Listen to podcast below:
The Digital Rapport® podcast is available on…
Transcription of the podcast:
Hey everybody, how you doing I’m on one of my walks again, and I’m just having one of these deep thoughts around the implications of bad knowledge and inforamtion.
How often do we go and do things throughout life where the knowledge that we’ve got is actually bad or maybe not correct, or maybe not as efficient as it could be? I mean, how many things do we do in life? In relationships or business, or where things are maybe passed down from family, culture, society, you know, bad business mentors or dodgy online experts? How many things do we do throughout life, where we’re doing something and it seems to be working, but it may not be efficient. It may not be strong enough to actually get you the results you want. So it brings one of those thoughts into your mind about… what you know eg you don’t know what you don’t know. And you don’t know when you are conditioned or how you conditioned when you don’t even know your condition in the first place, right?
So you might come across a person who’s done something in life and they’ve had ok results around what they did. They then put it out there and then they’re teaching that information to others and sharing it. And some people may benefit from it. Some people may not, but then again, it might just be a lot of noise so sometimes we just take on board the information, just because it’s being done, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that this information is going to be something that could get you good results.
I’ll give you a good example. Like in the online space, people talk about, social media and that you should be on social media, that you should be posting should be doing this should be doing that. But if you went to an event and somebody just spoke to you or you were online and somebody shared that, you should be doing Facebook lives and you should be doing Twitter and Instagram because it’s the next big thing. Or that’s how you get your message out to the masses. That’s okay. Information. But it’s not the greatest because if you walk out from this learning, thinking that that’s what you got to do, and then you go ahead and do it. And then everybody seems to be doing it, so you think you’re doing the right thing, but is this really getting you an ROI and then actually getting you results.?
Are people connecting with you or calling you and trying to find out what your products and services are as a result? If they’re not And if you feel like you’re doing something over and over again, and it’s not quite working, it’s not getting the results that you expected, then maybe the information that’s been shared with you is not accurate. It’s not correct. Or maybe it’s correct but you have not been given all the information, all the things you should be doing because most of the time, especially nowadays, because we are so online or looking online and we’re just seeing what other people are doing.
And then these retargeting adverts follow you around so these adverts are used in a way where the content follows you because you’ve been tagged or pixeled. So you’re getting this information because Facebook might just think it is something that you need. The way the information is presented might be good and you get on it and you buy a product or a service. And then you realise actually what they’ve just shared with you is not what you expected or there’s a lot more to do than what was expressed.
So it could be that the marketing was really good, but then the contents rubbish, there are so many times when these things happen. I mean, the best thing to do I feel is if you are doing something and have been doing it for a long period of time, is it getting you the results? I mean, how you track it? How are you monitoring it? How you actually seeing it, if what you’re doing is giving you some sort of benefit or it’s bringing in a return on investment. So what are you actually doing to track it? So this is very important because you need to have KPIs, key performance indicators in place, right? So goals and metrics made to size and measuring, You got to just be looking at all the things that you are doing to see how it actually is benefiting your business or your relationship or whatever.
If you set out to do something, then track it, put some tracking mechanism in place, get some URLs which can tell you how many people have actually clicked through to the content that you might be sharing and then how that then transfers over to some sort of return on investment, whether that’s actually getting you more leads or whether you getting people calling you, signing up, make you sales or not.
But then if you find that you’ve been doing something for a very long time Mmm there’s this thing that Napoleon Hill talks about query hypnotic rhythm, and basically what that is, is like habits that we get used to over time that just kind of seep in. So one day you might turn around and think, Oh, why am I doing this for? But as you were doing bits of it over a period of time, it then became your habit and not necessarily something you were a 100% aware of because it was just subconscious things you’ve done over the years. If you could tune into that, it’d be a good thing because sometimes just doing things over a period of time due to hypnotic rhythm can create bad habits. And we may not necessarily know that they have become bad habits because there’s an element of it which works. And then there’s an element of it, which there’s no longevity to it. Maybe, you know?
So it’s an interesting one to find out these things and have a way to kind of check in on it. It’s good to have business mentors or mentors in relationships and whatnot that can guide you as good to be learning new information. And just seeing what the latest studies around something are telling you, because there are indicators in these things, whether something works or not. So the best way to do this is to measure it, give yourself a timeframe, give yourself a way that you can actually track whether what you’re doing is getting you some sort of results.
I started a, a 90-day content creation challenge. The idea is that you create 90 pieces of content continuously day after day. So you either create blogs or you either do videos or you do an audio podcast or something. One of the key reasons for doing it, which is the biggest reason, is if you imagine doing content creation for 90 days in a row, there’s no way that your skills around this topic are not going to improve. So if you did videos for 90 days, you’re going to be very good by the 90 days, right? If you create content and you commit to it, your content will improve over time. So, you know, it’s a good way to measure some form of ROI. eg I’m going to do something over a period of time and see what kind of results I get.
