The Hidden Obstacles To Your Success by Rich Schefren
Book Review – 5 Stars
Rich Schefren made his name by writing excellent free reports for Internet marketing entrepreneurs starting with the Internet Business Manifesto to promote premium priced training courses.
You can see details of them if you click on the link below:
>>> http://businessdevelopmentadvice.com/blog/rich-schefren-free-pdf-reports/
Since then, he has continued researching and writing but the reports have been “client only”.
The Hidden Obstacles To Your Success is one of these reports and has only been available to members of the Founders Club and the bigger courses that give access to the Founders Club plus his one-to-one private coaching and consulting clients.
As an A4 pdf with 109 pages, it is much more of a book than a report and I’ve therefore decided to review it as a book that you effectively decide to buy when you decide to become a Founder by joining his monthly membership website.
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The Hidden Obstacles To Your Success by Rich Schefren Report or eBook
This is a book about better business thinking.
This is a hot topic of mine because I don’t think business owners do enough original thinking. That’s what I’ve found from talking to them and my coaching experience.
There is often a rush to action. Business owners love to be doing stuff.
That’s good if it’s the right stuff.
Not so good if it’s the wrong things.
>>> The Stop Start More Less Matrix For Time Management
Rich tells a story in the report about doing a presentation to a group of people and asking them a question…
“What’s more important, what you know or how you think?”
Most people said “how you think”.
He then asked how many people had bought courses and training to increase what they know. And they all had.
And how many people had received training on how to think better and more clearly.
It seems hardly anyone.
Here lies the problem.
We rarely do anything to teach us how to think more clearly hen we’re adults.
And if you’re honest, think back to your school days and your time at college. How was the focus there split between teaching you to know stuff and teaching you how to think?
Neither you or I have been properly taught how to think as a matter of routine.
Not logically or creatively.
This is the gap that “The Hidden Obstacles To Your Success” has been written to fill.
Not A Promising Start
You’ll see from the five star review rating at the top of the page that I regard this as an essential read. I’m also a big fan of Rich Schefren.
However I thought the report didn’t get off to a good start.
For about 25 pages there is a lot of bluster telling you how important and life-changing the contents of the ebook are.
To be honest, it put me off.
I started reading it but for a long time I didn’t have the commitment to keep on ploughing through the hype.
That was my mistake and please don’t let it be yours.
Rich is trying to emphasise the importance of learning to think more effectively before he goes into the details of how you do it. Perhaps I struggled because I readily accept the argument. I was in a hurry to get to the good stuff.
He Delivers The Goods
Things then really pick up and the report shifts from something that has few highlights to one where the highlights dominate.
Accurate Thinking: Why You Must See Things As They Really Are
What is your reality?
Before you rush to answer, let me be blunt.
You won’t know.
What you see is your perception of your reality.
What you see through your beliefs and information filters may not be what everyone else sees.
You take decisions and actions based on your perception of your reality but if it’s wrong, you’re in trouble.
In the transition of getting from where you are to where you want to be, you may be very clear on where you want to be (although that’s often another problem – too often people don’t have a clear vision or goals.)
But if you want to go to Edinburgh and you think you’re in Birmingham but you’re really in London, all your decisions about what to do are wrong.
Your map doesn’t make sense with your experiences.
You may get closer to your destination but you don’t get there.
In this chapter Rich gets you to think about what you’re not seeing.
By not seeing what’s really going on, you are sabotaging your own success. You need to stop hiding away and ignoring the truth and deal with it.
There are several exercises to do in this section. You need to do them.
One – a Yes/No test on various answers to the question How Are You Sabotaging Your Business? – I found painful.
That’s the point. It’s about helping you to find reality.
Clean Thinking: Getting Rid Of Your Damaging False Belief Filters
The next section forces you to review your beliefs.
As Rich says…
“Beliefs are powerful. They impact your thoughts, your attitudes, and your actions. Therefore, right now, your beliefs are either helping or hindering your results.
In fact, beliefs singlehandedly have the power to create massive success or destroy any chance of it. And, what?s even scarier is this: All it takes is one toxic belief to destroy your future.”
Ouch.
He then takes you through a number of common false beliefs by revealing the symptoms they cause and what he considers to be the true belief.
