Yes, rub your eyes and read that again! I won a freaking car recently. More than winning, I “earned” a free car Here’s the back-story:

I was visiting a colleague fighter, Mike Filsaime, at his office in New York to do some video filming for our upcoming project (releasing in Mid May). However, he was also just days away from launching his own product.

They were currently in their “buzz building” mode and had all their promotional partners (including me) promoting.

I was #5 in “most leads generated” and was (at the time) set to win an Amazon Kindle (but who cares, I already have one).

Well, while at New York, I was checking my e-mail late that night and I got an email update from Mike regarding who’s leading the “lead contest.” I went to read it and I was amazed at something…

Right before my eyes, he listed that if someone get 4,000 leads, they win a FREE CAR.

“I’m sorry…WHAT?! All I have to do is send you 4,000 leads (free leads, they just have to put in their name/email) and you’ll give me a freaking free CAR?!”

Here’s the thing…

1. Getting 4,000 is *not* easy - many times, just getting 4,000 CLICKS is hard enough. To get 4,000 leads, you’re looking at needing to send at least 16,000 clicks - wow.

2. I didn’t know this till the END of the promotion. There were 2 days left.

3. He already had 40,000 leads! That meant that 40,000 people had already filled in this form and wouldn’t do it again (even if they did, it wouldn’t count).

A lot of the people who promote, we have very similar “lists (of customers)” so it’s very competitive…

So…lots of reasons why I “couldn’t” do it.

But here are a few reasons I *could* do it (the positive):

1. I was AT his office. I had an advantage. I could make quality video interviews, etc…to send to my list.

2. For a recent promotion our company did, we had generated over 8,000 leads and close to 20,000 clicks!

So…all in all…I decided to take the challenge because I LOVE challenges.

Proof - Concrete Goals WORK!

I have to admit that in the last 3 years I can’t remember the last time I had worked this relentlessly to hit a goal. It was down to the wire (4 hours left) and I was only 400 leads away!

I had done everything I could. I had mailed my customers multiple times, promoted HEAVY.

But I’m so close, what to do?

“Ok time to do some out-of-the-box thinking…” - It led me to doing things I never imagined possible…

A) I immediately went and promoted this to my lead lists that were in completely different niches - I mean COMPLETELY different.

I had NEVER promoted anything like this to them. I did it anyways.

B) I immediately had one of my team members help me start a PPC campaign. She was awesome, even after a long flight, she sat down and did this as a personal favor for me.

…and now for the crazy part…

C) I e-mailed my friends who had customer lists and asked them to send their list MY link!  Yes, imagine if Coke called Pepsi and said “hey buddy…can you send a blast to your entire customer base and make us money - help us win this contest?”

…Although I’m not enemies with the ones I asked, we are technically a bit “competitive” - but we’re all great friends.

I’ve never had the nerve to ask for anything like this. Even when I was up for “Top Entrepreneur Under 25″ by BusinessWeek, I never had the nerve.

NOW…I was taking it one step further.

What Were The Results?

3 out of the 4 I asked IMMEDIATELY sent the mailing to their list as a friendly favor! What great people…

The contest ended 12 AM ET (Tuesday) and when it ended I was still 200+ leads away

However, the product did not launch for another 13 hours. I had a feeling that Mike would quietly extend the deadline for all his affiliates and he did JUST that!

Someone from Mike’s team (Becky) was awesome, she stayed up all night with me and kept me updated.  At exactly 8 AM (5 hours before he launched), I hit the 4,000 mark!

This truly was an amazing feat because I did it when he already had 40,000 leads! I got into it so late and barely had any time.

I was the #1 promoter!

The Car…

I won a Toyota FJ Cruiser, but really don’t want it. So, I’ll be taking the cash value in order to get something different (something I can love).

The Lesson?

Bottom line, you need a short (realistic but hard to get) goal in your life. These goals can REALLY drive you.

The key is to have a strict deadline. It’s also best to maybe have a deadline that is not “you” giving it, it’s a 3rd party (so you can’t just move it).

I’ve learned a lot about myself this week. I see that I’m an incredibly “goal” oriented person. This new knowledge is going to really help me structure my life and make some major changes (leading to mo’ money)!

Go and make a goal, fight for it. You’ll see amazing results and maybe walk away with a free car too!

Popularity: 12% [?]

I kid you not when I say that there are 58 things on my to do list!