So I started creating blogs on one of my sites and I was tracking and monitoring it and it’s become really clear that something that used to work 5, 10 years ago does not work now. Your content has to be quality content. You have to create really really good content. You have to sit down and focus and make sure that it’s a better piece of content than what your competitors are putting out there. It sounds a lot of work and effort, but it’s worth it in the end.
Now that’s the other thing you have to put work and effort into anything you do. We seem to be in this quick-fix culture. You know, we want things overnight and just get things instantly but this is not good.
This is actually one of those things, which I was referring to earlier about bad knowledge and bad information. Because if people are thinking they can just get things done overnight in one click and it can just happen so quickly then basically it’s not a good idea, not a good thing to do.
So if there’s this continuous message out there about getting things instantly, just like that, then this actually creates the laziness because now people are thinking and assuming that things can be done in an easy way.
So, therefore, they’re looking for this simple way out but when they then come across situations where they have to put the work in, the flag out, right. They flop and they don’t know what to do and they cant deal with it. Then they turn around and say, well, I tried this thing and it didn’t work. Um, it’s because it’s sold in that manner, in the first place, which is bad information, right? If you’re not taught that, actually you need to put the energy and effort and you need to create foundation work and that there’s a particular way, certain things work and it’s not just going to happen overnight as that’s just stupidity. Right?
You have to plan things. You have to create a strategy around it. You have to do the research, you have to put things together. You have to then find out what problem you’re trying to solve. Come up with a solution, test the solution and see if it’s working or not. And if you got a proof of concept, then is something that you can put out into the marketplace because you know, it works and there’s as there’s a need for your solution.
But if you think it’s just going to happen overnight, just because somebody says, yeah, how I made 20k in one email and stuff, which, in it’s kind of a technicality may not be a wrong thing, but the information is slightly misleading because they haven’t told you how many years of energy and effort they’ve put in to get that result. They haven’t told you how many months or years has been put into growing that mailing list that is going to be sustainable to create that kind of money in the first place. There’s a lot of missing information there, but it’s kind of this 50 50 thing because you know the marketing is done in a way as clickbait to break your pattern basically using something called a pattern interrupt to disrupt you so you can actually have a look at this thing they’re trying to sell you something.
It’s the mentality that we we live in. Everybody’s just fighting for your attention and thwn they’re trying to fight for your attention, there’s no details, right? The deeper stuff is not there. So the information you are actually getting isvery low level. So it’s, again, it’s bad information, isn’t it?
The quality of the information can be determined by the quality of your results, right? If the information is good, then it’s going to give you insights into results. So you may have 10% of the information which works, but then the rest of the 90% might be missing just because it’s not being shared with you but could be that whatever somebody has done, they’ve been able to get success out of that 10%, which is enough for them, but it may not be enough for you because as a human being, we’re all different.
We have different personality traits and we all learn and understand in different ways. So, um, it’s, it’s quite important that if we’re teaching and sharing information, you have to understand that it’s not one thing fits everyone. Because it doesn’t fit everybody. eg different mindsets. They are in different places of thought or different places in their life where they need certain things or information in a particular way. And that can’t happen with just sharing anything. You need to have conversations with people and actually speak to them and see what it is that they are having problems with. Because the problem they’re having may not be what you’re selling them. It may be something else which they need first, or they need your services later on.
So as a person who provides information it’s your responsibility to share good content, but also have conversations so that it’s not just getting wasted. If you have a conversation with somebody and understand them, then you able to provide a solution and as a good content creator, you’re going to be able to provide them with the information they need at that point on the journey.
So be careful with what information you consume or what you apply to your life. And if you’re doing something and it hasn’t worked or got you the results you expected, then dig deeper. Look at it and think, have I got all the information? Has this information come from a good source? Is it actually good knowledge?
And sometimes it can just be a little bit, it’s just like that small degree of information that needs to be changed because even one-degree change in direction can take you a different direction.
So it’s one of those things that you have to look at yourself and be a bit more self aware of what you’re doing and whether it’s working or not. And then think, okay, I’ve tried this, it didn’t quite work now, what can I do? That’s when you should go to a business mentor, when you should go to a coach or a consultant, somebody who can give you more insights. And say to them that this is where I am. This is what I’m trying to do, and I don’t get it. What can you do to help? Or what should I be doing? And then seek to get those things resolved.
