How to Think Like a Guru

                                        
                          - by non-Guru Charles Brown

First off, you're probably asking, "Charles, if you aren't a Guru, then
how do you expect to be able to write a believable article entitled,
"How to Think Like a Guru?"

That's a fair question I asked myself.  Check out this little side-note
and then click your 'back arrow' to return promptly back here :)
I'm not a big guru.

While proof-reading this article, I was thinking how easy the article
was for me to write...how the ideas seemed almost "common sense."  
After thinking about it, the answer became apparent:

I realized that this is one of those cases where it doesn't hurt to be
an 'outsider' to see things clearly;  often the people closest to the
action are too close to see things as clear.  And also that it wouldn't
occur to most gurus to examine how they're own thinking differs from
others!

Of course, there are exceptions to this (Michael Cheney's "Internet
Marketing Country Club" is one), but that's my story and I'm sticking
to it :)  Besides, I have achieved 'guru status' in other areas of my life,
so I know what it takes ;).  I also know that you don't have to be a
millionaire to be considered successful in internet marketing.

Onward...

Let's look at some key differences between us and gurus:

Gurus:

Gurus “get it.”

Gurus think differently than most folks. (This is the first bullet worded different, and pretty much the whole story)

Gurus make more money than anyone else online (& most offline).

Gurus usually feel that they’re not doing anything spectacular.

Gurus truly want you to know how to achieve success like them;  but “you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink."

Gurus have always recognized that it’s far easier to succeed by standing on the shoulders of those who have achieved what they aspire to, than by reinventing the wheel.

The Rest of Us:

We differ from Gurus in only “how” we think; most of the technical and business knowledge gurus possess is quickly attainable by you and I and anyone with an IQ over 50.

We can think just like the Gurus, but we don’t (yet).

We sabotage our own attempts at ‘guru thinking’ with “paralysis by analysis”.

We feel we need more information before ‘stepping out on a limb;'  and some of us may be far too concerned about the prospect of “failure”.

We feel we need all the answers before committing ourselves to action.

We feel we can eventually make it without much outside help...”hey I’m independent and self-sufficient...I’ll figure it out!”

Can you see the basic differences between us and the Gurus?

Aside from any self-imposed mental barriers—such as feelings of
inadequacy or other related psychological mumbo-gumbo that’s
beyond the scope of this article—our problem is simply that we
choose not to take action.  Period. 

If you want to ‘drill down’ and do some soul-searching as to exactly
why we choose not to take action, go right ahead.  But I suspect
you’ve already done that and yet still aren’t taking action for
whatever reason.

                  So, how do we break out of this
                         self-imposed paralysis?

Well, it’s actually a well-guarded secret but I’ll give you a hint
in the form of a question:  What’s the best cure for insomnia? 
Answer:  Get plenty of sleep. 

In other words, what’s the hardest part of getting started? 
Answer:  Getting started...

                  So, start “Failing Faster for Success”. 

(This is actually the title of a popular book by the renown Dave
Vallieres, also the creator of the “You Can!  Make Your Living Online!”
tutorial series.)

Alright, alright, I know it’s easier said than done.  Besides, I’ve
been speaking in riddles.  It’s one thing to sit here and type out
what you probably already know, and it’s entirely another thing to
give you real tips on how to break out of paralysis by analysis and
get on the road to success.  Sorry for the intermission of
pointless lecturing :)  now...

                                     On to the solution!

A big part of successfully negotiating our way out of “paralysis by
analysis” is to first and foremost identify why we are feeling
paralyzed;  Exactly what makes internet marketing different from
other complex projects that—apparently--we seem to be able to
handle easily in our lives?

Well, based on what we know about ourselves from the “Gurus think
this way and we think that way” bulleted list above...

We can logically deduce that we get distracted more easily—at least
when it comes to internet marketing.  Maybe in other parts of our
lives we are impeccably efficient; able to plan and execute large,
complex projects with military precision.

But, for some reason, we’ve yet to mount an organized attack in
internet marketing that’s achieved real, sustained success.

         And here’s our official Temporary Excuse:

There are so many sources of information in internet marketing.  So
many choices!  By definition, by default, and by job title, we are
working in an endless ocean of information that’s getting bigger
every day; we are literally swimming in an ocean of information.

We’re drowning in this sea of information.

Sitting at your computer you are connected to every other person with
a computer.  And to every other data center on the entire planet
Earth.

A gargantuan repository of information--all for the taking but
also all for the confusion.

And therein, folks, lies our problem; our challenge:

      We are simply given too many choices.  Period!

How to get around this obstacle?  The answer should start
materializing....

