The ONE Big Idea: 3 Common Mistakes that People Make with Self Development

The ONE and Three Reasons Why Your Self-Development Is Not Helping You

We are going to talk about looking for that ONE big idea today so I’m going to share the famous song called “One” by U2.

Many of you probably know this, but some may of you may be too young to remember.

This song brings back memories. I can’t believe it has been over 20 years since it was released.

I used to be a big fan of U2. I don’t go to many concerts, but when they visited Madison Square Garden in NYC in 1992, I was prepared to pay hundreds of dollars to see them live.

Fortunately, out of nowhere, a friend knew a friend who had extra tickets that he needed to get rid of ,and I was able to get a seat all the way up in the nosebleed section for only $25.

So enjoy this song, One by U2. It’s from one of the best albums ever, Achtung Baby, which was released in 1991.

Internet Marketing Seminar in San Diego

Last week I was in San Diego for three days for an advanced Internet marketing seminar.

I’ve been doing online marketing for over ten years now, and it played a huge role in my MLM success. If you are interested to learn how to use social media to grow your MLM business, go get my new training course MLM Social Media IQ.

People often ask me how I grew an MLM downline in the Philippines to over 60,000 distributors. It all started with a successful Facebook marketing campaign that I ran back in 2008.

Granted, I’ve had more misses and failures than successes, but when it comes to marketing, all it takes is just one success and you got it made.

The key is to keep going and never quit marketing.

You just need that ONE success and the profits that you get from that ONE success make up for all the money spent on your marketing mistakes.

Last week in San Diego, close to over 2,000 online marketers were there to learn the latest developments in email marketing, content marketing, online advertising, effective traffic sources, etc. It was a great event and tremendous value for the $1,000 ticket that I paid to attend.

It was a great conference, but would it shock you if I told you that I attended only three hours and then left?!

Well, I didn’t really leave San Diego, but I just left the conference and setup my laptop in the hotel hallway, took massive action, and just worked!

Now, you may ask, “Why would I waste the $1000 and just attend for three hours?”

It’s because I found the ONE thing I was looking for in my first three hours.

Reason Why People Are Constantly Stuck

The reason why most motivated people who understand the importance of self-development, read everyday, and go to conferences, are still stuck and can’t increase their income is because they fail to apply what they learn.

It’s not what you learn…

It’s how quickly you APPLY what you learn that matters.

Most people, and I’ve been very guilty of this in the past, read a book and never put into action the lessons they learned.

Normally, if you just take action on just ONE thing you learned, you can immediately make a big improvement.

I know an MLM Distributor who reads a ton of books and attends MLM training events. I think he has read at least one book a week, but still, after 5 years, he still earns less than $1,000 USD a year.

His lack of success is not because MLM doesn’t work. It’s because he has failed to apply the lessons he has learned from the books.

To him, he treats reading as enjoyment and a hobby.

He “collects” readings just like some people collect stamps. He likes to show off his collection of books on his iPad while his income languishes.

Now there is nothing wrong with reading for the sake of enjoyment, but if your goal is to increase income, then there are smarter ways to read and get a higher return on your investment.

An increase in income ONLY comes after you apply the ONE thing you learn.

Three Common Mistakes That People Make with Learning

So why do most people NOT apply what they learn?

It’s because they make one or all of these three mistakes.

I’ve learned from my mistakes over the years, and they are common ones that many people make.

1) Never Judge a Book By Its Cover

The first mistake is that you never judge a book by its cover or hype.

The book may look great on the outside, but how good is the content?

It also applies to events and conferences.

Don’t judge events by the speakers or how lavish the hotel is.

You can only judge how good a book or event is AFTER you have read or attended it.

It’s all about whether you get ONE good idea that you can apply immediately.

Just go and read that book or go to that event. You will only know its value after you attend.

However, if you prejudge, you may lose out.

The book or the event from which you get your ONE big idea is rarely the one that you had high expectations for.

The big aha moments are hidden in the least obvious places.

2) Never Compare the Specs

The second mistake is that many people judge a book or event by how much they can learn.

They look at the table of contents or the event agenda and compare books and events like the way you compare specs when you purchase electronics, appliances, or houses.

