Kevin Hogan

International Speaker

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Absolute Goal Attainment

Which Part of You Wants This Goal, Anyway?

“Can you really have most anything you want in life?”

 

The traditional concept of a goal or outcome is pretty simple. “You” want “it” and part of you determines “you” are going to acquire it.

Broadly speaking, the part of you that “wants to acquire a goal,” that actually WILL acquire the goal dwells within the nonconscious parts of the brain.

This part of your brain doesn’t think or make decisions. It takes actions or in-actions triggered by impulses and based on previous decisions in similar situations. It squirts images, pictures, movies, soundtracks into your mind for the purpose of triggering the mind to “do something.”

While that part of the brain doesn’t “think,” it runs your life probably 80-95% of your waking life.

Meanwhile, your mind IS consciousness. It’s the part of you that thinks. It has all kinds of things it likes to do, wants to do, doesn’t want to do, complains, groans, grumbles, evaluates things logically, and so forth.

800 page books could be written and have been written about what you’ve just read. Thousands of exceptions and nuances, but we don’t have 800 pages today. You want to be able to get what you want in most aspects of life.

Soon.

Simple enough….

Sort of…

 

The “Goal” of Arriving at Work

Imagine that you know someone who works for a decent-sized company. This is one of the millions of people who drive to work every single day. Who knows, maybe they have a government job.

That person gets to work on almost all of those days.

It has become a nonconscious goal…to “go to work.”

The brain turns on when the alarm goes off.

“Gotta get up to go to work.” (Brain)

“I don’t want to go to work today.” (Mind)

Those are simple reactions to the alarm. The brain is only rarely controlled by thinking or conscious thought. Your mind rarely runs your brain. Your brain is run by impulse (stimulus). Up the person jumps from bed and begins a routine they do every single day.

 

Who’s Driving the Bus?

The nonconscious parts of the brain are driving the Brain Bus most minutes of most mornings. It gets you up at 7:00. Then: Shower, brush teeth, eat breakfast, get the kids out the door, drive to work, get to work, say hello to those passed by in the hall. Sit down and get on the computer. Log into email.

It’s 9:15 AM and almost no conscious impetus has transpired.

This is neither good nor bad. It doesn’t speak well or ill of you or me. It’s just how the brain does it’s thing.

The Employee above, has made it to work again, goal attained, completely and literally without thinking.

Goal Attainment: Keeley HazellBut what goes on when thinking is required? How might one begin to take a conscious goal and drill the software that will bring one to that goal?

For example, if one wanted to go to dinner with Keeley Hazell, how does that very conscious mind goal happen?

It’s going to require a new piece of brain software. Software that is written so that one might captivate someone like the British actress, model and muse.

Most definitely a wonderful muse, and dinner with her is one of the few things I’d prefer to Coffee with Kevin…

But, first do recognize that this is a goal that has an endpoint. It’s like saying, “I want to go to England.”

Different goals have no endpoint. “I want to live a healthy life and contribute to those around me in the community.”

These are very, very different goals that require different processes and planning, as you will see in this series of articles.

Losing 25 pounds is a relatively easy goal to program and to write. Keeping 25 pounds OFF the body for the next 10 years is a most difficult and complex piece of software to write. We will do both in this series of articles.

 

One thing is certain, such an outcome is certain to never happen until one completely understands how the brain works as far as goal acquisition. So what you take in today is important to not only Dinner with Keeley, but also for all goals that are consciously driven that have an endpoint. Do consider taking copious notes.

Dinner with Keeley (DwK) is a conscious mind goal. Conscious mind goals are required when one has no experience with having dinner with Keeley or someone very similar to her.

Why? There is no software running in the brain to accomplish such a formidable task. As you discover the process of installing the software, you learn the process to acquire pretty much anything…

Now, let’s get to work on not only DwK, but other similar goals we wish to attain.

The Brain Gets What It Wants When Specific Conditions are Met

Your brain has very, very specific goals it acquires every single day. These goals are not written anywhere. They are all triggered by stimuli in the environment and people around you. You would NEVER consider THESE goals…to be goals!

Your brain is quite good at getting what it is programmed to get.

Your brain rarely fails in getting what is programmed in via habit.

Unfortunately if you are like 95-97% of people, your brain typically simply makes progress toward all other goals (goals you “think about” that are decided upon in consciousness…stuff you write down or think you want to accomplish) and then it quits when it has “satisfied itself” that it has made progress.

These goals it makes progress toward and then switches to other pre-programmed activity are the goals you say you “want,” think you want, and tell other people you want, and then rarely get.

You want to open a 401K so you have a million dollars to retire on.

The brain will cause you to open the 401K. It will not likely cause you to place any money in the account. Then it will get back to its previously scheduled programming. Literally.

For example, it returns to more important work like getting the body fed.

Your brain rarely acquires much of anything other than eating, sleeping, taking out the trash, brushing your teeth, getting out of the bad weather elements, seeking safety from danger or making lunch.

Keeley HazellNow that you see the first two broad categories of goals you understand they are there simply because of how the brain works.

You’re thinking, OK, so my brain can’t get Keeley; but my mind COULD program the brain to get Keeley, right?

Precisely.

Today and next week you and will discuss all highly desirable goals and outcomes for which there is no software installed in the nonconscious brain. You’ll see how to drop 20 pounds. You’ll find out how to earn an extra $100,000 this year.

These goals are almost virtually identical with the one variance that Keeley would personally be willing to have that dinner. Once you have accomplished one, the others are much easier to write a program for. Simple enough.

The immediate problem is that none of this stuff is familiar to the programs that have been running in the brain for years. The brain has no programming to work from. It’s not the kind of goal the brain accomplishes day in and day out.

In fact, all this kind of stuff is a hassle for the brain.

