1. Schedule less time for important tasks، you force yourself to expend more energy over less time so you can get the tasks done faster.
2. Say no to commitments that zap you of your time, energy, & attention.
The best way to get more time is to not introduce unproductive activities into your life in the first place.
3. Pomodoro time.
The “Pomodoro Technique” is a time-management technique where you work on just one activity for 25 minutes, then take a five-minute break. It’s incredibly effective.
4. Know what people are really saying when they say, “I don’t have time for that.”
When someone says they don’t have time for something, it’s not a statement about their quantity of time, but how important a task is to them.
5. Exercise.
Working out is the single best way to get more energy. Exercise also combats disease, brightens your mood, & helps you sleep better.
6. Eat better.
The worse you eat, the quicker you’ll burn out, & the less energy you’ll have to get stuff done.
7. Lower your expectations.
Lowering your expectations makes you more confident, & lets you relax, have more fun, & not worry about proving yourself to others.
8. Instead of focusing on doing more things, focus on doing the right things.
Find tasks that are aligned with what you care about, so you know why you want to accomplish the things you’re doing.
9. Ask yourself for advice.
Advice is cheap, but often the advice you should pay the most attention to is the advice you can give yourself.
10. Don’t set traditional goals, set “process goals.”
A process goal is what you will actually have to do to achieve a larger goal.
11. Anticipate obstacles to new habits.
When you integrate new habits into your life, make sure you look out on the horizon for any obstacles or commitments that might get in the way of you forming new habits.
12. Keep distractions more than 20 seconds out of your reach.
By keeping distractions more than 20 seconds away, you can keep an appropriate amount of temporal distance from an object for it to be less of a distraction.
13. Practice active listening.
By completely focusing on what someone has to say, you develop deeper relationships, become a better judge of people, avoid misunderstandings, & have more meaningful conversations.
14. Always work with a specific purpose in mind.
Intention behind your actions is like wood behind an arrow, & when you continually question the purpose of what you’re doing, you can make sure your actions are aligned toward a purpose that’s meaningful to you.
Perceived weakness has the potential to ruin people’s careers and reputations
Mistakes can be perceived as weakness and we all make mistakes
We must protect ourselves from this paradox, especially in the corporate world, but only a coward points fingers
1. Solutions are not found
Too much time is spent trying to find who is to blame when a solution to the problem could have been developed much sooner
Skip the blaming, go straight for solutions.
Create a productive environment, not an anxious one
2. Passing blame is avoidance of responsibility
You can’t have freedom without responsibility, how can you be free when you put the responsibly on others?
3. Blamers are cowards who target the vulnerable
In general, people pick their battles, most people don’t start them unless they think they’ll win
They target perceived weakness; either people who are bad at defending themselves or someone with a damaged reputation already
4. Blaming is contagious
When someone gets blamed, normally they blame someone else
It makes me think of a hot potato labelled ‘responsibility’
If you pass blame, you are not only complicit with, but responsible for the toxic environment that you subsequently create
5. Blamers believe their own lies and don’t learn from their mistakes
Desperation for something to be true makes confirmation bias kick in, people genuinely convince themselves things aren’t their own fault and repeat their mistakes
To learn, you must accept your mistakes
6. Blamers make needless enemies
Not all victims of the blame game are as weak as they were judged to be
Those people won’t forget what you did, even if they can’t prove it
They’ll be ready to call you out for mistakes that normally would go unnoticed
7. Blaming can reveal your agenda.
When people don’t like others, it can be instinctive to subconsciously blame them for everything.
They aren’t even aware of their own vindictive agenda, but it’s obvious to everyone else.
These people appear delusional and are not trusted.
Quit blaming others,
Just take responsibly for your own actions
If something genuinely wasn’t your fault, you still don’t need to deflect the blame elsewhere, just say your peace
Don’t be the one joins who gets dragged into the game, be the one always finds solutions
Everything we will ever be is already in us, therefore we do not chase greatness but we chose greatness. Our greatness is a product of our effort, our daily efforts are what sum up our lives at any point of reflection. It is important for us to realize early on in the game that we are not competing against others but rather with ourselves. The young is competing with the old, the old is competing with the new.
