If you’re an 80′s movie fan like me, you’ll know that this is from a scene from “The Last Dragon” and if you listen to the lyrics they can have a profound effect on your life…

“When you reach that upper level, your mind, body, soul must be one. It’s a sacrifice it takes hard work. It’s a way of life.”

Bruce Lee arguably the greatest martial artist to have ever lived, apparently understood the power of declaring a goal, going after it, and seeking it through.

Tragically, Bruce Lee died only 3 years later after writing this original document, but his fame and legacy will forever live on.

Here’s 7 proven ways to achieve any goal, so long you stick to it, follow through, and spend each day doing something to attain that goal.

1. Specific Goal Setting

Your mind is a powerful thing and your subconscious will move you towards accomplishing a goal but it requires two extremely important items…

It must be stated it in a way that you and anybody else could measure it.

Bad example: “I will make $100,000.”

Great example: “I will make $100,000 by 5pm on December 5th.”

See, the second example is clearer, more definite, and measurable. I mean you show up on December 5th and you see if you made it or not. The ladder could be in 20 years or in most cases with no definitive date… never.

NOTE TO SELF: Be as specific as possible and get in the little tiny details of exactly WHAT YOU WANT, the color, the size, the model, the features, the kind of leather: Italian leather or suede. The point is… be specific.

Here’s what the letter Bruce wrote to himself January 1969, three years BEFORE his hit movie “Enter the Dragon” went blockbuster status earning him international status. The document appropriately titled…

“Secret”

“I Bruce Lee, will be the first highest paid Greatest super star in the United States. In return I will give the most exciting performances and render the best of quality in the capacity of an actor. Starting 1970 I will achieve world fame and from then onward till the end of 1980 I will have in my possession $10,000,000. I will live the way I please and achieve inner harmony and happiness.”

“Make at least one definite move daily toward your goal.”

- Bruce Lee

2. Incessant Practice

Here was a guy that knew that the life he wanted wouldn’t come easy. He knew through incessant practice and hard core determination would get him to where he wanted to go.

I remember back in high school being the captain of my wrestling team I had to show my team members that true dedication and persistence to never give up and practice harder than anyone else. Day in and day out, we’d run drill after drill, doule leg after double leg to get the perfect technique down. It wasn’t the 100 times that made you good, it was the 10,000 that made you GREAT.

Life is no different than sport. Diligent practice and persistence will make you great.

They say t takes 10,000 hours to master something… so where are you in your mastery?

3. Knowledge is Power Yet Useless Without Action

Bruce Lee was an avid reader, scholar, and devoured personal development books to master himself. From past records his library was filled with books from W. Clement Stone, Napoleon Hill, Vincent Peale, and many of the initial “greats” of personal development.

I remember growing up and not reading books other than “goosebumps” in middle school. I never read chapters in history class or books to learn more and it wasn’t until I grew an immesne passion for success that I started to literally devour everything I could get my hands on.

Think and Grow Rich, Jack Canfield’s Success Principles, Maximum Money in Minimum time, Scientific Advertising, My Life in Advertising, The Power of Full engagement, Or your Money Back by Alvin Eicoff, and tons more.

The knowledge I gained from these books has given me the true freedom to create my own life and through the education, stories, and lives of others we have the ability to leran from other for $9.99. There is no better mastery system than in the books thers have created for us.

How many books do you read per week, month, year?

Now armed with the knowledge TAKE ACTION.

“You see, in life, lots of people know what to do, but few people actually do what they know. Knowing is not enough! You must take action.”

- Anthony Robbins

4. Overcome Resistance with Persistence

In life there’s ALWAYS going to be challenges, roadblocks, and bumps along this road. Thinking that there never will be such roadblocks is to think the world is flat. Knowing that you will face these obstacles and knowing what to do once you face them is how you push forward to get what you want.