How much more memory does that computer have?

How much more electricity does that washer use?

How many more square feet does that house have?

You cannot compare your self-development with how much you will learn.

A book can be 99% garbage, but if it gives you that ONE big idea, then it is worth it!

Again, that ONE big idea can be the hidden in the least obvious place.

I went to my MLM company’s annual international convention in 2007, and today, I can’t remember anything I learned at that actual event.

However, I do remember this one trick that learned that earned me an extra $80,000 in 2008.

The crazy thing is that I did not learn that trick at the training sessions. I accidentally found out about this trick in a conversation at a team networking dinner at the old Hard Rock Cafe in Salt Lake City.

What I learned from this random distributor who was visiting from Kansas City, Missouri, was something complicated and technical, but it got my mind thinking creatively in that direction.

Two months later, I figured out the details and was able to set something up that generated an extra $80,000 USD in profits for 2008.

So always keep your radar on for that ONE big idea because you never know when you will encounter it!

3) Getting Overwhelmed by Having to “Finish” It

The last mistake is that people often get overwhelmed by the tremendous content that they learn.

We tend to be paralyzed and become slow to take action when we are faced with too many choices.

It’s the same reason why it’s easier to decide what you’re going to eat for dinner if you have only three choices instead of 20 choices.

For trainers and MLM Leaders it’s also the same reason that when you do trainings you do not overwhelm your distributors with TOO much information in one sitting.

You have to give them small chunks of info to digest at a time.

It’s also the prospecting strategy why you should present only two or three options to your customer when you do a sales presentation, and not offer everything to him or her.

The fewer options the better because we get confused when we are faced with too many choices.

Confusion or lack of clarity stops us from taking action.

If you’ve ever read a really good business book or attended a great business event, you will know what I’m talking about.

You feel great that you learned a lot, but then you are confused as to what you should do next.

Understand that your success is determined by how quickly you choose ONE thing and take action on it!

The easiest way to get overwhelmed with too many choices is to have this feeling that you must “finish the book” in order to get value out of it.

I used to be the worst at this.

I had to finish a book cover to cover or else I would feel that missed something important.

Finishing a book is important, but what happens is that by the time I finish the book, I would forget the ONE great idea that I had learned at the beginning of the book.

It’s way better to take action on that ONE thing you learned and then you can always go back to the rest of the book later.

Taking Action on Facebook Advertising

This past weekend, I attended only three hours of the possible 20 hours of sessions.

I want to emphasize that I skipped out of the rest of the conference because I was able to purchase the audio and video recordings for $297.

If the recordings were not available, I most likely would have stayed for every session.

But since I could get the recordings, I knew I could learn the rest later, after I first applied my ONE big idea.

It was more important and valuable for me to take immediate action on the ONE big idea.

Once I learned that ONE thing about Facebook Native Advertising, I immediately found a quiet place to work in the hallway and called my VP of Business Development. I shared with him what I learned and then published a new blog post.

Two days later, my VP shared some good news. The new Facebook advertising campaign led to a 7% increase in CTR (Click Through Ratio), and there was an increase in sales. 🙂

If you want to learn more about how online marketing works and effective social media marketing strategies, check out my MLM Social Media IQ training course.

I will admit that the “old Simon” would still be going over the notes that he had learned. However, today, I understand that the most important thing is that time is money, and it is how quickly I can apply that ONE thing that determines how quickly I achieve my next financial goal.

What’s Your One Thing?

Make that decision to look for that ONE thing in the next book you read or the next event you attend, and then take action on it immediately.

Or, if you feel you have learned that ONE thing already, then learn to say “NO” to distractions and take action on the ONE thing ASAP, instead of moving on to learning another new thing.

Go take action on your ONE big idea today!

Sincerely,

Simon Chan

P.S. People are always watching and “buying” you and you’re probably making costly mistakes everyday with social media that you don’t even realize.

Here are some of the things you will discover in MLM Social Media IQ

– Simple Steps to Create Your Personal Brand

– Big Mistakes with Social Media Marketing

– Tricks to Create Interesting Content

– Concept of “Themed Consistency”

– Easy ways to Create Intriguing Posts for Your Followers

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