Since I started with my first WordPress blog back in October 2005, I’ve been in love.

My first blog was a sports blog where I gave my funny (sometimes) opinions (all the time) on sports. I loved doing it for two years. At the time, sports blogging was still young so it was great to be a part of that. I made some money off it from advertisements. Not a whole bunch, but enough to pay for my domain and hosting every year.

(I did some searching and found my old blog in the digital archives. Wow looking at it brings back a lot of great memories.)

Even when I went through my phase of “What should I do with my life?”, I knew I wanted to have a blog of some sort. I love the ability to communicate through a blog. I love the community and meeting others writing about the same topic. I loved how it wasn’t static like a website and the newest content would always be on top.

Last year, I wrote a post last year about 10 reasons to start a blog today and I still believe all 10 are great reasons to start a blog.

Don’t start a blog thinking about money though. That’s a mistake many make, including myself. Don’t get me wrong, money can be made from your blog or because of your blog.

However, if you’re starting a blog with the sole focus of making money, you’ll lose sight of the other amazing benefits.

Starting a blog should be around a topic you enjoy. It could be an outlet for your creative writing, a collection of your travel stories, sharing your newborn baby with friends and relatives, your favorite dessert recipes or yoga for kids. Seriously the possibilities are endless.

When you start a blog, you will get so many benefits that money can’t buy.[click to tweet]

Here are just some reasons:

1) You will meet a variety of great people

Whether it be through comments, e-mails, or social media, you may be surprised at how quickly you meet people on-line. And by meet people, I mean legitimately form genuine relationships.

Bloggers are some of the nicest people out there. The blogging community is friendly, encouraging, and genuinely cheering for you to succeed. You can join that by having your own blog.

I’m not comfortable networking in a big room full of people I don’t know. So having an online presence is a much easier way for me to meet people so when we do meet face-to-face it’s like seeing an old friend.

2) You can reach unlimited people all over the world

If you’re talking to the person sitting across from you while having coffee, you can only share your message with that one person. If you’re doing a speech, you can only share your message with however many people are in the room.

If you have a blog, you can reach an unlimited amount of people all over the world. You could be sleeping or on vacation for a week, and still share your knowledge, expertise or advice with anyone who wants it.

3) It is a great creative outlet

Some people like to knit, paint, or play a musical instrument. I like everything about blogging. By having a blog I get to be creative. My blog is my online piece of real estate. It started as a blank page, and I was able to design it however I wanted. I love that.

Writing has become a great outlet for me too. I used to hate writing in high school and college, but mainly cause I was writing about essays I didn’t enjoy. Now I enjoy taking what’s in my mind, organizing it in a blog post, and sharing it here. It’s very satisfying.

4) It can lead to a book deal

Do you dream of having your book published and on shelves of major bookstores? Start a blog first.

If you can start a blog and build a huge audience, your chances of getting published increase dramatically over having no blog, no audience, and just a book idea.

Pamela Slim has a book called Escape From Cubicle Nation: From Corporate Prisoner to Thriving Entrepreneur (great book), which started out as a blog by the same name. She didn’t start the blog with the intention of writing a book, but later was approached to write a book on her expertise.

Another blog to book is 1000 Awesome Things, by Neil Patel.

Neil started posting awesome things every weekday, the site grew, got a book deal, and it turned into a New York Times #1 bestseller.

In this post on Tim Ferris’ blog, a first time author wrote about how he got a seven figure book deal.

And remember that, in a very real way, publishers aren’t buying just the idea.  They’re buying your “platform” (blog readers, Twitter followers, Facebook fans, etc.). Remember this term and use it.

And you can begin to get those readers, followers, and fans from your platform – a WordPress blog.

5) It changes YOU

I started blogging as a personal tool to journal the changes that I was making and sharing that. But somewhere along the line, blogging began to change me. It has allowed me to tap into parts of me that make me feel alive.

While there are many articles written about why you should blog to grow your business or become an expert or make a whole bunch of money… the best recommendations are still found in the personal realization that blogging changes you – the writer.

Setup Your Own WordPress Blog Before You Sleep Tonight

If you’re looking for an easy way to create a web presence and start sharing your ideas online, the best way to do this is to create a blog.

If you’ve wanted to start your own, but unsure how, this tutorial is for you.

In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to:

1. Get a domain name and web hosting for your site
2. Easily install WordPress and get all of your content up on the web. I take you every step of the way.
3. Configure your settings and site so it looks more professional
4. Optimize your site with plugins and widgets
5. Create your first post, page, and a simple contact form

I recommend you follow along in order I present it below.

Today I share with you an interview I did with Natalie Sisson, who is on of my favorite entrepreneurs online.

I’ve been following her almost as long as I’ve had this blog. She has been awesome enough to interview me on her podcast about developing iPhone apps and asked me to contribute to her project, $100 Change.

Natalie helps women (and some men) start from scratch and build a business online that gives them more freedom in their lives. Today her and her partner Natalie McNeil have opened their flagship course, WE Mastermind, for a limited time.

But first I wanted to asked her questions that I get from readers a lot because she is the expert at running an online business.

I follow you online and you definitely do live out of your suitcase traveling the world. Where are you doing this interview from and where have you been in 2013?

I’m currently in the beautiful and eclectic city of Berlin. Germany. I’m going to be here for around 6 more weeks before further travel for Ultimate Frisbee tournaments in Europe, and onto North America. The first 4.5 months of this year I was in South East Asia (Malaysia, Thailand, Brunei and Philippines) and South Korea!

Can you tell us a bit about how you got to this point? I know for many people having an online business is not something they imagined doing at first, but now they wouldn’t want to do anything else. 

I’d love to say it was a straight line to online entrepreneurship but in reality, like most success stories, it was two or more years in the making. I had a pretty successful career in the corporate world, rising up through the ranks in various brand management, marketing and business development roles for almost 8 years.

But the 9-5 rat race I experienced in London in 2008 pushed me over the edge. So much so that I quit forever and went to Vancouver, Canada with the dream of starting my own business.

Instead I found the next best thing, my business partner who I ended up co-founding a technology company with. That was a wild rollercoaster ride into the world of entrepreneurship – especially in the fast faced tech startup scene and I learned a ton. It was during that time I started my blog, mainly to share my learnings with others in the hope it would help them, and to interview successful female founders (of which there were – and still are – few of in the tech scene).

That blog is now the Suitcase Entrepreneur and it’s changed a lot since then as I’ve found my unique special proposition (USP) and developed my own voice and brand. It’s coming up 3 years this month that I’ve had my business and I love it more everyday.

You had a successful career in the corporate world. What made you shift to wanting to work online?

For me it was never being able to `own’ the outcome. I mean in all of my roles I had a relatively large amount of autonomy which was great. But often I got roadblocked by senior management when I was wanting to launch a new initiative or project. Nothing frustrated me more, especially as that’s what they had hired me to do. I also tired quickly of office politics, bureaucracy and working within pointless constraints. I wanted the freedom to do my own thing at my own pace.

There are lots of people who are stuck in a job they don’t like, and would love to work for themselves. They want more freedom in their lives. They want to do work they enjoy. 

They’re motivated and willing to work hard, but have no idea what it is they want to do. That’s frustrating. 

What are some things they can do to help them figure it out?

I totally understand that. I think there are people with too many ideas, who don’t know what to do with them all, and people with absolutely no idea what to do. I wrote a post talking about that exactly.

In it I talk about finding your sweet spot, something I’m passionate about helping people find, and I think it’s the key to figuring out what you’re meant to be doing in this life.

What if someone is the opposite. They have so many ideas for an online business. They just don’t know which one to choose. How can they sort through all their ideas and choose one to start?

Another great question, and this is actually far more common than you think. Usually what happens is you attempt to make a start on several things at once and end up doing none of them at all, or none of them well.

I hear plenty of people with a gazillion ideas and they never get around to doing any of them. They’re like idea chasers – they love the thought of it but aren’t prepared to implement, are too lazy, to scared or in love with the idea of ideas – not the work behind them.

My biggest piece of advice is to commit to ONE and make a start on it.  What you require is focus and discipline to make a real go of that one idea for at least 3-6 months. During that time you can ship the minimum viable product or service, continue to tweak, test and pivot. But if you don’t even give it a go, or put your all into it, it’s going to end up failing.

One thing that stops people from taking that first step to starting an online business is they’re afraid of failure. What if it doesn’t work out? What if no one buys my stuff? What if I waste a lot of time and money? Lots of doubts run through their mind. 

Then they quit before they even begin. What’s your advice to them to overcome this?

Honestly – how do you know if you haven’t even given it a shot. What are you really scared of? People fail every single day. The ones who go on to succeed get over it more quickly and aren’t afraid to have another go at it.

Ask yourself “What’s the worst thing that could possibly happen if this doesn’t work out”. Usually you’ll find it’s not life threatening.

You need to remember that anything worthwhile doing is never going to be easy but the rewards of succeeding will definitely be worth it when you do – personally and professionally.

Another thing to do is to take yourself out of the equation. Sure you’re putting your time and money on the line, but if you quit before you’ve even begun you’ve missed out on a chance to make an impact in the world on others. So think about those people – who needs your gifts and talents? Whose lives can you make a difference in?

There are people working hard on their online business now. They’re putting in the work and making progress, but it’s tough because the sales aren’t coming in as much as they’d like. They’re trying to stay positive, but they wish they could fast forward to the good part when sales are much better. 

What advice do you have for them to stay motivated through this stretch?

Starting and building an online business is so much harder than people think. My advice is to take a long hard look at your current activities and ask which of those are really driving you new leads and sales, and which are just time wasters or `nice to do’ that you’re deferring to instead of putting in the real work.

I mean this in the best possible way. For many months, even close to a year I focused on community building, social media strategy and online marketing. This all helped immensely to build my tribe and online presence. Yet I didn’t put as much work into converting all that goodwill and offering solutions to people that they were craving and that would bring be revenue to keep on investing back into my business and into them.

Realistically I was doing all the feel good things, rather than focusing on building a legitimate platform, business model and sales funnel that worked.

Take a look at your Google Analytics to see what efforts are paying off and start spending more time optimizing those areas to give your business a boost. At the same time get ruthless and drop activities that are just not serving a purpose – even if they are fun. You’ll have plenty more fun things to work on when you start making more money – trust me!

Recently a mutual online friend, Corbett Barr, posted this question at his blog. 

Which approach is better? Is it better to build an audience first, and then a product/service, or should you build a product first and find the audience later? 

What are your thoughts? 

I honestly think you should do, and can, build both at the same time, but you do need a platform from which to launch from – no matter how small. I spent the first 6 months of going into business for myself just building my community – blogging, guest blogging, attending events, being useful, answering questions on forums and speaking to as many people as possible. Without this online and offline visibility, my first product launch at the 6 month mark would not have amounted to much. From there though you have to capitalize and actually build out your products and programs to continue to offer your community what they want – that’s when it gets really exciting.

The success you have now and the lifestyle you’ve created is amazing. It’s what so many people want. However I’m sure it hasn’t all gone smoothly to get to where you are now. 

Can you tell us about the struggles and setbacks you’ve had and what you helped you overcome those?

I think the location independent lifestyle looks glamorous from the outside, and yet, like with anything in life, there are the brilliant bits and the not so brilliant. I feel extraordinarily lucky to have my life. But I’ve worked hard, and still do, to achieve this lifestyle and maintain it.

