Rock Your Business At My New Blog (Hey, Copyblogger Likes It)

February 10, 2009

For a few weeks now, I’ve been running a new blog for business owners, called “The Launch Coach,” where I basically teach people how to make money online and sell more stuff (without selling their dignity in the process). If you’re building a business online, then you definitely want to check it out.

Why Brian Clark of Copyblogger Dropped By to Say Hello

The most useful thing about The Launch Coach is that it’s not just another “business blog” – instead of just giving you basic “how-to” articles, I’ll actually be running play-by-play reviews of other people’s launches and promotions, picking them apart and showing you exactly how the big players do what they do so well.

So when you subscribe to The Launch Coach via RSS or via email, you’re basically having product launch training delivered to you – for free – week after week after week.

Not bad, right? I felt pretty good that the fifth comment on the new blog was by blogging titan Brian Clark of Copyblogger, who dropped by to pass along his words of encouragement:

“This is a fantastic idea, but you really should be running on Thesis. ”

I should have seen that coming.

Join Brian in the comments section today

Anyway, drop by, enjoy Laura Roeder’s guest post, and sign up for my Launch Tips Newsletter while you’re there. You’ll be that glad you did.

Written by Dave Navarro · Filed Under Announcements

Why You’re Not Doing The Things You Said You Wanted To, Part 1

February 4, 2009

Today I got up at 5am and did some yoga, trying like hell to kick off that habit again. It’s always one that gets pushed off to the side, because there’s always something more urgent going on. And at 5am, yoga isn’t the first thing on my mind. It isn’t even the 20th thing on my mind.

But last night, it was the last thing on my mind. And that’s why it got done.

Trick Your Brain, And You Can Get It To Do Just About Anything

One of the biggest obstacles people face when trying to kick of a new habit is getting started. Taking that first step, especially when you’re unmotivated, is hard as hell. Taking action = doing something uncomfortable right now, so you don’t do it. The pain avoidance part of your brain says “No way. Hit snooze.”

But you can psych out that part of your brain and pull a fast one on it. Here’s how.

All you have to do is take a preparatory action step at a different time than when you’re actually going to do the task. For example, last night I looked for my yoga DVD (that took 10 minutes all by itself), popped it in the DVD player, put a bottle of water in the fridge and cleared the floor so I could hit the ground running in the morning.

Now, when I don’t do that, I feel tons of resistance in the morning. Who wants to wake up just to do a lot of “getting ready” stuff? That’s not very motivating. But I was plenty motivated last night, because I could do all that prep work knowing that I wasn’t going to have to do the exercise right then and there. It was still out there in the future. So there was no resistance.

And when I woke up this morning, it wasn’t 100% easy to get moving and do the yoga, but it was easy enough that I got it done.

Why This Works (And Why You Watch Bad Movies)

Something in our brain is wired to want to complete tasks we’ve invested some level of time/money/energy in. Once we get started, we feel this nagging feeling like we need to get closure. This is what gets you to watch the end of a movie even though 30 minutes in you know it’s going to suck – you sit there thinking “I might as well finish it, I’ve been here this long.” (Aliens Vs Predator, I’m talking to you.)

But you can use this principle to your advantage. If you take a single preparatory action towards a task, your mind is going to automatically feel less resistance to continue because it thinks you’ve already started. It doesn’t matter that you started yesterday, when it was easy (because you weren’t committed to finish at that time). Do this, and you’ll sucker yourself in a good way – and finally get some traction on that task.

Your Homework: Take One Step Now For Something You Have To Do Later

Take a look at something you’re avoiding and determine a first step – then take it. If you’ve been putting off writing a blog post, don’t do the post today, just do the title tonight – and write the post itself tomorrow. If you’ve got to do your taxes and you’re stressed, don’t schedule time to do it today – take 20 minutes and get your papers together, clear some desk space and walk away – and pick back up tomorrow.

And if you’re going to do yoga in the morning, find that damn DVD now, so you won’t be fumbling for it in the morning. Rrrgh.

3 Really Useful Things You Can Do Right Now