feel depressed, annoyed or upset.
There are some people you’ll never see eye to eye with. It’s better for your mental state to maintain minimal contact with them. You’ll automatically feel better and more successful if people are not raining on your parade.

6. Have a fixed sleep schedule
One of the best things you can do is to go to bed at the same time daily and wake up at the same time too. A fixed sleep schedule will do wonders for your health, your moods and your energy levels.
Just ensure that you’re getting sufficient sleep daily. If you can’t function optimally without 8 hours of sleep, don’t force yourself to make do with 6. Get the 8 hours. You’ll be happier and more productive. Do what’s right for you.
The 6 tips above don’t require much from you. But if you’ll apply them to your life, you’ll feel much happier and more successful. Your business will do better because you feel better. It all begins with how you feel.

“If you don’t see yourself as a winner, then you cannot perform as a winner.” – Zig Ziglar

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“In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they are not.” – Albert Einstein

One of the biggest misconceptions that has been foisted upon us from an early age is that ‘knowledge is power’. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Knowledge means nothing if it’s not applied efficiently. In school, tons of irrelevant information is heaped upon us. We are forced to memorize and learn this information because we’ll be tested on them and your grades will supposedly dictate your intelligence.
In reality, most of what you learn in school will never be used in your daily life. You’d have forgotten most of it by the time you’re 20.
Yet, we cling on to the belief that having a bunch of trivia and general knowledge cluttering up our brains makes us smarter.
It doesn’t.
Many people who decide to become entrepreneurs fall into this trap of reading as much as they can. Self-help books, business books, and a ton of other irrelevant content is consumed in the belief that learning more will guarantee their success.
Once again, it doesn’t.
Let’s look at the true cost of learning…

* It takes time
Yes, it’s time-consuming. The more you learn, the more time and energy you’re expending on theory.
That’s all well and good… but… there’s something you should know…

* You don’t get paid for it
You do NOT get paid to learn. You don’t get paid for the time you spend learning. You only get paid for the value you bring to the marketplace.
That means, you either need to sell a product or a service to make money. It’s imperative that you understand this point. Money is made by selling, NOT learning.

* Learning is crucial to success
But there’s a problem here…
In order for you to succeed in business, you’ll need to learn the different components of the business. You’ll need to learn selling and all the other intricacies required to make the enterprise generate profit.
But you’re not getting paid for learning. So what do you do?

* You’ll learn by doing
For starters, you must be willing to take a financial haircut during the learning process. Ideally, you should have a job you work at to pay your bills, while you’re learning whatever you need to in order to make your business work.
Secondly, you should ONLY be studying and learning what pertains to your business. Forget the unnecessary reading and so on. You don’t want information overload.
The next most important step is to APPLY what you learn. Do not strive to learn everything all at once before you take action. The Albert Einstein quote at the top of this article makes a very salient point.
Theory and practice are different. You must take the theory that you learn and apply it to practice. In this way, you’ll learn and do at the same time… and learn by doing.
Not only will you save time, but you’ll accelerate your progress and be able to deliver value to the marketplace sooner and turn a profit. That’s fantastic.

* Failure is to be expected
All the learning in the world will not save you from failure. Millions of people can’t cope with failure because in school, failure was frowned upon. If you didn’t study the subject well and fail, it was assumed that you just weren’t bright enough… or competent enough.
So, later on in life, when people encounter failure, they believe that it’s because they aren’t smart or capable enough. In reality, life gives you exams on subjects you’re clueless about.
It’s normal to fail and to be expected. You can’t even copy someone else’s life because everyone has a different question paper.
The key to succeeding is understanding that you need to learn what you can and apply it by doing. Then when you fail, you’ll learn what works and what doesn’t. From there, it’s a matter of iterating and correcting the flaws until you have a plan that works.
Then it’s just a matter of repeated execution of what works until you reap rewards.
By now you’ll realize that learning is just the beginning… and not the be-all and end-all of entrepreneurial success.
“The best way of learning about anything is by doing.” – Richard Branson

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Abraham Lincoln said it best – “You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.”
That pretty much sums it up. No matter how much you procrastinate, you’ll NOT be making things easier for yourself. What needs to be done, MUST be done.
If you’re an entrepreneur who wishes to build a successful business, there will be a plethora of tasks ranging from the mundane to the challenging. You’ll have to get them done one way or another.
Procrastinating the tasks that are important will only delay your success and reduce the amount of time available for you to get the job done. So it’s best to get it over and done with.

