I’ve finally decided to put together a guide about how I’ve managed to change everything over the last 18 months.  I’ve gone from University lecturer and health professional to:

1. starting an online education company,
2. consulting to professionals about how to become an online authority using social media,
3. running an exclusive search engine optimization business,
4. launching a web design business,
5. selling a bucket load of useful things online, and
6. getting to speak about all this on international platforms in front of hundreds of people.

Of course, I’m still a health professional and I could be a lecturer if I wanted to be – but I’m now I’m on a very different path and I get to choose – it’s my choice.

On reflection – that’s quite a big change.  And the more people I meet, the more people are interested in how I’ve manged such a shift in career.  It would seem that there are a stack of people who’d like to attempt the same sort of thing, and so that’s why I’ve decided to write this guide.

I guess I’m thinking it’ll be more like a story, but written in a step-by-step format so that you can see what I actually did with the aim of you thinking about how you could do something similar – because the steps are bound to be the same even though the individual stories will be different.

Now one thing I’ve learned in all this is not to presume what people are going to want to know.  If I’m going to go to the trouble of writing a guide that I give away for free, it makes far more sense to first find out what people actually want to know – so that I can then include that info in the guide.

So this means that you get to participate in this process.  I’ve set up a survey – just a short one – four questions – and when you fill in your questions and tell me what you want to know, then I’ll include the answers in the guide AND put you on the list to be the first to receive it.  Sound like a plan?

Oh, and apparently, if I include the word NOW in the next line, you’ll be more likely to go do it now, so watch this:

Go here to take the survey NOW!

There have been many analogies to help explain the internet – but the best analogy is the brain.  Not only is it an analogy – but it’s a direct comparison.  As Jeffrey Stibel says, the internet is not like a brain – it is a brain.

Having a background in neuroscience – it’s easy to see the similarities.  But rather than this just being a compare and contrast exercise, there is good reason to understand why the internet is a brain.  You can look at the way the brain functions to create hyper-awareness of information to help understand how to create hyper-awareness on the internet.

Here are just a few simple examples of brain-internet similarities.

1. The brain is a large network of interconnected neurons, and the internet is a large network of interconnected computers
2. The brain isn’t about neurons, but about communication between neurons, and the internet isn’t about computers but about communication between computers
3. Both the brain and the internet are all about human communication.
4. One of the key ways humans communicate is with language, and one of the key ways that the internet communicates is through keywords (or search terms).
5. The functional unit of the brain is a synapse – the connection between two neurons.  The functional unit of the internet is the hyperlink – the connection between two different locations or webpages (or specific URLs).
6. The more information that passes through a synapse, the ’stronger’ that synapse becomes.  The more information that passes through a neural pathway, the stronger that neural pathway becomes due to an increase in the number of synapses.  The more traffic that passes through a ‘web pathway’ (through hyperlinks) the stronger that pathway becomes due to an increase in the number of hyperlinks.
7. Because there is ‘too much information’ our brain has filters to reduce the noise and only allow important information through to consciousness.  Because there is too much information on the internet, the internet also has filters to reduce noise and promote important information.  One example of such a filter is Google search.  It filters millions of websites so that it can display the most appropriate website amongst all that noise.  The bigger example is social media, where the crowd is the filter.  The crowd filters information by either sharing it or not sharing it, by ‘liking’ it or ‘not liking it’, by rating it or not rating it, by ‘flagging’ it as inappropriate or not flagging it.
8. We only become aware of something if it passes through our filters and hit’s our consciousness, and we only become aware of something on the internet when it passes through the filters and hit’s our consciousness
9. When a brain becomes consciously aware of information it may amplify the signal to create hyper-awareness – and an example of this is hyper-algesia (a heightened awareness of pain).  Likewise, when an individual becomes consciously  aware of information on the internet they may amplify the signal by sharing or promoting that information to their friends or contacts.  This is the start of something going ‘viral’ and is the mechanism by which the market can create hyper-awareness of a website, song, video, image, product or service.  The internet works to filter out the noise but amplify the signal of something that passes through the filter in order to more clearly evaluate the importance of that signal.  The more people who share a particular ‘thing’ online, the more it get’s shared.  The more that particular thing gets shared, the more the search engines become aware of it and rank it highly in their search results.  The higher the particular ‘thing’ is ranked in search engines, the more people ‘find it’, and the more they find it, the more they share it.

