Many of my students just can't make up their mind about what to focus on for their career.

They want to do a bit of everything that they have an interest in. And they wonder why they aren’t successful yet.

“I have this, this and this going on. Am I taking on too much to be super successful?”

Yes.

“I want to do this, this and this.”

Okay, but you’ll be broke.

“You don’t understand. I like them all.”

Okay, but you’ll be broke.

“What if this doesn’t work, and I give up this and that?”

Fine, be broke!

Before I get into why those were my responses, let me tell you a little story about my own life and see if you can relate to it.

I was living in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. I was broke until I started doing pretty well selling pen watches. I made $4,000 a month working only two hours a day in the flea market! Not bad, yes?

I worked for an extra hour going back to the shipping yard to pick up another couple of boxes of pen watches. I was happy with that, except for one thing.

A friend of mine at the yard asked me, “Do you know what just came in? These watches look like really high-end watches, but they’re not. You can buy them for $40 and sell them for $100 or more.”

My first hunch was that it wasn't a big market, but the watches were legal, and even I wanted one. He was convincing, saying how he made $1,000 a week hardly doing anything. So I bought and sold a few here and there, doing okay with that.

Next time I hit the shipyard, the same guy said to me, “I have a shipment of T-shirts coming in. You should see these T-shirts. You’re already going around to the jewelry stores to show them the watches. You should sell these T-shirts.” And then it was hats.

About a month later, I noticed I'm selling all this other stuff, but my pen watches weren’t doing as well. I ended up running four businesses at a single time, and none of them fully took off yet.

Within six months, I went from making $4,000 a month for two hours a day to making literally no money for 15 hours a day.

How does that happen?

 

Two Reasons Why Most Business Owners Don’t “Make It”

I was clueless in business and personal development at the time — I didn’t know what I was doing to myself. I was chasing after every opportunity because of two reasons that end up being huge pitfalls to a lot of would-be entrepreneurs:

1) I wanted to make money faster.

In terms of making money faster, let's just put this reality check into perspective:

It takes every bit of energy and focus you have for you to succeed in any one thing.

Your first million dollars ain't happening overnight. That might work for a lucky few, but not for most.

That's not to say there's anything wrong with wanting to achieve maximum results with as little effort as possible; $4,000 for two hours of work ain't bad, but the fact of the matter was: I got greedy.

And then there's reason number two — the B-word.

2) I wanted a “backup.”

I wanted a “backup” in case what I was doing didn’t work.

In my mind, I thought that if I had more than one business, it would be “safer” — it would assure me of some kind of success because I’d always have some sort of backup.

What if my pen watches didn’t work so well? I should get into this and this in case that doesn’t work so that, well, I’ll have a fallback position.

But I went from doing decent, to being completely broke again!

How can having more be less?

 

You Need 100% Energy Going Into One Thing At A Time

Here’s the deal:

At the time I didn’t understand something called energy.

It takes an enormous amount of energy to get something going, especially at the beginning.

If you don’t use 100% of your energy to get something off the ground, you’re not going to make it over the chasm. You’re going to fall into it.

Let me give you an example that I mention in this video.

Imagine a rocket launching and all the power it takes to get it off the ground. All the thrusters have to be facing in the same direction — especially at the beginning for the rocket to escape Earth’s gravity.

Now imagine that one of the thrusters was facing outward, in a completely different direction, instead of facing downward. What would happen? Obviously, that rocket would crash and burn.

Why? Because it takes massive energy — a 1000% focus in one direction — for the rocket to launch successfully.

Many people ask me:

“Harv, what about multiple streams of income?”

That’s a great idea after you have one stream going beautifully. “You mean I can’t do three things at once?”

Yes, rich people are diversified… But only once they are rich! You don’t get rich by being diversified, you get rich by being focused.

It's hard enough to be successful at any one thing. Do you think you could be successful at two or five things all at once? Are you kidding me? I can’t.

 

Focus, Focus And Focus Are Your Three Words

At the start of anything, it takes much time and energy to get it off the ground. It’s called momentum. It takes everything you’ve got to get it going.

Every resource, every inch of energy at your disposal to launch successfully.

I learned the hard way so hopefully you won’t make the same mistake  I did. Don’t fall into this trap. I see it everyday and wish I had someone tell me this 30 years ago.

Focus on the pot that is going to make you rich, leave everything else UNTIL you “make it.”

Does any of this sound familiar to you? What interests are you juggling right now? How are you discerning which is most important and why? What's keeping you from making a choice and sticking with it?

