The 5 Factor Difference

Enthusiasm is wonderful. There was a screen saver put out by the Science of Getting Rich by Wallace Wattles which said “Catch on fire with enthusiasm and the world will come for miles to watch you burn.” Yes, enthusiasm is an important factor but enthusiasm alone will not move your life and your business forward.

Passion for your product and your company are also very important. You can not effectively present something you do not believe in and respect. The most effective people throughout every industry have a deep seated passion for what they are doing. Their passion burns so white hot that nothing will stop them. Yes, they encounter setbacks and challenges. Those little hurdles or inconveniences do not stop them from moving forward to achieve their goals. Without a burning desire, those roadblocks can and will stop most people. Look seriously at what you are doing. On the passion scale of 1 to 10 with 1 being luke warm and 10 being a roaring inferno, where are you?

Look at your enthusiasm and your passion carefully and objectively. Do you jump out of bed every morning like a child on Christmas morning? Are you excited to start your day? What is your attitude toward your career? If your enthusiasm this morning resembles the temperature of left over bath water, this is a wake up call. You have 2 choices: rededicate yourself to your chosen profession or change professions. It’s that simple.

If your choice is to reinvigorate yourself in your present occupation, then apply the 5 factor difference. Select 5 things each day to do to move your business forward. Commit to selecting 5 things every day. Now comes the labor intensive part, you actually have to DO those 5 things every day. The action steps can be the same every day or different or a combination. You must select 5 specific action steps to move your business and your life forward. You ABSOLUTELY MUST COMMIT TO DOING ALL 5 EVERY DAY AND ACTUALLY DO THEM.

I learned this rule of 5 from Mark Victor Hansen and Jack Canfield, authors of “Chicken Soup for the Soul.” Every day they did 5 things to move their business forward. They were turned down by approximately 140 publishers before one finally said yes. Now look at their results. They have a “Chicken soup of the Soul for everything.” They used the rule of 5 and remained enthusiastic, passionate and persistent. That is the secret of success.

What will the rule of 5 do to improve your life?

Always Be Growing - Learning Curve

Life is a learning curve. From the beginning we have a series of firsts: first crawling, first steps, first time to ride a bicycle, and first day of school. Life is a series of firsts. The problem is that once we become adults, we seem to stop experiencing those new accomplishments. As adults, too many of us resist learning new things. We balk at having a learning curve.

I started skiing, tennis, running and even weight training as an adult. Ok, so it took me longer to learn to ski than it does a small child. I knew how hard and cold that landing would be when I fell down. A child does not have as far to fall and they have an inborn feeling of being indestructible. I know the feeling of sore muscles. The biggest issue is not the sore muscles, but the mental block of getting in our own way. Consciously or unconsciously, we get in our own way. We resist learning new things and stepping so far out of our comfort zone.

Why? Are we afraid that we can’t do it? Are we afraid of failing? Are we afraid of succeeding? Maybe sometimes we don’t even know what is holding us back. We see other people succeeding and know that if they can do it, we can do it. Yet we are not seeing the results ourselves. What is the road block?

Jim Rohn says, “If you neighbor’s pasture is greener than yours, perhaps it is getting better care.”

It is both an issue of mindset and of action. Mindset. Do you truly know what you want? Do you want it badly enough that you will do whatever it takes to succeed? Does it tap in to your passion? Unless you have a passionate desire to succeed, you will always be spinning your wheels. It takes that clear vision and clear laser focused desire to achieve your goals. Every time you let doubt creep in to your thoughts, beliefs and feelings, you have erected a roadblock between yourself and your goals.

You must have a “why” so powerful that you will push through any and all barriers to reach your goal. Something that will keep you positive and motivated no matter what happens. Life happens. Life has disappointments, it just does. The question is how do you handle those tough spots in the learning curve and keep moving forward.

Once your mindset is laser focused, you will keep taking the actions which move you closer to your goals. No learning curve is too difficult if your mindset is crystal clear and your actions are in perfect harmony with your stated goals.

Always Be Growing – Focus

Our focus determines so much about our entire life. Rich people have 24 hours a day and poor people have 24 hours a day. The difference is what we do with those hours.

Do you ever look in the mirror as you are getting ready for bed at night and say to yourself, “Where did the day go?” “What did I get done today?” If the answer from that image in the mirror is “not much,” you may have to take a serious look at your time management.

Did you make a list of things to be done the night before? Did you schedule time to complete those tasks? Did you actually follow that schedule? If the answer to ANY of these is “no” then you need to take a serious look at your time management.

