So why I chose visalus to help reach my goals for 2012?

With the new year barely starting up many people out there have probably chosen some sort of weight loss goal to try and obtain for the new year.  If you have gone to your local gym lately you’ve noticed how packed the gym is with all these new people.  At this time of year everyone is eager to hit that goal.  The unfortunate thing about that is eventually most will fail to reach that goal.  Some will even be worst than when they started the year.  Then as the year passes they opt in again to eventually “try” to lose that weight and then some more for the next year.  Pretty soon you start to see an eventual cycle where these people are simply spinning their wheels.

For 2012 my number goal was to hit my weight goal of 200 pounds.  I regularly go to the gym so the gym wasn’t the problem for me but it was the diet.  It is definately true that the gym is only a small portion of weight loss.  I knew that in order for me to have a different 2012 in weight loss I had to change my diet.  So to the internet I went to figure out what I wanted to do.

I ran through a bunch of different things out there from cleanses to taking drops etc… You name it EVERY single weight loss technique or gimmick is out there, especially in internet land.  This made it very difficult to chose what I wanted to do.

So a couple weeks into the new year I start hitting the gym again because I couldn’t go for 2 months (torn calf took me away from any activity).  I knew I had to start eating better and every couple hours instead of eating a couple big meals a day.  So I started doing this but no real weight loss for me.  I wasn’t mad at all because I knew it would take time and being out for 2 months certainly didn’t help as well.

Then I get an email from a friend talking about an opportunity, normally I just turn the other way but this thing called a 90 day challenge caught my attention.

I kept an open mind watched a couple videos and it made sense to me.  It was then that I decided

Why I chose visalus to help with my weight loss

Reason # 1 The 90 day challenge is a great way to start my diet.

If I didn’t get results in 90 days no harm because it was only a short 3 month span.  I can always adapt to something totally different if I wanted to.

Why I chose visalus to help with my weight loss

Reason # 2 It would actually save me money

The shakes totaled to be less than 2 dollars per shake.  When I go to work I at least buy lunch which cost me anywhere from 6 to 10 dollars at a minimum.  There are times that I also buy breakfast which also puts me down another 5 bucks.  So 5 days a week I was spending between 50 to 75 a week just on food for work!  Now that’s a very low estimate because I know I can have weeks when I spend double that amount just on food alone.  The fact that I was actually saving money alone was another no brainer.

Reason # 3 Why I chose Visalus: It’s a lifestyle change

By drinking 2 shakes a day to replace my meals is a true lifestyle change.  I was hesitant because I’m a meatasorus rex.  I love food and simply drinking a shake to replace meals didn’t sound like it would be enough.  But boy was I wrong.  A couple of days into this 90 day challenge and I’ve noticed how much this shakes actually help me feel fulfilled not stuffed.  That was a problem I’ve always had with eating because I would be eating something good then tend to over do it.  But with the shakes I feel satisfied and not craving more food.

These shakes makes it a lot easier for me to always be on the go.  Since I still have a job I have to workout real early and get ready for work.  So I don’t really have time to make breakfast every morning.  So these shakes are perfect because it takes less than 5 minutes to get my shake ready for breakfast as well as my lunch shake.

Why I chose Visalus Reason # 4: IT WORKS!

Yup that’s right it freaking works.  I am now in day 5 of my challenge and I feel excellent.  I haven’t felt this great in a long time.  I have more energy througout my day and I don’t have that sluggish feeling that I do when I eat too much food.  PLUS in 5 days of the challenge I have now lost 10 pounds which puts me at a weight of 222.  This makes my goal of 200 very attainable for this year.  I can’t remember how many times I’ve put that goal down for the year but this year is the most confident I’ve felt to getting to that target weight.  I feel that I can definately attain that goal in this 90 day challenge.  Now of course it’s still very early on in my challenge and I will definately go through ups and downs but Visalus has taken the guess work out of a lot of things.

These are just a few reasons WHY I CHOSE Visalus to help me lose the weight in 2012.

If you would love to join the 90 day challenge with me check out here

A couple post ago (why affirmations don’t work and what to use instead) I talked about what you need to start doing instead of using affirmations.  Many of you like myself probably have affirmations that you already used.  You can easily turn those into afformations.