We'd love to hear from you! Let us know what might be keeping you from taking that 100% leap into a more prosperous future.

For Your Freedom,

In my seminars I ask my audience, “How many of you don't like this word?” The word on the flip chart is “Sell.”

A lot of people put their hands up in agreement. They don't like the word “Sell.” And I say, “My hand is up too. I don't like the word ‘Sell' either.”

It has a really gross connotation to it, doesn't it? There's nothing wrong with it, but its got a bad rap.

So here's a trick…

As I mention in my video below, don't ever use the word “Sell.” Actually, just cross it out and instead use “Help.” Watch the video to learn why you should be using that word instead.

Don't Use The Word “Sell.” Use “Help.”

I don't want you to sell anything. I just want you to help people.

How do you make money?

You make money by solving a problem for someone. That's the only reason people give you money. They don't give you money because you look good.

So do something that helps more people. Stick within your niche, but do something that helps people and tell them how you help them. That's called your message.

“My product really helps people.” What people do you help? Tell them in a nice way how you help them.

For example… Don't say, “Hey, I have a great hair loss program. I have a product that grows hair.”

That's ok, but is that really attractive? Is that your message? People will say, “That's not bad.”

Here's an example…

“Are you sick and tired of looking at your bald, ugly head in the mirror? Do you feel terrible about yourself? Do you remember the days when you used to have a full head of hair and people used to walk up to you and say, ‘Wow, I love your hair'?

“Every single day since then you've watched your hairline go back. Here you are trying to comb your three ugly strands of hair across your entire head, and you know it doesn't cover. You know it sucks.

“How do you feel when people look at you and the first thing you think they're looking at is your lack of hair? How does that make you feel about yourself? Herculean? No. Hercules had hair. You don't.

“Would you like to grow it back and feel good about yourself again? Would you like to be attractive? Would you like to feel good in your relationships and your business?

“I have a product for you!”

There's a little difference, right?

That's “selling” something. When you know what problem you're solving for whom, you don't have to sell anything.

You're making an offer to people who are looking for your solution. Now you're in the position of helping, not needing to sell.

Watch my free webinar where I explain a step-by-step model to sell anything at any time and make your business sales predictable.

Let's Be Clear: Your Goal Is Sales… 

And there's nothing wrong with that.

You are making an offer for money because that's what you're in this for. Those sales are people you're trying to help.

Just don't think about it as selling. Whatever you want to call it, if you're not doing it, you're broke, or setting yourself up to be broke one day, regardless of your field.

Your business will always have a sales/marketing department. Call it whatever you need to call it to make the unpleasantry behind our typical perceptions about selling go down easier.

Whatever you come up with, it's all about how you frame it, not the fact that you are indeed selling.

If you liked this lesson, then you'll love my free web class, The 500 Million Dollar Secret, where I'll teach you more of these strategies and principles that will show you exactly how to write your own ticket to success. It's completely free to attend.

Click here to register and select a date and time that works best for you. See you there!

What do you think? What kind of language could you use to frame selling without “selling”? If the idea's good, keep it and use it! If you're up for some creative brainstorming with fellow learners, let us hear from you in the comments below!

For Your Freedom,

There are three ways to handle things if something doesn't go your way: resistance, acceptance, and the golden one, which hardly anybody knows or uses, utilization.

Let's talk about resistance. All pain comes from resistance to what is. This is basic Buddhism: life is suffering because we desire something other, rather than what's presented before us at the moment.

This is not something to get depressed about; there's nothing inherently wrong with desire, but it's how we respond to what life gives us that ultimately empowers us, if you choose to look at it that way. It's one of the greatest life-changing lessons one is fortunate to learn, understand and do something with.

If you don't resist what's going on, there's no pain.

If you don't try to make it something that it's not, there's no pain.

If you don't have judgment and criticism around it, there's no pain.

If you don't add the emotion to it, there's no pain.

Resistance means, “I cannot believe this happened!” So what happens then? Not only did you not get the promotion, which I'm sure doesn't feel great, but now you've just gotten yourself upset. You're not in peace. You're stressed out. You're going to make bad decisions. Now you've compounded the situation, haven't you?

You may say, “Harv, I'm not a robot.” I know. It's too bad, really. Robots are probably happier than we are.

Maybe you could be a dog! Think about it. If a dog doesn't get the bone, it doesn't freak out. They go to sleep or go play with something else. Dogs are happier than we are, yes or frickin' yes?

We're too freaking smart! We're so smart that we're not happy!

Do you see yourself in any of this? Do you see how you bum yourself out by freaking out about what you didn't get? That's resistance.