Even DwK.

The fact is that DwK is much more work to the brain than she’s worth…even once the brain recognizes “that’s Keeley.” The brain is far more likely to take actions toward a reasonable facsimile of Keeley…if it were to do anything at all…and it probably wouldn’t.

 

The Brain Does What It Knows

Your brain doesn’t drive you toward making more money. It doesn’t have an “opinion” on who wins the Presidency. It doesn’t have a value judgment on what church you go to. It isn’t evaluating what your kids did at school. It does often drive you to an impulse of what movie to watch. The brain DOES what is familiar or comfortable, what is conditioned, what is ALREADY written on the software of the brain. It runs programs. It doesn’t like NEW programs at all.

Eat, sleep, parent, accomplish tasks that meet absolute needs for survival, safety and reproduction. It does pretty much everything it has been programmed to do and nothing else of significance…though it is capable of magnitudes more.

You’ve probably now figured out there are several categories or continuums of goals. For today, we’ll stick with two simple divisions.

There are different programs that need to be different kinds of goals. No one ever shared this with you.

I have met many a millionaire who became a non-millionaire and couldn’t get back to having wealth or much of anything else. Why? You’ll find that out in this series of articles. Some millionaires find it easy to fall down and get back up. Others had the wrong software interfaces.

 

Two Types of Goal Attainment

To review: One type of goal “is” Conscious, the other “is” Non-Conscious.

Conscious Goal AttainmentThis simply means that the goal is generated by conscious thought or not.

The Employee above required no conscious engagement to get to work.

Non-Conscious goals are goals that are not being generated by the conscious, thinking part of the brain.

Getting to the office is a goal that requires perhaps 2 – 3 hours of total real time. The clock goes off at 7 AM and the email is read by 9:15 AM.

Every day.

The goal is only altered by things like traffic accidents, sick kids or something similar. Without conscious over-ride, The Employee gets to the office every single day. If they don’t make it today or even today or tomorrow, they will get to the office by Thursday.

Think about it.

That’s pretty incredible.

 

Brain Can’t Be Bothered With These Goals

Your brain has no time or “direction” in getting you toward what you think of as “real” goals like getting in shape, getting a better partner, stopping smoking, getting a raise. If brains could care, it would care less.

KEYPOINT: The brain only ceases repelling consciously created goals when there is a powerful desire of pleasure or avoidance of fear or pain strongly attached to an outcome or goal. Thus, Keeley becomes a powerful metaphor, as you will see. The fact is, Keeley’s image, her impression on your brain, might just trigger you to acquire MANY goals, not just DwK even if DwK is never attained. Read that again….we’ll be back here later.

People “set” goals every single day.

Here are some goals I often hear people declare at various points during the year.

 

  • “I will start my own business this year.” 
  • “I will earn $100,000 more this year than last.” 
  • “I will lose 25 pounds this year.” 

     

Goal: AccomplishedThese are what your mindconsiders “real goals.” “Important goals.”

But remember your braincouldn’t “care” less and will do absolutely nothing to cooperate with you attaining any of those goals.

This is pretty huge because it basically means the less absolute control you have in your own life, the less likely you are to attain any conscious mind generated goals. The good news is you can change.

Back to The employee for a sec…

Does The Employee say, “I will get to work almost every single day this year. I know I can do it! I have great self esteem and skills that God has given me. I am blessed and I will get to work today. I’m writing it down and putting it on Facebook for social leverage!”

Of course not.

She already knows she’ll get to work almost every single day this year. She doesn’t even think getting to work is a “goal.” Her brain is on 100% autopilot. She never fails because she is running routines as simple as opening email every single day. This doesn’t mean her life is “easy” or “stress free,” it simply means that she will continue to do what she is programmed to do until something VERY BIG comes along to make a change and THAT CHANGE will be tumultuous….her brain won’t like it one bit.

Ironically it is the nonconscios goal the brain acts on to completion. Goals you “decide” on? No. For that you have to write new software.

Ask The Employee how she knows she’ll get to the office every single day and she will look at you as if you have lost your mind.

There is no response she can give you that will make “sense.” Her conscious mind isn’t in charge of making it happen, so she never “thinks about it.” It’s a foreign notion. When people “just do it” they will have a very difficult time articulating it. People “just do stuff” that is literally programmed in through one of very few possible installation processes.

She just does it.

It’s like saying, “How do you get to bed each night?”

“How the heck do you think? I pull the covers down, turn off the light and stick my head on the pillow. What a stupid question,” she would respond…

 

Jump Starting Your Brain

So what is the specific difference?

Why does someone need to “set a goal” like one of the three asterisked outcomes above?

Why not just start the business?

Because the brain has no idea what is required to start a business.

OK, so just what does it take to start a business?

Not much. (If you’ve already created a business, you know how elementary it is, so skip this page!) It takes about as long to start a business as it does to make a BLT – something the brain can do to virtual perfection without ever letting your mind engage.

 

  1. You go online, fill in the incorporation form at the Secretary of State website for the State you live in and either pay online with a credit card or send the paper work in to the SoS office. Total time? Less than 5 minutes. 
  2. You go to irs.gov and fill out form SS-4 to get a tax ID number. You hit submit. The IRS instantly gives you your Tax ID number and baby you are in business. 

Goal: AccomplishedAnd the toast has popped up from the toaster.

You are done. You have started a business. It’s 5-10 minutes total time.

Is that all there is to it?

That’s all there is to it.

Don’t you need business cards, letter head, all kinds of stuff?

Nope. You are in business.

It’s over.

But some people make it a one-year goal?

Why?

Because it’s unfamiliar. Some people might even start on the IRS site and THEN go to a State site and that easily can fail because your cool business name might be taken in your State and then you’d have to start all over.

