5 Reasons You Aren’t Successful

Austin
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0
5 Reasons You Aren’t Successful

Why You Aren’t Successful Yet?

At some point in time most of us have asked ourselves “Why am I not successful already?” Well, it’s an easy question to answer; simply because if it was we’d all be driving around in exotic cars, taking 3 month vacations to foreign countries, or exploring the open oceans on our million dollar yachts.

While this all may be; the real question you should be asking is “Have I been making the choices that will make me succeed in the future?” Being as none of us can foresee the future, the best thing to do is look at the options. What you can look at are if YOUR choices align with the choices of people that have already achieved success. Hence leading to our “5 common mistakes people are making that are preventing them from being successful.” The good news is that once you understand these mistakes, it is unbelievable how easy it is to change your mindset, and start making the same decisions many millionaires make every day!

The 5 Things Holding You Back

1) Not Setting Goals

Goal setting is something that everyone should do but most people don’t. When was the last time you wrote down your goals? I’m guessing it wasn’t recently and if it was they were probably small goals or a to do list. Goal setting is really about setting up big goals that challenge you. It’s about turning your dreams into something that is achievable.

If you are setting goals you are creating a roadmap to success. This road map will let you create big goals and big models that will push you to achieve things you couldn’t do before. Don’t go along with the crowd and ignore goal setting. Not setting goals is one of the big drivers in why you aren’t successful already.

2) Paying Yourself Last

Have you ever noticed that when you get a paycheck immediately everyone is asking for a part of it? You end up paying for taxes, food, housing, entertainment, and transportation. If there is anything left over at the end of the month you use that as you investment money if you are lucky. Most people have more month than money and that’s never a good thing. This is known as paying yourself last.

What you want to do is pay yourself first. Start off with a small percent (1-3%) and increase this until you are up to at least 10%. This is money you pay yourself first. It may be tough at first but over time you will adjust. This payment towards yourself should go into an investment that over time will pay you. It can be anything from school to real estate to stocks or even commodities. If you don’t know anything about investing find a professional that can help or if you’re more hands on you can learn yourself. Just remember that if you aren’t paying yourself no one else will. Don’t let others decide where your money is going.

3) Your Network Needs ImprovementThe Law of Averages

Have you ever noticed that successful people hang out together? That’s not a coincidence. The successful people in society have learned that the people they associate with make a huge impact on their lives. This can be seen on the opposite end of the spectrum as well, unsuccessful people tend to spend most of their time with people that are also unsuccessful.

Take a look at the 5 people you spend most of your time with. Are these 5 people striving for greatness or have they accepted mediocrity? If they aren’t striving for greatness they are holding you back. This doesn’t mean you can’t or shouldn’t talk with them. What this means is it is time to work on your network. The best way to do this is to find the type of person you want to be like and start spending time with them. One of the big goals you should be creating is finding a mentor that has already done the things you want to do. They can share advice and guide you on your way to success. If you don’t know where to find them look for clubs related to your interests. Don’t forget that you are the sum of the people you spend the most time with!

4) Lack of Education

Education is something that scares a lot of people. If someone randomly told me my lack of education was holding me back my first thought would probably be “but education is expensive”. That may be true in some cases but you don’t need formal education to create a better life for yourself.

One of the best ways to educate yourself is through reading. Books and eBooks are also a great way to get mentorship that I had mentioned before. You don’t need to meet someone to learn from them. If you read a book it gives you the opportunity to expand your mind by looking into the thoughts of someone who has experienced more. That seems like a great way to learn. You don’t even have to read now that audiobooks are easily accessible.

Another great way to learn is through online courses or certification programs. Some of the programs can cost money but others are free. Depending on what you are interested in you can Google courses and certifications and find what you are looking for.

To become successful you need to create a skill set that causes you to stand out from the crowd. These skills can be learned in many different ways. All you have to do is spend the time to educate yourself when others are wasting time.

5) Wasting Time

It's time to get motivatedWasting time is one of the biggest things holding people back. Have you ever tracked how much time you spend on social media or watching TV per day? It’s definitely something you should track because the average time on social media is up to 2 hours per day and TV is up to 5 hours. Can you imagine what you could do if you had an extra 2-7 hours per day to spend on achieving your dreams?

Instead of wasting your time, schedule out your day with time blocks. A time block is a 15+ minute time period that you set aside specifically for a task. I personally use 1 hour a day for reading. That time block is the same every day and has become a habit. Habits make things easier. Use these time blocks to create your goals/plans, expand your network, educate yourself, and learn to invest. Once you’re using your time properly you’ll be amazed at how much you can accomplish!

It’s Time to Become Successful

Success is not something that comes over night. It takes time to create habits and change your mindset. One of the best ways to go about becoming successful is to share your ideas. When you share your ideas you find people that are like you. Finding people like yourself allows you to build your network. You can even have people join in on your pursuit of excellence. These people will become your accountability partners. Teach them about how important it is to set goals. Show them how paying yourself first has allowed you to create extra income. Educate people on the topics that you’ve educated yourself on. Don’t forget to show them how much you have accomplished when you became accountable for your time. There is no limit to what you can do!