Our journeys start the moment we seek to find ourselves, define ourselves, mould ourselves and conquer the self. The journey of self-discovery is as long as your life itself. We are constantly looking for ourselves within ourselves, and when we can’t find ourselves we begin the copy and paste habit of our favourite personalities. We use up our time studying those we admire in hopes of transforming ourselves to be more like them. The self feels like an empty home that needs to be decorated by our favourite characteristics from others.
“Greatness is everywhere but here” we think, “I need to be a little more like so and so” we ponder. We see everyone for who they are, the only person we cannot see is ourselves. We lack perspective on who we truly are, therefore we totally overlook our greatness. The world tramples on our self-belief and we take ourselves for even less.
The time for pity parties is over. You have greatness within you whether you see it or not. We all have a light that shines deep from within us, we are created in a way that no other thing is created. We hold power over beasts of burden and almost everything else we lay our eyes on, yet we seek validation in all spheres of life. We are constantly chasing when all we should be doing is attracting.
It is time to wake up and smell the roses. The greatest person to ever live is the one reading this article, YOU! You’re great when you’re not even trying to be, you’re when you don’t realize it, and you’re great when you think you are not. And most importantly, you’re the greatest when you decide TO BE.
People are too primed now to say “yes”. They know what you are up to. Get them to say “no” first. That’s the starting point.
Ask them questions like “Do you want this project to fail?” They don’t want to fail so they will say “no”. Now you can start to find common ground.
You can start to get empathy with the other side by listing the negatives on your side e.g “I know you might not trust me but this is the only way it can be done”
Nobody wants to feel powerless. If the negotiation is not going your way you can say to them, “Sounds like there’s nothing you can do” This will make them feel powerless. They will say “no” to that and now they will try to do something for you to prove that they are not powerless.
The devil is in the detail, being detailed makes things seem true, and then it appears that you are doing your homework and preparation in good spirit.
Whatever they say, repeat the last one to three words. Do this as much as possible and see what they say next. They will always say more.
Don’t be afraid to go silent. Mirror and then have the confidence to go silent. Nobody wants the negotiation to end. They will keep talking and give you more information.
Always make sure your demands are bigger than theirs so they can give up the nickels in exchange for dimes.
Congratulations, you’ve made it this far. You’ve managed to beat the odds and survive all of your worst days. Your spirit has been shaken but never broken. Largely you’ve survived through instinct, your natural GPS has helped you weather the storms and navigate your way to the current space you occupy. Do you feel like the passenger or the driver of your life? Do you dance to the beat of your own drum? Well you should. You should be selfish. You should look out for yourself. You should benefit you. You should enjoy the fruits of your labour. You should make your own rules and obey yourself.
1. You don’t have time If there’s anything you should learn from 2021, it’s acknowledging your own mortality. Nobody knows how much time we are left with, So don’t delay the things you want to do. Whether you wanna start a business, get a job, ask out your crush, DO IT TODAY.
2. Be kind and empathetic 2021 magnified our vulnerabilities, exposed our weaknesses, and showed our skeletons to the entire world. For all you know, you are not alone going through some nasty sh!t in life. So, be kind to others. It’d cost you nothing and give you everything.
3. Find your ‘why’ Nietzsche once said, “He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.” Only those remained unstoppable in 2021 who had a strong reason for doing whatever they were doing. Enter 2022 defining your ‘why’ or your ‘purpose’, And you’d be unbeatable.
4. Still an optimist I know all the sound reasons for being a pessimist. You might even sound cool and smart spewing things like “World’s gonna end.” But I am still gonna stick with being optimistic and believing that a better tomorrow awaits. Optimists change the world.
5. Program your subconscious mind We all know that your subconscious drives your life, And in this noisy world, if you don’t program your subconscious mind, Someone else will for you.
6. Family Acknowledge that life is fragile, and nobody knows how much fuel is anyone left with. Tell your family or your loved ones how much you love them TODAY, For you don’t know what tomorrow looks like.
7. Declutter your mind With a cluttered mind which is full of negative and energy-sucking thoughts, One can’t live a happy and peaceful life. Start meditating, journaling, and spending time in nature to declutter your mind.
8. Trust is the new currency 2021 has been the year of misinformation, misdirection, ‘miscomprehension’, and a bunch of other mis-es. In 2022, make sure you don’t blindly trust any authority, celebrity, politician, or anyone for that matter. Do your own research.
9. Don’t Follow the herd Foolishly following the masses has never been and never will be a sound plan. Just because everyone’s panicking, doesn’t necessarily mean that there’s something to panic about. And just because everyone’s calm, doesn’t mean it’s all good.