All you would need to do it turn the affirmation into a question form.  For example the affirmation I am healthy and wealthy can be changed into something like this, “Why am I now healthy and wealthy?”

Do you see the difference from that afformation examples compared to the affirmation.  You’re subconscious mind actually looks for ways to answer that question for you.  The great thing about these afformations is that are truly empowering questions.

Here are a few afformation examples that you can start using right away.

- Why am I getting better and better every day in every way?

- Why is everything I need coming to be easily and effortlessely?

- Why am I the master of my life now?

- Why is my team growing?

- Why do I generate 100 leads a day?

- Why do I now run a successful internet marketing business?

- Why do I now make 10k a month?

- Why am I now growing financially prosperous every day?

There are literally hundreds of afformation examples that I can write down I just gave you a few that you can start using for yourself tonite.

Just remember to make your own afformations all you need to do is write down exactly what it is that you want.  Make sure you state it in the positive form and then turn it into an empowering question.

If you want a lot more information about afformations as well as afformation examples make sure you check out Noah St Jon and his Books

Happy Saturday everyone.  Normally I don’t write on my blog on Saturdays but I felt compelled to write something to get some things off my chest from what I’ve been reading lately on the forums/groups.

Being negative about what has happened in your business and being quick to point the finger to someone doesn’t do anything but attract more negative energy.

As marketers we are constantly faced with new techniques to try out for our business.  What some forget to realize is not all these techniques or traffic sources will work for everyone.  Some people might get great results and the next person might not even get any results.  It’s all part of marketing you live and you learn.  The great think is we use the internet so you can track your results and move on.

I think some people see someone get massive results on a traffic source and they see it as the magic silver bullet for their business then when they don’t get the result they want they are quick to call SCAM.  But what they are forgetting is there is NO MAGIC BULLET out there anywhere.  Your sucess depends solely on you and your efforts.

I’ve used traffic sources that have given me tons of leads in the beginning but then later on realize that the leads were junk.  Did I get mad?  NO because I know it’s all part of the process of growing and that I know that some will work and some won’t.  It’s just the nature of the beast.

If you aren’t satisfied with a result that you thought you were going to get you should first privately talk to the person or the company.  Many people are quick to call SCAM and start bashing in the public forums.  Not only does this hurt the parties accused but this also hurts the person who is accusing.  Publicly bashing anyone just brings negativity in all levels.

You also have to remember there are a ton of newbies out there that may looking at trying things out for the first time.  Then they read all this scam about this and that which might sway their opinion towards the negative.

In conclusion this was just a random saturday rant and we all need to just grow up and treat our internet business as an actual business.

Affirmations do not work!  That’s a pretty bold statement right?!?!?  What am I talking about you ask?  Those do work, I’ve seen them on the secret and I’ve heard so many people use them and get exactly what they want, how can they NOT work?

Affirmations work to some but not everyone.  Yes it is true that what we focus on tends to show up in our lives but merely reciting affirmations day in and day out just doesn’t cut it anymore.

See I used to say my affirmations daily until I was blue in the face.  I would wake up in the morning and recite them.  During the day I would bring out my phone and say them as well.  It was to the point that I had them memorized and over time I felt like I was just reading words and wasn’t internalizing them like your suppose to.

Then I was introduced to something called “afformations” invented by a man named Noah St. John.  I started reading his books and soon realized exactly why my affirmations just weren’t working for me anymore.  I soon realized just why I kept saying them yet they weren’t manifesting in my life.  Today I’m going to talk to you about the reasons why affirmations just don’t work anymore .

Reason # 1 why affirmations don’t work:

We may say the affirmations on the conscious level but subconsciously our mind might be telling us “ya right, you’re joking right!”  Think about this statement for a second “I have a million dollars in my bank account”  Unless you actually have a million dollars in your bank account your mind is telling you no you don’t you don’t even have a tenth of that money.