I totally get that there might be people out there who claim that they can do it and at some of them actually can do it. But then for whatever reason, because they haven’t assessed the situation or spoken to you, they don’t know you inside out. They don’t know your mindset where you’re coming from, they may not have shared the information that you needed. So that’s why don’t believe everything that’s given to you don’t believe everything is just, you know, and don’t believe you’re yourself necessarily as well.
Question yourself as well. So is this actually working? What can you do to create some sort of measurement against what it is that you’re trying to achieve and how can you track that progress to see if what you’re trying to do is actually working measure it, measurements? What can youwith that?
Another thing is don’t necessarily go to one source of information. Do a bit of research and try to see where this information has come from, or what are other sources of this same kind of information saying, is there a common thread that you can see also seek out people who have actually done something they’ve achieved a result they’ve achieved something that you’re trying to figure out based on a concept called modelling, which is quite popular in NLP – basically if you want to achieve something, find someone who’s done it and then model them, have a conversation, speak to them, figure out what they did and see how you can do it too. So it works in your favour.
So I suppose what I’m trying to say is that have a think about what it is that you do, what you’re trying to do, and really dig deep to see if the information you got about a thing is actually good information. Is there something missing, dig deeper. Because if you’re not getting the results and there’s something in there which is missing or something you haven’t quite figured out. And for that, you may just need somebody else to give you a bit of direction and guidance on.
You got to do your own thinking at times as well. Don’t just go by. What’s being given you, do some thinking, look at what you’re trying to do. See what you can do to measure the activity in order to try to get the results that you want. If you are getting stuck along the way, reach out, ask people, connect with people, say, this is what I’m trying to do. Is this something you might be able to help with or is there somebody you know who might be able to help and then look it up. Also maybe there’s fear and concern that who you speak to is somebody that is actually going to be able to teach you that good information and that’s totally understandable. But sometimes in life, we just got to get those lessons. We just have to do things and learn from our mistakes. That’s the only way we’re going to progress. The more mistakes we make along the way, the more we can quickly learn. So don’t be afraid of failing or making mistakes because it’s from those situations or scenarios that you can actually learn to do things differently. And one of those things will actually eventually help you out and get you the results you’re after. It’s good to ask yourself, what are the different ways I can actually get good information because there’s a lot of noise out there. There’s a lot of fluff. There’s a lot of air, sometimes we have to pay for the information in order to get it from a reliable source. It’s just got to be done.
But I think the biggest thing is, is that self-measurement, you know, it’s like, what’s a realistic measurement around this. Like how can you give yourself some time to do something and think, okay, I’ve been doing this over a period of time, what now?
I suppose, the more you can focus your energy to do more of that particular thing you’re trying to do in that small gap, the quicker you’ll probably find out and get results as to whether something’s working or not. If that makes sense. You know? So like for example I was talking about content pieces. I could create 90 pieces of content over the span of a year, that might be like content every other day. But then if I condense that down so I’m doing it in 90 days hat means every single day. By the end of the 90 days you will have more information to play with and understand to see whether something you are doing is working or not.
And it gives you a lot of insights into what is actually working or what’s not working right. And that’s very important. Sometimes we think, Oh, we just want to get stuff done. And that’s not a good space to come from because sometimes you need to give time to things in order for things to work. Try not to shortcut it or rush it just because of the sake of a time thing. That’s just something you have to work on over a period of time. And then look at the data, look at the kind of goals you’re trying to achieve and see whether you’ve been able to do it. If you haven’t been able to do it, then ask the question, like why haven’t I been able to do it? Not from an upset point of view, but from a view of like, if it didn’t work, what could I do different and how can I go about doing this in a different way? So it gets me the results I’m after or completely just step out of it and think, is there something else I should be doing? Is there some bigger thing that I haven’t noticed?.
So just bear that in mind, if you’re doing something, is the information you’re getting good information. And then how do you look to find out whether this information is good and reliable and workable? What the source is? Where does it come from? Who’s used it, who’s applied it, who has benefited from it who hasn’t that kind of stuff. And that would probably give you a bit more insights into something that you need to look hard to see if it’s working or not for you.
I hope that’s been useful. So give that a go and I’ll; chat on the next one, it’s such a lovely day.
Thank you very much.
Digital Business Coach | Web Revenue Strategist | Award-Winning IT Consultant | Author
Transform Your Skills, Knowledge and Experience Into a Thriving Online Business
Get Expert Guidance and Bespoke Growth Strategies, Meticulously Crafted to Align with Your Individual Journey as a Subject Matter Expert.
With over 18 years of industry experience in business and personal development, I’ve successfully been working with coaches, consultants and authors set up the right systems and implement strategic content strategies to start, grow and scale their businesses online with automation, digital products and services. (To work with Jatinder – click here)