Starting a business requires the same time it takes to wait in Drive Thru…

 

Make Your Brain Comfortable

Most people have no idea what is required, so they “make this a goal” instead of completing a simple 2-step process, three if you include paying the State with your credit card. So the goal goes up on the vision board (tongue in cheek…we discussed this last week) and never gets accomplished.

Your brain makes it a “goal” (Something that you’ll do someday) vs. a task with a process. (Like going grocery shopping)

What you and I call “a goal” is really no such thing to the nonconscious parts of the brain that go out and acquire or attain what is either strongly desired or current programming that runs consistently each and every day.

Unless a new outcome is fueled by an intense and dramatic desire, the new wiring that’s needed to happen in the brain will never fire and wire together. If it’s not compelling, the new outcome won’t happen.

The bride loses 25 pounds (check her scrapbook before the wedding, the wedding day, and one year later) then gains it back.

She had the right fuel for the ENDPOINT GOAL but the WRONG FUEL for the LIFETIME GOAL.

There was intense desire to look good for the congregation and for posterity. But, then when the desire is simply “strong” instead of compelling, the software fails.

As you turn the page, beware of a stunning and compelling image of Keeley. Rated PG. It’s just enough to trigger a mild dopamine release in my brain…I pondered using more intense imagery to drive home just how powerful desire must be…but, I didn’t want to give any of the elderly men who read Coffee a heart attack.

Now, turn the page and feel a mild burst of energy.

Observe…

 

Goal Attainment: Dinner With Keeley HazellPart of the problem is that people don’t have a clue with what is involved in “starting a business,” losing 25 pounds or getting to go to DwK.

The impetus to START toward a consciously chosen goal requires a payload of brain fuel that would propel a Saturn V rocket in the 1970’s to escape earth’s orbit.

That brain fuel can be one of a few different kinds of brain hormones but it MUST include a complete bathing of at least ONE.

Lots of people are uncomfortable with the hormones required to attain pretty much any goal they think about. That means they have no chance to even come close enough to tell a “near miss story.” Hormones and brain chemicals being released into the body make you FEEL DIFFERENT than you did 10 seconds ago.

This is a pretty soft image of one of my very favorite muses, but even so it causes a gentle release of dopamine to lightly bathe the brain. Blended with similar imagery it would be a catalyst to attain all of the goals touched on above. Without a catalyst, no goal gets attained.

Remember, if there is no current program running for daily goal acquisition of X, you MUST have a potent trigger to propel you toward an outcome.

Not understanding this caused me great frustration as recently as 7 years ago.

7 years ago, when I started training the 9-week online Internet Marketing Course, it never dawned on me that people wouldn’t know how to form a business. It’s something I’ve done so many times that it’s like The Employee getting to the office. You just do it. I spend more time taking the trash out on Sunday night.

Other gurus still make this monster sized mistake in their trainings whether live or in person. They often don’t care whether the client or participant succeeds or fails so long as the check clears, but I do.

This is so huge because if the person doesn’t start a business, they aren’t going to get paid, and if they try, it won’t be much. The reason is simple. It’s not easy getting a credit card merchant account so you can accept credit cards as an individual. Yes, you could make it happen but THAT is a lot of work. Sure you can use “Square” which allows individuals to take credit cards but when I got mine the max I could take was $1,000 per day. You can’t make any money taking in $1,000 per day.

People who form the business find it rather easy to get a merchant account, which means it’s rather easy to get paid when you’d like to get paid.

What happened in those early Internet Marketing Courses?

People became proficient at putting up a website, getting video up, marketing, writing copy, putting out an ezine…everything….except getting paid because they had no business checking account (two forms at the bank) and because they had no tax ID number and incorporation papers we talked about on the last page.

People didn’t earn a living or build wealth because they made a goal out of taking 15 minutes to fill in two online forms and take the processed forms to the bank.

Drove me nuts trying to figure out what puzzle pieces were missing.

 

Tragically, the goals that require only 15 minutes almost never get accomplished!

 

To Do List vs. Goal List

It can drive you nuts to be on either side of this problem.

Goals: To Do ListYou call the plumber or the electrician because you don’t know how to fix the xyz when it breaks. 90% of all problems that happen in a car or in the house or anywhere require less than an hour to fix. But because someone has never done it, it seems daunting and unless it is an emergency it is postponed… just like a goal.

Remember, people will only attain a NEW goal that is not currently being “met” or “attained” daily with massive desire for pleasure being met attached to the outcome, or an intense desire to avoid pain or fear.

Putting something on a goals list has a different “feel” than being on a “to do list” because each list is a very different construct. A goal doesn’t have to be done, but “to do,” by definition, gets done, especially if the “to do” is a one or two-step process.

Imagine going on Facebook and saying, “I need your support everyone, I’m going to start a business this year…”

In the time it takes to read the first few comments, the entire process can be completed.

That’s where we have these problems. People then feel inferior. They feel like they are worthless or incompetent when it’s NOTHING of the sort. They simply missed a few pieces.

 

Key to Goal Attainment

Herein is the key to the next factor of Goal Attainment.

Assume the process to get something “started” is simple. Go online, watch a couple of YouTube videos by different people or buy a book. Getting started at anything is generally a sequence of simple processes. Simply do them and move on.

The Brain will resist. Conscious mind resistance will simply trigger the brain to guide you toward an unrelated goal. Your brain has stuff to do and it isn’t going to dink around with “thinking about” …anything.

And why do people not fulfill their dreams?

 

Goals Are Dreamlike

Think of that phrase “vision board.”

What is a “vision?”

In general, people immediately think of something that is dream-like in quality.

And just what ARE dreams?

Dreams are jumbled movies that happen in your brain, at night when your conscious mind has been shut off.

So what will distinguish the desired dinner date from being a jumbled movie in the brain vs. something that might actually happen in real life?