Reason # 2 why affirmations don’t work:

We have to remember that the subconscious mind answers to our questions and doesn’t answer to statements.  When we ask ourselves actual questions more than likely the mind starts to go to work on finding the answer for you.  When you just state something whether it’s true or false you don’t give your mind something to think about.  So instead of saying statements try asking yourself empowering questions.  Like the example above with the million dollars why don’t you use, “Why do I have a million dollars in my bank account?”  You may not have that now but your mind starts to go to work for you to see how can you accomplish that.  Sure it won’t happen overnight nor will it happen if you just sit there and ask questions all day to yourself.  You have to actually DO something to get something.

Why affirmations don’t work and what can you start doing now:

Instead of using affirmations try to put those statements into a form of an empowering questions.  Remember your subconscious mind answers the questions you give it.  Ask the right type of questions that are still in the positive form.  You don’t really modify the affirmations instead you put it in question form.

Here are a few examples that I use for my afformations:

1. Instead of using: Everyday in every way I’m getting better and better

Use this instead: Why am I getting better and better every day in every way?

2. I am a leader

Why am I a leader?

There are hundreds of questions out there that you can use.  Google Noah St John and afformations and you can find out more about his teachings with why affirmations don’t work.

As most of you know I’m not a fan of setting New Years Resolutions because those tend to go away after a month or so.  People don’t seem to achieve their resolutions so I choose to use my Goals for the year to set instead.

Goals are very important for your business and life for they help you move forward in what ever you are doing.  Think of setting goals as your blueprint to getting WHATEVER you want in life.  But merely setting a goal like “I want to make a million dollars this year” isn’t enough.  You also need to have an actionable plan in place for you to achieve that goal and it needs to be realistic yet will stretch you.  I’m not gonna go into detail what kind of goals you need to have set but think of S.M.A.R.T goals when you set goals.

To get a detail on how to set SMART goals check out my post on SMART goals

For 2012 I have my top ten goals but instead of being bogged down with so many different goals I decided I’m gonna focus in on my top three.  I actually learned this from a book called “The compound effect” by Darren Hardy (highly recommended by the way).  These top three goals are something that I want to achieve in my life and it’s not just for my business either.

So here are my top three goals for 2012

1. Top three goals # 1 – Weigh in at 200 pounds by 12/1/12.

A couple months ago I torn a calf muscle playing basketball and it’s kept me away from the gym from the last couple months.  I’ve noticed the decrease in energy so I need to get back in the swing of things before my injury.  Before the injury I would go to the gym at least 3 to 5 times a week not because I needed to but because I actually like going to the gym and I found fun in it.  It also gave me tons of energy that helped me in my life and in my business.  The time off I have gained a little weight so I need to get back into better shape plus I want to prove to myself that I can drop close to 200 and get in the best basketball shape I can get in since high school.

How am I going to achieve this goal:

Well to start things off I go to the gym 3 times a week to start in the first month and progressively start going to 5 times a week like I used to before the injury.  Merely going to the gym daily isn’t going to get me there of course it’s only a third of the battle.  My goal is to have 5 to 6 meals within a day to avoid having huge meals.  By having smalls meals every couple hours I will insure that my metabolism is always firing full blast and I will avoid those binge eating huge meals.  I also made a mini goal of running two marathons within the year.  So training for that will help with the weight lose as well (first marathon I plan to run is in June and another one either October or December).  Once my calf is fully healed and I have gone through rehab I plan on playing basketball again to add variety to my workouts at the gym.

2. Top three goals # 2 – I have a successful internet marketing business by 1/1/13.

Starting an online marketing career is no cake walk and if you are in a similar industry you know exactly what I mean.  The internet changes daily, what used to work a couple months ago no longer works now.  So in this industry you have to constantly improve yourself are you’ll be outta business before you know it.

When I say my goal is to have a successful IM biz I mean I am working this from home full time and no longer work a JOB.  I find internet marketing a ton of fun.  I love seeing how technology works.  I love looking at the numbers to see improvement.  I love doing research on some keywords and my competition to see how I can get to their level.  With internet marketing almost everything you do is measurable.  I’m definately doing this internet marketing thing not because of the money but because of how much fun it actually is to do.  Now of course there are some things you have to do in your business that aren’t as fun but I still power through those task because I know they will help me in the long run and once I get a grasp of them I outsource it!

One of the things I’ve learning with Internet Marketing is learning how to scale things up to the point where you are no longer needed to be part of the process.