I just did a “brain-dump” last night and it seemed to never end. Now I understand why I felt like I was going crazy having to keep it all in my head. Doing the brain dump at least helped me relax (I felt a bit more organized).

However, the madness is just getting started as I stare at my list (where over 60% of the things qualify as “urgent”).

I came up with a fun “to do list template” to get myself better organized and I’m seeing TREMENDOUS results. So here it is…

My To Do List Template - Step 1:

Do a brain-dump. Just sit down with a piece of paper and pen and start writing down EVERYTHING that comes to your mind.

It doesn’t matter how small or big it is. Just write it down…don’t worry about ranking them or organizing them.

Whatever comes, you write…

My To Do List Template - Step 2:

Create Projects. After I’m done with the brain-dump, I go through the list and see what “category” or “project” they have to do with.

For example, I found that a lot of my to-do list had to do with an upcoming product launch my company has in May (we’ll call it launch X). So, I now need to create a project called “Launch X.”

Next example, I found quite a few of them had to do with making travel arrangements. So, I created a project called “Travel Arrangements.”

Do this until you have a shorter, more digestible ”project” list rather than a TO DO list.

My To Do List Template - Step 3:

Prioritize Your Projects. Don’t bother with your “to-do” list yet. Just go in and first prioritize your PROJECTS. Which ones are the most important/urgent/need to be done the soonest.

I also like to keep the concept of “lowest hanging fruit” in mind. 

For example, the project “travel arrangements” is much easier than the others. I can either just delegate this to someone OR I can even do it myself in about an hour (the other projects may take days even).

My To Do List Template - Step 4:

Assign Tasks To Projects. Now it’s time to go back through that to do list and actually assign each action item to a PROJECT.

This is the part where you get some clarity on what you need to do, finally. You’ll start feeling a sense of ease come over you.

My To Do List Template - Step 5:

Start with Project #1. That’s right, now it’s time to start with whatever project you found the most important (and lowest hanging).

So, now all you need to do is the group of tasks in that PROJECT and focus 100% into it.

The keyword here is FOCUS…

The Power of Organizing By “PROJECTS…”

I have found that this has recently changed my life and really helped me SPEED up my efficiency and the raw amount of work I’m getting done (you’ll even see that I’m more active on this blog)!

You see…the TRICK here is to dedicate yourself 100% (not 30% or 80%, 100% only) to just ONE project and go at it non-stop until you finish it. Then, simply take a short breath/break and take that same energy and funnel it to the next project…

Why? Walk through this exercise with me…

Let’s assume you’re working on 10 projects at the same time. Now, let’s assume it takes you 100 hours to finish. If you decide to work 10 hours a day, you can work 1 hour on each project.

This means, it’ll take you 100 days (@ 1 hour a day) to finish each project.

Now, let’s look at it ANOTHER way…

What if you “screw” 9 of the projects and put 100% of your energy into just ONE of the projects. Now, you’re working 10 hours a day on that same project. If it still takes the 100 hours, you’ll be done in just 10 days!

So, in the prior example it would have taken you 100 days to finish all 10, but before then, nothing would be “done” and the entire time you’d be overloaded.

But, NOW…you’ll finish them ONE by ONE - never feel overloaded and you’ll see at least SOME results within 10 days (instead of 100)!

Really think about that concept, it’s simple but quite earth shattering - changed the way I think about “focus” completely.

You see, the biggest change I’ve recently made is that I realized I can’t do too much at one time.

I’m now focusing in on just ONE project at a time - it’s all I think about day and night and I work as hard as I can to finish it up. The MINUTE I finish it, I move onto the next project.

This is my “Project To Do List Template” - use it and prosper! (faster)

Popularity: 18% [?]

I recently discovered something that I have been missing for years. No, not momentum - I’ve had “that” many times. However, I’ve never CAPITALIZED on it…

Here’s what always happens…

I work my butt off to do something positive (whether business or personal). I find myself working days, weeks and even months (non-stop). Then, the day comes…

Boom…it hits and huge success…

After the success, I’m so “pooped” from the work it took to get there that I decide to take it easy, slow down and sometimes even disappear for a bit.

Of course I do this because we all need rest and time to recuperate but at what price?!

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again - success comes from hard work and hustling, period. Put your whining, complaining and self-pity away.