10. Keep yourself healthy Survival of the fittest is more relevant today than ever. You have to: – Build productive habits – Control your time – Get rid of your addictions To thrive tomorrow.
11. Minimize Regrets 2021 has taught us that nothing lasts. So why not do everything you ever wanted to do, Since it’s not gonna matter in the grand span of things anyway? Make it so that even if you die the very next moment, You won’t have any regrets left.
12. Become more self-aware Not being self-aware is like driving a car in the night without turning on your headlights. You are only operating on borrowed time, As it’s a sure-shot recipe for disaster.
13. Say ‘No’ much more often 2021 should have taught you that you have limited time and energy. You cannot be everywhere, everytime, trying to please everyone. Learn to say ‘no’ and put yourself first, Without feeling guilty about it.
14. Real Friends 2021 is probably one of the best years for you to filter out who your real friends are. At times of hardships and challenges, Real friends stick with you, while the snakes bite you in the a$s.
15. Start a side hustle The job you are killing yourself for will replace you in a day if you die today. Start a new income stream as you just can’t rely on your job.
16. Control your emotions The world will eat you alive if you let it. And those who find it hard to control their emotions and succumb to the pressure outside are the first in line. Acknowledge your emotions, don’t wallow in them.
17. Be grateful, always I know pandemic has been tough for the majority of us. Some of us were punched in the face and kicked in the gut. But even after all this, BE GRATEFUL! All those millions of souls who lost their lives in 2021 will be more than happy to take your place.
18. Hard times define who you are The challenging and demanding times tell you who you really are from the inside. If you are bad and cruel, everyone’s gonna see it. If you are good and kind, everyone’s gonna see it. So, make sure you are ok with who you are.
19. Your circle is everything And by ‘circle’, I don’t just mean the people you are with. It also encloses the books you read, the podcasts you listen to, the articles you devour, the music you hear, and so on. Ruthlessly eliminate anything or anyone not adding any value to you.
20. Have Patience Amazing things happen to those who are patient with the results, and impatient with the process. If you have an idea, ACT TODAY. Focus on the process, and the results will take care of themselves.
21. You can do anything It’s always darkest before the dawn. Remember, the strongest irons are forged in the hottest of fires. If 2021 has been hard for you, Congratulations, you have become stronger than before. 2022 is your time to rise and shine.
29 lessons on how you can: – Start a content-first business – Build a massive audience – Become wildy successful with little to no money.
In five years, if you tell me the conversation I had with Joe, which informs this thread was the most important conversation I have ever had, I would not be surprised. This conversation was life changing.
1. Believe in yourself Joe talked about starting a business with his wife for years. Finally, she told him “Look Joe, either stop talking about it or do it just fine. I’m fine with it. But you have to pick, you can’t just talk about this forever.” He took a leap of faith.
2. Failure –> Success Sometimes, we need to fail to succeed. In his first two years, the business was failing and Joe lost his best customer, which had him dusting off his LinkedIn profile. It was from that failure that Joe was inspired to pivot his business and he succeeded.
3. Traditional entrepreneur survival rate 50% of businesses survive three years. 10% of businesses survive five years. Traditional entrepreneurs build a product, or an idea, and try to market it to an unknown audience. We want to skew these odds in our favor.
4. Build the audience first By building, and investing, in the audience, you know them better than anyone. You know their pain points, needs and desires, and they trust you for it. They rely on your consistent content, and are now prospects that are ready to buy from you.
5. Be patient Because we’re reversing the model, money won’t come immediately. It takes approximately 2+ years to really make it happen. You are generally ~ 18 months until your first part-time hire, and ~ 26 months to build an ongoing sustainable business.
6. Find your sweet spot Your sweet spot is the intersection between: 1. Your expertise 2. Your audience’s desires LIst all of your strengths. Don’t be humble. Match your strengths up with a target audience, and niche down as much as you possibly can.
7. Niche down Get to the smallest audience possible, and then go smaller., and smaller. You cannot get too niche when everyone wants to go wide. You want your niche to be small enough that if you deliver consistently for a long enough time you can become a leading expert.
8. Establish your Tilt Your content tilt can be two strong skill sets combined as you niche down. The skill sets should make sense as a pair. Not juggling with Excel. A python developer who is an excellent public speaker could be powerful. It allows you to niche down.