What does all this mean?  Let’s work backwards.  If you want to create hyper-awareness of anything online, be it a product, service, charity, public health message – whatever – then you need to be able to get that information through he filters of the internet so that it reaches the consciousness of the group or market that you’re targeting.  In order to do this, you must understand the filters and how to pass through them.  Those filters are ’search filters’ (e.g Google) and ’social filters’ (e.g social media).

The functional unit is “keywords contained in hyperlinks”, and this has now expanded to include images, audio and video contained in hyperlinks.  Still, the ‘keywords’ are at the center of how the internet-brain organizes everything, and so keywords are the essential starting point for any online promotion.

Keywords start out life as ‘an idea’ in someones brain … but that’s for another post.  Thanks for reading.

Google reader is a browser based application that enables you to receive updates or notifications from anywhere on the web that has an rss feed – the little symbol (usually orange) with the embossed radio waves.

Basically, instead of you having to keep visiting all the websites you follow to see if they’ve made an update, you simply subscribe to those websites from your Google reader, and whenever there is an update, you’ll be automatically notified within the Google reader application. Think of Google reader like your email program. You don’t go to the outboxes of your friends and contacts to see if they’ve left you a message – instead, when they send you a message, you get automatically notified in your email program. Same deal with Google reader, except that it’s a program to receive automatic updates from websites instead of emails.

So, the first reason for you to start using Google reader is that it saves time and organizes new information.

But Google reader is so much cooler than that.  Check this out – it can help you find the information you’re after.  Rather than using Google’s search function to find websites, you can search for valid RSS feeds right within Google reader and easily add them to your reading list with the click of a button.

So, what do you do with all this information that is being automatically delivered to you?  Simple – use it to stay on top of whatever it is you want to stay on top of – your hobby, your industry, your brand or product, your name, your business name, people you follow, politicians, celebrities, authorities, bloggers.

Anything else?  You betcha – and this is huge – you can share information with other people.  This is where Google reader stops being a simple RSS reader and becomes a social networking tool of sorts.

What does ’sharing’ mean?

It just means that you let your network know that you’ve found a cool and relevant article, blog, news story, image, video – or whatever – and you can do that from within Google reader.  And not only is it just pushing a link to people, you can add your own notes to the ‘push’ so that when people receive the article, they can see it’s from you.

It gets funkier than that – but I think I’m done for this post.  Stay tuned for more stuff from me on this.  In fact, why don’t you subscribe to my RSS feed in your Google reader account before you forget.  Hey – and if you don’t have Google reader yet – you can go get it here –> Get Google Reader.

Nic

“Oooooohhhh … would ya look at that … now that’s what I call an opportunity.  Grrrrrrr … just imagine what you could do.”

The problem with this picture is that a lot of people only ever imagine … far fewer actually do something.  This is why I call them ‘opportunity voyeurs’.  They look.  They analyze.  The calculate.  They contemplate.  But they never step into the opportunity.

Recently, I gave a presentation to a crowd of 300+ people about online business and internet marketing.  In that presentation I revealed what I believe to be the most comprehensive and realistic formula for a successful long-term online business.

I wonder – out of 300+ – how many were just there as voyeurs?  If I were to get all scientific about this, I would describe the opportunity voyeur as being stuck in a state of pre-action – the “chronic contemplater”.  The person who is aware of the possibilities but who just can’t get over the line and take action.  We see this all the time in public health – people who know the consequences of smoking, or speeding, or alcohol abuse – people who contemplate changing their behaviour but who just can’t get over the line and take action.

So, this isn’t some cheap and nasty personal development BS – this is a real phenomenon experienced by real people, and it’s a real problem being contemplated by public health officials and researchers all over the world.

They are asking, “how do we get people to change their behaviour”?

And whether you are trying to give up a ‘bad’ habit or trying to start a ‘good’ habit – it’s the same stuff and involves people having to change their behaviour.

Human behaviour change has been an interest of mine for well over a decade.  It first started as a health care intervention when I was working in that area – how to get people to exercise, change their diet, change their posture etc.  Then my understanding of human behaviour change developed in a broader sense to encompass more than just illness prevention or treatment.  I saw that human behaviour change was also necessary for people to develop a positive self-concept, to achieve long-term goals – and yes – even to be happy or content.

