How To Be Successful In The Longterm: Treat Life Like You're Going 200 Miles Per Hour
Outlast your competition and those who give up on their journey
You’re constantly met with challenges in your daily life
Education, activities, relationships, decisions etc.
They all have 1 thing in common → They are part of your struggle
When you get in the car, you’re playing the game of life..
Like it used to be played
In your journey you’re met with many obstacles
Pedestrians, traffic lights, blockades, other cars, busy roads etc.
Sure, you can depend on society to solve all your problems
I mean why would you put yourself in a difficult situation?
Besides driving the car yourself, society has made it easy for you to not be at risk
There are many things plaguing the world, but when you get in that car, the only thing stopping you from permanently losing consciousness is a single mistake
Life used to be exactly the same in most cases
Every day survival was a challenge
To survive on the road you need to constantly make potentially life altering decisions
You need to be careful or you could easily end a human life (or your own)
You need to avoid obstacles all the way, or risk devastating consequence
These struggles, are the perfect example of entrepreneurship
Whether you’re a salesman
A writer
Or a marketer..
You will go through immense struggle, with some consequences feeling devastating
There is no better path to develop as a person, than building a digital business
Struggle is what makes us strong
Without it you will stay weak in body and mind
You need to learn to adapt to every situation
Otherwise you have no way of ensuring progress
Over hundreds of years society has developed systems to solve these problems for you
There is nothing wrong with that, in fact its a must for the majority of the population
But as an entrepreneur, you need to not only adapt, but learn to endure
Only 1% of entrepreneurs actually “make it”
You can’t build a successful business if you suck at surviving
It has never been easier to build a business online, but the perseverance you need to have to get that amazing end result, is something you will learn nowhere else
This is exactly why I have an important philosophy..
I’m playing the long game
In the short term there will be money and a form of success, sure
But in the long term, if I endure long enough, ultimate success is inevitable
But building that perseverance and perception is something that many will never achieve
I’ve seen so many marketers just fall off the map, and I never hear from them again
They make a lot of money in the short term, then they just vanish
This is either due to them lacking purpose and direction. I explain how to solve this in my latest article called “The Holistic Lifestyle Approach”, here
Or they are unable to endure long term
Because they make naive mistakes, or they are unable to stay consistent → Don’t let this be you
But how do you play the long term game, and avoid falling off?
That is the point of this article
I’ve been doing this for 3 years
There have been times where progress was non existent
There have been times where I was making incredible progress
But I never stopped going
Let’s break down how you can ensure you never reach the point where you think, “You know, I think I’m just gonna give up”
Step 1 - Make Long Term Plans
Your success will not be the result of short lived ideals
You need to come up with a plan that you want to achieve in 5 years plus
Build the vision you have of the future, then build tasks based on that
Divide your tasks into years, monthly, weekly goals
Then based on those goals, decide on your daily tasks
You need ACTUAL ideals
Not stuff you just made up
It needs to be something you strongly feel about due to the way you perceive life at this moment in time
Keep into account everything you want in 5 years from now, then plan from there
Create your vision board, put it on a poster, and place it on the wall next to your bed
This is your ideal reality, and you need to play the long term game to make it happen
Fancy cars, luxurious hotels, stacks of money
These mean nothing in the eyes of you goals
Don’t be driven by material gain, be driven by a real purpose
My purpose is teaching people stuck in the rat race, how to build an online business selling digital products and services, while using writing to do it
Find yours
You will need to spend a lot of time studying books, courses, articles, and social media brands, before you figure it out (you will most likely sell the wrong things at first too)
This is just another reason why pivoting in your brand is part of a natural exploration process → Sometimes you will change what you’re selling or talking about (this is fine)
Step 2 - Build A Group Of Powerful Minds
You are a product of your programming
And your programming is a result of your surroundings
Without the right programming, you will never be where you want to be
Every great mind has connections with powerful individuals
Resources and opportunities are abundant if you know how to harness them
Just like famous politicians, making friends with the right people can change the outcome of your journey drastically
If you want to dominate a market, or excel in it, you need to have the same thing
Surround yourself with people who are not working hard on their goals (does not have to be business), and you become one of them
Surround yourself with people who ARE working hard on their goals, and you become one of them
It rarely happens that this is not a thing
This means when you build a business online, you need a strong network
A group of people who will support you no matter what
They will refer your clients, buy your products, and promote your brand
And if they are valuable network members, you won’t even have to ask them to
Setup a social media group where you share wins and refer clients
Your mastermind will form a huge part of your digital marketing business, so gather its members properly, and curate the members as well