If you think you are ready to start making a difference your life and others share these concepts with your friends. Some of them may not like that you are trying to better your life but that’s ok. Find the people that want you to succeed and invite them on your journey. It’s time for you to create your own success and stop making excuses!

7 Benefits of Listening to Audiobooks

Austin
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1
7 Benefits of Listening to Audiobooks

Audiobook Benefits in a Nutshell

Have you ever wondered if audiobooks have any benefits? What about what the benefits of audiobooks may be? If you answered yes to those questions I can tell you you’re in the right place. Sometimes it can be hard to sit down with a book for a half hour to an hour each day. One of the best ways to combat that is through the use of audiobooks. They are really a game changer when it comes getting your daily dose of book in.

Think about this for a minute, when was the last time you had a chance to read a book? When was the last time you asked someone what books they’ve been reading? The sad true is that we live in a time with access to information constantly but people don’t read as often as they could. You may be wondering what the real benefits of audiobooks are, I have found 7 that I think are most worthwhile.

1)  Audiobooks Are Easy To Listen To While Doing Other Tasks

This is pretty self explanatory but I’ll give you some examples. Audiobooks are great to use in place of music when you are doing things like driving, exercising, cleaning, cooking, or maybe even at work. You will be amazed at how many more books you can listen to when you start playing them all the time. This reason by itself makes audiobooks worth it. Imagine how nice it would be to listen to your favorite motivational book at the office or a thriller while you’re cleaning your house.

2) Audiobooks Are Great For Dyslexics

I came across this after talking with a few of my friends about books. I knew one of them was dyslexic but had never considered how it would affect how often they read. We were discussing how often someone should read and they complained about how difficult it was. I pointed out that audiobooks are a great alternative. They tried it out and became hooked on the idea of listening to audiobooks. The is also one of the benefits of audiobooks for students. I know people that struggled with textbooks because of dyslexia. Most schools offer software that will turn textbooks into audiobooks.

3) Listen To Them With Others

Listening to audiobooks with friends and coworkers has been a fun experience. It gives you a chance to hear other people’s opinions about a book. It is like going out to the movies. In the end everyone has the same ideas to talk about and it’s fun to dig into what could be going on in the background of the book’s universe. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline was the first experience I had with how great audiobooks can be. After listening to that books with my coworkers we are all excited to go see the movie when it comes out. Fingers crossed that it will be a good one. 

4) Listening To Audiobooks While Reading The Book

This one sounds strange but it works out really well. Reading and listening to audiobooks at the same time gives you more things to remember. It ties into Edgar Dale’s cone of learning. That is an interesting topic that I can talk about another day. What you need to know is the more ways you do something and the more work it takes to do those things the easier it is to remember. I’ve used listening to the audiobook while reading the book to learn about stock options, real estate investing, stoicism, and starting a business. None of those topics are easy but I think listening to the audiobooks while I read helped me with retention. This is one of the biggest benefits to audiobooks.

5) More Simple Than Reading a Summary

Unless you are in a big rush to read through a summary for some reason audiobooks are a great option. It is painless to listen to a audiobook. On the other hand you could buy a summary which won’t give you all the details. An alternative would be to jump on Reddit. I know that great summaries can end up on Reddit but you have to be careful about what people are saying. It’s easy to leave out important details. If it were up to me when picking audiobooks vs reading Reddit, I’m going to go with an audiobook 9 times out of 10. There is a lot to be said about sticking with a community though and if you find the right one the users on Reddit will treat you right.

6) Audiobooks Are Great For Adults

The benefits of audiobooks for adults pretty much covers everything I’ve mentioned plus more. Adults are the largest group of people in the world. Many of them are limited on time. Not only that but as you get older your eyesight can decrease. Audiobooks counteract that because you can listen to them instead of reading them. Adults are also limited on time bringing back the benefits of listening while you do other things. It also ties into the last benefit I have to talk about.

7)  Adjustable Speed

One of the coolest benefits of audiobooks is that you can adjust the speed. I personally like to listen at anywhere from 1.5x to 2.5x speed. It all depends on how many times I’ve listened to the book, how the voice actors voice sounds sped up, and how hard to comprehend the books is. I usually recommend starting off at 1x to 1.5x and going from there when you are new to audiobooks. This is not the time to listen with your friends they will probably look at you weird when you start playing a chipmunk book at them.

The Benefits Are Real

As you can see there are many benefits to audiobooks. I’m sure if you sit there and think about it you can come up with a few more on your own. Now that you’re thinking about audiobooks you should check out Audible from Amazon. They seem to really know what they are doing. Once you started you’ll see that audiobooks are good for the brain. There aren’t too many other ways to have fun while you learn. It’s nice to know that you can listen with friends when you have a fun book or you can read along with a hard copy if it’s something more serious. Don’t forget how many audiobook benefits there are. Now get out there are start listening.

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