I went for 6 months without any pay and could barely pay my rent for a few of those when starting out. The first product I launched only had one sale in the first week and I thought about quitting then, and many times before and since to be honest. But I surround myself with good friends and mentors and have learned to reach out to them and ask for help when I need it.

It can also be lonely working by yourself, as many entrepreneurs doing, always having to hustle to make the next dollar. I did that for the first two years at least until I could start investing in having a small team. So once again that support network really helps, as does co-working and being part of a mastermind group.

On top of that, even though I adore traveling, and like the challenge of constantly shifting around, there are tolls that come from that, it requires a great amount of energy and motivation and the ability to hit the ground running wherever you are.

I’ve had no end of frustrations with technology, language barriers and just trying to find Internet when I need it most. I accept though, that this is the life I’ve chosen to lead – so you have to work with what you’ve got and make the best of it. And I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t love it 95% of the time.

This applies to anyone building up their ideal lifestyle business – if you really want it you have to work for it and push through the humps and jump over the hurdles. You also need to celebrate your small wins and congratulate yourself regularly – no-one will and it’s important that you do. This is after all a journey!

WE Mastermind is a course you’re very passionate about. I’ve met people online who have had great things to say about it. Can you just explain what exactly is WE Mastermind and what is the outcome for someone who goes through the course?

I love to hear that. I am really proud of the results we’ve helped our members get over the last two years of running this program.

WE Mastermind is a 3-month digitally delivered program designed to take you from zero to launch of your first product or service.

You get 12 weeks worth of killer modules that take you through everything from product launch planning, to social media, list building, affiliate marketing, tools and technology and mindset. These are delivered via video training, workbooks and forums to track your progress.

You also get 12 weeks of group coaching from myself and Natalie MacNeil, my partner in crime and our backgrounds really complement each other well. Natalie has been an entrepreneur since the age of 17 and has gone on to build an Emmy Award winning Interactive Media business, win a bunch of amazing awards, beat out 250 competitors to win a $100,000 investment funding and much more. My background helps me combine all the lessons learned in the corporate world with building my online business, launching products and services and coaching others. It’s a pretty powerful combination.

The unique component we believe set our program apart from others though, is the mastermind. From the second week you’ll be assigned to your own mastermind group of 4-6 other like-minded entrepreneurs who you’ll meet with (online) weekly to get real accountability and make massive shifts – that’s invaluable in my mind.

At the end of the three months we believe if you’ve gone through all the training and fully committed to showing up and doing the work, you’ll either have launched or be close to launching a lucrative product or service. You’ll also have an entire community behind you cheering you on, and most likely some new joint ventures and collaborations as a result.

Finally, what’s one last piece of advice for someone who’s ready to take the leap into online entrepreneurship?

Be prepared for one of the most scary and exhilarating rides of your life and make sure you embrace every twist and turn and up and down – it will make you a better person, and you in turn will make the world a better place. And that’s a fact!

Ready to launch your online business this year?

If the answer is yes, but you have no idea what it should be, where to start, or how to do it, then WE Mastermind can guide you.

The once a year program is open now until May 15th. Only 50 spots are available. Their focus is mainly women, but they will of course accept men.

This 3 month online program is delivered online with 12 step by step modules complete with actionable workbooks and coaching videos. In addition there’s an interactive forum, mastermind groups and monthly Q&A coaching calls as well as interviews with experts and the following modules:

1. Setting Yourself Up With a Million Dollar Mindset
2. Choosing Your Perfect Product Niche
3. Discovering the Right Type of Product to Launch
4. The WE Mastermind Lucrative Launch Blueprint
5. Creating a Killer Web Presence
6. DIY Social Media Sales and Marketing
7. Rallying a Dream Team to Sell Your Product
8. Keyword Marketing and Search Engine Optimization
9. Powerful List Building and Newsletter Marketing
10. Getting Comfortable With Making More Money
11. Tips, Tools, and Technology to Streamline Your Business
12. Putting it All Together

Besides the full program, there is also a digital only option. You’ll get everything above minus the coaching calls, forums, and tech training videos.

Bonuses for Get Busy Living Readers Only

I’m happy to help Natalie spread the word about WE Mastermind because I believe in what she does. I know the benefits about having an online business and the freedom it creates. I want you to enjoy those same benefits with your own online business.

If you join WE Mastermind through my affiliate link, where I will make a commission, I have special bonuses just for you.

• 1 hour (or two 30 minute) Skype call with me anytime to pick my brain about anything or coach you in any area of your life. 
• Free access to my Get Busy Living in 30 day course. This course is a great compliment to WE Mastermind because I can help get you in the right mindset, strengthen your beliefs and confidence, introduce habits that’ll take your life and business to the next level, and prepare you for this new chapter in your life. WE Mastermind will definitely help you with a plan to launch your online business. It is the ying and I’m the yang.
• Free access to my video training course, Develop an iPhone or iPad app with no programming experience ($197 value). If you’re interested in developing apps as one of your online businesses now or in the future, I can teach you how to find an idea, hire the right team, and getting you setup to have your app ready in the App store. You can join the course or offer it free to someone you know.

To get these bonuses, you must join WE Mastermind through my link. Once you join, forward me a copy of your receipt to bennyhsu@gmail.com.

There are only 50 spots available and the deadline is May 15th at midnight. If you want to have your online business up and running before the end of 2013, these ladies will guide you with their experience.

Enroll in WE Mastermind by clicking this link

(My course, Get Busy Living in 30 is now open again. See the end of the post for details.)

When I was in school, I took a lot of classes that I knew I would never use. Calculus? Physics? English literature? For some, it was an important class, but for the majority of us, it was stuff we would never use again.

I wish they would have taught classes that would have been more useful to the majority of students. A class that we didn’t think we needed at the time, but ten years later, we’d think, “I’m so glad they taught that class.”

Maybe like a class titled “Life Lessons: The Honest Truth”.

I would love to be a guest lecturer for a day to high school and college kids and tell them about “real life”. Instead schools don’t teach us this stuff and that’s why there are 30 year olds who refuse to grow up and act like life owes them something.

I was one of those. When I turned 30, I was more lost and confused than when I was 20. My life was going backwards. I knew how much my life sucked, but I didn’t want to deal with the responsibility of putting my life in my own hands.

It’s a lot of power. What if I made the wrong choices? What if I can’t decide? I would have preferred someone else make the tough decisions for me. Despite being an adult, I didn’t act like one. What I was doing was waiting for someone else to come along and point me in the right direction.

Wasn’t gonna happen. I now realize there were plenty of people out there willing to help me, but they weren’t actively looking for me. They were just there.

I had to seek help myself.

I’m not going to blame the school system for not teaching me this. I’m not going to blame my parents. They were just focused on wanting me to make good grades and going to a good college like typical Asian parents.

It would be nice if schools now taught kids real valuable life lessons. Took me till I was 32 to understand the real truth.

My big realization

I’m about to share with you the one piece of advice that made me realize that I better start taking shit seriously. It’s related to the Albert Einstein quote about the definition of insanity. This is something I thought to myself over and over again.

If what you have been doing isn’t working, you need to change. Otherwise your future will be a repeat of the same old shit. <–Click to tweet

I had some moments of happiness, but it just temporarily covered the real pain that was eating away inside. The pain of wanting a better life, doing work I enjoyed, being happy, and having the freedom I craved.

That advice was like a match to gasoline. It made me more determined than I had ever been before to take back control of my life. I already had a preview of my future, and I damn sure didn’t want that.

I started a bunch of lifestyle changes. I followed principles of happiness and success that have been around for generations. Stuff that have stood the test of time. Principles that people a hundred years from now will still be using.

I got rid of the microwave mentality that had brainwashed me. It was so toxic to me, but I never realized it. I embraced change. I didn’t fear it even when it was difficult. It was difficult and painful at times. Change is never easy.

But the discomfort was temporary. And after a while, I didn’t notice it as much because the satisfaction of real change was so much stronger.

When you roll up your sleeves and announce to yourself and the world that you’re fed up with the status quo, and you’re gonna change the direction of your life back towards something you actually want, it is a moment you will never forget. 

You need to learn to enjoy it on your own, however. Some of your friends will resist your efforts to change. They’ll feel threatened. Because when you start taking responsibility for your life, and stop making excuses, then good things start happening for you.

And suddenly you have little in common with your friends who still believe in blaming their lack of progress on everything, but their own laziness. You’re not one of them anymore and they don’t like that.

Screw them. You don’t need them. You will find a whole new world of friends to replace your lazy friends and you will enjoy your new friends even more.

I’m here to tell you that the path gets easier despite the challenges you will face and very soon your old life will feel so distant. I look back now and just chuckle at the type of person I used to be.

When you begin to take responsibility of your life, you start attracting better people, more opportunities, have better relationships, and feel much happier.

And you’re going to like the person you become.

(This is the shortened version of what I’d tell students.)

An Awesome Teacher

I got an email last September from a high school who told me she’s had her student read my ebook in class and they discuss it.

My high school students and I have been studying your book, Getting A Life That Doesn’t Suck.  I help them to adjust the thought patterns for high school students and particularly for those who have grown up in extreme at risk situations.  It has worked well and they are starting to think that your ideas are more than abstract.

That is awesome.

She’s also taken emails that I send out to subscribers and discusses it with her students.  I love hear that.

I believe that’s what more young kids need. So that when they become adults, and enter the real world, they understand they don’t get trophies for just showing up in life.

They know that people who work hard can run circles around those who are just talented. They understand that no matter the environment they grew up in, they can overcome it if they choose.

Get Busy Living in 30

No matter how old we are now it’s never too late to live the life we want. Since we never learned how to achieve real lasting success and happiness, it doesn’t mean you begin right now.

If you’re ready to start, let me help you.

My course, Get Busy Living in 30 is now open again.  

It’s 30 days to get your back on track in life.

If you’re feeling stuck and hopeless, let me help you get the happier, confident, optimistic you back so you can start to create the life you truly want.

Learn more about the course and if it is right for you. 

19,519 miles and eight flights

I’m ready to do this trip all over again in a heartbeat!

In early March we finished a trip that had been planned since last July. The day I booked the tickets I had no plan to go traveling anywhere. However word spread online that there was a great opportunity to book Singapore airlines with United miles. Judging by the number of blog posts travel hackers were posting, it was a big deal.

Waiting for the trip was the hardest part. I think I was more excited about the flying part than where we were going. I had flown Singapore Airlines before, but that was 10 years ago. It’s consistently ranked as one of the best airlines in the world. So I couldn’t wait to fly with them again.

I wrote in detail about booking so you can read that post to get the backstory. In that post, I wrote about going to Bali, however, we changed it to Hong Kong a few months later.

We had been talking about going back to Bali since we were there two years ago, but she suggested going to Hong Kong instead. She had never been there and it had been about five years since I had been. Plus she wanted to go visit her dad and stepmom who live in Zhuhai, China, which is just a hour ferry ride away from Hong Kong.

That’s okay with me, but on one condition.

NO WAY did I want to change our flight from Singapore – Tokyo on the way back. Why? That’s the flight we would be in the A380 suites. It has been a dream of mine to fly it since Singapore Airlines began flying the A380 in 2007!

I never thought I would get the chance to experience it cause of the cost. Even now it’s not cheap at all. New York to Singapore round trip costs $15,750 per person.

We got very lucky cause Singapore Airlines changed the plane on that route from the 777-300 to the A380. Since we were already booked in first class, that meant we would be in first class on the A380. First class in the A380 are the suites.

