The Progress Formula

Success guru Napoleon Hill may be best known for the following statement, “What the mind can conceive and believe, the mind can achieve.”

If we can imagine it, feel it and see it, then the actions required to make it real become apparent. It still takes some work, but what you think about, you create. Therefore, the question isn’t: “What are you going to do next year?” The question is: “What do you really want in your business next year?”

When the New Year rolls around we typically think of resolutions. But the way we structure resolutions make them almost useless. They are either about things we want to stop doing (smoking, eating) or start doing (exercising, marketing). How many resolutions have you kept over the years?

When the focus is on not doing or doing, there isn’t enough emotional buy-in to propel us forward. There’s no vision in a To-Do list.

If you say, “This year I want to do more marketing; I’d like to get my web site up, start an eZine, network more, and do some teleclasses,” you’re setting yourself up for failure.

Either it’s not going to happen, or it’s going to be quite a struggle. Deep down inside you know it’s true, but heck it’s the New Year. Might as well be positive, right?

For 2009, I encourage you to create a vision to create progress.

Instead of focusing on what you’ll do, focus on how you want to “feel”. How do you want to feel about marketing this coming year? And wouldn’t it be smart to focus on some positive, uplifting feelings (instead of those feelings of dread that come up when you list the things to do)?

You might state it like this: “Next year I want to be excited when I do my marketing. I want to have fun and feel that I’m making a difference. I want my marketing activities to be inspiring, challenging and energizing!”

How does that feel? Say it out loud or write it down. Seriously, write yours down now…

Next, you want to focus on what you want to “have” in your marketing. What do you want things to actually look like? For example:

• “I want to have an attractive, persuasive web site that excites people and gets them to take action when they visit it.”
• “I want to have an email newsletter with subscribers from all over the country. I want it to showcase my expertise, build credibility and get people to call me about working together.”
• “I want to develop a seminar that people walk away from energized with practical tips to improve their situation and afterwards they engage me to help them solve their challenges.”

Your turn; write a list of the main things you’d like to have in your marketing next year. And make sure every single thing on that list is what you really want, not something you think you have to do.

Do you see how different (and powerful) this is from creating a “Strategic To-Do list”? It makes all the difference in the world. Start with feelings, then focus on what you want to have. And only then do you give attention to the things you need to do to get there.

By doing this, you’ve set the groundwork for actually creating what you want in your business next year.

So many people struggle with marketing and attracting new clients because they look at marketing as a “necessary evil” that has to be done (but never enjoyed). When you create a compelling marketing vision, marketing becomes exciting, fun and effective.

This very simple approach to creating what you want might be called “living from your vision.” A whole lot more inspiring than “living from your to-do list,” don’t you think?