Everyone Has Rough Days

I had one last Friday. But then I re-read this article and realized I had to share it with you. Enjoy, and make sure you keep a copy on hand in case you ever need a pick me up.

Craig Ballantyne

"Reward yourself. Having big goals is awesome. But you must set smaller "milestone" goals too, goals that you can reach and reward yourself for by doing something cool. And then when we hit that big goal – get yourself that prize. Savor the moment and THEN set the next big goal to achieve." – Bedros Keuilian

---

About You

By Frank Kern

Last year I sent this email to my readers:

"I'm sending you this because I just spent some time with my Grandfather today. He will turn 89 in a few weeks and when I was younger, he would tell me:

Let me tell you something about YOU.

YOU can do anything you want. YOU are in control.

YOU can achieve as much success as you want to.

YOU can and will pick yourself up when life knocks you down.

I BELIEVE IN YOU.

And let me tell you ...I've been knocked on my butt more times than I can count. And it was those words that gave me the encouragement to get back up and keep trying.

We all need someone in our corner. He was in mine.

I'll be in yours to the best of my ability.

We're inundated with so much negative crap these days, we ALL need someone to encourage us.

Look, if you're struggling, I've been there, and I can tell you first hand that it'll get better if you keep on trying.

I believe in you. Go for it."

But when I first wrote that last year, I was a mess.

I was unhappy with my business (even though it was making plenty of money).

I was miserable in my family life, and I was literally on the brink of dying young.

Seriously.

A few months after typing that very message, I went to the doctor for some random tests and so-forth. (I'd been feeling a bit run down for a long time.)

Anyway - after some testing, the doctor hit me with a dire warning:

KEEP IT UP AND YOU'RE A DEAD MAN.

Apparently, you can't party like a rock star from age 15 until age 38 and get away with it.

But that's exactly what I'd been doing, which is why I was literally on the brink of catastrophic liver failure. Plus, my blood pressure was off the charts.

The doctor gave me the Big Lecture and I actually listened.

Within 6 months, I'd totally cleaned up my act and lost 20 pounds of fat.

Fast forward to today and I have an entirely different and significantly happier life.

My health is good, my business is good, and I enjoy my family life so much that I closed down my office and only work from home.

I even have a new son who just turned 8-weeks old!

(He'll be writing headlines by summer.)

Here's the point:

If you're looking back on the past year and you're NOT happy with where you are now, it will NEVER get better. Not if you keep doing the same stuff that's gotten you the results you're not happy with.

If this is you then let me do you the same favor my Doctor did for me.

Let me tell you straight:

You gotta change what you're doing.

It's not working.

If it was, you'd be thrilled with your progress since my message to you a year ago.

But if you're not, then it's time to change.

Here's how to do it:

1. Get absolutely focused on what you really want.

Do this by turning off the computer and just writing down the answer to this question:

"What do I REALLY want?"

Forget what the emails tell you SHOULD want.

Forget what anyone else WANTS you to want.

This is about YOU.

What do you really want?

Want to run off and play guitar in coffee shops across South America?

Good. You only live once. Be happy. Play "Freebird" at least once. For me. Thank you.

Whatever you do, get clear. Otherwise you're ripe for falling into someone else's agenda.

2. Dump The Crap Out Of Your Brain.

You do this by writing down a huge list of everything you think you must do to in order to do what you REALLY want.

Just doing that will kind of "clear it from your brain" and free up space in your "mental computer's" RAM.

3. Decide what's doable.

You know that big list you just made that's probably scaring you?

Go through it and put star by all the stuff you can actually do.

4. Decide what you can do NOW.

Now. You know all the stuff with stars by it?

The stuff you can actually DO?

Go through all of it and find the stuff you can do in the next 30 days.

Put two stars by those items.

5. Forget the other stuff.

All the other stuff can be dealt with later.

Now - let me address critics in the audience who want to debate whether or not that's a good strategy.

"Isn't that procrastination?"

"Isn't that other stuff important?"

The answer to both questions is ...probably!

But here's the deal.

You can't do anything about it right now, and if you worry about it then you're just taking away focus and energy from the stuff you CAN do.

And that's not going to get you anywhere.

Also - actually DO the "immediately doable" things for the next 30 days, my experience tells me that your momentum will be so great you'll actually be able to easily do a lot of the things from your list you originally thought were impossible for you.

You'll also have new clarity and will probably find that much of the other stuff on the list isn't even needed.

6. Get to work.

Listen.

If you get all caught up on the little details, you'll be in the same place a year from now.

Don't let that happen.

7. Accept Reality

You want to know something?

This is NOT going to be easy.

Remember how I told you I lost 20 pounds of fat?

Man, that first week in the gym was a nightmare.

And to make matters worse, my trainer (who is a terrible person) would make me display my physical weakness in front of girls!

So not only was it hard, it was embarrassing!

I was failing in public.

But that's what it took so I did it.

And in the end, it wasn't so bad.

So if I can muster up the gumption to struggle through my first few pushups in front of a room full of pretty girls, you can break through your comfort zone too.

You can do it. I believe in you