I wanted to know how much it would cost for the suites on this route so I checked online. It would be $8,949.44 for two seats. That’s just one way. If I divided that by seven hours we would be sitting on the plane, that’s $1,278.49 per hour.

Great value for 260,000 miles and $393.76!

So we could fly to the North Pole if she wanted, but as long as we were still flying from Singapore – Tokyo.

Before we start, I just want to say this anyone can do this. I’m not a millionaire. I’m just a regular guy who started to learn about this exciting world of travel hacking, and have amassed around 1 million miles and points to date.

In fact, there are much more experienced travel hackers who find ways to squeeze every drop out of every online deal. I have just squeezed it a few times, and have been enjoying the result that I have gotten.

Let’s start from the beginning.

Flying to Taipei

When I booked those tickets, I had it leaving Taipei because we would be back around Chinese New Year anyways. My wife wanted to go to Sydney during that week because her mom would be on vacation and she could go.

I used 240,000 Delta Skymiles plus taxes for both of us to fly China Airlines in business class from Los Angeles. To get to Los Angeles from Jacksonville, I just bought the tickets outright. Not worth spending points on it.

I think I was a little bit too excited the morning of our flight to Taipei because we got to the airport too early. We still had to wait 30 minutes before we could even check in.

The flight from the west coast to Taipei is a solid 14 hours. Sitting in economy is tough on my whole body and mind for that long. I’ve done it more times than I can remember though, but it’s nice to fly with more comfort.

So I was really looking forward to flying in bigger seats, bigger TV screens, better food, and more intimate service.

It was my wife’s birthday the day we flew, so I told her this would be her birthday present. She was pretty happy with that idea. We had good food, great service, had so many movies to choose from, and got some good sleep. It was nice to get off the plane and not feel achy and tired.

Taipei – Beijing – Singapore – Sydney

After two weeks in Taipei, it was ready for our big trip.

When I booked this ticket back in July, something hit me that I found so funny. A direct flight from Taipei to Sydney takes 8 hours. I’ve done that flight once before in 2008.

The flight I booked would take a total of 28 hours and 40 minutes. That included a 8 hour layover in Beijing. Talk about taking the long way to Sydney! I’m glad my wife didn’t yell at me for wanting to spend so much time flying and waiting in airports.

The longer way meant more flights and more airport lounges to enjoy, so it was a great trade off.

China Airlines lounge

We started the day in the lounge in Taipei. Food would be a theme these next 29 hours. It felt like we were always eating.

Air China Business Class

The first flight was on Air China in business class. This was a two cabin plane with no first class. So business class is like first class here. Service and food was good. Nothing spectacular. Wasn’t a full cabin at all. This was just the warm up for the next two flights.

Beijing Airport

We had 8 hours in the Beijing airport. We did consider leaving the airport during that time, but didn’t want to feel rushed coming back. It was the start of Chinese New Year and we imagined tons of people flying.

We spent majority of the time in the airline lounge. It was a shared lounge between many airlines.

The lounge was basically walls set up in the middle of the terminal. Pretty surprised by how bland it was. Food selection was weak, but no big deal because we weren’t hungry.

Beijing will soon overtake Atlanta International airport as the busiest in the world. Just figured they would have lounges that reflected that. That’s okay though cause the next lounge in Singapore would make up for this 100x.

The good thing was there was free wifi, drinks, and a shower.

Slim pickings on food choices

Beijing – Singapore

Finally the wait was over. First class on Singapore Airlines.

Singapore Airlines First Class on the 777-300

The configuration of the cabin was 1-2-1 with eight seats total so it felt spacious. The seats were so wide you could probably fit two people inside it. The seats turn into a fully flat bed that the cabin crew makes for you. So much storage space in front and power outlets for anything you want to charge.

With enough movies and TV shows on the 23 inch LCD screen, there’s no feeling of boredom on the flight.

What I looked forward to as well was the service. The flight attendants go out of their way to make sure you’re happy. It makes the experience that much better.

This flight was a red-eye so we had the choice of eating first or sleeping first. My wife decided to sleep first, while I wanted to eat first.

The food was amazing. I don’t know why I wanted to eat first since I wasn’t hungry at all. I think cause I didn’t want to sleep yet so I could soak up the experience. I did sleep some. I slept so well that when I woke up I I saw we were landing soon. I asked my wife if she had breakfast and she said a long time ago! I didn’t even know.

Singapore International airport – The Private Room

We arrvied at 6:50am. First time ever to this airport and was impressed by all the of stores and restaurants. There is also the world’s tallest slide in an airport and a butterfly garden. It’s a great place for layover.

We skipped all that and went straight to the lounge. Since this is the main airport for Singapore Airlines, their lounge would be top notch.

We were greeted at the front, showed our first class boarding ticket for the next flight, and escorted all the way to the back to the Private Room.

We passed the business class and first class lounge along the way. So what’s the Private Room? It is for first class passengers on Singapore Airlines only. The regular first class lounge is for partner airlines or members of their top tier status.

The Private Room is a very nice elegant space with a small dining room, two private rooms for getting work done, and a large general seating area. What stands out though is the butler service (that’s what they called it). They walked around to see if we needed anything. We were given menus to order from, or we could get what they had on the buffet.

The Private Room

I wasn’t all that hungry (common theme), but I still ordered some dim sum and hot tea. I knew on our next flight we would be eating great food and I didn’t want to miss out on any airplane meals.

We took advantage of the great shower facilities though. I needed it to help wake up and start the day off right.

The Private Room was the best lounge I had ever been in. There were hardly any people there while we were there for a couple hours. So it felt even more private.

I wish we could have stayed longer. Luckily we’d have one more change to experience it towards the end of our trip.

Singapore to Sydney

Again we’d be flying first class in the 777-300ER. So the same 1-2-1 configuration as the last flight. As you can see, the seats are big and lots of room in the front to stretch out.

We were offered pajamas and an amenity kit which contained Kiehl’s products. Since it was a day time flight, the meal was more elaborate.

One feature of flying Singapore Airlines business or first class is Book the Cook. That’s where you can pre-order your meal online. It’s an extensive menu so it was hard to choose. I searched for suggestions and chose the Japanese wagyu beef for this flight. I love a good steak and this one did not disappoint.

One small problem on this flight. My seat would not recline at all. The flight attendants tried resetting it a few times. No luck. They apologized a lot for that. I was fine. I wasn’t sleepy so I didn’t plan on sleeping anyways.

Before we landed, the senior flight attendant apologized to me again. He gave me a $300 voucher that I could spend on in-flight duty free within a year. It was a nice gesture and surprised by it. I let my wife spend it on stuff on a later flight.

Sydney

Second time to Sydney, but this time very excited about staying in the Park Hyatt Sydney. Another dream of mine since I began reading trip reports from other travel hackers who raved about this hotel. It finished a $65 million renovation about a year ago. Standard rooms start at $795.

I booked three nights at the Park Hyatt Sydney in the Opera House Deluxe King room. It was all free.

Opera King Deluxe

View from our balcony

Two main things stand out about this hotel. The location and the view. We were very fortunate to get a view of the Opera House., even though that tree was in the way. No complaints!

A couple mornings I jogged from the hotel, around Circular Quay, past the Opera House, and to the Royal Botanical gardens. What a scenic route.

The Opera House has a great bar with an amazing view.

Sadly we were only there for three days. I wish we could have stayed there the whole trip, but if we stayed longer I would have had to pay out of my own pocket.

The room we stayed in would have cost $4,538 for the three nights we stayed! Crazy prices. So thanks to credit card bonuses I got, we stayed for free.

Our second hotel was the Radisson Hotel and Suites. No pictures needed as it was a basic studio room. I did use 200,000 points to book four nights for free.

The rest of the time we stayed at a studio I booked on Airbnb.com. If you’ve never used Airbnb to book a room, you should try it on your next trip. You can save a lot of money compared to staying in a hotel. If you join Airbnb.com for the first time, you can get $25 off your first stay. (That is a referral link so I do make commission if you join and book a place in the future.)

However I’ve used many times and will do so for future trips.

The room we got was in a great part of town with lots of restaurants and the rooftop had a pool, laundry room, picnic tables and this view of Sydney. Amazing!

We stayed two weeks in Sydney and took a ton of pictures, but I’ll share probably my favorite one. We tried to recreate this picture as closely as we could.

We found the same spot from four years ago, but was hard to get the background exact. Four years ago I used a digital camera and this time I used my iPhone. So maybe that’s why.

Four years later

Natalie Sisson from the Suitcase Entreprenur said on my Instagram I look like Clark Kent in the top picture and Superman in the bottom. Thanks Natalie!

Sydney to Singapore

Though I was sad to leave Sydney, I was excited to leave because we would be flying on the A380, the world’s largest passenger airplane, in business class. I have always dreamt to fly on the A380, even in economy.

On later flights we would be flying in the suites and economy on the A380. So it was cool to try out their business class as well.

Unbelievable amounts of space and comfort on this 8 hour flight.

The food was great as usual. I love getting ice cream on an airplane. I love ice cream anyways but getting on an airplane makes me happy. I don’t know why.

Singapore Airport Business Class Lounge

We arrived and headed to the lounge for our 1.5 hour layover. We were flying business class from Singapore to Hong Kong so we had access to the business class lounge this time.

We were not hungry at all from all the food on the last flight. Still there was a huge selection of really good looking food. We couldn’t resist and ate a little.

Singapore to Hong Kong

We flew on the 777-200ER in business class. However this is a two cabin plane so it doesn’t have a first class.

It was an older plane and I could definitely tell by the wear and tear in some parts of the seating area. Still we enjoyed the heck out of this flight.

Happy wife!

This flight I pre-ordered my meal on Book the Cook again and tried the Beef Redang based on recommendations I saw online. While it was good, it was spicy! I’m a lightweight and can’t handle spicy food. I wish i had known so my mouth wasn’t on fire.

Great flavor but spicy!

It was a short 2 hour flight so I didn’t sleep at all. In fact, from the time I woke up in Sydney till the time I slept in Hong Kong, I was up for 23 hours. I don’t know why I wasn’t tired at all. Maybe too excited about traveling today or maybe cause I drank too much Chinese tea. My mind was acting weird though by the end, so it was definitely time to sleep.

Hong Kong

We first stayed in a studio I found on Airbnb.com. Finding a place in Hong Kong for a reasonable price was tough. This one was $86 a night and it was fine for two nights.

The good was that the location was amazing. Right on Nathan Road which is right in the middle of shopping and food. It was very easy to get from the airport even after midnight.

The bad was that hot water would only last a few minutes before having to wait a few minutes for the hot water tank to heat up more. Also it had two windows, but no light came in. So in the morning, we couldn’t tell if it was 7am or 1pm. It was just dark.

It was fine for two nights at that price.

That’s okay because after that we moved to the Conrad Hilton Hong Kong. As a Hilton Diamond member, I got upgraded to a harbor view room with a king sized bed.

So we went from zero view to this view.

Hong Kong Harbor View

As a Diamond member, we also had access to the Executive lounge on the 59th floor. We could have afternoon tea, breakfast in the morning, or just sit and have drinks anytime during the day. The view was identical to the one in our room since it on the same side, just one floor apart. We definitely took advantage of free drinks and free food during our stay there.

Breakfast in the lounge

We came home one night and housekeeping put these there.

The service was friendly all throughout the hotel. The hotel is connected to a mall with a movie theater and high end stores like Louis Vuitton and Chanel if that’s your thing.

I used cash and points to book four nights. So it came out to $150 a night + taxes and 100,000 points total.