Back to KH…(Keeley Hazell) not KH (Kevin Hogan) in a moment.

Side Bar: Remember The Kim Kardashian Effect you learned about last autumn in Coffee? Coincidence?

I was once asked by one of the most successful authors in the world, “Kevin what are your dreams?”

My response?

 

“I don’t have dreams. I have stuff I do. If I want to do something, I go do it.”

It was obviously a foreign response…I might as well have been speaking Mandarin.

Don’t misunderstand. This doesn’t mean, “I can do anything.”

I can’t.

And that cognition is a life changer.

Goal Attainment: Know What You Can't Do

Your Brain Knows What It Can’t Do

I can’t out-shoot LeBron James.

I can’t out bounty the New Orleans Saints Defense.

I can’t act as brilliantly as Meryl Streep or Dustin Hoffman. (One could learn this and master it over 20 years, but it isn’t desirable for me. If it was desirable, I’d do it.)

Knowing what you can’t do is very helpful.

Therefore tuck this thought away as we will answer this next week but I want it top of mind for the next 7 days:

Can you captivate Keeley? I mean, would she go to dinner with you?

Whenever an outcome or a conscious mind goal intersects with another human’s decision making process, it gets 50% more complicated. Losing weight is 100% about you. Earning an extra $100,000 online is all about you. But getting a dinner date with anyone requires more than just a goal.

Given your current circumstances….who you are…does this other person (KH in this case) have the possibility or desire to meet YOU?

 

Know Your Chances of Success

When I was a kid I played chess, pretty much every day against Jack Young when we were in elementary and junior high school. If you know anything about chess, your mouth just hit the floor. If you don’t, he is one of Chess’s Life Masters. You can know that some famous openings and traps were created by that same Jack Young. Jack would go on to be a Life Master of chess by age 30 and ultimately retire from the game as one of the greatest chess players of all time.

A lot of those traps and openings (Google “The Fishing Pole Jack Young”) were first practiced to beat me in faster and more elegant ways when we were kids…and no…I was in no way significant in Jack’s work becoming a Chess Master. I was simply Jack’s pawn who would never stop playing no matter how many games I lost.

And no, I never once beat Jack. That wasn’t possible. It never crossed my mind to put in the time and devotion he put in to becoming a Chess Life Master. I once observed Jack beat a dozen players… simultaneously…blindfolded. No, I wasn’t ever going to win. That would be like a one year old child knocking out a Professional Boxer. It’s simply not possible.

Goal Attainment: CompetenceTo this day, I play chess a dozen games per week. I love the game. I have no interest in becoming a Master. Being a Master is not in the same world as PLAYING the game for fun. Being a Master would require 5,000 concentrated hours over a two year period playing players of increasing level of difficulty and learning all kinds of stuff that time doesn’t permit based upon my other life choices.

The great lesson of playing someone who at age 12 was already one of the best players in the world, and losing every single game with a very, very rare stalemate once every 100 games, is knowing that losing takes away nothing from the competitiveness of playing. At no time did I feel “bad” playing a game I couldn’t possibly win.

Last time I went in a batting cage it took about 10 swings before I caught up with a 60 mph “pitch.” After I had my timing back, I think I hit every ball. But in no way do you hallucinate you can go hit an 88 mph curve with any amount of consistency without making a life-time investment. Sure, I’d be interested in having Joe Nathan strike me out in three pitches for fun, but remember the one year old vs. the Professional Boxer?

Sometimes people don’t attain their goals because they don’t comprehend what is NOT possible or desirable. They attempt to do things that essentially have the same chance of success as jumping in the air over and over and hoping you’ll break gravity and leave earth’s orbit.

For that to happen you need to do it …during that dream like quality. You need a vision board because it isn’t going to happen anywhere else.

But here’s the deal…DwK is not The Impossible Dream.

 

Goal Setting Sequence

Last week, you learned how to get to the grocery store. That was huge because if you got that, you’ll get what setting a real goal will require.

Today, you learn how to create sequences that allow you to get that same result for something that is desirable.

 

Remember the four goals?

Ultimate Goal: Accomplished

  • You will start your own business this year. 
  • You will earn $100,000 this year. 
  • You will lose 25 pounds this year. 
  • You will have DwK (or someone like her). 

You accomplished the first goal because it was really just two tasks quickly accomplished on your iPad while waiting in line at the Drive Thru.

But WAIT!

In reference to starting the business, that’s not what was meant?!

I hear…

“I meant I want to start a business that will sell something that I make.”

And, of course, that is not a goal, right?

 

The Elements of a Real Goal

A goal must have the following:

 

  1. An outcome. 
  2. A sequence that is certain to get you from today to goal completion, which includes all obstacles and their unintended consequences. 
  3. A plan to initiate the sequence. 
  4. A plan to continue the sequence to completion. 
  5. A plan to overcome “reasons” and “problems” you or others may have about you and/or your goal and its attainment. 

Oh my…your goal really is that you want to create, to develop, and THEN market and sell.

Whoaa…completely different, and requires very specialized but very attainable knowledge.

Big distinction…

 

Goal Setting Step-By-Step

Let’s take setting a real goal step-by-step.

 

1. An outcome. – What is a real outcome?

Goal: A Million Dollars

“I want to be a millionaire”?

Nope.

That isn’t an outcome. It’s VERY ambiguous. In fact it’s a mess. It says nothing. It means nothing.

A millionaire could be…

 

a) someone whose net worth is $1,000,000+

or

b) someone whose liquid assets are greater than $1,000,000

or

c) someone who earns $1,000,000 per year.

or several other options but we’ll stick with these three.