I see these last things – positive self concept, achievement, happiness and contentment as completely legitimate and highly relevant public health goals – just as is reducing the incidence of smoking and drink driving accidents.

It can be perplexing as to why people don’t change their behaviour – especially when it is in their best interests to do so?

Why don’t they slow down on the high fat foods?

Why don’t they learn anger management?

Why don’t they give up smoking?

Why don’t they curb their spending habits and reduce their (bad non-tax deductible) debt?

Why don’t they budget?

Why don’t they invest?

Why don’t they start doing what they’ve been dreaming of doing for years?

These are the questions I asked my self more and more frequently as I consulted patients – who predominantly presented to me with pain problems but who also struggled with bigger life problems.  What I got to see after 10 years as a health professional was a common pattern in which people’s external everyday behaviour was not congruent with their internal desires, goals, and dreams.  They were sacrificing the opportunity to do what they really wanted to do … often for a far less rewarding behaviour like the daily grind of a job that they didn’t like, that didn’t inspire them, and that often involved personal conflict with other equally unsatisfied employees.

Of course, not everyone is like this – but there is a large group of people who are.

This is the pattern of hebaviour.  They read books about change – but never change.  They read books about property investing – but never buy an investment property.  They read books about share trading – but never invest in shares.  They read books about starting a business – but never start a business.

It’s like they’re addicted to the books – but never live the reality.  This is the opportunity voyeur.

The other day I wrote a post called, believe it, act like you believe it or stop pretending.  My thinking today is consistent with that post.

Its sounds corny I know – but heck - just step into opportunity instead of ogling it.  Opportunity can be very friendly – even on the first date.

My thoughts today aren’t so warm and fuzzy.  Only because I haven’t been gentle on myself today and I thought you might like a glimpse of how I coach myself.

In order to progress to the ‘next level’ we often have to “act in the absence of knowing the outcome” and I use the word “knowing” loosely.  So far as I can tell, this is also called Faith.  Every time you are faced with the potential to undergo substantial growth in a short period of time, you have to weigh up the cost of taking that action without knowing the outcome.  You have to suspend your disbelief.

And we humans aren’t that smart at the best of times, and so we don’t weigh up the ‘true cost’ we weigh up the ‘perceived cost’.  And that ‘perceived cost’ can put a chill down your spine and a sinking feeling in your gut.

But, here you are – at the point of decision.  Are you going to do it – or are you going to back down from the challenge.

I have been working pretty hard on myself of late – and I aint backing down.  And every time I get that sinking feeling or those nagging thoughts of self-doubt I don’t have to make decision to keep on going because I have already made the decision to keep on going.

The way I see it, if I want to do something and I think about it all the time and I tell other people it’s what I’m going to do – but then when it comes to actually doing it I stumble and procrastinate and excuse myself from action – then basically it means I either don’t believe it will be successful or I don’t really want it.  The way I see it, there is no middle ground.  I am either going to do it or not.  And if I’m going to do it then I need to either believe it or act as if I believe in it.

It’s like bungee jumping – you can’t half do it.  You either step off or not.

Conversely, if you’re not going to do it, then save yourself and everyone around you from the boring “chronic contemplation syndrome”.  Just stop pretending you’re going to do X, Y or Z and move onto something else.  This is not a cop out, but a powerful strategy.  Admitting you don’t really want to do something enables you to back out and re-direct all that energy and time into something that you ARE going to do.

In all my work in health care – and now after having spoken to hundreds and hundreds of people at seminars – this issue keeps cropping up: people say they want something, but do not act as if they want it.  And to me that’s just plain boring.  Why do they waste their time – and everyone elses – ‘pretending’ that they’re going to do something when in actuality they are not.

Many of us are lucky enough to live in a country where the risk of doing something new – of trying something out – is pretty low.  What’s the worst that could happen?  Failure?  Big deal.

Believe in what you do.  If you don’t know for sure that it will all work out, then act as if you believe it anyway.  Otherwise, do yourself – and everyone else a favor – and stop pretending you’re going to do it.

So, where does this tie into my story?  Today I continued to take steps in the direction I want to move in – despite the uncertainty – despite the risk of failure.

Reflecting on this post, it is an easy target for the cynical and skeptical.  It sounds cliched.  Hyped.  I don’t care.  I’m no motivational speaker or life coach.  I don’t have fancy techniques and strategies or life manuals. I have had a unique opportunity to observe thousands of people who are ‘not getting stuff done’ – and I’m just keeping myself on target and refusing to take any crap from my own mind.

