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Welcome to Stuff I Learned Yesterday. My name is Darrell Darnell, my favorite time travel movie is Primer, and I believe that if you aren’t learning, you aren’t living. In today’s episode of Stuff I Learned Yesterday I share a simple strategy for winning.
I want to again express how much I appreciate the positive feedback support that I’ve received from many of you. I’m excited to announce that Golden Spiral Media now has a Patreon page! Patreon provides a way for you to financially support Golden Spiral Media for as little as $1 a month. In return, we’ll be able to do some cool things and improve some of the things that we do. Additionally, you’ll get some cool stuff in return for your support. Head over to our Patreon Page for more info.
Friday Forum
Friday Forum is your opportunity to Share what YOU’VE learned, so that other listeners and I can learn from YOU. It can be a message as short as 30 seconds or several minutes long. It really doesn’t matter just as long as it’s something that will benefit others. You can participate in Friday Forum by calling and leaving a message at 304-837-2278, emailing an audio file to feedback@goldenspiralmedia.com, or clicking on the Send Voicemail tab on my website, GoldenSpiralMedia.com.
What I Learned Yesterday:
I won something yesterday! It’s pretty cool, really. It’s a high quality microphone attachment for Apple devices like the iPad, iPad mini, and iPhone. It’s called the Zoom iQ5. If it sounds like something that you might find useful, you can check it out at www.goldenspiralmedia.com/iq5. That’s a link that will take you to B & H Photo and Video.
Would you like to know how I managed to win this really cool microphone? Here’s my secret. I entered the sweepstakes. That’s it. Now, you may not think I’m being serious but I am. The reality is that if I would not have entered the sweepstakes, I would not have won the mic.
And so it is with our goals. What is your goal? Lose weight, publish a book, start a podcast, develop a tutorial, learn how to crochet, build a birdhouse, restore that old car in your garage? None of those things will ever be done if you never take the first step, and all of them can be accomplished if you do.
Now, of course, there is a big difference in taking the first step in winning something, and taking the first step to giving up an addiction. I recognize that. However, I think the main difference is the way we look at it while we’re standing in that starting spot.
Let’s think of these things, and the journey we’ll go on, like we would a Monopoly board. We all start out on the space marked GO. What else is on that square? An arrow that is pointing us in the right direction. The very next space after GO is Mediterranean Avenue. It only takes one step to reach that space and the cost is only $60. The last property on the end of the first side is 9 times farther away and will cost twice as much. If you desire to reach the end of the next side of the board you’ll have to travel 19 times farther and pay over 3 times the amount as Mediterranean Avenue. The end of the third side is 29 times farther at over 4 times the cost, and the final space, Boardwalk, is a distance 39 times farther and will cost nearly 7 times more than Mediterranean Avenue.
Now let’s put aside Monopoly strategy for the sake of this podcast and just use the Monopoly board to help visualize your goals. Some goals are easier than others and require little investment. That is definitely the case for me and the microphone. My only investment was liking the company that was giving it away on Facebook and taking the time to fill out the short entry form. I was already a fan of Zoom on Facebook, so my only real cost was the time to fill out the form.
One step, small investment, goal achieved. Now, I had no control on whether or not I won the microphone, but if I hadn’t done my part, then I most certainly would not have won the mic.
I have other goals that are much farther away from the point that I started and will take more investment to reach. For my business, those are goals like having a certain number of clients that I produce podcasts for each week and creating digital training products. For my podcasts, goals are things like providing quality and uplifting content, maintaining positive listener reviews, growing my download numbers, and always providing professional audio quality.
When I look around my studio today I’m amazed with the equipment that I have access to. I did a video shoot in my studio yesterday that incorporated lighting, 3 HD cameras, a boom mic, sound dampening panels, and a teleprompter. It also include a sound mixer, audio recorder, editing software, and various cables. When I started podcasting 6 years ago, all I had was a used mixer, some beat up microphones, and a digital audio recorder (also made by Zoom).
When I did that first podcast, I knew that I had not yet achieved any of my goals. My audio quality was fair, the content was okay, and the reviews and download numbers didn’t exist yet. However, that first podcast was only the first step. It was Mediterranean Avenue. My goal is Boardwalk. I’d say I’m somewhere around Marvin Gardens now.
Here’s what I’ve learned, and the point I’m trying to make. We never, ever, get anywhere or achieve anything if we never even try. Rewards don’t come to those who stay on GO. In order to get from where you are to where you want to go, you have to roll the dice. There will be a cost, and you most certainly have not calculated it fully. There will be obstacles, and you can never plan for them all. But each step you take toward that goal should motivate you to achieve the next step.
Sometimes your goal may seem so far away that you can’t even see it in the distance. Don’t let that wear you down or discourage you. All you need to see is the next step. That step will get you one step closer to your goal and get you to the place to see the next step.
A lot of times you can even set goals that are on the way to achieving your ultimate goal. Those are the places where you’re rounding the corners of the Monopoly board. It’s first getting the car’s engine and drivetrain restored, and then getting ready to restore the body. It’s losing the first 10 pounds, and then the next 25. It’s landing the first 5 clients, then landing the next 10.
Finally, as I did a couple of weeks ago in Episode 24, take time on occasion to get your bearings and look back on how far you’ve come. It’s easy when we’re focused on the road at our feet to feel like we haven’t gone anywhere. However, if you’ll take time put up the periscope and scout your location, you’ll not only be amazed at how far you’ve actually come, but you’ll also be able to get a better aim on your next goal.
I’m Darrell Darnell and this has been stuff I learned yesterday.
If you’ve enjoyed this episode of Stuff I Learned Yesterday, I would be grateful if you’d leave a review in iTunes or Stitcher.
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