==========

All along what I’ve been doing after a success hits is I’ve been feeling “sorry” for myself and creating an excuse or reason to take an extended break. Well…the world moves fast. By the time I’m ready to come back to work, the world has moved on.

My success is old news and now I need to get my “market attention” back, I have to start all over again!

A Deadly Cycle…

I end up working hard again to get back to that momentum and then again, I’m so dead tired - I take a break.

Well, this time - I’m doing things differently and WOW is it paying off (but I also have an unfair advantage now). We recently just had the most amazing product launch in our company’s history.

14,000 sales in less than 6 days…

That’s right, we brought in more customers in 6 days in February than we had in the entire year of 2008! Now, THAT’S momentum.

I “wanted” to take some time off afterward, but not this time - I won’t make that mistake again. Luckily, we spent a ton of time in 2008 preparing for this and have been SPOT on. We got ready and now we have our entire 2009 planned.

No way I’m letting go of the momentum this time.

So, what was my unfair advantage this time?

I built up resources, people and a plan of action.

See, in the past, I never properly prepared for the success that was to come. I had to rely on either myself or a small core team and our scalibility hit a hard break. We got burned out and HAD to take a break.

This time around - we were ready. Thanks to that, we’ve been able to spread the work load around  a GREAT team of people. We’ve put structure in place that allows ME to move on to the next project to continue growing that momentum.

So, I know it’s easier said than done, but take my word for it. Don’t waste your momentum. Deal with some of the pain now but work even HARDER after you get your first success.

Success is exponential, it grows faster and faster the more of it you get. So, don’t slow down!

Popularity: 9% [?]

I’m proud, excited and overjoyed to announce that I just recently got an invite to speak at a Tony Robbins event! He’s throwing a business development and personal growth LIVE seminar in Vegas with Chet Holmes and I was invited to potentially speak at the event.

After the review process I was just recently approved and confirmed as a speaker!

This marks a pretty big day in my personal business growth. Tony Robbins is the KING of personal development and business strategy. Speaking at his event will open a brand new (and very large) network to myself and my company.

It also marks a great personal achievement for me.

If you want to come see me speak, you can register here - CLICK HERE…

I’ll give everyone an update after this, I speak any time between April 1 and 5. I’m stocked!

Popularity: 9% [?]

Just a funny story of a lesson I learned yesterday:

Never judge a book by it’s cover…

As you know, I’m in Goa for some R&R (unfortunately, very short trip, I leave today). Well, I decided to take some time off today and go to the SPA at the hotel I’m staying at.

I’m not adapting well to my bed in Mumbai and have been having BAD neck/head pains (I think from the pillow). I was having horrible migraines yesterday.

I went in for a 90 minute “warrior massage” - equivalent to a “deep tissue massage” in the U.S. I really wanted to work out all the kinks and sore muscles, the recent product launch combined with all the flying around, combined with my unruly pillow were raking havok on me.

I scheduled the massage and walked in…they did the usual - go to steam room, shower, blah blah blah…

Then I was placed in the waiting room to wait for my therapist.

Here opens the door and walks in…

…A BARELY 5 foot woman, VERY scrony.

I’m not one to throw a fit or start asking for another therapist so I just mumbled under my breath in disappointment and thought “what the heck can SHE do?”

I was carted away to a pavilion overlooking the beach (awesome way to get a massage by the way with the ocean winds and sunset ambiance). 

The massage starts…

So, she gets started and is just lightly tapping around, further confirming my hypothesis that “I’m screwed and just wasted money…”

All of a sudden, god knows what happens, maybe she took some instant steroids or ate some spinach, but BAM!

BAM…BAM…BAM!

I WANTED TO CRY - but what kind of a man would I be?

This “small woman” was TEARING me up! She went to town. She was attacking with palms, elbows, knuckles, you name it - it HURT.

Then she calmly asks “is the pressure ok?”

…Desperately wanting to say “please lighten up…” my masculinity didn’t let me. I just bit my tongue and said “y…e…s… it.s….f…i…ne”

90 minutes of abuse. Don’t get me wrong, it felt GREAT - it was just what I needed, but wow, who knew deep tissue massages hurt so much?

Anyways, if I was staying longer, I’d definitely go back to her again. My entire body is bruised and hurting (which is ironically a good thing).

So…there you have it - DON’T JUDGE A BOOK BY IT’S COVER or you’ll get physically hurt too.

Popularity: 7% [?]