Some won’t fit in the group, and some will (so get used to managing it)
This group of people will hold you accountable on days you are struggling
These are instructions:
2.1 - Go On Social Media (whichever works for you)
You won’t get anywhere if you can’t exploit currency in the creator economy. The most valuable currency is attention, and you gain it by using social media
Forget local businesses, or costly methods that worked 50 years ago
All you need is a social media account, 30 min to 1 hour a day
And a will to push yourself in order to achieve great things
Become known for solving problems, solve problems for other people, build up experience and knowledge, and become a powerful asset yourself
2.2 - Find a List Of People You Want In Your Close Group
These people can be anyone who has the audience you want, has a valuable set of skills or knowledge, has experience, and is more than willing to improve upon what they’ve already achieved, by working with likeminded individuals
2.3 - Reach Out To Them One By One And Build Genuine Relationships
Your ability to converse with other people is one of the most powerful abilities you will ever develop/have
But just like any skill this ability needs to be nurtured
If you don’t teach yourself more advanced social understanding and skills, you will never be better than the average person at building connections
Spend time reading books on social skills and psychology, then combine that with practical experience of building these connections
The more you do these 2 things, the better you get at it
Learn it well enough and you can even come up with a networking framework
How I come up with products:
Find a problem → Figure out how to solve it → Productize the solution
You can do the same
2.4 - Make Sure Everyone Has Similar Goals
It’s pointless to gather a group of people together when 1 of them wants to improve gardening techniques, and the other one wants to build an agency
There needs to be a connection between the interests of the people in the group
There are 3 markets on social media that have a high performance rate when it comes to making money and producing life changing results
These markets are: Health (fitness), Wealth (Business & Writing), and Relationships
If you want to make life changing money and change the outcome of your life, then focus on these 3 markets or industries
Now do this over and over until you have a group of 30 individuals with powerful ideals and ambitions, who are more than willing to help each other grow and make money using the internet
When you launch a product, tell them
When you’re looking for clients, tell them
When you want to connect with people, talk to them
This is one of the greatest lessons I can teach you, that very few are teaching
I wish I did it the day I started, because then I would easily have made 6 figures online instead of 5
Step 3 - Look After Your Psyche
Sure, you can spend months inside just making money..
But in the long term this strategy just won’t work
You need to find a balance between work and rest
Don’t be “married to the grind” (this is nonsense)
Short bursts of consistent hard work on occasion is fine..
But pushing yourself past your limits over prolonged periods of time, will negatively effect your mind, and slow down progress in the long term
Take your daily tasks, and make time during the day to just relax
Take a walk, read a book, play video games, watch movies/series/anime etc.
Anything that allows you to disconnect from your responsibilities
When I started working on my business I had 0 balance, and I would constantly be stressed out
Now I take breaks to walk, have a hot chocolate, and explore nature
This has drastically improved my mental health
These are instructions:
3.1 Find Something You Are Passionate That Takes Little Energy
This cannot be something that causes you anxiety or uncertainty. When you do this activity, you need to completely shut off your brain
Stop thinking about anything that might be causing you stress
If you have anxiety problems, this step is even more important
3.2 - Do This Whenever You Take A Break
When you take a break, don’t scroll tiktok, YouTube, or Instagram
Do the activity in 3.1 instead
Social media scrolling does not shut off your brain (it does the opposite)
Get used to doing this “brain shut off” activity, instead of scrolling social media
Step 4 - Find Joy In Consistency
If you hate the process of building a business, you won’t stick with it long term
This includes writing, sales, and marketing
Learn consistency
Get used to doing small tasks, and keep working on them over a long period of time
The more you stick to these tasks, the easier they will get to stay consistent on
Then you focus on doing it long term, thereby learning consistency
But staying consistent isn’t going to cut it
You need to enjoy the process
Find real meaning in these activities
Focus on the outcomes of mastery, rather than having to master it
These are instructions:
4.1 - Identify your goal
Your goal should be based on something you want to achieve in your business that you decided when you came up with your long term goals in step 1
4.2 - Find Out How To Achieve That Goal
Read books, experiment, and gain experience
Solve the problem you’re meant to solve, not the one you’re distracted by
4.3 - Think About The Future When That Goal Is Achieved
Forget feeling sorry for yourself or being uncertain.
You have the goal, now you need to achieve it.
Instead of worrying what its going to take, instead visualize where you will be when you actually achieve it
4.4 - Ignore Everything Else
Nothing matters but that goal. Stick to to the tasks you’ve laid out for yourself, and ignore everything else besides the future you’ve visualized
I hope you found this helpful. It’s late here, so I’m going to go drink some hot chocolate with my mom
See you next week, Ian
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