 

These three options are all very different things and, in simple terms, you can have a million dollar house paid in full with no other debt and be “a millionaire.” And that is true by one definition but not necessarily by the other two. Ask an investment company like Goldman Sachs if the guy with a million dollar house that is paid off yet the person has no invest-able money….and they will laugh.

“Millionaire” can be a really important concept in life. But it’s something that means so many different things that it’s worth “fixing” the “goal.”

Make a few adjustments here:

SKIP LABELS.

Don’t say, “I want to be healthy, happy and feel great.”

100% guaranteed to “fail” because there is nothing to attain!

What do you REALLY want to have or experience and WHY?

 

“I want to have $1,000,000 over and above my paid off home because that keeps me in my home for 20 years when I retire.”

Bingo.

But wait, where’s the greed?! No fancy cars, beach holidays…and you’re going to be a millionaire?

Those are all easy enough to attain as well. You’ll need to write them in later. Writing them in now means that they’ll be STOPPED the next time you drive in a fancy car or hit a beach.

The brain is a very tricky thing…

Ultimate Goal: Have Dinner with Keeley HazellWhether DwK or being a millionaire, both are VERY SIMILAR goals. Either can only become a possible reality if the desire is intense enough.

You need: 1) A catalyst – brain rocket fuel

2) A software program to install in the brain. Without both, you can save your time.

Remember, if the brain’s software isn’t already doing it daily, it’s not going to happen unless the outcome has intense pleasure attached to the goal or the relief of dramatic fear or pain. That’s it.

Let’s first look at building that Nest Egg. It used to be a million bucks was a fortune. It still is doing pretty well but it’s still…a nest egg.

Perhaps you earn $50,000-100,000 per year, but you know you can survive on 50,000. You would like to have 50,000 per year when you retire because as you learn on this page you’ll still be good to go for 17 – 19 years on average!

To be safe you plan for 20 years. Maybe you get lucky.

50,000 per year x 20 years = $1,000,000. You want one million liquid at age 65.

[Note: On average in the U.S., If you are 40 years old, you can expect to live another M = 37 F = 41 years. If you are 50, you can expect to live another M = 28 F = 32. If you are 65, you can expect to live another M = 17 F = 19 years.]

Being a millionaire is not “greedy” or “chasing money.” That is a crucial fact completely missed by those who are poor at simple math.

Being a millionaire is simply having enough stashed to take care of yourself and/or your family for the rest of your life.

It’s common sense.

So this is an outcome that is sensible. It’s also a goal that will have some ramifications if you fail to accomplish it.

But like diabetes and other similar diseases, there is no IMMEDIATE threat if you are 30 or 50 years old. You think, “It’ll all work out.”

Nope…it won’t.

The fact is that if ramifications aren’t happening today or at the latest, tomorrow, goals typically hold weight with the PGGS. (Passive Goal Guidance System in the brain, which you’ve read about in my previous article.) For the moment, we’ll say the outcome is acceptable for any thinking mind.

 

Step Two

2. A sequence that is certain to get you from today to goal completion, which includes all obstacles and their unintended consequences.

The average American has around $80,000 in a 401K, a house that is either paid off or worth about what is owed on it. That means to accomplish the outcome requires acquiring the balance. It’s almost not possible to save $1,000,000 in the context of retirement plans for the vast majority of people who have traditional jobs. (Specifically it requires saving $33,000 per year for 30 years to save $1,000,000)

Optimally, your sequence will begin with the creation and growing of a small Coffee Table Business at home. The sequence will closely resemble going to the grocery store from last week’s Coffee with Kevin Hogan.

You take the sequence to smaller bits so that at each point, you can wrap your mind around precisely how each step or baby step will transpire.

 

Developing a Life Plan

When I developed my first Life Plan 15 years ago, I determined what dollar amounts would need to be earned. Money = Time is not a true statement, but the basic notion is crucial. If I earned $40,000 in 1995, then what was going to happen for me to earn another $90,000 per year ($50,000 after taxes) to save?

It’s actually pretty simple – you live on the original $40,000 per year. You save the $90,000 minus taxes, i.e. $50,000. You have begun.

The “why” is simple. Social Security, which generates about $1,200 per month for a retiree, won’t exist (when I retire) so I’ll want to be able to live a modest life when I can’t type as fast or speak as effectively as I do. It’s simple. You lay out your life based upon your skills, abilities and energy that you will have at each stage.

At this point, in my original sequencing, I opted to generate far more book sales and do far more events when I was starting in the public. It was pretty obvious that trying to generate $130,000 per year is not much different than generating say $40,000, so it made sense.

There was no race. Time was not an issue. The original sequence was simply $50,000 x 20 years. That gave me plenty of room to screw up and repair plan problems along the way.

 

Momentum Matters

Key to Goal Attainment: MomentumWhat you don’t know about this element of Goal Creation when you begin your Coffee Table Business is that momentum is a big factor…a huge factor… in whether you get moving in the first place and then trying to keep growth under control once you are rolling. I knew the first factor, I was unaware of the second.

So the sequence as far as big picture was simple $50,000 x 20. I knew the math would change. I preferred it to change to my favor, but I wasn’t foolish enough to “believe” that it would. I simply knew as long as I was in control, everything would work out close to plan.

The sequence itself was many dozens of pages in length that included chapter-length processes on all of the following.

 

  • Writing Books – research, develop, publicity tours, interviews, etc….every day. 
  • Creating Related products and programs that would be valuable for fans new and old. Research, develop, sell. 
  • Building Great Events – Develop, present, grow business. 

All of those pieces were broken down into “what happens next specifically” and “what do you do if x happens and that doesn’t work?”

The plan (the sequence) was detailed, thorough and included every foreseeable contingency.

But even then things didn’t go as planned.

Why?