We really enjoyed staying here and would do so again when we go back.

We spent four nights in the Hilton before leaving to go to Zhuhai, China by ferry. The only reason we went was cause her dad and stepmom lived there. Nothing special about Zhuhai if I’m being honest.

After staying a few nights, we took the ferry directly to Hong Kong international airport for our trip back home.

Flying back to Taipei the long way

Flying from Hong Kong to Taipei takes less than two hours if we flew direct. Just look at the map and see how close they are (HKG – TPE).

What I booked would take a total of 30 hours, including a 10 hour layover in Narita (Tokyo). Just like living life in a straight line is too boring, flying direct, in this case, was too. This was going to be fun.

Not the most direct way home, but definitely worth it.

Hong Kong to Singapore

When we changed our tickets, we got put into economy leaving Hong Kong. While I would have preferred business or first, since that’s where the rest of our flights were, I was just glad we were able to change the flight.

Plus we were on the A380 again. I went from dreaming about flying on the A380 to flying it in every cabin in a month: suites (coming soon), business, and economy.

I figured the A380 economy on Singapore airlines couldn’t be that bad. It wasn’t at all. Great flight. Great service. Good food.

When we arrived in Singapore we had a 4.5 hour layover. We headed to the lounge.

The next flight we would be flying in the suites, so we had access to the Private Lounge again. We had more time to enjoy the lounge, take a shower to refresh and relax. I wasn’t hungry, like usual on this trip, but couldn’t resist good free food.

Singapore Airlines A380 Suites!

The time had finally arrived! I had been dreaming about this since 2007 and waiting since last August. I had read so many reviews about flying in the suites to prepare for it. Every review said it was amazing.

I couldn’t wait to find out for myself.

I got on the plane and had to pinch myself that this wasn’t a dream. Each seat is a private room. It has sliding doors and even window shades for more privacy.

The three flight attendants working that night were so great. Each one introduced themselves to us when we sat down and the whole flight they made us feel like VIPs.

Each one, at different times, saw us taking pictures and offered to take our picture. It was funny because each had no idea the other had already done it. That’s great service.

Here is one of them.

We couldn’t stop smiling

There are only 10 seats in the suites class. Three single seats on the left and right and in the middle has two sets of double seats. I definitely chose the middle two seats because when it was time for sleep, the suites would turn into a double bed!

Originally we were in the last row in the middle and was asked if we wanted to move a row up so we would be away from the galley. We thought someone would be sitting there. Nope. There were only three people total in the suites: Us and an older Japanese gentleman. Wow!!

A single suite

Our suite

Our area including complimentary Bose noise canceling headphones

You can see the sliding doors are closed and the window shades down.

Facing the large screens

Since it was a red-eye flight we had the choice to eat first or sleep first. Eleanor decided to eat first. I had way too much ice cream in the lounge, so I decided to eat before we landed.

After she was done eating, it was time to make the beds. The flight attendants had to come over and convert the seats into beds. All three of them did it and It took about 10 minutes to do. Lots of moving parts but when it’s done it looked amazing.

Insane comfort

The only problem was that I was so excited from being on the flight that I had a hard time sleeping. I slept off and on for probably a couple hours.

I told a flight attendant to wake up me so I could eat before we landed.

For this flight I used Book the Cook again. When reading recommendations for what to eat, many people suggested the lobster thermidor. Most said it was great.

I love eating lobster.

I don’t know why I didn’t choose it on an earlier flight, but this was my last chance so I pre-ordered it. However, I had planned on eating it right after take off. I didn’t know I’d be so full from the ice cream in the Private Room.

So I had my lobster thermidor for breakfast. It’s safe to say this was the first time I had ever eaten lobster for breakfast.

It was really good. No imitation lobster here. It’s the real thing and a really nice breakfast.

From take off to landing, it was the best flight I’ve ever taken.

This is why when my wife suggested we go to Hong Kong instead of Bali, I said that’s fine, BUT I do not want to change our Singapore – Tokyo flight no matter what. Everything else can change but that flight.

Even when I called United airlines to change it, I made sure the agent did not touch this flight and just changed our flights in and out of Hong Kong.

I will say the only negative thing about this flight, and we knew it before we even got on the plane, was that it would be too short. The flight time was around 6 hours only.

We wished it could have been for 13+ hour flight. When the flight was winding down, my wife was definitely sad to leave. She told me to start saving a bunch more points so we can do this again, but next time take a longer flight!

Ana Lounge in Tokyo

After flying in the A380 suites, it was well worth the 10 hour layover we had here. Our next flight would be in business class so we had access to the ANA lounge. I did my homework and learned where the biggest ANA lounge was and headed there.

Since we arrived in the morning, the lounge was pretty quiet to begin with. As the day went on, it filled up.

Great view of planes landing and taking off

Eleanor was still sleepy so she headed off to the nap area to sleep. I wasn’t yet, but knew I would be later. A nice hot shower woke me up. I took a seat and watched planes land and takeoff while on my laptop for most of the time. I loved every minute of it.

Finally heading back to Taipei

We could have taken a 2 hour flight from Hong Kong to Taipei, but that would mean we would miss out on the adventure. Thankfully my wife didn’t think I was complexly nuts for wanting to take the really long way.

She loved all the flights we took, the lounges we had access to, and especially the A380 suites.

Our last flight would be on ANA in business class. It’s a two cabin class, so technically there isn’t a first class. A flight attendant saw us taking pictures and was kind enough to help us take ours.

I know I was sad that there wouldn’t be any more flights on this trip. What an awesome time.

Our last flight

We flew a total of 19,519 miles and had eight flights in a span of one month. It was my wife’s first time flying business or first class. Now she told me she can’t go back to economy. I think she’s just joking, but probably not.

I’m thankful the trip went smoothly with so many different flights. We didn’t have any delays, no missing luggage, no problems with immigration or customs. I couldn’t have asked for a better trip.

It’s a trip we will always remember!

Want to learn about travel hacking? Join the Travel Hacking Cartel

If you want to learn how to do all this, you can join the Travel Hacking Cartel which is run by Chris Guillebeau. I’m going to assume most of you know who he is, but if you don’t, he is a blogger, author and travel guru.

He’s accomplished his goal of visiting all 193 countries in the world. That’s an amazing achievement!

He’s gotten many of these flights for free from travel hacking and this course teaches you exactly how to do it.

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There are different plans.

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Where would you travel if you had a free roundtrip ticket to anywhere in the world? 

During five days of Hell week, they only get four hours of sleep.

How bad do you want to create the life you want?  How hard would you push yourself? Would you push yourself to actual death only to be revived?

Sometimes it’s good to put into perspective what some have to go through to achieve their life’s dream.

It makes what we possibly have to go through seem not as bad.

The toughest training in the world

That’s what sailors put themselves through when they have a goal of becoming a Navy SEAL. It’s 25 weeks of training to test their endurance and will.

Cold, miserable, and tired are three words that sum up the experience.

Master Chief Information Systems Technician Dennis Wilbanks, head SEAL recruiter said, “You have to want the program. And mentally, never give yourself the option to quit.”

70% drop out within the first few weeks. That number is pretty high considering sailors know what they are signing up for.

They want them to be able to work flawlessly under intense mental and physical exhaustion. Why? As one instructor put it, “Mistakes made when working with explosives only happen once.”

He makes a good point.

Navy SEALs raided Bin Laden’s compound last year. I read an article in Esquire magazine about the man who actually shot Bin Laden. A fascinating firsthand account of what it was like inside.

One story in the Esquire article really stood out to me. It really put in perspective how badly some of these guys want to become Navy SEALs.

One test during Basic Underwater Demolition School/SEAL (BUD/S) he describes, but I bet words can’t begin to show how grueling it really is.

They break them down and see how physically and mentally tough they are. It sometimes reaches the point of death and resurrection.

“One of the tests is they make you dive to the bottom of a pool and tie five knots,” the Shooter says. “One guy got to the fifth knot and blacked out underwater. We pulled him up he was, like, dead. They made the class face the fence while they tried to resuscitate him. The first words as he spit out water were ‘Did I pass? Did I tie the fifth knot?’ The instructor told him, ‘We didn’t want to find out if you could tie the knots, you asshole, we wanted to know how hard you’d push yourself. You killed yourself. You passed.”

That…is…crazy.

But that’s what it takes to become a Navy SEAL. Unrelenting drive and a willingness to not quit.

Isn’t that what separates the ordinary from the extraordinary amongst us as well? The ones who have success in life act like the guy who tried to tie that fifth knot.

They are the ones who act like tying one knot is enough to pass.

Life is a bunch of tests

We all start kicking and screaming when we come into this world. We are trainees and we want to get to an elite level. As we go through life, we have to respond to different tests thrown our way.

As we get older, the tests get more intense. It might feel like Hell Week at times.

What’s Hell Week exactly?

That’s when sailors are subjected to a series of mentally and physically crushing workouts. They must swim dozens of miles in freezing, rough surf, and then run and roll in the sand and mud – all in full gear.

Sand burns their eyes and makes their skin raw. They consume 7,000 calories a day and still lose weight. Over the entire five days, they are only allowed four hours of sleep.

That…is…crazy.

This is when the majority of the trainees quit, and even the act of quitting is painful. They must ring a brass bell to signal they don’t have what it takes to be a SEAL. The whole camp can hear them ring that bell.

Despite being physically exhausting, the reason many quit is their inner voice telling them to.

“The belief that BUD/S is about physical strength is a common misconception. Actually, it’s 90 percent mental and 10 percent physical,” said a BUD/S instructor at the San Diego facility. “(Students) just decide that they are too cold, too sandy, too sore or too wet to go on. It’s their minds that give up on them, not their bodies.”

They know all they have to do is ring that bell and they don’t have to endure it anymore. They can be taking a hot shower and sleeping in a warm bed, while the rest are still out there going through hell.

Have you rung that bell?

I know whatever challenge you’re going through is more mental than anything else. When the first sign of trouble comes, you want to ring that bell. It’s much easier to do that.

Have you decided to not pursue your dreams and sit on the couch instead watching your fifth hour of television, rather than writing that book, creating a business plan, or doing anything on your life’s to-do list?

If so, you’ve let your inner voice get the better of you. You’ve given up way too easily. The ones you are jealous of have survived Hell Week. In fact, they may have gone through a dozen hell weeks in their lives.

Yet, they never rang that bell.

Since they faced those challenges, they’re more strong and confident because of them. They’ve won some and lost some, but they’re better off for trying. Any problem that comes along doesn’t scare them. Ringing that bell is not an option. They don’t think “I can’.t” Instead they think, “How can I?”

You might see their lives and think “It must be nice. They’re just lucky.” If you think that, that’s why you’re where you are and they aren’t.

How about giving yourself a real chance at a life you desire? We’ve only got one shot at this life. How terrifying can it be to take risks and see what happens?

In the end, we all die anyway.

However, some die knowing they had a good life, while many die wondering what type of life it could have been.

If you tried your damn hardest and failed, it’s not the end of the world. Failure doesn’t have to be such a negative event. Many people have found success despite many failures. Failure is only a failure if you don’t learn something from it.

Tell your inner voice to SHUT UP

At times you’re not going to want to keep trying. That inner voice is going to think, “This is stupid. Is all this work really worth it? You’re going to fail anyway, so quit now!” 

You question when you will start seeing results. You wonder if life will get better than it is now.

That’s the moment when you have a choice. You can ring that bell or push even harder. You have to decide to ignore that stupid voice in your head.

