Yes! Taking action is way cool – good on ya. There is such a HUGE difference between knowledge and skill. Knowledge represents potential power, but when we stockpile too much potential without reinforcing any of it, then it all recedes back into a great morass of “hmmm… lessee… I used to know that… I’ve got that here somewhere… somewhere…”

Oh, and that freebie? Here’s Charles’s fast-start suggestion of the day. Do a search for [your topic] + plr and you’ll find very, very cheap reports and articles you can buy for next to nothing. Take a couple of those, rewrite them in your own voice, and you’re good to go. This gives you a jackrabbit start, while you take your time writing your own report. When it’s finished, replace the original PLR report with the one you’ve written. Start fast and upgrade as you go. Action!

People (myself included, sometimes) buy into dreams but don’t have the inner drive or motivation in place to see them through all the hassle and hardship that comes with the territory.

Mark, I think your marketer friend is spot-on. I’m having trouble recalling more than a handful of instances when I pulled an info product back down off the shelf and seriously implemented it. Frankly, that doesn’t happen very often, and it’s probably the same for most of us.

Okay – make a new rule. If we’re buying for “just in case,” don’t buy. If we already know we won’t have time to start using the new how-to material immediately, don’t buy. If we’re merely curious, don’t buy. If we have a big stack of half-finished other projects and this is likely to become just another half-assed attempt added to the stack, don’t buy. If we’re already following one guru, coach or mentor (or claiming we are), and we’re tempted to add “just one more voice” to our input, don’t buy.

Mark, I’d also like to share with everybody that last year you signed up for a mentoring program in copywriting, then when that class was finished, you immediately went out and started drumming up work in your new field. (Whispered aside: And now Mark is constantly busy writing copy for GOOD customers who willingly pay healthy fees.)

Implementation. The secret sauce of all successes.

Secondly, I just realized that I am virtually cured of informationitis – it has been some time since I bought a product or even downloaded a freebie – (well, except for Charles’ most recent Beyond Luck video series). And the reason – just as Charles said; I’ve been too damned busy churning out my own stuff, what with blogging and article writing, and promoting via various partner blogs, forums and article distributors.

Still, if I did some spring cleaning of my book shelf and hard drive, I’m sure I would find a ton of materials that have never seen the light of day… and most probably never will; at least not in the foreseeable future. I’m focused on carving out my own niche.

Charles, as always, thanks for a great read!

All the best from Toronto,
Russ

Great going, Russ. See everybody, a goal (a REAL goal, not a wish without feet) plus massive action can cure all sorts of situations and habits.

A wonderful posting Charles, and super imagery from Gerry McGovern too. And with a passing nod to Peter, a favourite saying (not a quote) from Paul Myers came to mind when reading this article:

“Now, ain’t that the truth!”

I know that I’m an information junkie and I have been for some time. I think it first hit home when one of Charles’ articles asked whether I was taking in usable information or whether it was just another form of entertainment for me.

Honestly? Most of it is entertainment. It’s only usable stuff when… well, when I use it.

And when’s that?

Not often enough!

Thinking is the easy bit. Reading is the easy bit. Doing something takes more energy. But don’t we all read these materials or listen to the recordings and persuade ourselves that we’re doing REAL work? I mean, we have to learn what we’ve got to do to make life better haven’t we? We have to think about it a little just to see how it’s going to work in our life? When we do that aren’t we working? Surely that’s not entertainment!

It’s a sub-conscious argument that my mind accepts all too readily.

And so I continue to download materials. I continue to rationalise it by saying, “This is in a different style”. Or “It has a slightly different message”. Or “It takes a different slant on an old problem.”

The truth is I’ve been sucked in by some clever wording on a web page again. (It must be clever otherwise I wouldn’t be taken in.) So I blame a website writer.

But then, my books all tell me that I need to take responsibility for my life.

Don’t blame others.

So it must be something wrong with me.

Maybe somebody has got an e book that will help me?

Double bingo!! And a great big grin. It helps to keep a bit of humor regarding who we are, and the foibles we… uh… foib. Only a sense of humor will enable us to flex and bend under the pressure of all those shoulds and musts and have-tos that dog our steps. And a sense of humor allows us to see when something is not working and how funny we are every time it happens to us – again.

What I’m referring to are those folks who have no “original thoughts” in their heads and just go about their day paraphrasing what they hear/read/see…puppet-like, automoton-like, robotic-like, etc. as though it were their own thought/idea…

As I travel about and eavesdrop on converations, I’m struck at how much “information” folks share is someone else’s…from the news, TV, magazines and the like….as opposed to original thinking. It seems, to me at least, more and more have fewer and fewer original thoughts or ideas.

I once heard someone say, small minds talk about things; mediocre minds talk about people and great minds talk about ideas. Fewer and fewer great minds these days…

Bingo – mea am definitely culpa. I guess all of us use quotes to make our points… in our conversations… in our writing… probably in our dreams. But I’m not sure if it’s all that serious a thing when done in moderation. When it takes over, however, and becomes an obsession, then it needs to be dealt with.