Because you and I aren’t alone here on the planet…

Dealing With Unforeseen Circumstances

Sometimes, when you are planning that future DwK and it looks like things are going great, something unexpected happens and an unforeseen obstacle appears where there was none before.

And sometimes you get lucky and circumstances go better.

For me, one big plus happened that really helped my sequencing.

The Internet popped up like magic. It bears no resemblance to what we have today, but it certainly was a HUGE help being an author and speaker.

But some things were worse.

My Mom and father-in-law both died within a few months of each other while writing my second hardcover. My Grandmother got cancer at the same time and she too, would pass away within 18 months. Two aunts died in the same two-year period and my son was born in the midst of it all.

Goal Obstacles: Turn Them Into AdvantagesNone of those things were anticipated and they all carried huge emotional and time tolls that almost knocked me off the plan and worse…

Interview requests continued to come in, I continued to do publicity for The Psychology of Persuasion while taking care of family in a fairly Titanic-like scenario. But not everything was accomplished that needed to be done for the plan to work.

It would be necessary to make up for numerous projects lost in 1999, 2000, 2001. Essentially doubling down for the next few years.

And the plan after those three years was back on track. You can always get back on track. It’s not always easy, but with a good plan and sensible sequencing, nothing is likely to stop you.

The core element of the plan was to do three specific projects each day to market and sell books and related events.

Great products (Books/programs/events) were a given and a must. They simply had to be there. But what I knew from selling for quite awhile prior to going out completely on my own was that marketing and selling were the entire ball game. For as many hours as were put into products, twice the hours would be allocated to marketing and sales. And that meant defining what marketing and sales were.

A lot of people believe themselves to be “busy” but they aren’t actually marketing, selling or doing product development. Hanging out on Facebook…is your restroom break. It’s a good thing. You wouldn’t want to spend too much time there on any given day.

Building a website, whether one minute or 10 hours, is neither marketing or selling. It’s the same as building a shed.

The crucial piece of the sequencing was to make sure that prior to going to bed each night that 3 significant and specific projects were done for marketing and selling.

One project for a day might be teaching a one night class, say, on The Psychology of Persuasion. That kind of a project is a huge time investment because it requires about 20 hours to prepare for a one night 3-hour class.

The money earned from the class would be modest, generally $100-$300 for the class tuition, and a similar figure again at the back of the room mattered. But the important factor was ALWAYS treating every public moment as a *marketing* opportunity. In other words, you always give 100% whether you have an audience of 1000 or 10.

 

Problems Into Opportunities

One night in 1997, there was a huge snowstorm in Minneapolis.

I wanted to cancel my class but found out 6 were scheduled for the class that night that had not called in and cancelled. I got out of the driveway (18″ of snow) and made it to the school. I would earn about $100 total that night…but…the gentleman in charge of hiring adjunct faculty for the University of St. Thomas Management Center was in the class that night for The Psychology of Persuasion. I didn’t know that driving in…

We went out to eat after the class. We didn’t drive far. It just took a long, long time to get there. During dinner I was given an offer to teach The Psychology of Persuasion 3 times per year at The University of St. Thomas Management Center. That was huge. Obviously, Mike knew I’d be keeping my commitments, as I was at an event with 6 people in 18″ snow.

Had I not gone to teach the class that night, I would never have gotten a pivotal long-term relationship with the University of St. Thomas. In Minnesota, there is no more prestigious private school.

Crucial Concept: Goal AttainmentIn fact, two years later, I was teaching a nonverbal communication course at St. Thomas, and that was when I discovered the significance of brain hemispheres in communication and compliance. That one discovery was as important or more so than working at the University itself.

I was obsessed with making that book a great success. I had invested my reputation, my ego, my personal evaluation of success an failure on the success of that book and all things related to it.

And this, of course, is the big point.

Goals that aren’t currently being nonconsciously attained rarely will be without a magnificent obsession.

Next time I go to England you must know that dinner with a KH would be highly desirable. But remember…it’s not just about one person. It has to be desirable for the other KH, as well. If that factor can’t be generated, it will never happen.

Meanwhile, your magnificent obsession continues:

This is the crucial take home for you in this portion of this series of articles:

Random Events are Good and Bad

Life brings you piles of unexpected and random events. Many are life threatening to those you love or for yourself.

Meanwhile, every opportunity YOU CREATE carries with it a statistical chance that will offer you intersecting with an unplanned and “random” big upside potential attached to it.

You always have to make the absolute most of every opportunity because true opportunities you generate by having completed dozens of similar situations that didn’t have something fortunate attached to it were life’s way of weeding out those who would persist vs. those who would not.

In general, 70% of all projects end up being ever so slightly profitable but nothing that will be significant long-run. 25% turn out as complete…”learning experiences” …And about 5% will take fire and rocket out of earth’s orbit. Of course, you never know which 19 will be marginal and which 1 will be golden.

This is part of life’s weeding process.

Many people believe they’ve gone to the plate many times and failed when that isn’t true. They never got to the plate. They had prepared to go to the plate. They had become masters of preparation to get to the plate, but never put their ideas, products, projects, businesses into action.

And how is that defined for the sequence?

 

Getting an “At Bat”

Did you put yourself in a position where people have to say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to you or your work? Because when you put yourself in a position where people can say ‘yes’ to you, and want to work with you, or buy your work, you are ready to help them make their outcomes happen in life!

Goal: Keeley HazellImagine the Grand Opening of a new store in a shopping mall. Tons of people all over the place. Lots of cool things to buy, but when people get in line, there is not only no one to ring up their order, there is no credit card machine to let them get what they want or need!

Your Self-Generated sequence for wealth must always include people hiring you, buying your work or purchasing your time, because when you make it easy for them in your sequencing, then it is already all but destined in “real life.”

 

And dinner with Keeley?

Did she fit in with the first two steps of Goal Attainment?