Don’t think about “what if.” I doubt that guy who went down to tie that fifth knot wondered what would happen if he tried. He just knew it had to be done. His reward for attempting was he died momentarily yet his first words were, “Did I pass? Did I tie the fifth knot?”

You must decide to tie that fifth knot. You’re not going to come close to dying, I promise that. You just need that attitude. Prove it to yourself how bad you want it.

The pain you feel will be temporary, but the pain of quitting lasts forever.

I know you want to do more in life. That’s why you’re at my blog. You didn’t come here for help growing tomatoes. You’re here cause you want live a more exciting life. I’m here to push you into that water and you get you to tie that fifth knot.

You’ll thank yourself you tried hard. The memories you’ll smile back on are the ones where you had to overcome adversity, and triumphed.

Sailor or Navy SEAL?

Moving forward, when you start to have doubts, don’t imagine the worst case scenario. You’re only going to convince yourself that it’s not worth trying.

Instead, imagine what it’s like when you do achieve your goal. Think about how your life would be, how awesome you’ll feel, and how exciting life finally is.

To achieve that, you’re not going to have to actually crawl under barbed wire while covering your ears during simulated explosions, or nearly die from trying to tie a fifth knot, unless you do want to become a Navy SEAL. But it’s going to feel like Hell Week sometimes.

You have to want the challenges in order to get the rewards in life.

So take the attitude of a Navy Seal who doesn’t know the meaning of quitting. The ones who do quit don’t get the distinction of being called a SEAL. The ones who quit are just known as sailors.

What about you?

Do you want to be known as extraordinary or just ordinary?

Never ring that bell. 

If you liked this post, please share it on your favorite social media website!

Photo by tomsaint

If you want to eat, you better go get it.

I spent a great week in Hong Kong and was so excited to go cause of the food.

One thing we couldn’t wait to eat was dim sum. If you don’t know what it is, it basically refers to a style of Chinese food prepared as small bite-sized or individual portions of food traditionally served in small steamer baskets or on small plates.

Basically it’s damn good.

My wife found one famous local place and told me it was going to be different than what I was used to.

For example, when you enter the restaurant there is no hostess to seat you. You don’t line up waiting for people to leave and then go sit down. You have to walk around looking for people leaving. It’s like trying to park your car at the mall during Christmas time. You’re circling and hoping to see a spot free up.

A strategy we used was to see if people were very close to leaving. Then stand by their table patiently waiting for them to leave. It could be five minutes or more. You just hover around people while they’re finishing up. It might feel like you’re bothering them, but you have to do it if you want to get a seat.

When you do find a table, you’re very likely going to be sharing a table with others. When we went, we shared a table with three other small groups.

Might seem awkward, but if you really want to eat, you can’t be picky about where you sit.

The way most people know dim sum is ladies will push around a steam cart with stacks of small wooden baskets filled with food. They come to your table and open each stack to show you what they have. If you like it, you tell them and they give it to you and make a note on your ticket. At the end of the meal, you take that ticket to the cashier, and they add it up.

It’s very organized and it’s exciting to see the carts come by to see what good food they have. It’s also great cause you can eat within seconds of sitting down.

The Hunger Games

This place definitely was different than the dim sum places I’m always used to going to. My wife said it’s cause it’s more traditional style.

Ladies come out of the kitchen pushing the steam carts, but instead of everyone waiting at their table for them to come by, people rush to the cart and quickly surround it. (see photo above and look for the short lady in light blue and the people surrounding her)

They’re all looking to see what it is. If they want it, they get the attention of the old lady by gently shoving their ticket into her face. Poor lady!

When they have their items, they have to walk through a crowd of people who barely move cause they don’t want to lose their positioning.

IT’S CHAOS!

Eleanor went up many times. She had some success but also walked away empty handed many times too. I tried a few times and had to squeeze my way in if I wanted to get something. Didn’t matter if it was old lady or old guy. I had to stand my ground. Sometimes I had success and other times they ran out of that particular item quickly.

We called it hunger games because it was a battle to get the food. If you didn’t go get food, you would go hungry.

Okay you wouldn’t literally go hungry, but you would miss out on most of the good food.

Sometimes the carts would have leftovers. That happened when the items weren’t as appealing or they made too much of a certain item. This is when the ladies would push the cart around to different tables. Then at the comfort of your table, you can take a look at what’s left and and they’d give it to you.

But that didn’t happen as often.

You could sit on your butt and wait for the leftovers to come around and get full, but if you wanted the really good stuff, you had to take action. Most likely if it was something you really wanted to eat, so did everyone else in the restaurant.

From the time we walked in till we left almost 1.5 hours later, every time a cart came out, the same thing would happen.

This is exactly like life

While sitting there laughing at how chaotic it was and taking pictures, I realized this is like life.

When you want something, you’ve got to get off your butt and go get it. Sometimes you get it, and sometimes you come up empty handed, but at least you tried.

If you sit and wait for it, you’ll never ever get what you truly want.

The life you want isn’t going to be handed to you. No matter how much you wish that would happen, it won’t.

Someone isn’t going to walk around with a cart full of dreams and ask “Would you like to earn more money? Here you go.” or “Would you like to lose weight? Coming right up. Enjoy.”

The point is that you can’t wait for someone to give you the life you want.

Yet that’s what happens all around the world. People want everything to be spoon fed to them. They’re too lazy to take action. They want someone to tell them what to do. They want someone to do the work for them. They want instant results with little work.

Then they wonder why they’re not happy in life. They’re the ones who whine and complain. They try to bring others down in life because they can’t live their dreams.

What happens to those people who wait? They live a mediocre life not worth remembering. They eat the leftovers, while those who take massive action eat like kings and queens.

The $100 Bill

I love the demonstration that best selling author, Jack Canfield uses in his seminars. He holds up a $100 bill and asks, “Who wants this $100 bill?” Of course people raise their hand, wave their arms or shout. But he just stands there calmly holding it until someone comes to get it. Eventually someone jumps out of their seat, runs to the front, and grabs the bill from his hand.

What did that person do that no one else did? Got up off their butt and took action! They took the action that was necessary to get the money. And that’s what you must do to succeed in life.

He then asks his audience why they didn’t come up? What stopped them? He asks them to remember what they told themselves. The usual answers are:

• “I didn’t want to look greedy.”
• “I wasn’t sure if you would really give it to me.”
• “I was afraid I might be doing something wrong and then people would judge me or laugh at me.”
• “I was waiting for further instructions.”

Those same reasons are the reasons they and many of us stop ourselves in our lives.

The ones that have the life that they want have busted their butt to get it. They don’t wait for someone to give it to them. They don’t worry what others think.

They know, in order to have a life of meaning and fulfillment, it requires taking consistent and massive action.

It requires taking risks because that’s where the greatest rewards come.

They create opportunities and luck instead of relying on it.

My life has changed cause of action

At first I didn’t want to go get the food, cause I’m used to sitting at the table while a server would take my order and bring my food. If the restaurant had a self service counter, I’d go up and pick up my food when my number was called. I didn’t want to be in a crowd of people trying to get food.

I thought, “That’s stupid.”

I quickly changed that attitude because Eleanor got tired of going and if we were going to keep eating, I had to go. Plus there were some things I wanted to eat and if I wanted them, I had to go get it.

Old Benny crept back a bit at that restaurant. Before 2010, I kept waiting around for that one opportunity that would change my life. I just needed that one idea that’d make me money or the one secret to everlasting happiness.

I kept expecting it to happen any day now. Just like waiting for a package to arrive from Amazon.com.

Until then I would be sitting on my desk chair watching TV and using my computer.

What I was waiting for never showed up. I’m not the least bit surprised now but back then I always would wonder why.

Why was life like this? I thought I’m a nice guy. I treat people with respect. I say please, thank you and you’re welcome. I graduated from college, don’t do drugs, and am fairly smart so why isn’t good karma coming my way? Where’s my lucky break? Why does that person have success and I don’t.

If I could take a Delorean that went back in time, I’d slap myself on the back of my head. (If I slapped myself too hard, it might cause a concussion and I wouldn’t want that for my future self.)

The point is I was so stupid to think like that. I was too immature and conditioned for things to be just given to me in life.

If I never decided to take control of my life over two years ago, without a doubt my life would still be on that same unfulfilling and boring path. I would still be hoping, praying, and waiting for a better life.

What about you? Are you sitting on your butt looking around to see what’s coming your way? Or are you out there put your life into your own control and doing what it takes to live the good life?

There are only two choices so choose wisely.

Let’s go!

Today is an exciting day!

Not only did I just arrive in Hong Kong for a week, but it’s also the day where I announce the opening of Get Busy Living in 30 Days!

Join now if you want to make 2013 your best year yet

How did this start?

I get a lot of emails with people telling me about their problems and looking for some advice. Some are short, but some pour their hearts out. Many of the situations I can relate to because I used to feel like that.

I reply to as many emails as possible, but I know just one email isn’t going to make a huge impact. It might motivate them to take action, or shed some light on something they didn’t realize, but one or two replies isn’t enough to make a huge dent in their beliefs.

I wanted to do more, but how?

Get Busy Living in 30 Days

So after wanting to do more to help, I decided it was time for to put together a plan of action that goes into more detail on how I finally got unstuck in life.

It covers two years of learning and doing. I’ve found what works for me and now see the truth about what it takes to be happy and successful (in that order which I cover in the course).

It’s called Get Busy Living in 30 Days and it’s a course that’ll help if you’re feeling stuck in life, or you just want to achieve more than you have so far.

It’s going to help reprogram your mind so you’ll be more motivated to create positive change and do what’s necessary to achieve your goals.

What this course also is about is cutting away all the fat and unnecessary advice and focuses on what really matters. What can you focus on that’ll give you the most result?

What do you need to learn first? You need to learn how to walk before you can run. I don’t want you to run a marathon yet. We’re going to be taking easy jogs around the track.

This course is the foundation for everything else you will do in life. Without a strong foundation, you’re not going to be able to build your dream life. You can only build an average one that will crumble after one minor setback.

I’ve taken the best stuff I’ve learned and used the past two years to turn my life around and put it in this course.

How will this course be delivered?

The course will be delivered by email. Once you join, you’ll get one lesson a day for 30 days straight to your inbox. The emails will show you behind the scenes of truly what it takes to be more and do more in life.

They’ll inspire you and give that kick in the butt you desperately need.

Some lessons will have action steps or a worksheet for you to do. It’s an important part of the process.

I chose email because I asked YOU! I did a survey last year to my subscriber list on whether to deliver it an email a day or put it all in an ebook. The majority said one email a day and that was my preference as well.

With one email a day, it breaks down all the information one day at a time.

There will also be a premium package where at the end of the course you will get all the emails and worksheets in a beautifully designed PDF ebook. You can go back and review everything in one place.

Some of the topics I’ll cover in the course

• Why boring, unsexy, unnoticeable steps will always create massive results.
• How to release those chains holding you back in life.
• Why you really feel stuck in life and how to get out of it.
• How to reboot your mind to get it work more optimally.
• Why you must find happiness before you can find success.
• How to properly set goals that’ll empower you.
• Why you might need to change your friends if you want to succeed.
• Why a morning routine can be the best thing you do all day.
• How to achieve more in three months than some do in a year.
• And much more!

Limited Time Only

The course is open now for registration, but will only be available a limited time until Saturday, March 2nd at 11:59 AM EST. (Registration is closed. Will reopen in the near future).

I want to spend my focus with the first group of students going through their first 30 days and getting their feedback. That’s why I’m limiting registration.