In 1970, without properly warming up for a training session, Bruce severely injured his back. The doctors told him to rest in bed and to forget kung fu… “you will not kick again.” For 3 months Bruce lay in bed healing his body and another three months confined to his home. Rather than focus on the negative aspect of his injuries and because exercise was out of the question, he decided to work on his mind. For three months he wrote over eight, two-inch thick volumes of notes, writing his technique’s, his form, his philosophy, and his goals.

Many of us see obstacles as fate, while others see them as opportunities.

The blind learn to hear more acutely.

The deaf learn to feel more intensely.

The obstacles become opportunities of enhancement. Learn to embrace your challenges, flip the switch and turn it on it’s head.

“There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them.”

- Bruce Lee

sdsd

5. Lead with Your Passion

Just imagine waking up every day excited about life, excited about your day, elated to be doing, living, and enjoying your work, friends, collegue’s, and simply put… loving your life. Bruce did exactly what he loved and has taught me a good amount about going after “what you want.”

Not what your parents want, or what you think you’re friends think you should do. DO WHAT DRIVES YOU.

The passion in your life will give you life.

Every day I try and wake up with the zest for my business, my life, family, friends, and the people around me to enjoy the time we are here. I’m 28, young, but position my life today for how I want to live my life in 6 months, 1 year, 5 years, 10 years. I want freedom, choices, options, and my life on my terms, and you should to.

Don’t settle for just the “get by.” Go after your dreams, reach the stars, and do whatever it takes to make it a reality. find the passion, find the people, and go for it because in the end… you’re going to die someday, right? Could be tomorrow, net week, or when you’re 90.

What better time to start then now…

“It is easy for me to put on a show and be cocky and then feel pretty cool. Or I can do all kinds of phony things and be blinded by it. Or I can show you some really fancy movement. But to express oneself honestly, not lying to oneself — that my friend, is very hard to do.”

- Bruce Lee

6. Aim Past Your Target

Whenever I’m planning a new product, a product launch, or creating a successful company – I’m the dreamer. I’m the guy who always says, “Higher.” If $250K is the norm, $1M is the goal. I am always thinking things are bigger and will be bigger than most imagine. Is it wrong to think that way?

Possibly. Depends how you think.

What if you don’t reach your goal, don’t you feel let down?

So what.

I remember a launch we did back in 2008 for a client and brought in $8,000 before opening it up, and that day we did $25,000 in one day. My goal was $75,000. We obviously didn’t reach it, but what if my goal was $25,000 who know’s we could have done way less, maybe $5,000 in sales.

I always aim high in whatever I do and Bruce Lee is no dummy when it comes to that.

Stay in reality, don’t go over board and mention the “Billion” dollar word unless it’s a true reality, which is extremely rare. Stay sane, follow your plan, and take action… you’ll achieve everything you want.

“In the long run men hit only what they aim at. Therefore, though they should fail immediately, they had better aim at something high”

- Henry David Thoreau

7. Master Your Mind and Body

My good friend Ryan Angelo for years and harped on me to “master your mind and you’ll be unstoppable.” I use to take it with a grain of salt and sometimes still do, but the reality is, is that your body is driven by your mind. When your mind, your brain, doesn’t function correctly you can’t control movements in your arm or leg. When you’ve had a concussion, you mind effects your entire body.

So what about mentally training your mind to control your actions, thoughts, feelings, and your positive outlook on life, people, places, things.

Your visions, your thoughts, your ideas – they control you. What you say, what you reveal, what your “body language “says too. You know the saying, “a healthy mind is a healthy ‘body’.”

Ryan says through proper meditation, exercise, and with the practice of being “present”, which is a hard word to define in this context, the combination of all can help you achieve a better more astute, healthy mind and therefore a healthy body. If you haven’t read the book “The Power of Full Engagement” I highly recommend it. It dives deep into the relationship of the mind and body for maximum and optimal performance.

I hope you enjoyed this post, as I’d love to hear your feedback and comments below.

Enjoy

Chris

Michael says, “If you want people to do as you wish, don’t tell them, sell them.”

And while he was in Paris he had an idea he thought his client could improve their profitability. Rather than “tell” him what he thought or wanted to do, he decided to “sell” it. Here’s the exact email he wrote…

James,

I have a great idea for you.