* Why do we procrastinate?
You may notice that we often procrastinate the most important tasks. If you’re a writer, sitting down to write may be the most difficult task of the day. You may rearrange your folders, do research, create story lines, etc.
You’ll do everything EXCEPT write.
The same applies to most people in the creative arts or those who are running a business and have tons of important work.
We procrastinate because our minds view these tasks as ‘painful and uncomfortable’. So our minds conjure up excuses and we find other activities to do.
The illusion of being busy fools us into thinking that we’re doing important work. We’re not. Important work is important work – and it’s the one we’re shirking.

* Do what matters first
The best way to overcome procrastination will be to complete the tasks you’re dreading FIRST. Get them done and out of the way. The moment you do that, you’ll feel like a load is off your shoulders.
You’ll then have a sense of accomplishment and will breeze through the rest of the tasks. This is definitely better than doing the easier tasks and when you’re tired, you still have the important ones you’re dreading to get through.
Procrastination will make you tell yourself that you’ll do it tomorrow and this insidious cycle will repeat itself.

* Get comfortable with being uncomfortable
The best way to convince yourself to get the job done will be to come to terms with the fact that the task is not pleasant. But you’re an entrepreneur, right?
This is par for the course. You need to get the job done. Don’t think too much about it and follow the Nike slogan – JUST DO IT.
You have a choice in the matter here. No one is forcing you to do anything. Once you realize that you choose to do the difficult work instead of being forced to do it, you’ll get comfortable being uncomfortable.
With time, you’ll get better at being self-disciplined.

* Give yourself 5 minutes
No matter how much you dread a task, make a promise to yourself that you’ll just do it for 5 minutes. If you’re not in the mood after that, you can stop.
Very often, the biggest hurdle is getting started. Once you actually begin working on the task, you’ll become absorbed in it and the time will fly… and you’ll complete it efficiently.
Giving yourself that 5 minutes will prevent your mind from being overwhelmed. It’s a simple trick that works. Anybody can do something for 5 minutes. So, you’ll start… and after that you’ll keep going.
If you’re really not in the mood for it, then stop. Come back to it later and try again for another 5 minutes and see how it goes. It’s a very powerful technique to get you used to doing what you’re dreading and avoid procrastination.

* It doesn’t really get easier
With time, you’ll procrastinate less because your self-discipline has increased. However, as you take on more challenging goals, your tasks will be more formidable. This is to be expected.
You may once again occasionally encounter situations where your mind tells you to procrastinate. But you’re wiser now… and know what’s at stake.
Apply the 5-minute technique and do what you have to. If you ever procrastinate on one day, make sure you get the job done the next day. NEVER procrastinate 2 days in a row.
It’s very easy to slip into a state of inertia where you lose the mood to do any work and your business starts spiralling downwards. Procrastination is the thief of time. Don’t let it steal your time and dreams. Send it packing every single day.

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Financial writer Cait Flanders has a quote – “What consumes your mind controls your life.”
In order to be successful, you’ll need to focus on your mindset and the way you think. While you’ll have to take massive action and go through the necessary struggles to achieve success, without the right mindset, you won’t even begin.
And if you do begin, you’ll quit halfway and abort all chances of success. So it’s imperative that you get your thinking right.
This might seem like an impossible battle to many people. How do you change the way you think?
After all, you’ve been thinking this way for years. Trying to overhaul your pattern of thinking overnight can seem like a Herculean task.

* Is it easy to reframe your thoughts?
Here’s what’s amazing – you can instantly do it. Yes, you can! You can change the way you think almost instantly by applying a technique known as ‘reframing’.
While it will not stop the deluge of negative thoughts that flood your mind on a constant basis, it will help you look at things from a new angle. When you practice reframing your thoughts constantly, after about 21 days or so, you’ll notice that you think less negatively.
After a few months, you’ll be more positive than you ever were before.

