My Latest "Ah Ha" Moment

For most of you who don't know me, I'm a huge believer in what is known as the "AH HA" moment. Loosely defined, it's that split second when the light bulb in your brain goes off and you finally "get it".

I've spent the last decade and a half in the martial arts and we tend to see this a lot, especially in jiu-jitsu. You practice a technique over and over through countless repetitions. You are executing the technique bio mechanically correctly, however something’s still just not quite right. You know it intuitively, but you just can’t put your finger on it. Then all of a sudden, someone might make a suggestion or you can be using the technique in a practical application and the light bulb goes off. AH HA, I get it now and if just clicks.

Early on in my search for opportunities to promote in this industry, I tried out the Empower Network Program. One of the guys I have a lot of respect for in that program has a video on his site that he likes to have all new members of the program listen to when they join. He talks a great deal about getting “All In” and the need to make sure you are absolutely doing everything you can to maximize the value we receive out of the program.

The video and the content frankly can be a bit harsh. In fact, the statement is made that the video is in fact somewhat of a wake-up call and is meant to be harsh. More of a rant, than a gentle motivational speech, or “tough love” so to speak.

As I sat and listened however, my eyes were drawn to a picture I have on the wall of my office, of Yoda the gentle Jedi Master from Star Wars. Check out the picture and more importantly the caption below.

If you’re at all interested in watching the video from Star Wars on this whole sequence, you can find it here. I thought I’d post it, so you can see the context in which it’s meant as more background on how this became relevant to me yesterday.

I’d originally tacked this up on the wall as a message for my son, who tends to spend a great deal of time on my notebook in my office chatting on Facebook, with his various and sundry friends. We’ve seen all the Star Wars movies together and I’m a bigger fan that he is, but he at least indulges me as we spend the time together watching.

The picture was originally tacked up next to the panel in my office, where he couldn’t miss it, as a reminder during hockey tryouts, when he invariably came to me to say he’d “try”. The caption was meant to point to the fact that as long as we’re only trying, we’re not mentally invested. There’s always a cop-out or an excuse if we don’t succeed. As people, we tend to be able to rationalize any failure by the mere statement of “Oh well, I tried my best”.

As I sat and listened to the video and stared at the poster, the light bulb went off and I had my
“AH HA” moment. Over the past couple of years I’ve been trying Internet Marketing, I’ve been doing just that, trying. I’ve rationalized that I’m committed to doing this as a business, but really in my heart of hearts, I realized that I haven’t been “All In”. I’ve been doing many of the right things to get this business off the ground, but not everything I could be doing.

Sure you can talk about time commitments, financial constraints and other things. Some of these are valid to some extent or another. However when I really sat down and thought through it, I really wasn’t vested. I wasn’t “All In”.

There’s another old saying that the definition of insanity is, “doing the same thing, over and over again, while expecting a different result”. I’d like to think I’m not insane, however to a large extent I’ve been acting insanely by definition in many areas of my life over the last several decades. I’ve been making many of the same mistakes by doing the same thing over and over, while thinking to myself that it would turn out differently this time. Well guess what, it didn’t.

So here I sit, exposing all of this in a blog, for all the world to see on my second day on this new journey I’ve begun. I’m catching myself thinking, is this going to be any different? Truth be told, I really don’t know at this juncture. What I firmly believe to be true is, I will be “All In” this time around, with the programs and marketing I've begun. That most assuredly includes the Wealthy Affiliate and this Community.
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There are some financial constraints that are a practical reality that I am just going to have to deal with. These are very real and can’t be overcome as easy as people might think. However I am determined to make this work, so in a very real sense I am determined to do whatever I need to, in order to deal with these financial constraints and get “All In”.

This is about more than Internet Marketing however. I’ve come to realize that this is true about all of the facets in my life. I need to be “All In” with my relationships at home, my study of the martial arts, my ongoing battle with alcohol along with my Internet Marketing and other businesses. Life is not an “I’m going to give it a try” kind of thing. You must be invested in order to take anything of any real value away at the end of it all.

These might seem like trite words to some of you reading this blog. Trust me though, after being on this earth just a little over a half century, the impact of that video was startling to me. I’d heard similar things said by many people over the course of the years, but for some reason, I had my “AH HA” moment. Now, all I need to do is act on it.