“One sip and you will find that all your endeavors succeed. At least until the effects wear off.”

Professor Horace Slughorn in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

We were watching the latest Harry Potter movie with my 8 year old son, who is a fan, when we heard about “Liquid Luck”, a magical potion that guarantees success.

I smiled and chuckled. Although the potion might not exist, the fear of failure and the fantasy of succeeding at everything we try HAS always existed.

It might not be called “liquid luck” but the search for the “magic bullet” or “quick fix” or the next big product launch that will solve all your problems and grant you everything you desire like the wave of a wand is as real as it is in fiction.

We’ve all wished for our own “liquid luck” at one point in our lives.

I’ve done it. You’ve done it.
It’s natural.

Yet, understand this.

It will NEVER get you what you want.

Why?

Simple. IT DOESN’T exist.

To really succeed you’ll have to change the belief in ANY magic “anything”.

Here’s how to do it.

CHANGE how you think about failure.

There is a quote from Eben Pagan that explains this better than I’ve ever heard.

Write this down…

“To immediately eliminate failure, learn from it.”

That is how some of the biggest flops in history have been turned into massive successes.

Like…

Michael Jordan, after abruptly retiring from basketball to pursue a lackluster and much criticized career in baseball, learned from it and returned to basketball to lead his team to not one but three additional championships.

Or…

Apple designed a personal computer in the early 80’s called Apple Lisa at a cost of $9,995 ($21,660 today).

The result?

Apple ended up burying it’s last 2,700 Lisas in a Utah landfill in 1989.

I’d say they learned a few things and a little something called an iPod and later an iPhone have well made up for this flop.

One more…

When Fred Smith was told his idea for an overnight delivery business was stupid or his planes were reposessed or his employees had to go to liquor stores to cash their checks to give him more time to cover the payroll, it wasn’t failure to him.

Now?

Fedex is a $37 billion dollar company.

So if I can leave you with something this year,
it’s THIS…

If you learn from failure and continue adjusting your course, it ceases to exist.

And before you know it.

You’ll arrive.

And that my friends is liquid luck that NEVER wears off.

*************
This was my last post this year.
Thank you for being a loyal subscriber.
If you are reading THIS far you are.

I’m taking the rest of the year off to celebrate Christmas, plan the coming year and focus on family.

Next year will be even bigger and better than ever and I’ll be back with you again with LOTS of great things and plans to continue to serve you.

(I’ll fill my loyal newsletter subscribers in FIRST on what I’ve been working on behind the scenes. So make sure to subscribe and stay tuned…)

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and like a friend says Blue Skies!

Love,
Yisel

P.S. Let me hear from you.
Comments, hate mail, and replies all welcome here

The other day I read the story of a woman walking along with three little girls at the airport.  They were skipping and singing excited to meet Daddy coming home on a jet.  Their eyes shining with eagerness and anticipation.

When the passengers started streaming in you could pick out their Daddy immediately because their eyes were completely glued on him.  But Daddy’s first look was for his wife and the first words out of his mouth were, “Why the heck didn’t you bring me my top coat!?”

The story goes on to say, “You see, here was a man who had an opportunity to be great, and he didn’t recognize it.”

How many times do we have an opportunity to be great, and pass it by?

How many times do we do what’s urgent instead of focusing on what really matters most?

Several months ago I told you about a simple tool that helped shoot my focus and therefore my productivity through the roof.  If you didn’t catch that post you can read it here:

The Multi-Tasking Myth Debunked

I also told you I would be revealing to you another  tool I have been testing that helps you easily and effortlessly track how productive you are on the computer so you can banish distractions and…that’s right, you guessed it…

focus on what matters most!

It’s called Rescue Time and you can  sign up for ‘nada’ by clicking here.

With this tool you can:

• set goals that will nudge you in real time
• block distracting sites for short or long bursts of focus time (this one is my favorite)
• see ‘purty’ colored graphical breakdowns of the time you spent on apps, sites, or documents you use
  Bright blue = “good” time.
  Red = “bad” time.
• and for the twisted minds amongst you I suppose it could also be used to see where your significant other or kids are spending their time online.
  (Although for this you will have to upgrade to the pro version so your own personal stats aren’t affected OR just turn tracking off whenever you’d like.)