If you didn’t piece it together this week, I’ll lay it out for you more intricately next week.

In the mean time, I’ll drop her an email and see if she’ll give Coffee Readers an interview and see if she is good for about 90,000 dinner dates…

Oh….I believe I’ve just given away an obstacle…

Coming up….the next steps toward attaining a Magnificent Obsession.

 

3. A plan to initiate the sequence

4. A plan to continue the sequence to completion

5. A plan to overcome “reasons” and “problems” you or others may have about you and/or your goal and its attainment.


Discover the Steps to Creating Your Own Coffee-Table Business with Kevin Hogan as your Mentor:

 

Internet Marketing
and Web Wealth
9+ Week E-Course
with Kevin Hogan, Psy.D.

 

Next Course begins April 5, 2012 – Pre-register and save!

 

Kevin Hogan's Internet Marketing e-course

Question:

 

“Will YOU be the next person to do “six figures” annually on the Internet?”

Kevin Hogan on Starting Internet MarketingBefore we begin, go to Google and real quick search for:

 

  • Body Language Expert
  • How to Read Minds
  • Reading Body Language
  • Communication Exercise
  • Covert Persuasion
  • Millionaire Mind

And in each case, if you click through, you’ll notice at least one return on page one for these phrases.

Page one.

I tell this because it’s crucial to my business model…being on page one of Google for what *you* choose.

 

Making Money Online

When you want to make money online… you either:

 

a) pay a lot of money to get people to hear about you or

b) you cause the search engines to bring people to you by the hand.

We could search for two dozen other phrases, but you get the point. (Sometimes appearing 3 or 4 times on the same front page!)

Using the same strategies and techniques we’ve used to make a ZERO investment turn into *seven* digits…I’m thinking, you can do the same or at least half or a third or a quarter of that…

A few people have taken what I’ve done and turned it into EIGHT digits annually…THAT requires a significant amount of work, and maybe even some luck. So let’s stick with more attainable outcomes, at least for now.

 

A Systematic Approach

This E-Course includes a detailed step by step systematic approach to these kinds of results, so you can SEE HOW to do what you need to do… The delivery of this course is almost all on your computer and it includes video and audio files (lots and lots of both), and written material along with complete access to me for mentoring and coaching.

Because Online Marketing of a new or existing “business” is evolving rapidly, we have dramatically updated and upgraded the course for this time around.

It is quite …excellent.

What helps most is that unlike a barrage of home study programs, with our team, you can ask questions that are important to you and your efforts 24/7. And for two solid months as we progress step by step, day by day.

 

An Expert Mentor

You have a MENTOR. (Actually a few this go ’round!)

You have me at your email pleasure for as many hours as I’m awake. That’s most hours….I will answer EVERY question in copious detail so you have 100% understanding.

Question: What is the value of a 9+ week course if it brings in $100,000 in say 2013?

Half?

$30,000?

$20,000?

Well, I’ll tell you what it’s worth to me.

Kevin Hogan on Internet Marketing SuccessWhen your website(s) NET revenues total $100,000, that’s when you pay 2/3 of the course tuition. Less than 1/3 of your tuition is paid in advance.

Some people sell you an Internet Marketing package for say, $5,000.

A bunch of DVD’s or CD’s and a manual and that’s cool but will you REALLY do IT???!?!?!

Research says NO. Research says…the probability approaches zero.

You won’t fail because you won’t start.

So I’ve once again made use of this schedule for tuition.

Fair? I’ll be back to tuition shortly.

The System you are going to learn is unlike anything you’ve seen or heard of before.

 

A Different Approach

Building wealth on the web requires doing a number of simple things right. It requires doing a few more complicated things fairly well and it requires being able to master ONE of about 20 different marketing tools. That’s it…one.

ONE!

Most Internet Marketers will tell you WHAT you need to know. I will show you HOW to do it and WHY.

Everything you learn in this experience is 100% for your business.

Your total knowledge of the web/internet/media today doesn’t have to even hit the radar. We walk you through everything, step by step.

For example: If I tell you that you are going to use video on your website….I’ll SHOW YOU HOW TO DO IT in such a way that it works FAST and EASY. I won’t just say, “Oh, video on the website is really helpful…”

I’ll show you how to get video on your website for the world to see. (It’s not 1/10 as hard as you think it might be.)

BECAUSE I HAVE A VERY LIMITED SCOPE OF COMPUTER KNOWLEDGE YOU LEARN ALL “THE SHORTCUTS” I’ve learned to do things quickly and efficiently.

 

100 Reasons To Do This Course

Here are just some of the 100 Keypoints reflecting what you will learn:

Note: There is no mandatory schedule you need to follow – you create your own schedule to follow for the duration of the course (although you WILL have Kevin at your disposal to ask questions via email 24-7).

1) How to get a web name in 2 minutes. (like kevinhogan.net)

2) How to start a website and have it UP in 55 minutes.

3) How to post the website to the Internet in 10 minutes.

4) How to get people to come to the website within 4 HOURS.

Kevin Hogan on Starting Search Engine Optimization5) How to get the biggest search engines (google, yahoo, msn, aol) to direct people to you instead of your competitor, for free. (within 2 days)

6) Exactly WHAT you need on your website to make your website popular. (Within days.)

7) How to make those search engines fall in love with you and send more and more traffic your way. We’ve gotten EVERY participant in past courses, ON GOOGLE within a few days.

8) Specific things you can do with nothing more than typing a letter that will make the search engines think your site is important enough to push you onto the first page at google, yahoo and msn. Within 7-14 days.

9) How to KNOW what to sell on your website(s). Whether to start a Coffee Table Business or use the Internet to make your current business thrive.

10) Choosing products and services to sell.