9. Create your category Use Google Trends – put in your topics to see: – what’s hot – what’s new – what’s trending – what people aren’t thinking of Ask yourself what platforms aren’t people on who have your skillset? Can you bring your Tilt to a new platform and dominate it.
10. Have an Avatar Your Avatar is a representation of your audience. If you are a writer, write your content to a very specific reader – your Avatar. If you’re a podcast host, ask questions your Avatar would ask your guest. Pull out the information your audience wants.
11. Setup listening posts Use listening posts to understand your audience. Follow your audience on social media. Create a Discord community with your audience. Survey them or find them through a Google Search. Do whatever you can to be in constant contact with the audience.
12. Listening post –> Product Your audience will tell you what they want. In the communities you are in with them, they will share their needs, wants and desires in the listening posts. Your job is to hear them. To listen. To understand what it is they want * delivering it.
13. Product tracking As we talked, Joe motioned at multiple monitors. On the top monitor he had his Discord community. On the lower monitor, he had his product roadmap of revenue ideas: sponsorships, merchandise, ongoing training, coaching, events & affiliate opportunities.
14. Be patient Patience is so important, we are hitting it twice. As Joe says, “hen you have to pay bills and you you’re doubting whether or not you can do this, that’s where you don’t know you don’t know until you know” I refer to this as it goes slow until it goes fast.
15. It Goes Slow Until it Goes Fast People think most content entrepreneurs were successful over night. That their success came to them easily, which is almost never the case. Creating content is hard work and the results will only come with consistency, hard work and time.
16. List your audience’s questions Ask yourself what questions your audience would have. List every question your customers, or prospective customers might have. On every sales call, or interaction, you ever take part in, write down the questions you’re asked.
17. Wants > Needs Wants are driven by emotions. Emotional storytelling is the best form of storytelling. We are going to sell our customers on the emotions, which will open up more doors than giving them what they need. 18. Start on one medium Most major brands don’t start on all social media platforms. The brands start on a single social media channel. Choose the right one. Choose the social media channel that aligns with your: – Style – Skillset – Target audience
19. Narrow then broad Stay on one social media channel until you’re successful. When you’re successful on a single media channel, consider expanding out. When expanding out, continue to play to your strengths and outsource as you are able to do.
20. Platform control When considering your social media platforms, the goal ought to be to choose the social media platform that gives you the most control over presenting your content and building your audience. As much as you’re able, get your audience to email. You own it.
21. Own versus rent You rent most social media platforms. You can be: – banned – suspended – shadow banned It is the dilemna of being a renter. You don’t have control. If you own your audience, you aren’t at risk: your website, email list, or online community.
22. Be consistent like Norm. If you’ve ever seen Cheers, you know that Norm comes into the bar at the same time, every day. People greet him with a boisterous “Norm”, which is the same as “Same Bat Time, Same Bat Place”. When you are providing content. Be consistent and regular.
23. Be Original If you have a newsletter, don’t repurpose content. Bring a level of originality to the newsletter. Bring your audience something they cannot get somewhere else.
24. Steal an audience Steal is a strong word. It’s about leverage. You should engage with other influencers. When you engage with peers in one industry, or cross-industry, or cross-platform, you are being exposed to that influencer’s audience, and vice versa. Everyone wins.
25. Minimum Viable Audience Your minimum viable audience, MVA, is the smallest possible audience we need in order to monetize. Know your audience. Know the conversion rates. Understand how it translates. Work backward to determine your audience size to hit revenue targets.
26. Revenue streams The average successful content entrepreneur has > four different revenue streams. Six direct revenue streams: – events – donations – advertising – conferences – sponsorship – premium content The two indirect ways are to sell a product or a service.
27. Strategic Leverage When we’ve monetized, we can grow. Now we can afford to branch out to other social channels. As our monetization grows, we can built out our team and pursue other revenue streams. We are only constrained by our capital and our ability to manage a team.
28. Your ideal customer Find your ideal customer. Joe found the ideal customers subscribed to three products: They listened to the Podcast, read the newsletter and followed the Twitter account. When someone is following you across multiple channels, they’re a true fan.
29. Align with the Mission One of the benefits of being a true content entrepreneur, which usually ties to success, is the alignment with the mission. When you believe in what you’re providing. When you care deeply about your audience, you aren’t “selling”, you’re solving.
Lithemba Bhele 