He also looks at two problems people have with buying info-products and not getting the full benefits. While these are true, Rich is also trying to push you into doing more than reading the report.
- The Case Of Intellectual Entertainment – People don’t do the exercises because they enjoy reading. That’s fine if they are genuinely reading the book for entertainment purposes – although the latest Lee Childs / Jack Reacher thriller may be better – but crazy if the main purpose for reading is to improve.
- Buying Stuff Makes Me Successful – This challenges the idea that you need to keep buying stuff to be successful – an information addict – when success comes from applying what you already know more effectively.
Both of those resonate with me although I also have the “I buy to learn and teach” excuse to handle as well.
You are encouraged to identify your toxic beliefs, dispute them and find more positive, more helpful beliefs that will lead you to success.
Focused Thinking: Eliminate Fuzzy Thinking Forever
In this section Rich is helping you to get clear on cause and effect.
Too often there is fuzzy thinking in between which causes time, energy and money to be wasted on actions that don’t give the desired result.
I’ve talked before about getting intentional – deciding what you want and working out how you can make it happen.
>>> The Guerrilla Marketing Plan – 7 Sentences To Marketing Clarity
What he recommends is very simple in theory.
“In order to go from fuzzy thinking to focused thinking you need to know…
(1) Exactly what you want from your business…
(2) The minimum necessary to have it…
(3) The fastest and easiest way to get what?s necessary.”
He then explains each issue in detail. He also refers to his two big coaching programs – the Business Growth System and the Guided Profit System.
In BGS he has one module that introduces the idea of managing your constraints using the Theory Of Constraints Thinking Processes. This becomes the focus of the entire GPS course although it is seriously heavy duty because of the strange terminology used.
However the techniques are very powerful and in the report he points you to resources available within the Founders Club as a summary of the process.
Correct Thinking: Adjust Your Success Maps
If you’re not clear how these sections fit together, I think this quote helps:
“If your map is true and accurate (no toxic beliefs), you will know where you are (accurate thinking), and if you’re clear where you want to go and how best to get there (focused thinking), you just need to know the best way to travel (correct thinking).”
He discusses the confusion caused by the performance feedback delays that happen so often.
If you do something (like putting your hand on something extremely hot) you can get immediate feedback and you react accordingly.
If feedback is much slower (like sunbathing when you’re on holiday), unless you’re fair skinned and neurotic (like me) you may find that some days you can be out in the warm sun all day without getting burnt but on other days, you skins gets redder and sorer throughout the evening.
He also talks about the astonishing impact of compounding. I hadn’t heard this question before…
Would you rather one million dollars, or a penny doubled every day for 31 days?
The answer is the penny doubled every day but it’s worth creating a little spreadsheet to show you the astonishing growth, even though by day 16 you only have $327.68.
This section emphasises the importance of doing the right things consistently.
Optimal Thinking Done Frequently
Rich Schefren then takes you through a surprisingly personal section as he shares the thinking tools he uses every day.
Once you start thinking better, you need to keep doing it.
There are a variety of techniques here. All are worth trying although I suspect that you’ll have your favourites.
Are You Ready To Think Better?
This is a fascinating report or ebook and I can’t think of anything else that gives you such a comprehensive overview and detailed explanation of how to think more effectively in your business.
It is only one of the benefits of joining the Founders Club.
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Rich Schefren is an Internet marketing expert but this barely mentions the Internet. The ideas apply to all kinds of business.
I also think it’s a report that you should read if you’re an ambitious employee although I should warn you, there is likely to be a double edged effect:
- You’re going to think much more effectively and therefore going to be much more effective in what you do for the business. This will help you to stand out and should learn to you finding the promotion fast-track.
- However, I think you’ll be astonished at how stupid your boss, your colleagues and your staff are unless you teach them or encourage them to read the same report. You may find that you can’t bear to work for this business or any other where the people in charge lack even basic common sense. You could therefore find yourself forced to become a business owner.
You can get your copy of The Hidden Obstacles To Your Success by joining the Founders Club.
>>> Founders Club – affiliate link
Whether you stay a member is up to you but I believe every ambitious business owner needs to read this report.
Other Rich Schefren Products
Kolbe A Index And The Strengths Mastery Advantage
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