May 13, 2008
Mind Mapping
I hope you had an enjoyable 2007, it sure did go very fast for me. Now my friend we are approaching the halfway point in 2008.
Most online marketers take a stock of their situation and lay out a plan BEFORE the year actually starts. Are you still procrastinating, STOP, it’s still not to late. I wanted to share a couple of quick tips with you to make sure you are very well prepared for the rest of 2008.
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START PLANNING NOW
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First, there is a really great mind mapping program that is totally free. Go to:
http://freemind.sourceforge.net/
It is called Free Mind, and its a super program. I've been using mind mapping techniques for many years. In fact I prepare my manuscripts with mind maps.
I find them great aids to visualize my goals and plans. I've already created my 2008 Success Mind Map. Its printed out, framed and stuck in my office and in my home.
On this mind map I have the various projects I will be developing and the actual figures I will be making from them. If you have read "Think and Grow Rich", then you should try to create your mind map in accordance with the principles outlined in that book.
Create your mind map visualizing your success and visualizing how you will be on the 31st of December 2008 (i.e. with the wealth that you have generated).
This helps to keep your subconscious mind always working in the background to steer you towards those activities that will help you fulfill your goals.
To get this plan done now is really crucial so I suggest you get into action now, time really is running out.
Be creative and realistic with you mind map.
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KEEP YOUR ACTIONS FOCUSED
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I've been as guilty as sin of this crime that I am going to explain to you now. And I think most marketers are too! You wake up and you start checking your stats. After that you do your routine browsing on the web. You check out your favorite news sites, or sports sites. Then you check you various emails (if you have many email accounts).
Then you might take a quick peep at your stats again and then you decide to do a bit of reading on marketing news etc. Then you might check into a forum or something and see what the latest gossip in is in the threads you are watching or which are keeping you amused or entertained or enthralled. By this time, your head gets a little heavy so you
decide that you'll have a little break and get on to some work in the late morning.
In this manner you usually end up wasting valuable time in the morning, in the afternoon
and in the evening. During all this time, you think, or you deceive yourself into thinking that you are actually doing something productive when in reality it is not.
Believe me, this is a sure way to cripple if not destroy your online marketing business. This business is all about being hyper-productive and super time efficient.
I feel like such a hypocrite even saying that because I know I am guilty as hell of this time wasting and I could be doing a lot more. I think this is plays a large part in why a lot
of people fail and give up. They simply don't have the dedication and discipline. Then when they fail they lay the blame on something else, everything but themselves.
So here's what you should do:
1. Make a large list of all the individual activities you do on a daily or weekly basis.
2. Separate out those that are directly connected to generating revenue and those that aren't. For example; Checking your stats does not make you money. Writing sales copy does. Participating in a forum does not directly make you money. But setting up an ad words campaign does.
So you get the idea. Separate all your online activities into those that produce money and
into those that don't.
3. Once you have done that you need to devise a plan to organize these activities so that you are most productive.
Check you stats only once a day at a set time, then forget them. Set aside a specific amount of time for writing ad copy. Decide how much time you will allow yourself for leisurely use of the net and stick to it rigidly.
I hope you have got the general idea. You must organize and prioritize your activities if you want to be productive and successful.
These tips are very important (planning your 2008 success route and prioritizing and organizing your activities).
I suggest you use the time you have, right now to really think about these issues.
In short - Visualize your success for 2008. Prioritize and organize your activities now. Be focused and disciplined - and you will get there!
Take Time Out to Laugh
Memory Training Boosts Your Brainpower
By Nicholas Bakalar
Source: New York Times
A new study has found that it may be possible to train people to be more intelligent, increasing the brainpower they had at birth.
Until now, it had been widely assumed that the kind of mental ability that allows us to solve new problems without having any relevant previous experience — what psychologists call fluid intelligence — is innate and cannot be taught (though people can raise their grades on tests of it by practicing).
But in the new study, researchers describe a method for improving this skill, along with experiments to prove it works.
The key, researchers found, was carefully structured training in working memory — the kind that allows memorization of a telephone number just long enough to dial it. This type of memory is closely related to fluid intelligence, according to background information in the article, and appears to rely on the same brain circuitry. So the researchers reasoned that improving it might lead to improvements in fluid intelligence.
First they measured the fluid intelligence of four groups of volunteers using standard tests. Then they trained each in a complicated memory task, an elaborate variation on Concentration, the child’s card game, in which they memorized simultaneously presented auditory and visual stimuli that they had to recall later.
The game was set up so that as the participants succeeded, the tasks became harder, and as they failed, the tasks became easier. This assured a high level of difficulty, adjusted individually for each participant, but not so high as to destroy motivation to keep working. The four groups underwent a half-hour of training daily for 8, 12, 17 and 19 days, respectively. At the end of each training, researchers tested the participants’ fluid intelligence again. To make sure they were not just improving their test-taking skills, the researchers compared them with control groups that took the tests without the training.
The results, published Monday in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, were striking. Although the control groups also made gains, presumably because they had practice with the fluid intelligence tests, improvement in the trained groups was substantially greater. Moreover, the longer they trained, the higher their scores were. All performers, from the weakest to the strongest, showed significant improvement.
“Intelligence has always been considered principally an immutable inherited trait,” said Susanne M. Jaeggi, a postdoctoral fellow in psychology at the University of Michigan and a co-author of the paper. “Our results show you can increase your intelligence with appropriate training.”
Why did the training work? The authors suggest several aspects of the exercise relevant to solving new problems: ignoring irrelevant items, monitoring ongoing performance, managing two tasks simultaneously and connecting related items to one another in space and time.
No one knows how long the gains will last after training stops, Dr. Jaeggi said, and the experiment’s design did not allow the researchers to determine whether more training would continue to produce further gains.
Absorb what you have read add it to your bank of knowledge and come back next week for more.
Your Friendly Entrepreneur, Big Daddy Cash
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