It’s an idea I gave to “Peter” in London five years ago. He used it to create a $10 million business. Nobody is doing this in the States yet. You could be the first.

Here’s what you need to know now:

* It is easy to do.
* It is perfect for you.
* It is a clever twist on something you already know.
* But it is much more powerful than what you are doing now.

I can show you how to implement this idea in less than half an hour. I can give you a blueprint you can hand to your key people so they will know exactly what to do. I assure you that you will have this up and running in less than two weeks.

And if the results I’ve seen elsewhere hold true for you, your sales will increase by at least 300 percent by the end of the year.

One caveat: I like this idea so much that I’m tempted to give it to another client who has a similar business. I’m holding it for you — but only if you can assure me you will give it your full attention.

What do you say? Shall we schedule a meeting to go over it?

Yours truly,
Michael

Simple and straight to the point. It gets me excited to want to learn more.

So next time you sit down to write an email attempting to “attract” a client, joint venture partner, or investor… intrigue and sell the idea to get to a call.

Cheers,

Chris

Then one day, they all start happening,
quicker, faster, as if it was all meant to be.

It’s serendipity.

“I’ma show you how great I am”

Powerful video.

Instant chills.

If you’ve ever read Tim Ferriss book, the 4 Hour Work Week, you’d soon realize the underlying message here is to LEVERAGE YOUR BUSINESS. To leverage your skills, your resources, your talents, and the most important leverage point… your time.

But time and time again I see people jumping into businesses that make them the instant “cog in the wheel.” The other day I was reading a local newspaper in Miami about a pizza shop owner and how he was so proud to be in business for 20 years. He was quoted as saying…

“Every time you come in the store you know the owner will greet you.”

Uh… is this something to be proud of?

I mean, that’s the last thing I want to be doing everyday: waking up at 5am to make the dough, heat the ovens, clean the shop, and get ready to open the doors by 8 am only to sweat my ass off to make pizza’s and the occasional sub sandwich.

And then to be happy to do that every single day…

I don’t think so.

This guy is missing the point of owning a business: to not work hard.

Or at least that’s what I want… not work “hard” for the money, but “smart” for the money. He’s definitely not thinking smart.

Here’s how to instantly start leveraging your time and in the end to make money on autopilot while your sleep.

Create It Once, Sell For Life

You can’t do that with a consulting business. I know personally.

I was stuck in those “consulting” shoes for a while. Made lots of other people money, one client is on track to make $1 million dollars this year, but once it was over… it was over. No more flow. No asset to sell. No more leverage.

Are you a consultant working with clients?

Guess what… you’re trading time for money.

The key to getting out of this “cog in the wheel” syndrome is to create a product.

I’m sure over the years you’ve developed a better knowledge or skill on particular subject so the next best thing than actually doing it for people is to teach them in your product.

The easiest product to create is an audio or video course. For example, I created a product many years ago called Raffle Secrets (yes, don’t make fun of me) that taught non-profits how to create a winning raffle. The simple formula for that product was:

• 50 – 80 page ebook
• 2-3 Audio Interviews with Experts
• Audio transcripts

A simple product that I sold for $27 and surprising enough it actually made money. But the cool thing about it was that I created ONE TIME and each day, each week, and each month regardless of whether I was doing ANYTHING on that site – it made me money.

With a product you can…

Create a Sell-able Asset

There’s a reason why Doctor’s can’t sell their “business.” It’s because it’s a practice… as in another pizza shop. You’ll always see the owner in the shop. Ideally you want to create a sell-able asset that does not have YOU attached to it or YOU needed to run it.

With a product it’s not dependent on your physically showing up to make it work and years later you can “cash out” of the product. On many of my websites, I cash out years later of which I spend rarely any time on after it’s built, created, and the marketing systems are in place.

It’s kind of a set and forget business.

So the ULTIMATE place you ant to be at is to create a business that

Works WITHOUT

Generates Leads WITHOUT YOU

Makes You Money WITHOUT YOU

Everything WITHOUT YOU

and the only way to do that is to…

Create a Product.