Here’s why I hate this tool:

It’s not always pleasant to see an unbiased look at where you are REALLY spending your time.

In this respect, Rescue Time, can turn into a nagging mother looking over your shoulder with a look of disapproval.  But let’s face it, you can always count on momma to smack you right in the face with the truth when you need it the most and least ask for it.

And here you were, smugly thinking you were so productive when in reality after looking at your stats you’re forced to say, “WHAT!!? I spend THAT much time frolicking on Facebook looking at old Grandpa Joe’s pic’s of his weekend out with the ladies?!”

Hmmm, see what I mean?

Not exactly the picture of an entrepreneurial peak performer is it? ;-]

Now for the reason I love this tool.

Ready?

You’re forced to say, “WHAT!!? I spend THAT much time frolicking on Facebook looking at old Grandpa Joe’s pic’s of his weekend out with the ladies?!”

Yup, that’s right.  I love it for the same reason I hate it.

Because trust me, the next time you reach to check your email or social networking site for the umpteenth time unnecessarily, you’ll think of good old momma Rescue Time watching your every move.

And that my friends can be a good thing.

So there you have it.

Here’s the link to sign up again:
http://yiselg.com/go/rescuetime

And remember…

Be great!

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It is said in marketing you should be the red elephant in a room full of grey elephants.  Hmmm, sounds like sane advice.  After all,  you want to be noticed,  differentiated from you competitors and “Stand out“, right?

Not so quick.

Standing out for the wrong reasons can be worse than not standing out at all.

Two perfect examples…

It was Saturday night and hubby and I where watching the US Open expecting to see and hear the usual sights and sounds of an elite level competition.

What we didn’t expect was how Serena Williams “stood out“.

Not by winning or giving a full out effort to the end, but by going ballistic on a line judge, dropping a few F-bombs and letting the judge know what part of her anatomy she would be shoving the ball into.

Tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk.

Disappointing to say the least.

Not exactly the behavior you expect from a ‘CHUMP-ion’.

Then, the next evening, LIVE at the MTV VMA awards, yet something else “stood out“.

Just as Taylor Swift is giving her acceptance speech, Kanye West rips the microphone from her to give a performance of his own by squawking about who he thought should have gotten that award instead.

Can you spell NO SHAME or should I say NO BRAIN?

But the story wouldn’t be complete without ONE more example.

You see, later that night, as Beyonce accepted HER award, she graciously called Taylor Swift on stage to let her have the moment that had been stolen from her before.

Finally, amongst the madness, another way to stand out.

Yet this time with real class and for the right reasons.

That’s the difference.

Now go stand out the right way!

P.S.  The totally new approach to standing out with your marketing on Twitter that I told you about is closing the doors tomorrow (Tuesday Sept. 15) at midnight EST.  This is your last chance for the FREE DVD offer.
http://www.budurl.com/twittermethod

I learned about this video from Tom McCarthy.

It’s only a minute and it speaks for itself.  Quite powerful – enjoy!

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Anthony J. D’angel said, “The only real failure in life is one not learned from.”

Nature has a way of reminding us of what we are truly capable of when we don’t have self-imposed limitations.

Watch the 40 second video and notice how the crow doesn’t quit after his first attempt to get the food out of a seemingly impossible to reach tube.  He just tries a different approach.

It would make sense to think that the more things you can get done in the least amount of time the more productive you would be.

Heck, if you can do many things at the same time even better, right?

Wrong!

Sure, I’ll admit that at one time it seemed that bouncing the baby on my lap, writing a blog post, listening to a teleseminar and starting dinner all at the same time were a great use of my time.  The more things I could possibly fit in at the same time became like a multi-tasking badge of honor that was somehow indicative of my super mom meets She-ra wannabe persona.

Of course, the burnt dinner, the crying baby, the unfinished blog post and not being able to recall one single thing from the coaching call told quite a different story.

So I’m gonna make it easy for you and sum up the truth about multi-tasking in ONE sentence.

Here it is…

Multi-tasking KILLS your productivity.

Instead of concentrating your efforts like the sun’s rays thorugh a magnifying glass,  multi-tasking spreads the beam of your focus so thin that it reduces to almost nill the effectiveness of what you do.

So instead of doing more things well, you do more things half-arse or not finish them at all.  Which we would all agree is a bad thing.