When you do sit down at your computer or your desk to perform a task, do you check your personal email and maybe take a look at your bank account or your investment account or even your horoscope? Do you actually focus on the task at hand or do you find every imaginable distraction to divert your attention? The phone rings, you want a cup of coffee, you decide to throw in a load of laundry, you decide to write your grocery list, or you answer a quick personal email. You get the idea. How truly laser focused are you on the task at hand?

In order to be successful at a home business, you absolutely must laser focus on the task at hand or the day slips by and nothing gets accomplished. It is easy to say, “Of course I can commit 2, 3 or 4 hours a day to my business.” The question is, “Do you really do it or do you spend the time getting up and sitting down from your office chair and wasting time.” Now, be honest with yourself. Look at your productivity. How much did you really accomplish?

The proof is in your results.

I suggest you make a list of at least 5 action steps you will take every day to move your business forward. They can be the same 5 or a different 5 each day. The key is not what is written on the list as much as if there really is a list AND will you commit to accomplishing it.

Without disciplined, focused action taken on a consistent basis, your home business is destined to be a non-profit operation from the discomfort of your home. Its not about blame, it is about taking charge of your life and your business. It is about taking responsibility for your results.

FOCUS – Follow One Course of action Until Successful.

Consistent and Persistent

In order to be successful, it requires being consistent and persistent. Whether you are pursuing a career in sports, music, business or any other endeavor, you must be consistent and persistent.

There is the story of the violin maestro who performed an absolutely majestic concert. A lady went back stage to speak to the master. She told him, “I would give my life to play like that.” The master replied, “Madam, I did.”

You do not become outstanding in your chosen field overnight. Get rich quick schemes are not real. It will take consistent focused action every day. If you are determined to achieve your goals then give yourself at least a year. Do not be unrealistic by expecting to make a six figure income per month in your first 90 days. Can you achieve that level over time? Absolutely. The key words are “over time.” You must be consistent in your activities every day.

The best thing you can do for yourself is to establish a daily schedule and absolutely commit to accomplishing that schedule every day. The secret is performing specific actions which move your business forward every day.

As I stated earlier Zig Zigler reminds us that success can not be paid for. It is something you purchase on the installment plan and pay for every day,

Personally I have a rule of 5. I take 5 actions steps every day to move my business forward. I write out the list at night and commit to accomplishing every one of the 5 tasks the next day.

1. Write something in my blog every day.
2. Follow up with my business calls and business emails – calls and emails from new clients and support calls to existing clients who have questions.
3. Read at least 10 pages in a good book and listen to an educational or inspirational cd for at least 30 minutes every day
4. Could be working on a new marketing idea or a new web site – this will vary from day to day
5. This could be working on a new video or audio or writing new autoresponders


You will select your own 5. The key is to be consistent and persistent. Take solid focused action to move yourself forward every day toward your goals.

Life is a staircase

Life is a staircase

We are either stepping up or down.

Every thought, every word and every action either moves us up the stairs or down the staircase.

Sometimes when it seems like the forces of life are conspiring against you, it is difficult to hold a 100% positive attitude and yet that is exactly what we must do. Every entrepreneur experiences setbacks and challenges. That is absolutely a part of life.

The questions to ask ourselves during those “less than ideal” times are “How can I learn from this.” Or ask, “What good can come from this? Or even, “How can I resolve this situation for the good of all?” In almost all situations, the more solution-focused you phrase the question, the more positive solutions result.

When we focus on solutions, we create positive potential. If we focus on blame or any negative response, we in fact create more negative.

You will always receive more of whatever you give your time, energy and focus.

Be careful how you phrase your requests and thoughts. If you focus on “I need to lose weight” for instance you are really focusing on being overweight. If instead you focused on “I am in the process of becoming my ideal weight of _____ pounds,” then your focus is on becoming you ideal weight.

If you focus on “I need more leads,” then you are really focusing on the lack of leads. Rephrase that statement into, ”How can I generate more leads?” That is totally solution focused.

Success is never a straight line. It has its curves or angles both up and down. For most, if not all, successful entrepreneurs, it is an increase followed by a plateau. How much increase and how long the plateau will vary from person to person and business to business. The bottom line is that it is not about education, background, age, gender, or even the financial status. We have had people in each and every situation succeed.

It is all about the desire and the follow through. How much desire and determination and how much follow through will Absolutely Determine the height of the step up. How consistent you are and how dedicated you are to continuous learning and improving yourself will determine the length of the plateau.

Don’t misunderstand, every successful entrepreneur has challenges. Every one of us had had to readjust and work through a situation from a different angle from time to time. Every business will have periods of increase, plateaus and yes, step downs. The height and length of each one of those depends on you and how you are working your business.

Zig Zigler stated that success is not something you can pay for. You must purchase it on the installment plan and pay for it every day.