How am I going to achieve my second goal?

There’s so much to do in internet marketing that if I tried to learn everything I wouldn’t get anything done and I’d be left in information overload or overwhelm or what ever word you want to call it.  I think this happens to every marketer out there.  Heck I have to stop myself at times to buy software or reports (those dam sales copy are sometimes so convincing).  One area I’m focusing on in my business is the content marketing side of things particularly blogging.  Getting content out there is a great way to get recognized and also you can turn that content into other mediums to market out there.  I set aside at least 30 minutes to an hour of  related training daily to keep my mind fresh but at the same time I have to make sure I take time to IMPLEMENT as well.  What good is the training if I’m not doing anything with it right?

The second half of this is going into the offline side of things, into the local marketing side.  There are tons of small and medium business owners out there that don’t know how to market online and they need the help of us internet marketers.  These business owners might be good at their selected craft but don’t know much about marketing so there’s a huge market for that.  In offline marketing there is also so much you can help them with like website building, social media, seo, rep management etc..  I will focus more on the local seo side of things because some of these business owners know they need to get on google but go about it the wrong way and lose lots of money in the process.

3. Top three goals # 3 – Stick to my daily scheduling

I know I can achieve this goal in under a month but if I want to get anywhere near as successful as I can be I have to stay consistent at what I’m doing.  I have to help myself accountable to do the daily task that seem boring at the time and might seem like they won’t make a difference.  I have a daily list of things I have to do everyday before I do to bed and I have to stick to that list.

I also write out a list of my to dos for the next day and end it with a gratitude list before I go to bed.  In the mornings I have a morning ritual that consist of a couple things off my list and creating content.  I also prioritize my list for that day so I know what I need to work on first and what needs to be pushed back, delegated or totally trashed.

In order to keep myself accountable I use a weekly rhythm register from the compound effect by Darren Hardy (told it’s a good book).  It a scoring system and the weekly goal it to be in the positive range weekly.  What’s a weekly rhythm register?  Check it out here weekly rhythm register

Now these are my top three goals for 2012 what are yours?

Most people know what smart goals are but I realized I haven’t broken it down here for my readers so I decided to write about it real quick for everyone so you have a reference.  Not only that but it will help with some of my future post because I refer to smart goals all the time.

So lets get down to what SMART goals are.

1. S – Specific

The goal you set has to be specific.  Saying something like I want to make money isn’t a great goal because you’re not giving your mind enough information to work with.  It’s gotta be real specific like I make 2 k a month.

2. M – Measurable

You’re goal has to be measurable.  You need something in place that can show you progress so when times are rough or you feel like you’re not getting anywhere you can see your measurable results.

3. A – Attainable

Plan out your steps so that the goals are attainable in your eyes.  By laying out the steps in front of you a huge goal can be broken down into tiny goals to make them attainable.

4. R – Realistic

You can’t have a goal to make 1 million dollars in a year when you haven’t even make a dime in what ever you’re doing.  Sure reach for the stars but make sure it’s a goal that reachable because if the goals unattainable the first chance you get through some difficulties you’ll end up quitting.

5. T – Time

Make sure to give your goal that you set a time frame.  How many times have you heard someone someday I’m gonna be rich.  Well if you run into that person and they’re probably still saying that but chances are they aren’t rich.  Anytime I think of that it reminds me of a quote from Tony Robbins, “the road to SOME DAY leads to a town called NO where”. Put a deadline on your goals like you did when you had projects due at school.  Remember when there was like a week left and you haven’t started the project and miraculously you still finished in time.  Or if you were like me you had months to get a project done but you waited till the night before to start but still managed to get it done and get a good grade on it (Now that I’m much older I don’t go about my life in that manner anymore it was too much stress on me and others around me, don’t suggest it either).

These are a quick break down of what smart goals if you want specifics google them and you’ll find an abundance of articles written about them.

Happy New Years everyone!

It is now 2012 and yet another year done.  With the new year comes new goals to set and achieve.  Like most people will do this year they will set their goals or resolutions for the new year yet only a very few amount of people will actually achieve some of their goals.  It’s often very disappointing to see so many people fired up to set their goals or resolutions in the first couple of weeks or days of the new year then fail to continue with what they wanted to get done.