I’ll re-open the course in the future, but not sure when yet.

I’d love to help make this year your best your year.

If you’re ready to finally do something with your life and become the person you’ve always wanted to be, I’m ready to help you.

All the risk is on me

I do have a 60 day money back guarantee.

No questions asked. Just send me an email saying you want a refund.

All I ask is that you go through the course, do the worksheets, apply what I’ve taught you. In 60 days after you’ve joined (30 day course + 30 days afterwards), if your life is the same and you haven’t improved, I’ll give you your money back. I don’t want your money if I haven’t helped you.

How’s that for a guarantee?

Disclaimer

I wondered if I should add this because it might scare people off, but that’s my goal, so I’m gonna be upfront and honest.

Before you decide, I have one warning. Change is hard.

Years of bad habits and bad thinking is hard to change. Being successful in your life is hard. The process is tedious, tough, and sometimes even boring. Becoming the person you want to become with the life you want is slow and challenging.

Don’t get me wrong. After going through this course and following these steps, you’ll see immediate results.

But if you don’t like to roll up your sleeves and put in the work, be disciplined and committed to changing your life, you’re welcome to turn the TV back on, have the same boring routine and bad habits, and keep hoping your life will change.

I want to be upfront about this because I don’t want you to waste your time if you believe this course is like finding a genie bottle with three magical wishes.

Let’s get started!

Go to the Get Busy Living in 30 website to learn more and join the course.

I look forward to helping you become the person you want to be and do more this year!

photo credit: Xavier Donat

“If you want to have more, you have to become more. Success is not something your pursue. What you pursue will elude you; it will elude you; it can be like trying to chase butterflies. Success is something you attract by the person you become. For things to improve, you have to improve. For things to get better, you have to get better. For things to change, you have to change. When you change, everything changes for you.”

- Jim Rohn

(This is post is an excerpt from my upcoming 30 day course coming out next week.)

When most people set a new goal they think, “Ok what do I need to do to get it?” They find the steps and just follow them. It’s natural to think that and it’s not a bad question. But it’s not the first question we should ask.

The question we should ask ourselves is “Who do I need to become?”

If you’ve never realized this, then this post will change how you achieve success.

When I learned this, I figured I would try it this way. I needed to stop doing it the way I had done it before, which was just finding out what I needed to do. My past efforts at change in all areas of my life all failed since college. On the outside, life may have seemed great, but on the inside I felt hollow.

I did what most people do, which was try and change my external world. If I did that, I figured I would change as a person on the inside.

Well…that strategy never worked out for me. This time I needed to take a different approach.

It turned out Jim Rohn’s words were the important to my current personal development success.

Before my goal was to make money to become financially independent. If I could do that, life would be great. I thought all my self-confidence, unhappiness, and motivation problems would go away.

I didn’t find success though for a long time. The reason I didn’t was because of ME. I didn’t become the type of person that would achieve the goal I wanted. I just tried to do step 1, step 2, step 3, etc.

I thought knowing how to do it was enough, but it wasn’t.

If you’ve been failing at changing your life and achieving your biggest goals in life, you need a new approach.

It’s all about us

No matter what it is we want to change, we’ll never achieve lasting change until WE change. Once WE improve, everything else around us will improve. When it comes to achieving our goals, remember it is not our goals that need to be worked on; it is US.

It is important to understand that we don’t get in life what we want; we get in life what we are. We will only achieve the level of success in our life that equals our level of self-worth.

Re-read these last two sentences so you really understand it.

But it’s natural tendency to look at the results and figure out why we didn’t get what we wanted, while giving little attention to the cause.

This time when I finally decided I was tired of how my life was, I looked to change myself from the inside out first. It wasn’t about writing down a list of goals (again), putting my head down, and focus on achieving it. I had to change first. I didn’t like the type of person I had become. I was pessimistic, didn’t take responsibility for my life, hated life, jealous, and frustrated cause I felt stuck.

My level of self-worth sucked. Yes I wanted to reach these big goals I had. Yes I wanted to change my life. But I didn’t truly believe I could achieve it. I still felt success was hopeless.

I needed to change myself FIRST, so I could have success. Not the other way around.

Let me give you an example of how I used to approach my goals. I’ve tried to make money online for so long. I’ve always loved how I could do work from anywhere. I spent a lot of time online so it interested me. I’ve joined courses that taught me how to do it. For example, I tried to set up niche websites and make money from Google ads. I followed the steps, worked hard to set it up, tweaked it, and waited to see what kind of results I would get. I didn’t get much. I quit that and move to the next get rich quick opportunity.

I had the steps I need to take to make money. The reason I never found success was because I didn’t change. I didn’t have the attributes that a successful online entrepreneur would possess.

With my mindset, I also believe I didn’t attract the type of opportunities that were right for me either. My mindset was get rich quick with as little work as possible. Guess what? That’s what I attracted because that’s what I was looking for.

I was the same old Benny trying to make money online with every new opportunity I came across.

Who I Needed to Become

Just knowing what I needed to do wasn’t enough for me. Like Jim Rohn said, “Success is not something you pursue. What you pursue eludes you. Success is something you attract by the person you become. If you want to have more, you must become more.”

So in late 2010, I learned to ask myself, “What kind of person would I need to become to be an successful online entrepreneur? What successful traits does a person like this posses?”

I wanted a real business. Not just 100 different websites with Google ads. It works for some people, but it’s not what gets me excited.

Here are a list of questions I needed to answer:

• What new habits, disciplines, or behaviors do I need to START?
• What good habits, disciplines, or behaviors do I need to DO MORE OF?
• What poor habits or behaviors do I need to STOP?

I knew there were a bunch of bad habits and behaviors I was doing that needed to stop. I knew successful people don’t sit and watch TV all day. I knew they took massive action. I had to stop complaining and blaming others. I needed to go on a media diet. I had to take responsibility for my life. I had to change how I talked to myself. I needed to start exercising so I began training for a half marathon.

I stared to read books because I knew that’s what successful people do. I began to believe in myself. I didn’t have thoughts of “What if…” racing through my mind. Successful entrepreneurs don’t think that way.

I needed to shift my focus from what I didn’t have to abundance so I began writing in a gratitude journal. I started to connect with other people online who were doing what I wanted to do.

Giving up wasn’t an option this time. That was my new mindset. When I developed my first iPhone app, Photo 365, I took a risk spending $1,900 on it. I didn’t know how it would sell, but I was going to get it done and do it well no matter what.

Because I changed myself first, I’ve had success beyond what I could imagine back when I began in 2010. You’re reading this blog now, so that’s a great sign. It’s been two years already and I still love blogging here.

I wanted to build a business that I could run from anywhere in the world.  I’m actually writing this post from Sydney, where I’ve been for over a week now. I got here on a ticket I only paid $362.80 for my wife and I and it was in first class (post coming up on how that flight was. I didn’t want to get off the plane). Next week we’re heading to Hong Kong for 10 days.

My first app and brought recognition by Apple that every developer craves and has earned over $70,000 in sales to date. Now I have three more apps and have a course where I teach others how to develop their own apps.

My wife has even said I’ve changed as a person since she first met me in 2008. She said I’ve grown up a lot. That change has come from the inside. The outside looks pretty much the same except with more gray hairs, but the inside is a much better version of me.

So who do you need to become?

What’s holding you back is that you haven’t become the type of person you need to be.

Before you can have it, you must do it. Before you do it, you must become it. Are you ready to become the person who can achieve your goals?

Stop focusing everything on what you need to do, and answer those questions above to find out the type of person you need to become first.

I’ll leave you with a great quote that sums up today’s lesson.

“To achieve something you have never achieved before you must become someone you have never been.” – Les Brown

(This post is an email from my upcoming 30 day course. It’s for those who want to make 2013 the best year yet. If you feel stuck, confused in life and need some help, the course is for you. I share the principles I used and plan of action that helped me turn around my life to how it is today. Stay tuned here or get on my mailing list to be the first to know.)

Photo by Xurble

How are those big new plans you’ve decided for yourself working out for you so far? Still on the right path? Great. Losing some motivation? Oh no. Already quit? That’s not good.

Getting started is the easy part. We’ve started so many times to achieve goals or form a new habit. The hardest part is finishing what we’ve started. At the end of the year, are you going to be better off than you are now or getting ready to make the same New Year’s resolutions?

Here are ten ways to make sure you stick to your big goals for the year.

1. Don’t call them resolutions

A friend of mine posted on her Facebook that she has been doing really bad with her New Year’s resolution of cursing. In fact, she felt like she was cursing more than normal. I replied that she should have made a resolution to curse more, then she wouldn’t be cursing at all.

That’s how resolutions usually turn out. Whatever we set out to do, the opposite will happen, which is not the result we’re aiming for.

I stopped making resolutions a long time ago. Before I would make them and quit after a month like the 99%. I’m not a fan of the word anymore cause of how we treat resolutions. We treat them like crap. When I now hear people making resolutions, I view it as a feeble attempt making a change in their life.

A resolution is a decision to do something. That’s it. It’s just an idea in your mind to want to make a change. It sounds so weak. I wish we could all just decide to do something, and we’d do it forever. It doesn’t work that way though. We face challenges. We lose motivation. We give up.

So instead of calling them resolutions, call them goals and treat them as more than just a decision. There needs to be a plan of action and a way to ensure you don’t give up after the first month.

2. Accountability

One ways to stick with your goals is to make them public. When you tell others about what you intend to do, it puts pressure on you to keep working at it.

You could also find an accountability partner to check up on your progress once a week or bi-weekly. Do it over coffee, over Skype, the phone, or email. You could be each other’s accountability partner, which would be even better. Just go over what went well that week and what didn’t. Then state what you will achieve for that next week.

What’s the punishment for not doing it? You both could come up with a punishment or just knowing that you didn’t accomplish what you said you could can be punishment enough.

3. Put your money where your mouth is

Aren’t the two biggest motivating factors in life money and sex? I could be wrong, but both definitely make people do crazy things.

One way to make sure you follow through with your goals is to put some money on the line.

There are a couple ways you could do it.

Let’s say you have a goal of running four days a week for a minimum of thirty minutes each time. Set aside an amount of money that if you lost it, it wouldn’t be cool. Everyone has a different amount. Someone might not care about losing $50 bucks, while others will hate it.

Give someone you can trust (important) your money. Let’s say you give them $300. Set a time frame. Maybe you want to run for twelve weeks. So every week that you complete your goal, that trusted person will give you $25 back ($300/12 weeks = $25 each week). If you run less than four times (no excuses allowed) that person keeps $25. Then the next week you start over and it’ll end with you getting $25 or your friend keeping $25.

Most likely you’re going to have to be accountable to yourself. If you missed a day, sure you can lie and say you did it, but what’s the point in that? The whole point of putting money where your mouth is to get you to take action.

You can do this for anything goal or habit. Set a time frame, guidelines, and an amount of money.

Do it with a friend you trust! This is so important. If you don’t, your friend is going to spend the money you gave them and say they’ll pay you back as soon as they can, which means kiss it goodbye.

Also make sure you do it with a friend who’s going to support you and not try and try to sabotage your progress just so he/she can collect money. If all your friends are like that, then you need to find new friends.

Another way to do it is to give your friend a lump sum of money if you don’t do what you say you will do by a certain date. For example, if you don’t finish the first outline of your book by June 1st, you’ll give your friend $300. Be accountable for it by letting others know the plan.

