Sometimes I think about this lifestyle design niche that I stumbled into and wonder if people want their life designed like they do their bedroom or office. Is picking a career or going on a sabbatical like picking out a couch at IKEA or paint colors from Home Depot?

I am in the middle of reading Tony Robbins’s Unlimited Power and it starts off with something that really hit me hard this week. Just as hard as that fence did in the softball game 2 months ago that still has my shoulder popping. Tony’s quote was that good.

Essentially he stated that only about 10% of people read a book past the first chapter. Now I shot a video about your potential for success a few weeks back and in it, I went over how everyone has the same opportunity to information. We can all buy the book, the tape, the course, whatever.

What happens next is where the magic starts to happen.

Tony continues that the 10% thing makes him mad and angry then goes on to point out that:

• Less than 3% of the nation is financially independent
• Less than 10% have written goals
• 35% of American women (and even fewer men) feel they are in good physical shape
• 50% of marriages end in divorce

(These stats are from the 80’s, but I feel there would not be much change today, except that even more people would feel overweight)

If we could all read a book, listen to a tape or buy a course and get rich, look like David Beckham and have relationships that would make Dr. Phil wet, well then my friends, I would spend every waking minute on the beach surfing, having romantic dinners and looking like the cast from Twilight (only older and cooler, cough, cough).

The fact is that most people will never see the implementation of lifestyle design strategies even though they truly believe their life would be better off with it. More still will NOT make the financial investment to do what it takes to get their life on the right path.

I know that I turn a stink eye for paying double the price for vegetables that don’t have chemicals blasted all over them.

But some of us take the plunge. We get the gym membership. We even take up a trainer (even though our manly ex-high school football ego’s say that’s silly). But then what happens? The opportunity was there. The desire was there. There was no follow through.

We buy a make money product, or some kind of business building course. We get all stoked about the material, the prospect of working from a beach and driving the cool car and then what happens? The opportunity was there. The visualization was there. The action was missing.

The People That Keep Lying To Themselves

A few weeks back I was at a seminar in Delray Beach, the one where I met David, the Costa Rican Restaurant Entrepreneur. The people that were putting on the conference opened up by thanking everyone for coming. They then asked who had been to this bootcamp before. More hands raised than not.

The next question was how many are not making at least $2,000 online and the same hands went up.

Essentially these people were paying upwards of $5,000 (for VIP seats and extra luncheons, not counting travel) to come to a conference, that they had already been to, that they didn’t take action on the first time. Or the second time. Some were there after doing nothing 3 times.

What the hell?

These People Are the Dreamers…

…and they make online marketers a TON of money. These are the people that buy any and everything thinking it will be the magic pill that changes their life. They know they want a better life, the know they want to get out of the rat race. They can visualize what that change means to their life, they just can’t muster the action to get to that point.

There is no magic pill to create your ideal lifestyle (well there is a lotto ticket, but those damn things just don’t seem to work). What I think is that some people just do not want to change their life. They want the fantasy of what that life may look like, but they are content with their position and role in life.

And that sucks!

Who is 100% happy and content with their life? Even those that seem like everything is wonderful have an idea of what a better life could be like (um, Tiger Woods).

The Internet Lifestyle is a Rat Race Run by Turtles

If you are looking to build an Internet Lifestyle, you are in the middle of a long term rate race. It’s like a day job on crack, only with no boss, no text book with all the answers and more competition than the Ninja Turtles at a Foot Clan party.

While you may be able to throw up some PPC ads and make some cash overnight to some affiliate products, this is not an overnight business. It has taken me 3 years to make any kind of recurring income online and I’m still battling everyday to keep that income coming in.

Relationships take time. Search engine placement takes time. Creating good-give-a-shit products takes time. Building trust and bonding with customers takes time (especially when selling a product that costs a good deal of money). Having raving fans means creating bomb ass content on a daily or weekly basis.

You are a damn turtle. Making steady progress in a big ass race. This is similar to a local band playing crappy gigs in front of 20 people and calling it quits because their first gig is not at Madison Square Garden.

Maybe your life doesn’t need designing. But your goals, desires and motivation do.

I talk about Core Influence a lot (it’s a full hour long module in the RSBS). It’s something I learned from Frank Kern, later got in depth with it from Tom McCarthy and now I have a lot of ideas and thoughts on it. Essentially it is finding your true reason behind the stuff you do. It’s the real reason I want that Audi R8. It’s the reason my office has visual triggers all over it from goals to houses to surfers to nonprofit missions to tons of books and products.

The people that keep buying shit, keep reading lifestyle design or productivity or finance or investing or internet marketing blogs, keep making New Year’s Resolutions and then go back to their life the same way they wake up every morning…

…Need To Stop!

Really, take action or stop wasting money, time and effort. As an Internet Marketing guy, you would think that I would want these people to keep buying stuff, and yea the income from that is cool. The reality is that I would rather sell less stuff to people who use the products and change their life. The good marketers would agree.

Testimonials and case studies mean more than sales. It means our teaching works and that we can sell more stuff next time - social proof is the number one driver of sales.

So, when you go and read the sites from my friends over the next few weeks, as you put together your resolutions, your 2010 goals and buy new courses, memberships and your XBox, do me a big ass favor…

…find the real reason behind what you are doing. And then create a plan for action. Find an accountability partner. Tell people your goals. Put up a site. Create a (good) product. Be proud of the process and get excited about who you are and what you can do when you put 100% effort, time and emotion towards something you genuinely believe.

I bet you will surprise yourself.

-Greg Rollett

Let’s talk. Does your life really need designing? Are you excited about your goals? Are you someone who goes to conference after conference, buys course after course and tries system after system only to be in the same spot (or worse, in debt) as before.

P.S. Internet Marketing guy John Reese had similar thoughts on the keep buying more products and you will be successful idea - he says to focus on fundamentals. That will at least get you to star.

Photo by lanuiop