Instead of feeling confident about goals accomplished, you feel failure at the things still left on your To-Do list.

Instead of being clear about what you are doing at the moment, your thinking becomes muddled and hazy.  What’s even worse is that you develop a habit of erratic thinking that spreads to all areas of your life.

What did I do to overcome this?

I had to re-train my mind to focus.  You see, focus is a skill like painting, or hitting a baseball, or playing the guitar.  And like any skill it improves with practice.

If you can learn to focus on the task at hand,  wether its spending time with your kids, editing a video, writing an email to your subscribers, or simply enjoying a day off away from the computer you’ll be able to accomplish whatever you want.

Which is what being productive ultimately is.  It’s not about being busy for the sake of checking things off your list.

It’s about doing the things that will get you from where you are to what you want. Whatever that is for you.

So today I’m going to share with you two things you can do that will help build your “focus” muscle.

First, get and use a timer.

Using a timer is probably the single most important thing that helped me shoot my productivity through the roof.  You can use a stopwatch, your iPod, an online timer, an old-fashined handheld one, whatever you want as long as you can countdown in increments of time and it gives you some kind of alert when time is up.

Here’s how to use it. Decide what you are going to focus on and set your timer.  Do not work on anything else until the timer goes off.  Turn off the phone, skype, IM, Twitter, email, and any other distractions.

If you’ve never used a timer I suggest you start out with 15 minute increments.  As you get better on focusing you can increase to 30 then 45.  I wouldn’t recommend going past 60 minutes at the most unless you get obsessed with your work and are really hard-core like me.   You know if that is you.

But for most, stick to 30-45 minutes max.

When the timer goes off, take a break.  Physically change what you are doing.  Stand up and walk around, go to lunch, get a drink, whatever works for you to clear your mind.

After that, set the timer again and re-focus.  You can work on what you were working on if you didn’t finish or go on to something else.

After some time, something interesting will begin to happen.  You won’t need the timer.

Once you develop the habit of focus, you’ll be able to pull yourself in to that state as easily as putting on a pair of socks.  It just takes a little bit of time and practice. (Pardon the pun. )

I said I would share with you two things to help your productivity and focus, but this post is getting a little long so I will be posting a follow-up to this next week instead.

I’ll tell you about a great sweet little free tool I’ve been testing the past few months that helps you easily and effortlessly track how productive you are on the computer and also my absolutely favorite way to banish distractions in your business.  Probably not what you think.

Be on the lookout next week.

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I read an email the other day that referenced the most absurd article .

The End of American Capitalism?

Come on.

Sure, it’s no surprise that the media has been all gloom and doom when it comes to the economy.

The stock market just last year was at a 14,000+ high point and today is now at around 8000…almost 50% less!

Sure it’s sad that lots of people have lost their jobs and some have even seen more than half of their retirement washed away.

But let me explain why you shouldn’t panic.

See, most people are programmed to see the glass half empty.

So they miss out on the half that is FULL.  They fail to recognize the opportunities that abound and exist in these type of conditions.

Let’s take the stock market for example and a company like General Electric.

Last April 2008 it was worth $400 Billion.  Today?  $120 Billion.

So the person that sees the glass half empty will cry "Boo ha ha" and go hide his money under the mattress.

The person who see the glass half full will see OPPORTUNITY and go buy hundreds of companies at ridiculously low prices.

This is just one example.  Same thing is happening in real estate and lots of other places.

So, the end of American Capitalism you say?

Well I say boloney!

As long as entrepreneurs like you and me, continue to see opportunity and CREATE solutions for problems people are willing to pay money for – American Capitalism will continue to be alive and well.

The entrepreneur is the solution.  People willing to imagine and create products, services, or charities that make other peoples lives better.

It’s because of the american entrepreneur that I have hope.  Hope in me, hope in YOU, and hope in America.

Believe in yourself and what you are capable of doing.

I AM an entrepreneur,  are you?

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• “Quack, Quack”, said the duck.

On last weeks episode of Successfool.com, I mean blog post… (I feel like a a 20’s radio host)…

anyway…Last week I wrote about ducks, murder, and your online business.

You can catch my post here.

Stop Chasing Ducks – It’s Killing Your Online Business

image source: sxc.hu

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