* How do you reframe your thoughts?
The technique itself is very simple. All you need to do is flip your thoughts from negative into positive.
For example, when you’re thinking of starting a new business, your mind may cogitate a million and one negative thoughts. You might think, “I don’t know how to do it!”
This negative thought may be true. You may be clueless about starting a business. But instead of just giving up on your dream, you must reframe the thought and speak it aloud.
Go ahead and say, “I’ll learn how to do it. I’ll find out what I need to.”
Is there anything stopping you from finding out how to start a business? Of course not! You just need to do the research and legwork to find out what needs to be done.
Almost all negative thoughts are indefensible when you reframe them.
If you’re in the midst of trying to achieve your goal and your mind tells you it’s too difficult, reframe it and say, “This is a challenge. I can handle it!”
If you feel like you’re not ready, tell yourself, “There’s never been a better time than now!” Of course, there hasn’t. Just get started and learn as you go.
Even older adults are not immune to negative thinking. A common excuse that’s often tossed about like it’s gospel truth is, “I’m too old. There’s not enough time.”
Reframe that senior moment and say, “There’s still time. It’s possible!”
Worried that you’ll encounter failure? Go ahead and tell yourself that every failure is a rung for you to climb up towards success… and it is.
Don’t say you can’t! Say you’ll learn how to do it.
Motivational speaker, Jim Rohn used to say, “Don’t wish it were easier. Wish you were better.” This is reframing at its finest.
As you can see, reframing your thoughts is not rocket science. Anyone can do it. You just need to feel that it’s possible for you to succeed and look at things in a positive way… and speak your reframed thought out loud so you believe it more.
With time, you’ll be an optimist par excellence and will not be sabotaging yourself with negative self-talk. Now, you’ll attract success more readily.

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Back in 2006, when ‘The Secret’ was released, the law of attraction received a breath of new life. All of a sudden, this age old concept of visualizing what you want and having the faith to make it a reality became new again.
Millions of people began visualizing daily and saying affirmations repeatedly. While the law did work for many – with the masses, it failed. The main reason for this was because The Secret romanticized the entire concept and made it look like visualization was all one needed to do.
In reality, the law of attraction is like an equation…
Attraction = Attract + Action
The Secret failed to mention that massive action was required to help you get what you wanted. Visualization was just half of it. The other half was work.
Like they say, faith without works is dead.
If you’ve been trying to get the law of attraction to work and it has been failing you, the points below may help you figure out why…

* Commitment
Commitment to your goal is crucial. Even if it’s taking a while to materialize, you need to stay the course. Doubting yourself will negate the power of your visualization. The truth is that people with unwavering faith will still encounter self-doubt occasionally.
The best way to stay faithful is to take action. If your goal is to make 250k a month with your own business, visualizing it alone will not cut it. You must walk in faith and not by sight.
What does that mean?
It means doing whatever you need to in order to achieve your goal. It will mean starting the business, learning sales, creating products to sell and all the other necessary activities that will help you get what you want.
The law of attraction will give you the positivity to keep going, and attract people and situations into your life to assist you. But first, you must be committed enough to act.

* Consistency
Consistency is one of the cornerstones of success. You must be consistent with your visualization, journaling, etc. You’ll also need to consistently take action.
If your goal is to become a bestselling author, besides just visualizing your book on the bestsellers list, you’ll also need to write. Consistency may mean writing 1000 words a day, every single day.
Without consistency, your results will be sporadic and elusive. With consistency, your efforts will snowball and you’ll be unstoppable.

* Clarity
Knowing what you want is crucial to making the law of attraction work. For example, if your desire in life is to be a successful businessperson, it might require you to move to New York or somewhere that’s thriving with business opportunities.
You might have to leave the comfort of your small town and venture into the big city. However, if you enjoy being where you are and don’t wish to move, then your progress will be impeded because your desires are of a conflicting nature.
Know what you want and be willing to make the necessary changes.

* Vision board
Having a vision board where you attach photos, images, quotes, etc. which keeps you focused on your desires/goals will help. When these goals are at the forefront of your mind, you’ll constantly be taking actions that are in congruence with what you want.
Want to lose weight?
Pin a photo of a fitness model or someone whose body you’d like to model on your vision board. When you see it often, you’ll be less likely to gorge on unhealthy foods that detract you from your goal.
The pointers in this article may seem simple and straightforward, but yet, people don’t practice them. Visualization and faith is good, but to transform your life, you must act and work.
The law of attraction is a means to an end and not an end in itself. Use it as a tool to strengthen your resolve and shape your mindset… and do whatever it takes to achieve your goals. The universe will do the rest.

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