Rich Schefren at Strategic Profits has an amazing course called Rapid Product Creation Secrets that will teach you everythng you need to know on how to create a cash producing product. Check it out.

On another note, what’s your biggest takeaway from this post? Leave a comment…

Chris

Alright, this is something I’ve been wanting to do for quite a while that I don’t talk about too much as I’m not an expert in goal setting by any means, but these are some of the things I have learned to truly “get anything you want.”

It comes down to setting goals!

No no… not those ridiculous “new years resolutions” that no one ever follows through on. GOALS, baby! As in things you ACTUALLY want to do.

Ok, so I’m creating a simple video series called “Goal Setting Secrets.” (I should call it something else, but I couldn’t really think of anything else catchy) In this series I want to share with you some of the goal setting strategies that I use to get some of the things I want out of life.

In this first video, you’ll learn…

• The $10 Million Dollar Letter
• How to Create Goals You Actually Can Achieve
• The #1 Reason Why Most Fail at Ever Achieving our Dreams, Aspirations, and Goals

So, let me know what you think by leaving me a comment below AND what you want to hear about in the next video.

Thanks,

Chris

Ever see that video before?

It’s a very interesting rollercoaster of human behavior, human psychology, and the influence factor “Social Proof.”

Let’s break down this video…

At the first this guy is laughed at, made fun of, and even recorded because of his wild arm flails and back-rolls. Obviously, the dude’s on a little sumthin’-sumthin’, but soon after he starts dancing, a young kid comes over and throws back some arm pumps.

His friend’s probably told him to go dance with him as a joke. This originally started off as a joke, but soon turns into the “cool thing to do.”

So now the original leader, has a follower, he teaches him the dance and now becomes indoctrinated into the dance moves. 30 seconds later… a chubby kid joins in, rubs his stomach, does the flop method, and becomes the 2nd follower. He is now cool.

At this point, the risk for other to join is lowered. It’s not as embarrassing as it was when there was 1 person. No one wants to be the first, but the 3rd, 20th, or 338th is a no-brainer. We all want to fit in. Soon people are literally running and jumping over people to get in on this… because it’s now “cool.”

Did you catch what’s going on here?

Let me break it down, decode it, and feed it to you so you can do the same for your marketing…

No One Wants to Be First

There’s a reason why wedding have the dj guy and his side kick girlfriend getting people out of their seats to get them to go dance. You have to start the steamroll effect. One couple starts to boogie, your mom gets up, your dad gets dragged, your wild uncle pulls out the “charlton”, and soon before you know it debauchery has taken over.

Since you KNOW that no-one wants to be the first on really anything, HELP start the steamroll! For example, blog posts, like this one, I want people like you to comment on it, leave me feedback, get the interaction going. The more comments, the better, the more social proof.

When you’re going through a product launch and you have 2 comments, you beter do some interaction to get it moving along. A post with 1,274 comments – you know it’s going to be a badass launch day. Good job.

To get the ball rolling, generate some traffic, and the start the commenting, tweet, email, call, text your friends about a new post, video, content piece, product… whatever you just put out there. Have them help you to get the steamroll moving along.

Embrace Your Followers

When the first kid joins in to the dance, the leader embraces him, teaches him the move, and sets him on his way to bring on others. This kid went from joking around to enjoying it.

In your business and marketing, take in your followers, embrace them, communicate with them, comment when they comment on your blog. This is a great way to start the communication and the simple underlying benefit your followers will say is “hmmm, he’s really listening and paying attention to me.”

Try not to be the guy who never responds to comments people leave on your blog or replies to a video you made. If you don’t we take it personally. Come on now, you can’t be “that” busy. If you are, have someone do it for you. This is key with moving forward with the social proof steamroll effect.

You want to let them know that…

YOU CARE.

Because most people don’t and when YOU do, you become a higher priority in your followers eyes.

If Everyone’s Doing It, Then It MUST Be Good

It’s like the old saying, “if you’re friends jumped off a cliff, would you do it too?” Duh… of course!