4. Track your actions

There’s one way to do this and is sometimes called the “Don’t break the chain method” made popular by comedian Jerry Seinfeld.

This system was described in a Lifehacker post. Here is an excerpt from it.

He said the way to be a better comic was to create better jokes and the way to create better jokes was to write every day. But his advice was better than that. He had a gem of a leverage technique he used on himself and you can use it to motivate yourself—even when you don’t feel like it.

He revealed a unique calendar system he uses to pressure himself to write. Here’s how it works.

He told me to get a big wall calendar that has a whole year on one page and hang it on a prominent wall. The next step was to get a big red magic marker.

He said for each day that I do my task of writing, I get to put a big red X over that day. “After a few days you’ll have a chain. Just keep at it and the chain will grow longer every day. You’ll like seeing that chain, especially when you get a few weeks under your belt. Your only job next is to not break the chain.”

“Don’t break the chain,” he said again for emphasis.

In a follow up post five years later, a Lifehacker writer said Seinfeld’s productivity secret helped him beat procrastination. He set some guidelines he had to do to get an X, which you can read more about here.

I’ve done a modified version of this method. Instead of not trying to break the chain and marking an X every day, I’ll mark an X when I took action that day towards a goal.

After a week I can see how many X’s I had. If it’s not as many as I want, then I know the following week I need to step it up.

It becomes real clear is when I look after a whole month. If I have more blank boxes then X’s then I’m slacking. I just want to make sure the X’s are in the majority.

Make sure you put the calendar in a place you’ll see it every day. Under a pile of magazines is not a good place.

Another benefit of tracking is to see results because you’ll unlikely see any from your actions in the short term. You won’t feel any different and no one will notice. That is frustrating. That can make you want to quit.

However when you see those red X’s on your calendar, you can see how much progress you’re making. You know you’re doing a good job of taking action and being consistent. It’ll motivate you to keep going. The results will eventually come.

5. Be reasonable about your goals

Sometimes goal achieving is a failure because you’ve put unrealistic expectations on yourself. If your goal is to lose 50 pounds in a month that’s unrealistic.

If you want to start a blog and want 10,000 subscribers in a year, then that’s stretching it a bit too far.

I’m sure you’ve seen the infomercials of home workout programs like Insanity and P90X. You see the transformations from fat to fit in just 90 days. While it is possible to get six pack abs in that time frame, that’s just a very tiny percentage of all people who follow the program. Many different factors will determine your results.

So yes go for six pack abs in 90 days, but don’t get frustrated if you only have three pack abs when you started with just one pack.

Try setting SMART goals, which stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time-sensitive.

6. Why do you want do it?

If you can’t answer this question, then you’re going to fail. If your answer is vague, you’re going to fail.

A goal of mine, as it has been for the last 10+ years is to stop biting my fingernails. Just tonight I decided I want to stop biting my fingernails. I’ve tried different ways before and all have failed.

However the chances that I fail again for the 12442 time is very high. Why? Well it’s because I don’t have a strong enough reason why I want to quit.

I just want to stop biting them cause I know it looks bad and it’s not sanitary. That’s such a weak reason.

Now if someone would give me a $10,000 if I don’t bite my nails for a whole year, I’m definitely not biting them. I’ll have notes everywhere to remind me. I’ll have my wife remind me. I’ll tell you to remind me. My reasons why is really strong.

That’s why the ones who have a strong reason why they want to lose weight will and those who make a New Year’s Resolution to get into shape won’t.

I had a friend who just got married in December. His goal leading up to the wedding was to lose 50 pounds. I forgot when he started, but at least six months ahead of time. He had a huge reason why he wanted to lose weight and he actually lost more than 50 pounds.

Before that he just was getting heavier and heavier ever since graduating college. Sure he wanted to lose weight and he tried, but he never did. He no strong reason why.

Think about your reason why you want to achieve your goals. It can’t just be about money either. Money is important, but I needs to be more than that. It really needs to come from deep within you.

7. Make sure you’re doing it for yourself

If you have a goal for the wrong reasons, you’re not going to be motivated to achieve it. If you do actually achieve it, you’re probably going to hate it over time cause it’s not your goal.

Then you’ve wasted all that time and energy going after a goal that isn’t what you wanted in the first place.

When your goal comes from you, you’re going to be more likely to follow through with it. It has to be for reasons YOU want. Don’t do it just because some wants you to.

8. Visualize what you want

Visualization simply makes the brain achieve more. Sports psychologists and peak performance experts have been popularizing the power of visualization. Almost all Olympians and professional athletes now use the power of visualization.

When you visualize your goals as already complete each day and every day, it creates a conflict in your mind between what you are visualizing and what you currently have. Your subconscious mind tries to resolve that conflict by turning your current reality into the new, more exciting vision.

This tension you’ve created, when intensified over time through constant visualization actually causes three things to happen:

1. It programs your brain to start making you more aware of anything that will help you achieve your goals. You mind can only focus on so many things at a time so it has to be selective.

Recently I went shopping for AA batteries. While walking through the store I noticed them at the end of almost every other aisle! They were everywhere! They’ve always been there, but I never noticed them before because my mind wasn’t focused on looking for them.

It’s why visualization is like a radar looking for anything to help you.

2. It activates your subconscious mind to create solutions for getting the goals you want. You’ll start waking up in the morning with new ideas. You’ll find yourself having ideas in the shower, while exercising, and while you are driving.

3. It creates new levels of motivation. You’ll start to notice you are surprisingly doing things that take you to your goal. All of a sudden you are being more proactive and taking more risks in your personal life.

A quick way to get started with visualization is to write down a list of what you want to achieve. Don’t come up with too many. Five to ten is good. Close your eyes and visualize your goal as if you have already achieved it. Don’t imagine you looking at yourself. You want to be in your own shoes looking out at your surroundings. Feel what it feels like to achieve your goal. What sounds would you hear? What would your day look like? Imagine people congratulating you. You want to make that experience feel as real as possible.

Continue to do it at least once a day and your subconscious mind is gonna help you make it a reality.

Another benefit of visualizations is so you’ll always remind yourself of what it is you want to achieve.

9. Don’t try and be perfect

One problem people have when trying to stick to their new goals is that they want to be perfect. Who is perfect? Nobody is perfect so why do you need to be perfect?

For example, someone wants to start eating healthier by juicing every day (fruits and vegetables and not steroids), eating smaller portions, and cutting out any refined sugar. They do good for one week, but then one day the second week they ate a whole pint of ice cream. They get upset at themselves the next day. Instead of getting back on track, they quit because they’ve already failed. Really? It was just one day and there are 365 days in a year last time I checked. One day of screwing up isn’t going to hurt you.

That’s why I don’t go for consecutive X’s like the Jerry Seinfeld method of productivity. I know myself and I’m not likely to do something I need to be doing every single day. I’m going to miss a day or two. That’s okay. I don’t aim for perfection because if I did, I’m only setting myself up to fail.

If you mess up, then use that as a wake up call and immediately get back on track.

10. Narrow down your goals

Sometimes we get too excited about change and want to do so many things at one time. We believe we can handle it. Instead what happens is we spread yourself too thin. You’ll feel too busy, neglect some and eventually all of them.

Choose to focus on one goal that will either have the greatest impact on your life. One that you want to have achieved by this time next year. Make that your #1 priority over all your other goals.

11. Write it down

Have you written down your goals anywhere or are they floating around in your brain along with a billion other thoughts?

A goal in your mind is just a wish or resolution. If you write it down, then it becomes a declaration.

Write it down and put them somewhere you can see them every day like right above your computer screen, bathroom mirror, fridge or all three places. Let that list be a reminder every single day of what you want to achieve.

12. Believe it can be done

Like I said earlier, resolutions are set up to fail so we don’t really believe we can stick with it. Call them goals and believe you can do it. You must start off with a belief that what you want to achieve is possible. If not, then you’ll begin with failure as a belief and you won’t try that hard.

13. Reward yourself

Rewards are a great motivator, but it’s often neglected when achieving your goals. You should find ways to reward yourself at different milestones. Your goals should be broken down into smaller more manageable goals. When you reach a milestone, give yourself a reward.

In the 4 Hour Body, Tim Ferris talks about a cheat day. After six day of following the slow carb diet, you get one free day. He talks about the biological benefits of it, but also it’s a great reward! It gets you keeps you focused for those six days cause at the end is food heaven.

You get to have Oreo cookies for breakfast if you want or a whole pizza for lunch. That’s a great reward. You get it all out of your system so you are ready for the next six days of the slow carb diet.

You determine the reward you’ll get if you achieve your goals. If you get to 15% body fat, you’ll book that trip to Hawaii. If you sell $1000 of your ebook, you’ll buy yourself an iPad Mini. Choose something that’ll have meaning to you.

Conclusion

However you have tried to stick to your goals in the past haven’t been working if you’ve failed most of the time. It’s time to take a new approach. Choose one or more of the strategies above.

To achieve goals you’ve set for yourself you need to be continually conscious of the choices you’re making every minute of every day. You need to always be thinking, “Will this action take me closer or further away from my goal?”

Do you have an specific strategies to add that can help others? Please share! 

Photo by Eric Constantineau

This is a letter for that person who feels stuck in life and feels hopeless. That person who doesn’t know if life will get better. That person who’s been trying to make a change for so long, but hasn’t been able to. 

If that’s you, you’re not alone and I’m writing this to you.

To my friend,

I know things have been tough lately. Every day feels the same and you want to scream from the top of your lungs because it sucks. Every day you feel like you’re on a downward spiral. You just hope that your life starts to change real soon. Thoughts of suicide have crossed your mind because then you wouldn’t feel like this anymore, but just know there is much more to life than you have now.

It does get better if you want it to.

I was once you. I searched for what was the one thing I was supposed to do with my life. I was looking for a career not just a job. I thought by the time I graduated college I was supposed to know. When I turned 30 I still had no idea and wondered what was the heck wrong with me. I felt like if I knew what I wanted to do with my life everything would be better. Everything else would fall into place. I’d get married, have a nice house, have kids, and live happily ever after. Once I discovered what IT was, that’s what I’d be doing for the rest of my life. That’s how life goes, right?

I’ve learned that life doesn’t have to be about finding that one thing you’re meant to do and then do it forever. Some people do find that one thing and dedicate their whole lives because they love it. I’ve realized that isn’t for me at this moment. I am done searching for it too.

To me life is about exploring everything out there. It’s trying different things and putting more attention on certain ones. There’s so much out there that it’d be a shame to not have more than one interest. Is what I’m doing now what I’ll be doing forever? No, but I’ve found something that I enjoy at this moment. I know new opportunities will present itself and my need for a new challenge will come along. Who knows what I’ll be doing five years from now, but for now, I like what I do and have stopped searching for the meaning of life.

If you don’t know what you want to do with your life, it’s okay! The answer doesn’t come to you at a specific time. Some find it when they’re a child. Others discover it after they’ve had three children. Some go through ten different jobs before finding one that is right for them. It doesn’t matter if you’re 21, 41 or anywhere in between. It’s never too late to start going for what you want. Even if someone is 41, they’re still pretty young. The average life expectancy for an American is 78.5 years. At 41, you’ve only lived 52% of your life. That’s it. You still have 48% of your life left to do what makes you truly happy. That’s still a lot of time.

However a better life isn’t going to be found watching television, keeping up with Honey Boo-Boo or the Kardashians, mindlessly surfing the internet, or checking Facebook every five minutes. It’s not found sitting on the couch after work every night or drinking your sorrows away every weekend with your buddies. Your life won’t improve if you constantly feel sorry for yourself or rely on others to make it better for you.