 

“Kevin’s Internet Marketing and Web Wealth E-Course was excellent. He gave us LOADS of stuff to learn, and he also personally answered every single question I could throw at him. So now I have all the knowledge needed to successfully market ANY product. There’s no need to guess or wonder what some other guru knows that I don’t know because he gave us everything that actually works!” Jason Lowe, New Zealand

11) How to make a relatively nice stream of you know what, without having to create a product or service yourself!

12) How to get other people to help you build your empire as quickly as possible. And not just how but your team will indeed do this with you as you will help them do the same thing.

13) How to create a sales force of people to tell the world about you…

14) How to WRITE the copy (advertisements) that will sell the products and services you will offer.

15) How to know what to write.

16) Learn all the wrong ways to write that will cause any site to go broke.

17) Learn the EXACT WORDS and PHRASES that the pros use to sell outlandish amounts of dollars every year.

18) How to appeal to a very specific audience so your message doesn’t have to be wasted on people not interested in what you are selling.

19) Learn the art and science of copywriting.

20) Find out what sizes of print and what FONTS and COLORS of type make the most money the fastest.

21) Learn how to test in just a few DAYS what is working for YOU and change QUICKLY so there are NO WASTED DAYS in building your business.

22) Learn to do the things that sound complicated that can be SUPER EASY….like picking the metatags and keywords for your website.

23) How to know what words to choose as your “metatags” so that google knows what you would LIKE your webpages to be known for.

24) How to display your metatags and keywords so that the search engines trust you.

25) Search engines don’t read like people. If I want to promote myself as a body language expert, my metatags and keywords might have to read “EXPERT BODY LANGUAGE” and not, “BODY LANGUAGE EXPERT.” I’ll show you how to figure this out in SECONDS.

“Kevin, I want to thank you for your Internet Marketing E-Course, as I was able to write a book (me! I wrote a book!) with the information you gave. I was a bit of a silent partner as I didn’t talk, email or respond with the group much, but I have learned a great deal and this course has been invaluable to me and my business. Thank you!” Betty Eastman, LCSWbettyeastmanlcsw.com

26) Find out how to get other people to help you build your business…even your competitors. (REALLY) So all that you do every day…it’s all done so you are in total control of your own income.

27) How to get people to buy products you release today….today…yes…you make it, produce it and release it today…and it sells TODAY and it sells A LOT.

28) How to write an ad for that product that will actually work. (If you have written an ad before and discovered it failed miserably you know that almost ALL ads fail.)

29) How to develop LOYAL customers.

30) There is NOTHING more important in web marketing than using email or better, an “E-zine.” I’ll show you how to write your own Coffee with Kevin Hogan and have people CRAVING IT every week.

31) I’ll show you the biggest risk I ever took in Internet Marketing. It has to do with Coffee with Kevin Hogan and it paid off like the lottery. NO ONE ELSE does this who has an e-zine. I’ll show you what it is and how I did it.

32) I’ll show you how, step by step to get your e-zine DELIVERED into the email boxes around the world so it isn’t filtered as spam.

33) I’ll show you step by step how to develop LOYAL readers where everyone else just has their ezine read rarely and often by accident.

34) You’ll learn whether or not you should promote specific products and services through your ezine when you are approached.

35) People talk about their “lists” of one million people. Let me tell you that number means diddly. If you are on a LIST you are NEXT IN LINE at the hotel. I have READERS. People who want to read Coffee as much as they want to read Cosmo, Maxim or The Wall Street Journal. The difference between a LIST and YOUR READERS is ENORMOUS. I’ll show you EXACTLY how to have people KNOW they are important to you.

“Kevin, the Internet Marketing Course was great! I highly recommend Kevin Hogan’s web marketing and Internet E-Course to anyone who is serious about learning and implementing the nuts and bolts of having a profitable online business. Hogan without a doubt over-delivers on the information he provides. This course was well worth the price and way more. Again, if you are looking to learn and grow your Internet business, this course is for you. Whether you are a beginner or advanced, I highly recommend it.” Michael Roth, DC,www.rothwellnesscenter.com

36) I’ll show you how to develop a relationship with your readers, no matter how many your have…so that when you take a week off and your E-zine doesn’t show up in their mailbox, they are screaming at you and telling you they miss you!!!

37) You’ll learn EXACTLY the formula I have discovered for success using an E-zine in conjunction with your work.

38) I’ll show you how to get articles for your E-zine if you can’t write them all yourself. (Free articles that are surprisingly good.)

39) I’ll show you how to get the biggest names in your field to contribute articles to your fledgling E-zine.

40) FACT: The E-zine is the SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT PIECE of the Web Wealth puzzle. I’ll show you why and how to make sure nothing ever goes wrong.

41) I ‘ll show you EVERY secret I have learned about Ezine’s that will make you a LOT of money.

42) I will walk you through STEP BY STEP how I write Coffee with Kevin Hogan every week. Not so it’s the fastest, or easiest but so it’s the BEST.

43) How many OTHER Ezine’s do you read other than Coffee with Kevin Hogan? I get hundreds in my mail box every week. I read 7. That’s it. I’ll show you those seven and why I like them and why they are as profitable or MORE PROFITABLE than Coffee. Almost all Ezine’s are TERRIBLE

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Latest Posts on Kevin's blog

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Kevin's body language evaluation!

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Article by Kevin in Sales Guru magazine (based in South Africa). "Burnout: Escaping Living Hell"

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Author of The Psychology of Persuasion, Irresistible Attraction, and The Science of Influence, Dr. Kevin Hogan is trusted by organizations, both large and small, to help them help their people reach their personal peak performance and maximize influence in selling and marketing. Kevin is an internationally admired keynote speaker and corporate thought leader. In Coffee with Kevin Hogan, he shares his research, observations, and how you can apply them in your life – both in business and at home.

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