WEEK 25: SHOW UP

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PLANNING (task, scheduling, and WT = DT):  This week I scheduled to watch another video on how to market my book from Chandler Bolt's self publishing site. I planned to do this after school in the study. I have uploaded the app SPI (Smart Passive Income) to turn WT = DT. 

IMPLEMENTATION (strategies used):  I completed the weekly task, but had to break up the task over a two day period. I did not incorporate any new strategies, but used the key ones from previous weeks to complete the task. I have listed them below:

1. Agreements: I was able to learn about this powerful strategy from Jack Canfield called agreements. In this strategy you keep and fulfill all of your agreements. By doing this, you boost self confidence and you slowly prove to yourself that you are a person that is able to complete whatever you agree to. This in turn, allows you to take on more challenging tasks, as you have trained the subconscious mind that you are able capable of such endeavors. My suggestion is to first start small, prove to yourself by consistently completing easy actions that you have agreed to. Second, only commit to things that you know that you will be able to complete. After you have proven to yourself that you can keep your agreements and your confidence grows, take the opportunity to agree to more challenging tasks on the process of discovering, pursuing, and achieving your dreams.

2. The Enkrateia strategy: Enkrateia is the antonym of Akrasia and means "in control of oneself" and I learned this from James Clear. This involves three strategies in one to combat Akrasia, or simply put procrastination. First, create a Commitment Device, which increases the consequences of a bad behavior and decreases the effort to carry out a good one. For example, to eat less sugar, you can clear out all candies in your house, which reduces the effort to not eat sugar at home. Second, incorporate the 2-minute rule to initiate tasks, as the hardest part of following through is getting started. Third, utilize implementation intentions, or identify a [date] at certain [time] at a specific [place] to complete a task. By incorporating this you will be 2X to 3X more likely to follow through on what you planned.  

3. Early Scheduling = Implementation Intentions: This is a strategy that I was incorporating during my streak of completing my tasks on time, and it was a huge benefit this week. In this strategy, you first PLAN to complete a task and then SCHEDULE a time to complete the task as early in the week as you can. Two benefits are produced from doing this. First, you get a sense of accomplishment if you complete the task in the beginning of the week at the scheduled time. In addition, it allows you to devout more time to do additional tasks to reach your goals within the same week. Second, it provides more time to complete the task if life presents you with something that needs to be attended to during the original scheduled time. 

4. Seinfeld strategy:  I learned the Seinfeld strategy that from James Clear. It is called this because a young comedian once asked Jerry Seinfeld how to become a "better comedian." Jerry said take a huge calendar and place a big X for everyday that you write jokes, and if you can place an X for every day of the year, then you will become a better comedian. This strategy makes your progress visible and provides additional motivation to continue the streak of completing weekly tasks that move you towards your goals for the year. 

5. 3-Bucket System: I learned the 3-Bucket system from Jeff Goins who breaks up the process of writing into three easy steps. First, create a place (physical or digital) where you can collect ideas. Second, schedule a time to draft the first version without the pressure of making edits. Third, edit your draft after you have taken time away from it. This process makes writing much easier and I find myself producing better writing in a shorter amount of time. 

6. Got 2-minutes: I learned the 2-minute rule from James Clear,  http://jamesclear.com/how-to-stop-procrastinating, and it helps you initiate a task, as usually this is the most difficult step. This strategy helps you focus on what you would do in the first 2 minutes of starting a task and then complete those actions. I often times do this and then look up at the clock and see that I have been working for well over 2 minutes. I have now merged this with the "Got a Minute" strategy, which is used to turn any amount of free time into productive time. It comes from Vierordt's Law, which states that when estimating a previous task, people overestimate short durations and underestimate long ones. Simply, we regularly overestimate how long it will take to accomplish meaningful tasks. task. Often times they can be accomplished in a short amount of time. So don't judge if you will start something by how time you think you have, just star! 