Like our courageous leader above, 1 person joined, then another, then 6, then 26, then a lot more.

WHY?

Becuase it became “cool.”

It goes to our internal thinking is that, “Well, hey if everyone is doing it than it must be good.” So just imagine as more and more people comment on your blog posts, send you emails, facebook friend request you, retweet your message, and OTHER SEE IT you’re on the track to getting “compliance.”

With compliance I mean by getting to the final destination in your marketing… THE SALE. The money passes hands.

When other people can see how many people and who is sharing the messages, this itself has many “conversion” strategies alone. So if you see that a message has been retweeted 385 times, facebook shared 294 times, Stumbled 183 times, and Google Buzzed 123 times, the only logical thing to think is…

IT MUST BE GOOD.

In a later post I’m going to show you how to use social media to spread the word much much greater than you’ve ever seen before. No one is talking about this.

Anyhow, that’s some some insider info on Social Proof and how you can use it in your marketing.

I don’t bite, so leave me a comment below on what you thought of this bad boy post.

I like to comment to your comments, so leave me some comments,

Word.

Chris

For the last 5 days I’ve been hanging out with some really cool marketers, internet entrepreneurs, and some good friends over at Yanik Silver’s Underground 6 Event here in National Harbor, MD. Apparently, National Harbor is only 2 years old and kinda like a new haven convention center town, full of in and outer’s each and every night. Needless to say… very cool place.

So when I booked my plane ticket two months ago for this event, I didn’t realize that I had booked it for Dulles airport. Turns out, Dulles is about an hour away from the Gaylor Convention Center. I tend to do that sometimes, just book a flight and not really worry about how far it is. I’ve done that on many occasions especially in California. Try it sometime, it’s nice to drive around and see the town.

So anyhow, I decided to take a cab to go from our hotel to Dulles airport. The price estimate was around $60 – $75. Kinda pricey but the Shuttle blue van guys wouldn’t make it in time to pick me up.

So we’re driving through Maryland, crossing a bridge looking at Washington, then pass into Virginia. We talk about life, El Presidente Obama, and food. The conversation picks up, then goes silent as I twitter on my Blackberry.

I asked him, “Do you take credit cards?” He responds in broken Engrish, “Sorry sir, I will have to charge you an extra 10%. It’s not me, but the company. Sorry.” I say no problem and I’ll use cash but we’ll have to stop at an ATM to get cash.

So along the way right before the airport we stop at the airport gas station, pop in, and I grab $120, a glazed donut (my friend/trainer Joel won’t be happy to hear that), and ice cold Dasani water.

Breakfast of Champions.

The taxi cab driver, Huraah, gives me $1 to pay for the water as we both wait. A nice gesture… (some nice reciprocity)

So I pay the $1.22 and we get back in the cab. We drive up to the drop off area in front of JetBlue and break out my wallet, hand him $80 as the ticket was $71.38 and he answers me…

“You didn’t like my services?”

I shockingly answer… “Uh no I did. That’s why I gave you the tip.”

He responds, “Sir, but you didn’t like my services? The fee was $71 dollar.”

I’m thinking to myself, “Is that not enough?” My brain starts to calculate the percentages. “ten percent is uh… $7. Fifteen percent is …. hmmm…” I give up. I think, “Should I tip him more?”

I played games with my mind.

Exit the car and hand him another $4 bucks.

So think about this…

Just by that little statement, he got me to think about the tip amount, feel bad, and all in one need to prove to him that I am a good tipper.

We part ways, never to meet again.

So in your marketing how can you replicate this system of the taxi cab driver to get a great tip, just by asking more.

Step 1: Reciprocity

The simple rule of the law of reciprocity is simple. I give you something and you feel somewhat obligated to give back. I give you $1 to pay for you water, without looking for anything in return. I want to return the favor.

So in your marketing…

GIVE GOOD STUFF AWAY.

Frank Kern calls it a “bribe” or ie “give away good s****” (those are Frank’s words) Alex Mandossian calls it an “ethical bribe.”