Acceptance says, “I'm okay. I'm going to take a breath and just continue on and not think about it too much.” That's cool. That's where people are at if they're conscious.

Wizards go to the next level; they go to utilization. They ask, “How do I use this to my benefit?

“How can something good come out of this?”

Here's a declaration I want you to repeat 2 times. Put your hand on your heart and say the following…

I utilize every situation to my benefit. I turn lead into gold. I turn garbage into gold. I turn crap into something good. I turn lemons into lemonade.

That's not positive thinking, my friends. That is the highest form of alchemy. That is true magic. It's taking a situation that has occurred in your life and turning it from a bad thing to a good thing. The good thing comes from asking:

• “How do I utilize this?”
• “How do I make my life better because of it?”
• “What sign is this giving me so that I can go from here and make things better?”

Is this easy or hard? If it were easy the world would be way different. If you're like me and most of my students, it's hard. If you're like the average person, it's really hard.

It's a practice, but it does get easier. It becomes your normal way of being. If you can do this, you will be at the top 1% of all people in the world when it comes to consciousness.

Practice just that one thing for this month.

You can resist what is and freak out about it. You can accept what is and be okay with it, or you go to the next stage and do something extraordinary with it.

Comment below and write ONE thing you're going to choose to utilize instead of resist…We want to hear your answer!

 
For Your Freedom,

If I was going to ask, “How are you?”, you would say, “Fine, or okay, or good, or great”…yes? You wouldn’t really answer the question, or you’d answer it superficially if you were like the majority of people.

If I ask, “What’s going on for you right now? What’s happening in your mind? What’s happening in your heart? What’s your predominant energy right now? What are you thinking about a lot of the time?” Most people would have an answer to that if they really thought about what they were thinking about.

I do that quite a bit. As long as I don’t overdo it, I actually find it quite helpful to keep myself in check.

One of the key elements that we teach, and that a lot of people teach, is the element of consciousness. Consciousness is about acting from the present moment instead of based on programming from the past. It’s about making conscious choices in this moment and not being habitual or automatic like we normally are.

If you notice, the key element that many monks have taken 40 years in caves to consider is the element of observation. It’s observing yourself, being your own witness.

It means thinking about what you’re thinking about. It means taking a bird’s eye view of your life, your situation, and where you’re at.

It’s your way of thinking, feeling, and acting and observing that. Not in a judgmental way as in, “Oh my god! What an idiot I am!”, or, “How great am I?” It’s not like that. It’s just watching how you do your life.

My Zen teacher is Cheri Huber. I love Cheri! She’s so great because she makes things really simple. It’s like being aware of what’s going on for you in your life and coming from a place of, “Here’s how I’m thinking, what I’m thinking, and what I’m feeling,” and then working backward to say, “Is that what I want to be doing?”

If you can do this without judgment, you’re going to be in great shape. What Cheri says is the problem most people have is that they do it, but they do it with judgment.

Considering that most of us grow up in a culture that emphasizes on superficial things, it's no wonder most people have a part in them that's near neurotically self-critical, when people feel like they don't compare to others who are successful.

And that's not including those circumstances from our childhood and life traumas that pile on feelings of lowered self-worth.

It's tough for a lot of people to look critically at their lives and accept, without judgment, that whatever happened before to make us who we are now, we do have a now to work with! But sometimes there are places within themselves people just don't want to go.

The issue is that when we do look at ourselves, it’s like turning the lights on in a dark room. Let me ask you a simple question:

When you put the light on, do you see more or less dirt? You're going to see more of everything, aren't you?

Our mind is generally focused on what's wrong because it’s always looking to protect us. It's not going to protect us by looking for what's right.

The trick here is observation without judgment and criticism. It's observation and being able to just observe, leaving right or wrong out of the equation.

What will that help you conquer in life?

1. You will be able to be very conscious about what’s going on and then make changes if you need to.

2. You will be able to practice observing without judgment.

Here's the cool thing, my friends. If you can practice observing yourself without judgment, then you can practice observing life and other people without judgment.

Life gets a lot more peaceful and more enjoyable regardless of your situation. You get more inner balance to sustain through success or setback. You become more resilient. People like that energy and want to be around it. That's Zen, baby.

So tell us … what’s been on your mind? We're not here to fix or to provide remedy. Tell us what you're really thinking and feeling these days, and observe how much of yourself you might see in others' responses.

Looking at those dark corners doesn't take as much courage as it does compassion. Start with yourself…

 
For Your Freedom,