I’m sure losing weight is probably in the top 3 of what people want to achieve as one of their goals for the new years.  I go to the gym on a regular basis because I enjoy it so going to the gym at least 3 to 4 times a week is no big deal for me.  But I can see how someone who hasn’t worked out can feel it as a chore to get in the habit of doing.  For the past couple of years the first month of going to the gym gets annoying because it’s very packed with a lot of people.  Each wanting to stick to their goal that they want to achieve.  Then after that month you start seeing less people and as the weeks and months progress less and less people show up.  Soon the people you see at the gym are just the regulars that have made it a habit to go to the gym continually.

Why is it that so many people want to achieve more yet when it starts getting tough many people quit?  Is it because they don’t deserve it?
No it really just boils down to habits.  What a lot of people who set these new years goals don’t realize is you can’t the desired weight in a week or even in a month.  The key to getting that target weight is to get in the habit.  You need to get in the habit of going to the gym on a regular basis and as well as eating healthy meals.

Another thing I see that people miss is they often push as hard as they can in the beginning when they should just start off small and continue to build from that success.  It’s like someone who wants to run a marathon who hasn’t ran one.  Would they go ahead and try to run 10 miles when they’ve only ran 1 mile in their whole life?  Of course not! you have to gradually build your way up.  Simply getting on an elliptical for hours doesn’t get you anywhere.

Learn to build up slow but still be challenging yourself in the process.  Remember you have to make sure that it’s something that you can continue doing months away from now.

It really boils down to how bad you want something and how hard you are willing to work to get what you want.

Here’s the video.

In the age of the internet distraction is now at an all time high for many of us.  This distraction is causing many of us to have internet ADD where we constantly go from one thing to another.  We often try to multi task in hopes of getting more than but in reality we don’t.  We all know what distracts us when we are working on the internet.  You know those websites that you think you use for your business to “network” with people.  You’re probably trying to defend yourself and say that when you are on facebook, twitter etc that you are networking.  Now that may be true but have you measured exactly how much time you spend on those websites?

How much time did you actually spend on those websites doing work or what you like to call “network” with others?  You should track your time to see how much you spend on those websites vs what you actually get done.  I too have this problem but as an internet marketer I know that I have to use these websites to also “network” with individuals as well as see what is going on in my niche.  You can try to limit your time but if you don’t track it you’ll pretty much go over.

So what do you do to help increase productivity when you have to use the internet?

Well I found a plugin for both Chrome and Firefox that will help with this problem.  If you use internet explorer I’m sorry I don’t use that browser so you’ll have to look it up from there.  Plus firefox and chrome are better!

The Chrome plugin to increase productivity

- The plugin is called chrome nanny.  You just go to add ons and you can find it there.  From there you can set a time on how much time you can spend on a website each day.  So if you want to spend an hour a day on facebook only you can set it to that.  Then when that hour is up you can no longer use facebook until the next day.

It’s not just limited to facebook either you can choose what websites you want to limit your use on.  If you check your email every minute maybe you can even try to block the email website so you can force yourself to only check emails at certain times of the day to avoid checking it too much (I actually recommend this because I’m such an email a holic).

The fire fox plugin to increase productivity is

A plugin called leechblock.  This plugin is very similar to chrome actually I believe leechblook came before chrome nanny.  But they both work very similar to block websites or limit times you are on these websites.

Try the plugins out and see if it has in deed helped you increase productivity!

Dare to be different

Happy Tuesday everyone.  Today I decided to share a quick little video about how being different is actually a good thing.

“It’s the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones that do”.  I won’t go in more detail but this is a great video and motivates me in my business.  You gotta remember that what we do on the online world is different than what everyone else is used to.  Most people are used to working a job where they trade time for dollars.

Most people don’t like their jobs but yet they continue to do it because they think that’s all there is out there.  We are different, we know there’s more to life than working for someone else and making them rich.

If you are new to this online marketing you’ll run into the people you think you’re crazy but I promise you to keep at it.  It’s the people who think different are the ones who make a difference in the world.

Be grateful for what you do and embrace being different.