What do you give away?

Easy.

Let’s say your a social media whiz, you can create a video that teaches people how to use facebook video to create a loyal following of people by re-purposing a great article.

Or…

- An audio interview you did with an expert.. Give this away.
- A guide or checklist that shows “6 Simple Ways to Get Attention From Experts”
and much much more…

Or whatever.

The point here is to give good “valuable” (that’s the keyword) for FREE to your people. Move the Free Line, as Eban Pagen calls it, and give good stuff away.

What happens is that your list, your followers, new people, will start to love you and want to give back. How do they give back? Comments, giving you cold hard dollars, and they help spread the word for you (ie. viral marketing)

So there ya go. Be the taxi cab driver and buy your list the water.

Next is…

Step 2: Ask for The Sale

Don’t be a puss.

Ask for the sale. Be direct. Straight to the point.

John Carlton calls it, “Selling From Your Hells.” You can’t be a wimp when it comes to selling and making money. Now, don’t be a douche and sell in a sleazy way. You want to be cool, direct, and to the point.

Like Haraah, he asked for the sale. Actually he asked for more with that magical sentence. “You don’t like my services?”

Umm… Haraah. I do, here’s $4 bucks extra. A nice 57% EXTRA TIP.

You good salesman you.

In your marketing, here’s how you can apply this Haraah “Waa, you no like me?” Strategy…

At the end of your autoresponder series you can create an email using the subject line similar to the sentence that Haraah said to me.

Here’ some subject lines for ya’

Subject: “Huh. I just don’t get it.”
“Sooo… you don’t like me. Is that is [first_name]?”
“Frankly, I just don’t get you.”
“Frankly, I’m puzzled…” <— courtesy of Jason Moffatt

Then your copy you can get into something like this…

———-

I just don’t get it Bill. I’ve been giving you some really great?
valuable information to help you _______________, but
you haven’t ordered yet.

Is it because my breath smells?

or maybe because you just don’t like my services.

Whatever it is, it has me wondering what I did wrong. And
because of that I want to make it up to you. Who know’s
maybe it was something I said…

Either way, here’s how I want to make it up to you…

I’m going to give you the 5 extra bonuses for free and
my entire course free for 7 days.

I never do anything like this, but I figured it would be
a good way to kick start our relationship so I can
help you solve your problem.

So here’s the deal…

I’m going to give everything that’s included in my _________
course for only $1. (i know it’s kinda crazy, but you’re worth
it to me)

The bonuses you’ll get are:

BONUS #1: Secrets Guide
This is the exact guide that people just like you have
paid me $47 for. You… it’s on the house. Free!

BONUS #2: The Uber Awesome PDF Report
This will show you exactly how to build a big ol’ list in
no time flat. Kinda like like building steroids. You
also get this absolutely free. Some people have
paid me $97 for this. Free for Chris.

BONUS #3: The Blah Blah
This is really cool…

And the best part is that you can have it for free
for the next 7 days.

But, Chris… you have to hurry. I’m only offering this to
you for the next 24 hours. After that, I’m going to have to
take it down. I don’t want other people finding this secret
link.

here’s the secret link:
LINK

So check it out, you’re dig it.

Cheers,

Chris

———-

So there you go. A simple way to get mo’ money.

Send it and let me know how it works for you.

Cheers,

Chris

Here’s a comment that Abraham Anaya said about the film…

“This shows that having just a “job” doesn’t take us anywhere. We have blended or we are used to, as a society, that the idea of having a job in corporate America will take us somewhere. That the main purpose of going to college is to find a “good job.” I think that is not true. As a soon-to-be graduate senior, taking my last semester, at university level, I have found out, during these 5 years and a half, what I will like to do in my life. Not to find a “good job” but what I really love to do and that pays me well.”

Welcome to 2010!

It’s just going to get worse folks.

this is a pretty cool and inspiring video I just came across. Makes you think about the simple mundane things in life that with a little “thinking” can be fun, exciting, and mind-blowing (in a way).

Enjoy