Go with me on a quick story that illustrates the point before we
dive into the answer, which by then should be fairly obvious:

                          - The Deck Project -

Imagine for a moment that you are going to tackle a decent sized
home project, like building a nice backyard deck yourself.  Let's say
you’ll need to buy some of the tools for this and that you haven’t built
a deck before.  Matter of fact, your biggest construction project to
date’s been a small foot stool. 

Your neighbor, who builds decks for a living, offers to build it with you
for a fee.  You decline his offer.  Hey, you’ll figure it out, and save
money to boot! 

You make a preliminary plan for the deck design and select the
materials.  You even make a materials list--that’s how organized
you are.  You are going to do this thing right.  You buy a circular
saw.

But there are many options in configurations and materials—this
type of pressure treated lumber or this type?  Galvanized ring-shank
nails or these slower-to-build but more secure flush screws? 
Deck bench over here?  Different deck levels?  Railing type?  Etc.

But you decide on a plan and start construction.  After working on
it most of one day, your spouse says, “Wouldn’t it be nice if the
deck stretched over to the kitchen window, so we could just pass
food and drinks thru the window?”  After a stunned moment, you think,
“No big deal.”  But this changes everything.

Another day goes by and a friend sells you on the idea of using
different lumber that he saw on sale—will save you $300.  But
it’s a slightly different shade.  So you scratch your head and
figure you’ll just pull up the section over by the steps where the
difference in shades would be most noticeable. 

Another day of working on the deck arrives but it’s raining.  You
look outside and see that you forgot to build the deck on a slant
for drainage.  So you have to start that part over again.

You’ve gotten the wrong type of blades for your circular saw, among
other things.  Small screw-ups & little oversights are compounding into 
major ‘start-overs.’

          Now you realize you should’ve taken up
                  your neighbor’s offer for help

Personally, building a deck would have been much easier for me than
building a successful internet business.  I can swing a hammer and
operate a circular saw, but to build an internet business required a
whole 'nother set of tools.

Besides, even if someone just gave me the tools to build an internet
empire, I wouldn’t know how to use them properly.  Not only that, but
this whole making-my-living-online thing is something I’d never done
and neither had my family or friends.

So I was blazing new trails, sailing in uncharted waters.  Alone in
the dark.

So, all the more reason to....

Choose a Guru who has already made the mistakes, already blazed the
trail, already invented the wheel.  And not only that...

...but has painstakingly assembled a step-by-step program written for
Newbies that takes you by the hand from zero to thousands or
hundreds of thousands of dollars!

Let’s not reinvent the wheel! Takes too long!  Won’t roll very well
either!

In the review section, you’ll see which Gurus’ programs I truly believe
in.  I believe in them so much that I’d bet my life on their ability to
help you go from zero to a hundred miles an hour in short order.  At
least as fast as is humanly possible in internet marketing...

If you give them a chance!

But that’s totally up to you.  However, if you want to skip lots of
trial and error—mostly error—and take the shortest path to success
on the internet, then I would get one of the programs that I write
about in the Reviews section.

Let’s recap:

Gurus used to think differently than you and I—but only in how they thought; the technical details they possessed were no big deal.  But now you know you can pick these technical details up ‘on the fly’ and polish them up as you go.

Gurus have always thought that they were not doing anything spectacular.  Now you know they were right: they haven’t been doing anything spectacular.  You and I were simply making things harder for ourselves!

Gurus have never given a second thought to making them- selves an “apprentice” to other Gurus.  Go to any internet marketing seminar and in the front row--and the first to buy tickets--will be recognized gurus.  Because they know the value and power of learning from others who've already "been there, done that."  They know it is far better to NOT "reinvent the wheel."

These three points above are really the only differences between you
and I and the more established gurus of internet marketing--and how
to overcome those differences.  It's really no more complicated than
that;  don't make it any more complicated than it really is!

So one of the big parts to getting your 'head right' and getting on the
right track as quickly as possible--so you can start making a good living
online--is to be part of a group of other folks with the same goals. 
Like in a forum... 

            Forums:  A Community of Helpful People

But it is critical that the forum is led by at least one enthusiastic guru
who is an able and active leader.  Otherwise, if the forum goes
unmoderated for extended periods, it will start to lose its collective
focus.  You'll have well-meaning but unofficial leaders try to moderate
it, but what you'll end up having is "too many chiefs and not enough 
Indians,"  (to use what is probably now a politically incorrect cliche:).

If you are brand-new to internet marketing, then it's a no-brainer to
join Ken Evoy's SiteSell.com program.  Just the forum is probably worth
the yearly membership.  What are you waiting for? 

Cheers!

Charles Brown