recreatingreality.com

Doing more of what does not work will not make it work any better. Most of us have found ourselves repeating the same activities over and over again, expecting a different result. According to Einstein that is the definition of insanity.

Sometimes we have to face the reality that we are on the wrong path. Have the courage to face the truth. If we are traveling from Los Angeles to New York by car and suddenly we see the Pacific Ocean, even the most stubborn among us would have to admit that we took the wrong road. And, even the most stubborn among us would turn the car around rather than drive off the cliff into the ocean.

Many of us have a goal in mind. Many of us continue to do the same activities that we outlined in our original plans. And, many of us are beginning to enter the hamster sydrome. We are running inside the wheel and getting nowhere.

There are several reasons we continue along that path to nowhere. We are comfortable performing an activity that is familiar. It takes courage to make a change. Sometimes we don’t know what change to make. Sometimes we are afraid of failure. Sometimes we are just too dang lazy to engage in thinking and planning time to come up with alternative actions and plans.

Unless your goal is eternal frustration and failure, it is time to change the activites. As stated previously, the only reason we do not succeed is due to lack of “want to” or lack of “know how.” If you are still spending hours and hours wasting your time, do a reality check. Do you really want to succeed? Do you know how to succeed?

If you can pass the “want to” test, it is time to learn how to succeed. I am going to cite a personal example, as much as I wish it were not so fresh on my mind. I decided that I wanted to make money online. There are several advantages to earning money from home, especially for me. My days are often interrupted with family obligations that cannot wait until a more convenient time for me. That’s my best reason for now.

I definitely have the “want to.” In fact, I can say that I really believe that I was born with more “want to” than most. I decided to earn an income online. Trust me on this one, I had absolutely no “know how.” Unlike many younger people, I was not born with a computer or a blackberry in my hands. Email was about the best I could do online. Other than emailing my kids, my computer was used as a high end typewriter. Sad, but true.

Just so you know, I am sixty. I mention that only because I have heard so many people in their forties and fifties say that they don’t know how to do something, as if they are too old to learn a new trick. These people are not suffering from a lack of “know how.” They are suffering from a lack of “want to.” Even old dogs can learn new tricks.

I decided to write a blog, not this one. This is one of several websites I have. Well, let’s get to the basics of this example. I discovered that Wordpress was the easiest way to begin. And, quite honestly, I didn’t know the first thing about Wordpress or widgets or trackbacks or pings… just to mention a few words and phrases that are in that foreign language of creating an online presence. (I know some of you are laughing. But, that is my truth.)

I first began with a Wordpress free blog. (http://www.wordpress.com). It didn’t take long for me to figure out the basics. Write what you have to say, then hit “Publish.” I had an online presence. As I became more comfortable with the computer and the Internet, I upgraded to hosting my own site. I had to overcome the idea that I could break the Internet if I screwed up. Trust me… you cannot break it.

To shorten the example, I signed up for Hostgator and I bought a domain. I was still terrified that I would make a mess of it. However, most services do have a “technical” department that can fix anything I (or you) can mess us. Within no time at all, I had learned the “how to” part of the first few steps.

I had several sites up and running and I was feeling my oats, so to speak. For months I kept up my blogs and worked as diligently as if I had a 9-5 job. I made no money doing it, but I had fun. Well, fun was not my goal. Making money was and still is.

It was time to learn how to make money. Trial and error wasn’t getting the job done. I didn’t have enough background knowledge to really try something different. Again, I was repeating the same activities over and over again and getting the same results… $0.00.

Find a mentor! Yep, it was time to find someone who knows how to make money online. I did. I actually signed up for a crash course on how to make money online. Again, I was increasing my “know how.” The fee for the course was close to $600. That may sound like a lot, but it was well worth every penny. What I learned during the first online class and personal consultation (yep… I talked to the teacher on the phone. He is a real person!) will earn back the cost of the course in two months. But, the that isn’t the end of the line. If I continue doing what I have learned to do I can grow my income exponentially.

Now, this is an example of how each of us can learn something new. And, this is an example of how we can all recreate our realities even in these tough economic times.