Team Alpha 375

Two Keys to Big Breakthroughs

By Craig Ballantyne

It is now March. Over 15% of the year has passed already. Are you 15% of the way towards your goals? If your plan was to write a 100 page book, you should have 15 pages done by now. If you had ambitions of making over $100,000 this year, you should already have made $15,000. Are you on track?

If not, we need to put some urgency in your efforts. You need to realize that the amount of time you have to take control of your financial independence is quickly passing. It is time that you cannot get back.

Fortunately, I have some good news. Some very good news. Here at EarlytoRise.com we're dedicated to showing you what really counts when it comes to building your financial independence. But it is up to you to take personal responsibility in putting this new information into action.

You can't just be an information gatherer. That's a mistake too many people make. Many folks invest enormous amounts of time and great sums of money in learning new facts and figures yet remain broke because they don't put any of this into use.

You must do the opposite and be an ACTION TAKE. Do. Get outside of your comfort zone. Avoid self-sabotage. Fail forward. Those who don't take personal responsibility and don't take action will be in the same place 12 months from now...only older. I know you're different, and I know you are one of these action takers that the world needs right now. You want a better life, and you deserve a better life, now go out and get it.

But remember, as Dave Kekich says, "No one gets old by surprise." We all know the clock is ticking, but left to the busy-ness and business of our lives, the days pass by, slowly at first, but rapidly in hindsight. The only person who controls what you do with this time is you. Only you control your future and your behavior today. Don't wait any longer to get started. You may start slow, as I did, but it is only by getting started that you will be able to achieve your goals.

For years I struggled with my website business. Frankly, I had no idea what I was doing, so I'm not sure you could even call it struggling. I was unconsciously incompetent.

However, I was passionate about creating content and helping others. My goal was to grow my newsletter list, and that's what I did for the first two years of my online 'career'. I wasn't even smart enough to think of selling anything until 2001. But along the way I practiced two key principles recently shared with me by one of my mentors, Bill Bonner.

The first principle he calls, "Accelerated Failure". This is where you make mistakes and you learn from them to move your business ahead. It's okay to make mistakes as long as you learn from them. That leads to the second principle, "Incremental Improvement". This is where we use what we've learned from our accelerated failure to do things better in the future. Some of my biggest mistakes have led to my biggest breakthroughs. With the knowledge you gain from them, you are able to achieve the best things in your life.

Everything you do should get better each time you practice it. Each day you should improve on the last. There will, of course, be slip-ups and bad days, but incremental improvement is more importantly a mindset. Always look to do better, but realize that without the lows in life, the highs would never really seem that high.

Just remember that the mistakes of your past are not who you are now. No matter what you've done in your life you have a second chance that starts today. It is your time to choose who you will be and who you will become, for the rest of your life. You are certainly not too old to add value to the world, to give, create or inspire. If you need to, let the past go and start fresh, right here, right now.

"Fill your life with positive expectations. Demand the best. Attitude and desire contribute to 90% of your achievement." – Kekich Credo #86.

Have the courage to attempt, and even enjoy the principles of Accelerated Failure and Incremental Improvement.

Drop the negatives from your life. Hang around positive people and share your goals with them. Good people want to help and they'll assist you in achieving your goals faster. It is easier for people to get behind you and help you succeed when they know where you want to go.

And most importantly, believe in – and expect more of – yourself. Make the passing time count.