Nor is a better life going to happen instantly. We’re used to wanting everything quicker. We want to reach our destination as fast as possible. We want our internet speeds to be lightening quick. We want our food fast. This obsession with speeds translates to the results we want. Marketers know that so they blast us with headlines like “Make money quick!” or “Lose weight fast and easy!”

Your life isn’t going to change by clicking your heels together. I had always hoped it would be that easy! I wanted it to be like the movies. My rise from the lowest point in my life to the top would be in under 2 hours and I’d get the girl at the end. There is no quick fix in the real world. I hate to break it to you, but you’re not going to lose all the weight you want in two weeks and keep it off forever. You’re not going to forever eliminate years of bad habits in a month. You’re not going to have $100,000 in a year if your bank account only has $100 now. You’re not going to build an online business making $1,000 a week working only four hours with no skills and no money to start.

So what will it take? I know you don’t want to hear it, but it’s going to take one day at a time. You need to start making deliberate choices and stop sleepwalking through life. What’s even worse is you will be doing things you should be doing on a consistent basis and you’re not going to see any results or feel any different. I know that’s frustrating. This is where most people quit. They feel the work they’re putting in is a waste of time. They quit the gym after a month. They stop selling after only a few sales. So they quit and go back to their average life and continue to blame and point fingers at others for their misery.

I don’t want that to be you. Okay? When you’re doing the right things, keep doing it. Small consistent actions over time will produce tremendous results. Anything you truly want in your life isn’t going to come easy. It’s how life works. Life is testing you to see how bad you want it. It’ll weed out the weak ones and only the determined will survive and be handsomely rewarded.

What if you don’t know how to do what you want to do? It’s very easy. Open up a new tab in your browser and go to Google.com. There will probably be 1,809,384,908 results, but start at the beginning. Whatever it is you want to achieve has very likely been done by someone else.

Another solution is to go to Amazon.com. I bet anything you want to learn has been written about. Buy a book, read it, and apply what you learn. Don’t just read it and put it away. Highlight the heck out of that book too. So when you need to go back , you’ll have the most important parts highlighted.

If you don’t want to spend money on a book, go to your local library. Haven’t been there since college? It looks the same, but instead of cute young co-eds, it’s mostly going to be older people reading the free magazines. That’s okay cause you will be looking for books. Find books on what you want to learn how to do. Don’t highlight in them though, but do take notes.

There are a bunch of free and paid resources online where you can learn. Check out free podcasts on iTunes. Take a course on Udemy.com.

However, I think you actually don’t need any more information. You know everything you should be doing, but you just haven’t done it.

Why not? Here is my guess.

You’re waiting for that magical moment, a burst of motivation, the right time, the right person, the right day, more money, or next year. You’re waiting for someone to tell you it’s okay to start. You’re waiting for more knowledge. You want to be perfect before you even begin.

Let me use a quote by Jim Carrey from the Cable Guy to sum up my point, “He who hesitates, masturbates.”

The guy eyeing the cute girl is definitely be going home alone if he practices the conversation in his head, waits for the right moment to go, waits for confidence, has another beer, rehearses what will say again, checks his breath, and waits for her friends to leave. By then he’ll hesitate for so long he’ll reject himself before even trying.

That’s like life too. The longer you wait the longer you go back to your regular life of the same old shit.

It’s okay if something you want to do is not a priority right now. Maybe you’ve got a lot going on already. Just adding more stuff to do spreads yourself thin. At least you’re doing something you truly want and not just sitting around twirling your thumbs. (Reorganizing your desk to avoid doing what you need to do doesn’t count as having a lot going on either.)

If you know you should be doing it, but you’re not then that’s a different story. I can’t come over there and knock on your door to make sure you start. Nor can I constantly be looking over your shoulder to make sure you’re not on Facebook again or looking at pictures of cute dogs. Your parents aren’t going to tell you either. I bet you’d rather NOT have your parents tell you what to do anymore. You’re an adult now and it’s time to grow up and make your own decisions. Your girlfriend/boyfriend/husband/wife/partner is there to support you (I hope), but they’re not going to be able to do it for you. If you want to get into shape, they can’t do your pushups for you.

The person that is going to be responsible for everything you want to create in your life is that face you see in the mirror every single day. It’s that good looking face you see. It’s the one who had big hopes and dreams, but got lost after years of self-doubt and trying to making others happy. The one with so much potential waiting to be unleashed. When you need to be reminded who’s gonna save your life, look at yourself in the mirror. Nobody else will so stop looking around.

No amount of reading, thinking, hoping, and praying is going to help you. It’s more about doing, failing, adjusting, believing, and doing again.

Who cares if you fail? It’s not the end of the world. If you fail at least you tried. However this is very important. Don’t begin with the attitude that you will fail because you’re just setting yourself up to fail. You won’t try that hard and when you do fail you’ll say to yourself, “I was right.”

There isn’t one person who’s had success in life who hasn’t failed at all. Successful people take risks. Sometimes they work out and sometimes they don’t. They don’t let their failures define them. If they move on and find success, no one’s going to remember the failures.

And don’t wait for luck either. Luck is an awesome thing, but if you’re waiting for luck to come you’re going to be waiting a long time. By that time, you’ll feel lucky to just wake up every morning.

Luck happens to people who do the work to create the opportunity, then take advantage of it when it finds them. Once you start taking massive action on your life, luck will come find you.

You’re not unlucky in life either despite what you believe. You’ve just made a series of poor choices which seemed so tiny at the time, but have compounded to crappy results. Then your belief is that you’re unlucky so that’s what you’ll keep brining into your life.

You can start to change that immediately by believing the world is doing great things for you and you can’t wait to see what they are. Seriously you should say that to yourself every day and believe it. It’s true! Why is the world out to do you harm? It’s not. It’s an equal opportunity employer. It doesn’t discriminate. It’s filled with everything you want, but you have to go look for it. With that positive attitude, you’re going to find a $10 bill on the ground while the unlucky person will walk right by it.

I know you told me you’re busy and you don’t have much time to do anything. I bet you do have some time during your day. Take a look at what unproductive activities you do. Are you checking email five times an hour? Do you have ten browsing tabs open? Do you take a quick peek at social media and end up spending thirty minutes? What do you do at nights? Can you wake up earlier? Think about outsourcing some tasks. I know you can find time during the day. We all have the same 24 hours yet there are people who can do more in one day than some in one month.

Again, go to Google or read a book about how you can increase your productivity. There are so many different systems out there. You just have to try it out until you find one that is the right fit for you. It’s like dating but much easier to break up with if you’re not pleased.

Don’t worry about what’s going to happen either when you start on your dreams. Fear stops so many from doing what they should be doing. Anything you do that’s new is going to have some level of fear because you don’t know how it will turn out. What usually happens is you imagine all these worst case scenarios in your mind.

Nothing you imagine in your mind is going to be as bad as what might actually happen. Our minds have some vivid imaginations and does a great job of creating wacky scenarios. Have you ever woke up from the weird dreams? Of course you have. Crazy mind at work. Don’t believe it.

Instead try and think best case scenarios. What would happen if you achieved your goals? How would your life look every day? How would you feel? How much money would you be earning? What type of people would you be surrounded be? Where would you go on vacation? How great would life finally be?

If you think about the unknown that way, you’ll feel more inspired and motivated to do it.

Isn’t that kind of life worth trying for? I know for me it’s worth the risk, hard work, and sacrficies. It hasn’t been all easy either. All those people you want to be like haven’t had it all easy. You see the success. That’s what you want. There’s a million things that went on behind the scenes. You don’t know that they thought about quitting many times. You don’t know how many rejections they had. Some may have even gone bankrupt but still found success later on.

You know what else? They were beginners at one point. They didn’t know everything. They’ve messed up along the way. They may have been unsure what the future held for them, but what they did have was belief. They felt so certain about what they wanted to do that no matter what got in their way they did it. Walt Disney, Henry Ford, Thomas Edison and Steve Jobs could have quit many times from all the people who told them they were crazy with their big ideas. They’ve had failures. They’ve had massive rejections. History doesn’t focus on that. We just remember their achievements.

Your goals may not be as big as creating a theme park or building a device that changes our lives and that’s okay. As long as it comes from you. Not just a goal that seems interesting, but one that keeps you up at night. A goal that consumes your soul and you’d be willing to do anything to achieve it. Don’t set a goal that someone else wants you to do either. You’re not going to be excited about it and if you do achieve it, you’re going to hate life more and more with every passing day.

Whatever you want to achieve in life isn’t meaningless. If you want to be an expert on butterflies that’s great. Everyone has a place in this world and it needs some experts in butterflies. That can be you! I just don’t want you to think your goals are silly. They are your goals so they are serious. Whatever your goal is, I know if you achieved it, it would be like winning the lottery. I know that’s how you’d feel. So there aren’t any silly goals.

If you told me your goals, I’d treat you like a little child who thinks anything is possible. I will say it sounds great and you can do it because that’s what I believe. Why else would I say otherwise? I’m not here to crush your dreams. Who am I to belittle them? They are your dreams. Not mine. I want to see people doing what they love. When more people are, it makes the world a better place.

Our lives aren’t pre-determined. People who only knew about poverty as a child have become billionaires. While other people, who were born in million dollar mansions, have grown up addicted to drugs and in and out of jail. So get rid of that belief. Whatever your life is like now isn’t what it will be like if you have any control over it and guess what? You do! You have so much power and you don’t even know it. Your lack of skill and natural ability can be made up with hard work and determination.

If I asked you how bad do you want it a better life, what will you say? You might say you really do, but do you really? Are you willing to make that commitment?

In the book The Element, author Ken Robinson recalls a story that put into perspective his level of commitment. After listening to his brother perform in a band one night, Ken complimented the extremely talented keyboard player named Charles.

Then I said that I’d love to be able to play keyboards that well. “No, you wouldn’t,” he responded. Taken aback, I insisted that I really would. “No,” he said. “You mean you like the idea of playing keyboards. If you’d love to play them, you’d be doing it.”

Charles practiced every day for three or four hours in addition to performing. He’d been doing that since he was seven. That’s why he played so well. Suddenly, Ken felt that playing the keyboards that well didn’t seem so appealing.

Liking the idea and being committed are two completely different things.

People who like the idea of making money online, just read about making money online. Committed ones put what they learn into action. The idea of a writing for a living sounds good to many. Committed ones live and breath writing. The idea of losing 20 sounds great. The committed ones actually do it.

What happens now after you read this letter is up to you. You can put it away, continue with what you were previously doing, and forget you read this. Or you can re-read it and let the words really sink in and take a deeper look at yourself and wonder if what you’re doing now is right for you. Is it leading you on the path where you want to go? Are you making the right daily choices? Will you have a life full of regret when you’re on your deathbed?

You can do something about it. You always have a choice. It doesn’t matter what happened before. What’s important is what happens from this moment on. It’s time to draw a line in the sand and separate the old you from the new you.

So quit your excuses, your pity party, your complaining, and finger pointing and start to do something. Life moves pretty fast. You’re not going to achieve everything at one time, but focus on just one area of your life and work on changing it to the way you want first.

You’re responsible for everything in your life and because of that power you can have the life you’ve always dreamed of.

Your friend,

Benny Hsu

If you enjoyed this, I’d love it if you shared it on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Reddit, or Stumbleupon. Or email someone you know who could use some words of encouragement. 

Photo credit Manoj Kengudelu