How You Can Transform Overwhelm Into Freedom Without Going Bat-Crap-Crazy or Sacrificing Your Integrity (a practical 3-step framework)
Look, can we speak candidly?
Regardless if you’re just starting to gather gravity for your vision or you’re well past the tipping point and your momentum is compounding at an ever accelerating rate, your future success faces a very real threat:
Because the insatiable Internet vortex of chaos, overwhelm and uncertainty isn’t just “looming” at your door…
It’s kicking it down, is it not?
Change no longer occurs in slow, manageable or predictable ways. Blink and technology evolves exponentially. When the Internet sneezes, the rest of the world catches a cold!
You tell me: Does this cycle sound too familiar?
Just when you think you’re close to getting a handle on things, the rug gets pulled out from under you. Today’s miracle breakthrough is obsolete tomorrow. Before you know it, you’ve lost months of progress because you’re unknowingly stuck in…
The “Take 1-Baby Step Forward and 10-Giant Leaps Backwards” trap
The Internet vortex eats you up. And when it spits you out?
Best case?
It leaves you only frustrated, overwhelmed and confused.
And the more likely outcome?
Paralyzing fear. Sure we keep holding out hope and try new things. However, that only unknowingly feeds the monster and makes it grow bigger.
Now, don’t feel bad because:NOBODY Is Immune!
Not even the experts you think have it all figured out, can keep up.
Believe that.
See, just as you probably suspected…
It’s A Minefield Of
Ulterior Motives And
Collateral Damage:
Unfortunately, tons of hard-working, would-be successes give up every day (and, even worse, they’ll never know the reasons why).
Add this to all that:
If you can’t escape this vortex… If you can’t figure out who’s telling the truth, who’s lying and what’s legit… If you feel constantly blindsided, then what chance in hell is there to build trust and ever gather the gravity necessary to attract your vision of a bigger future?
I mean, the whole world has a bad case of ADD. How can you NOT be?
ADD is an unavoidable condition of these times.
There are millions of online distractions competing for attention. In the sea of all this deafening static, how do you find the opening when everyone’s protection defenses is to distrust everyone and automatically treat everything as a threat?
And yet:
If you know how to harness its power, there’s never been a better time to gather gravity so you can live your desires… so you can move from always seeking to finally experiencing the joy of finding.
Here’s the best news: You’re only ONE breakthrough away from achieving your goals. And, because of this Internet revolution, there’s always millions of breakthroughs waiting.
Contrary to what they say, you don’t need them all.
You don’t have to let them turn you into a cat-on-crack (forced into to chase their red laser pointer as it darts from one bright-shiny-object to the next).
Let’s TCB things (take control back) — okay?
You can tame this beast (and gather gravity) with this 3-steps framework:
Step One: SIFT IT
First, sift out the legitimate from the crap just designed to separate you from your money. Better than 90% of the chaos is a smokescreen you can quickly eliminate. I ask myself these questions when I need to cut through the crap myself:
- Practice what they preach?(For ex: All the self-proclaimed Facebook experts who really make their money from JV’s instead of FB Ads. No thanks!)
- Supported by a real business model…OR… is it just a stream of never-ending product launches quickly abandoned for the next “holy grail” launch?
- Battle-tested, principles that can be scaled… OR… lightweight tactics that burns out immediately or can’t be applied beyond very limited applications?
If it can’t stand up to and pass ALL of these quick test questions, it gets no more milk ‘n cookies.
Period.
Step Two: SORT IT
Now, you’re closer to the needed clarity, however, not out of the woods yet. Almost everyone misses this step.
You see, just because it passes all the legitimacy sniff tests, doesn’t mean it’s right for YOU, does it?
Now it’s time to SORT the small pile of legit options according to:
- YOUR skills and capabilities
- YOUR needs & goals
- YOUR specific situation
This is the step where you get to take control back.
That’s because you’re the only one qualified to decide if it meets your requirements (above)… or not.
Step Three: LEVERAGE IT
You’ve done the first two steps (without lying to yourself or talking yourself into anything for fear of missing out — FOMO), yes?
Perfect.
Now, simply decide on one course of action (and set aside all the others until you’ve given the chosen one a fair chance to gather enough gravity for a little traction).
As you start to gather gravity remind yourself that it’s gonna feel uncomfortable for a bit. Confidence will test your conviction.
It’s not a question of if — but when — you will be tested. And how hard. You can count on it before you’ll reach the tipping point. So you might as well promise yourself that when the trials and tribulations come, you’ll stick with it beyond the first few challenges…
…that you’re willing to risk looking stupid and brush-off the inevitable scrapes of the trial ‘n error process. Remember to give yourself a break because it’s normal to feel doubt when you’re trying things you’ve never done before.
Look, there’s never a guarantee you will succeed (anyone who says otherwise, is either naive, inexperienced or outright conning you). Fact.
However, there *is* a guaranteed way to fail.
How?
Be the proverbial wishy-washy squirrel who impulsively darts out into the road… gets scared… changes mind mid-stream… runs back a few feet… changes mind yet again… and becomes road-kill because he wasn’t committed to its initial course of action.
You can’t cross the finish-line in front of you while you’re busy looking over shoulder, running scared from past failures. When it’s time, commit to action. Jump in with both feet. Assume success.
And when things don’t go according to plan?
Correct and move past it fast.
Fix the problems as you go, from-the-inside (we often get stuck and waste precious resources trying to solve “what-ifs” that haven’t actually happened yet).
Your confidence flows in direct proportion to the momentum you create towards your goals. As you gather gravity and make progress, confidence increases. If you decide to move forward with that kind of conviction you release your gravity and show the world (and yourself) you won’t be denied.
What if you can’t trust yourself to follow-through (regardless of guaranteed successful outcomes)? Don’t step off the curb until you can…
A Few Words Of Caution:
As one of my first business mentors used to say,
“You can’t turn chicken-shit into chicken-salad!”
Crap is crap. No matter how you dress it up, it still tastes like shit. Period.
Your first instinct is almost always correct. So, if in applying any part of this Sift, Sort & Leverage framework, it “doesn’t feel right,” it’s probably because you’re going against what your gut is telling you.
Don’t wanna put words in your mouth, yet, anytime I’ve personally gone against my gut intuition it always bites me in the ass.
Hard.
When I’m tempted to “sell my soul” (i.e., sacrifice my integrity and pursue something I’m not sure aligns with my life’s higher calling), this quick 11-word statement from Alan Cohen never fails to guide my head and heart into full alignment and find clarity of purpose…
If it’s not a ’Hell YES!’
Then it’s a ’Hell NO!’
How elegantly simple (and powerful) is that?
Try it the next time you’re struggling with a decision and see if it doesn’t bring you the instant relief knowing (and trusting) the exact right path to take.