REFLECTIONS (learnings and actions): I was able to learn from Charlie Hoehn this week. He is a keynote speaker, entrepreneur, and New York Times and Amazon best selling author who wrote "Play it Away: A Workaholics Cure for Anxiety." In addition, he was able to help Tim Ferris and other best selling authors to market their books and products. 

Charlie outlined some key learnings about marketing, but also how to write your book through the use of your email list. He has worked with Seth Godin, Ramit Sethi, Tucker Max, Tim Ferris, and himself. Below are the main learnings from each person:

Seth Godin (Best Selling Author of over 15 books): Charlie learned that it is difficult to get people to an online platform, you can not just offer a link to an website and think everything will work. The key is to front load your site with activity and positive comments, as readers are more likely to JOIN IN, rather than being the first person there. For example, if you are going to launch a book, add positive comments from your initial readers from your email list, so future readers have the urge to join in as well. 

Ramit Sethi (NYT Best Selling Author): First, stay the course and FOCUS on what matters. For example, grow your email list, produce great content, and offer it at a premium price. Second, harness the power of video to draw an audience. The better the quality will increases traffic, which in turn causes more people to joining your email list. 

Tucker Max (Author): First, honesty and authenticity rule supreme. Be honest and authentic with people and use these traits to help people change the way they think and behave with your ideas. If you always try to mimic others, then you will find it difficult to follow through when times get tough. 

Tim Ferris (NYT Best Selling Author, ): First, is the blog post "12 Lessons Learned while Marketing 4-Hour Body" . Second, ask your audience specific questions and use their answers for topics to write about. For example, Tim kept asking questions to readers about WHAT they specifically wanted and these were the topics he put in his book, ie "How to lose 20lbs in 30 days." Third, test content with your blog and use the most popular posts as content for your book. This ensures that you are putting content that readers want to read in the book, and not things that you think they want to read. Four, create chapter tiles to match the most catchy blog posts to hook the readers. 

Himself: 

• First, read the post "How to Hit #1 on Amazon"  to learn the steps to market your book. 
• Second, pay attention to what people want. When he wrote his NYT and Amazon best seller, it was actually only a part of another book, but everyone highlighted that section. So he took that chapter of the book and expanded it to create a best seller. 
• Third, use the highly success approach of talking about a specific pain you have, explain how you overcame it, and offer a step by step of how you did it. 
• Four, choose a compelling title that tells the reader exactly what they are getting into, not something that is ambiguous or complicated. 
• Five, use your email list to gather feedback about your content. For example, create an email list and send out one great email a day for a set period of time (a week or month) that covers content from your book. Then, at the end of the time period offer them a link to the whole book on Amazon. In addition, survey them at the beginning and end of the process to gather valuable information of what they learned, enjoyed the most, and what they would tell their friends. This last part can be used as testimonials for your website to draw in other readers. 
• Six, allocate the same amount of time to market the book, as you did writing the book. Not thinking that marketing matters and only spending a small amount of time on it will solidify the failure of your launch. 
• Seven, find a designer to create a beautiful cover. 
• Eight, use Createspace to publish on Amazon. This site only prints a copy of your book when someone orders it, so it cuts out a lot of the costs of the middle man. 

Lastly, I want to share some great news. It is nearing six months where I have devoted time each week to learn how to write a book on how to discover, pursue, and achieve your dreams and the work is starting to pay off. Last week I mentioned the idea of synchronicity of creating meaningful content and putting yourself out there. Well, due to my efforts I have been able to connect with other link minded individuals and have possibly found my true professional to follow. He is Zephan Moses and he produces the the "The Year of Purpose" website and podcast

. He has undergone the same challenges that I am facing and producing the levels of success (written a book and discovered, pursuing, and achieving his dreams) that I am pursuing. I would have never found the three other blogs that led me to his or been on this path if I had not first decided to pursue and take action of discovering, pursuing, and achieving my dreams. The morale of the story is, show up every week and commit to this process. Some will be harder than others, but know that opportunities will present themselves and doors will open if you consistently take actions to DPA your dreams. 

Thanks for tuning in and see you in week 26, the half way mark!