Since writing this post, I came across another post by David Bullock which I thought was a perfect match for this.  In his post, he included this video of a TED talk about what makes success.

Way back when I studied biomechanics at University, we learned about levers. And there are three main classes (1, 2, 3). The key thing about levers is that they provide leverage, which I now just describe as getting more done with the same or less amount of effort.

Of course leverage will be familiar to anyone who has done any sort of investing or who was even mildly awake over the last few years.  Anyway, I’m sitting here thinking about leverage and how these important lessons I learned in a different context have more value for me today then when I first learnt them.

Where is the point of leverage?

When I first studied this stuff, I learned that a lever system has a fulcrum, some resistance (the work) and the effort (the action we take).  I also learned that there are different types of levers and each behaves differently.  I also learnt that the closer the fulcrum is to the resistance, the better, and the further away that effort is from the fulcrum the better.  That’s why wheelbarrows and crow bars are so popular – they have good leverage.

The concept applies to life of course.  Where is the leverage point.  How can I manage that leverage point to get the most work done for the least amount of effort.  Since focusing on leverage, I have been achieving much more in life.  Since focusing on leverage I have been assessing situations differently.

For instance, why work hard trading my time for money when I can get other people to do the work for me (outsource).  Look at the resistance or work that you have to achieve, look for the fulcrum – the point of leverage – and then look at your effort.  How can you position the leverage and how can you lengthen your lever so that the effort becomes effortless.

Outsourcing is one of the key areas of leverage that I use.  The internet is another great tool for leverage.  Speaking is  another form of leverage.  Using the knowledge and skills of those around you is yet another.

Leverage is a great phenomenon – and I’m learning about it in depth at the moment.

Dunno why, but I find myself thinking about where I’ve come from and where I’m going.  Wherever it is I’m going, it seems I’m going there really fast.  I’ve had a bit of time ‘off’ over the summer and am starting to get back into things with speaking engagements in Perth, Sydney, Brisbane and London.  I’m speaking to groups of people about how they can use the internet to promote:

1. a concept
2. a business
3. a product
4. a service
5. a person

Promotion is one thing – but I’m also going talking to them all about how the internet is an amazing human communication tool.  Humans have always communicated -  the internet just sped it up, leveraged it, and made it possible to connect with millions of people almost instantly.

It’s like the Jetsons – but better because it’s real.

All this talk of the ‘interweb’ and ’software thingys’ seems a long way from where I came from.  My first memories are of my childhood in an outback town in country NSW.  A little place called Deniliquin.  Population 6000 when I lived there.  Think I’ll take the kids there one day.

(How does a boy from the country with a very modest upbringing end up doing what I’m doing now?  There’s a story in that, but I’ll leave it for another time.  Meanwhile, check out my country home town.)

View Larger Map

Coming up sometime this year I will release a book I’ve been sitting on for a while now called P2A: Possibility to Actuality – otherwise known in my house as how to make stuff happen.

Some people believe success is only for those with natural talent.  Other people believe success is to be found in tricky psychological techniques, or even potions and pills.  In this post I’m not going to go into what I believe success is due to (that’s for later), other than to say that when it comes to achieving things I have typically succeeded by ‘forcing the issue’.

Forcing the Issue

Now, some don’t like ‘force’.  They prefer gentler, less confronting terms like ‘being fluid’ or ‘being in flow’.  Personally, I don’t object to the sense of power in the word ‘force’, however I still see it the same as ‘being like water’.  Yes water can flow gently around obstacles, but water can also be forceful.  Loud.  Persistent.  Relentless.  Insistent.  Powerful.

By ‘forcing the issue’ I refer to insisting on success.  Insisting that a certain thing be completed.  Insisting that a certain level of skill be attained.  Never giving up.  Using everything I have within me to bend and shape the world around me.  By forcing the issue I refer to dreaming big and beyond your limitations.  Not settling for less than you know you are capable of and actually dreaming of more than that.

Forcing the issue is asserting your ‘will’.

Now, talking of ‘will’, an adviser of mine sent me this Will Smith video the other day and thought I’d share it with you.  I’m pretty sure you’ll like it.  I’d love to read your comments, so make sure and leave some!