Sometimes it’s important to do things just for the sake of doing them, even if they make no sense to others - who cares?

Just 3 days back I randomly decided that I wanted some quiet R&R time and I wanted to “get away.” So, I combined two things…

1. I have always wanted to see Goa, India…
2. I wanted to get away…

But last minute? Shouldn’t I make plans? Shouldn’t I search for the best deal?

Screw that! I made the decision and that was it - I needed some rest and time off and I could fly over to Goa in less than an hour from Mumbai…

Booking my trip was just a few clicks away on the internet. Flight, check…Hotel, check…

What else is there?

Did I get weird looks from people when I said I was doing this? Sure, I did…

Did it “entirely” make sense even to me? Not really. I mean, I’m going for 2 days, I’m DEAD tired and not in the mood to “tour” - I’ll probably just spend the entire time resting and doing some light work in my hotel room.

But, so what? Obviously I *thought* of the idea because I wanted to do it, so I just decided to do it.

Right now, I’m sitting in Goa and loving it. I haven’t seen anything other than the drive from the airport to the hotel. However…

=> My headache is gone
=> I got some great sleep already…
=> I had some excellent food…
=> I’m just relaxing watching TV, writing this blog post…

That kind of relaxation is priceless - it clears your mind, lifts your spirits and makes you more effective.

So, are you getting enough rest? Enough alone time to “re-charge”?  Are you doing enough *crazy* things without caring what others think? (not that going to Goa is crazy, but still, it makes no sense to most to do it the way I did).

I bet there is some place close to you that you can “escape” to for a day or two on a budget too…do it.

Life is good

Popularity: 8% [?]

I was asked the silliest question recently. What made it silly was that I think it was an “honest question” - the person REALLY wanted to know (and I have a feeling that he still doesn’t believe my answer).

By the way, he happens to be a reader of this blog, probably reading right now - so this is dedicated to you.

Here’s the context:

I work a lot. I work hard. I work crazy hours. I love every minute of it.

I have big goals in life. I want to achieve the unachievable. I want to leave everyone scratching their heads thinking: “what the hell is he doing? how is he doing it?”

To do this, I know I have to work my tail off. Period. There is no such thing as “being lucky” - you create your own luck. So, this is why I work so hard (it helps to love what I do).

Now, here’s what prompted the question:

We recently pulled off one of the largest product launches in our industry’s history and it was amazing, exhilarating - everything I dreamed it would be.

At the same time, it required LOTS of work. Hours and hours of no sleep, stress, arguments, etc… This is nothing new to me, I’ve been doing it for five years and my “hard work investment” has always paid off (so why stop now?).

Well, the person who asked me this question has been seeing me online (on Gtalk) for hours and hours and has been receiving countless e-mails from me as I manage the launch.

I guess after a while he just started to wonder: “How is this possible? How is he working so many hours yet still walking around alive, with left-over energy at the end of it all?”

I guess what concerns me  is that the best conclusion he could reach for was that “I’m on illegal drugs.” At first it was funny, now I wonder if he’s serious…guess he doesn’t think much of me if he is

More background:

I have a condition called Crohn’s Disease. It’s raked havoc on my life and almost killed me multiple times. As hard as it has been on me, it’s made me who I am today - so I guess it’s a blessing in disguise (still hard to accept).

It’s made me resilient, persistent and it’s helped me appreciate life for what it is NOW.

Now, because of the aggressive form of the disease, I have to take a lot of medication, some of which is very expensive and even a bit risky if used long-term (but I have no choice).

Well…when I responded that “No, I do not take illegal drugs.” The conclusion reached was that perhaps my medication has some substances in it that give me an unfair advantage in the world.

I know…crazy right?

I wanted to post about this because I thought it was funny.

Here is some advice everyone:

Let’s not look TOO deep for answers as to how one becomes successful. It’s hard work - that’s it. You create your own luck. Look for opportunities, keep an open mind and don’t be too fast to judge that which you do not understand.

So…Finally the “Scientific Explanation” of why I can stay up for up to 58 Hours & perform at peak the entire time?

I’ve been doing it for years. I’ve practiced.

I love what I do and I don’t know any other way. When something needs to get done, I get it done.

I don’t sit there and feel sorry for myself or stress about how much work is needed to get done - I just do it.

So, in the words of our friends at Nike, “Just Do It!”

Popularity: 12% [?]