Do you ever wonder why you stick to some activities in your life and then others you kinda put off, let go or “forget” about? Why do you follow through on some ideas while others just fill your notebooks and journals?

Don’t you sometimes wonder, “Why can’t I just have a great idea and then take action on it, right?”

It’s time to take a look at the decisions you make quickly & decisively and find out why they come so easily to you.

Now, barring the fact that you truly need to have a strong desire to do something…there are some sneaky tricks you can employ to get yourself to follow through and do ANYTHING.

You can find all the strategies and tips you need to accomplish your goals and vision of life, if you first take a look at how others in the world market their products and services to you. When you learn why you buy certain products or messages or services from other people or even seek either out in the first place, you end up discovering how to “market” to yourself.

Not only that, but you get the clues to managing your life, your time, and finding out which ideas are most likely to translate into action or results.

Guess where you can use your personal marketing research? Oh – pretty much any place you need to have a system or plan to accomplish something:

• to get a new job
• to find a new relationship
• to start a business
• to start a new workout program

Ok let’s dive in a bit.

1. Marketing To Others

Let’s take the get a new job category. You have an idea you want a new job. You start applying to positions or companies that look interesting online and now you’ve got a few interviews set up. If you really want that new job…you need to walk into your interview knowing the following in order to get the offer.

1. Define the who you are meeting with or finding that who you want to meet with in the first place
2. Based on job description & what you know about the company, define the problem they are trying to solve – determine why they need to fix something and how it’s going to help them
3. Listen to their challenges and what they want to find in a candidate
4. Provide a solution or answer right away for free: this is often as easy as restating in a clear way back to them, “ok, so this is what you’re looking for?” If you can come up with a solution or an idea on the spot, do it. Don’t be afraid if it’s the wrong one, the fact that you even offered something is HUGE.
5. Make an offer, TELL THEM why you’d be the best solution – make your case so good that they can’t help but talk about you to others or give you exactly what you want.

After my last corporate job and just before I decided to go the entrepreneurial route, I used this approach to get 5 different really juicy job offers in about 2-3 months. I got so good at going in, listening to their pain points and challenges and offering them back exactly what they were looking for and then getting the exact offer I asked for, that I realized I was on to something.

(I turned down all job offers…even one at Apple corporate — which I think about now, usually when I’m about to buy their fully priced products…)

2.Marketing To Yourself

The truth is – getting anything done in your life is all about marketing — even if that means to yourself. Most of the time we are actually trying to convince others, but doing the same to yourself takes a little more finesse.

So let’s look at the process of marketing to yourself. Let’s tackle starting a new health & fitness regime.
You’ll notice that I’ve really just revised the same framework I used to get all those job offers…

1. Describe yourself as if you are a customer looking for a health & fitness solution
2. Define what results you want to achieve
3. Think about other products & services you’ve bought in the past (and used successfully)?
4. Ask yourself,  “What your biggest challenge to achieving this goal is?
5. What has worked in the past?
6. Take 1 action immediately to feel “success” quickly – drink water with lemon, have a nice salad for lunch, go for an impromptu hike, run to a nearby yoga class
7. Find a plan or solution or program – it doesn’t have to be perfect or the exact right one.
8. Test your solution and then revise it if necessary.

Secret sauce: authenticity.

You too can walk into a situation even with yourself and know that you are being true to yourself. The reason I turned all those jobs down is that I knew I couldn’t sustain the jobs with the intensity that I had marketed myself for them. I wasn’t passionate about working at the companies. I wanted more.

Ok, take some time and let this idea sink in a bit. It took me awhile too to really get that I could market to myself. When I became aware of this strategy and concept, not only did I discover the reasons why some things work for me and others don’t, but I also started to help others understand what could work best for them–no matter what they were trying to “fix” in their lives.

Bonus: When you let go of the activities, pursuits, jobs, relationships that aren’t sticking (but make you feel drained and unhappy)…a whole new world opens up in your life.

For me…the awareness led to some big changes. I stopped wasting my time and energy on things that weren’t true passions and desires. I started taking immediate and then consistent action on my bigger goals and plans. Plus, I learned how to face my resistance to “buying” any part of the process immediately and get myself back in action.

Now it’s your turn.

1. Brainstorm an area of your life you want to improve and think of ways you can market to yourself.
2. Ask yourself what is your biggest challenge
3. Come up with 1 or 2 actions you can take right away to give yourself an immediate “win” and convince yourself to buy the whole “product”.

Share your discoveries below and let me know if you find some interesting ways to sell yourself on YOU.