Hello again. Today I have some very interesting statistics for you to look at.

I have analysed the 116 people on my blogeroo (blogroll – but I compare it to a kangaroo coz I use it to hop around from blog to blog, hence blogeroo) and the relative activity that I see from those people as I visit all the blogs. You see, I am one of those people who actually READ the blog owner’s entry and then I skim read what others are doing and the comments they are making. Hence, unlike so many others, I can tailor my comment to what the actual blog owner wants to talk about and GIVE value. So I have a VERY good idea of who is who and the personal traits of most of the bloggers.

I know who blathers in with a COMPLETELY off-topic blast of steam. I know who stays on topic. I know who the GIVERS are and I know who the TAKERS are. But, above all, I know who is active and who is not.

Like I said, at the moment of writing this post, I currently have 116 people on my blogeroo. So, based on my observations on all the posts that I visit, I have categorised those people. Here are the results:

VERY ACTIVE – 19 people representing 16%
ACTIVE – 18 people representing 16%
OCCASIONALLY ACTIVE – 36 people representing 32%
COMPLETELY INACTIVE – 41 people representing 35%
WERE VERY ACTIVE BUT GONE STONE COLD – 2 people representing 1%

Now, what is this telling us?

Broadly, one third are either very active or active, one third are occasionally active and one third (actually a bit more) are either completely inactive or dead as a doornail with the project.

How AMAZING is this?

Have you ever heard the following saying? “Some people make things happen, some people watch things happen and some people ask ‘what happened?'”

Most large groups of people can be divided into thirds, very much like that saying above. But it has always been my contention that every third can also be divided into sub-sets of thirds too.

I don’t want to get too over-analytical here but what is this sample analysis telling us?

OK. First a small rider – I haven’t visited EVERY blog – well, some you simply cannot because they either don’t exist, or if they do, they are just a name with a standard wordpress welcome text sitting in them.

Next, I know that certain groups have formed and some people may be more active in one group than in others. But, like I said, I have visited a LOT of blogs and I see names (and “I see DEAD people” too. A small joke, folks, no nastiness intended).

So, extrapolating my findings here across the entire F500 (Fortunate 500) what does this tell us, statistically?

VERY ACTIVE – 80 people (16% of 500)
ACTIVE – 80 people (16% of 500)
OCCASIONALLY ACTIVE – 160 people (32% of 500)
COMPLETELY INACTIVE – 175 people (35% of 500)
WERE VERY ACTIVE BUT GONE STONE COLD – 5 people (1% of 500)

Well, those are the statistical figures. But I can tell you all categorically that there are only 37 people either very active or active. So, out of deference to the above statistics, let’s say that the top two categories (ie VERY ACTIVE or ACTIVE), which is some 160 people, is the sum total of people who are doing anything at all, what happened to the other 340 people? And if only 40 or so are really doing anything then why should I want to retain any more than those 40 on my blogeroo? Why would anybody? Dead wood is dead wood.

Do you agree or disagree with my observations and/or methodology?

Also, one more consideration for you to ponder…

Now that the latest “BIG THING” has hit the web – Web Prosperity – with all its massive promises of great wealth for very little activity, I expect that even some of the active and very active members of this Alex Jeffreys Internet Marketing and Mentoring program will have their attention side-tracked and their efforts split, diverted and diluted. I would expect that almost every occasional and completely inactive member of the F500 will race across there like maniacs to get that push-button cure that they so DESPERATELY crave and seek. Massive wealth for zippo! Yippee! “At last I’ve found it. My holy grail!” (And if anyone quotes that out of context… watch out! Bad-Gazza isn’t bad for no reason.)

Me? Yeah. I’ll observe this “latest opportunity.” I may even join on the off-chance that it might be different to all the other MLM’s that I have been in that have ALL crashed and burned leaving a trail of destruction and ruined lives in their wakes.

But just remember this – BIG WARNING TO FOLLOW HERE – the push button, matrix, “we do EVERYTHING for you and will make you fabulously RICH” scheme is OWNED by somebody else. With a flick of a switch they can DUMP you like yesterday’s dinner in your gullet (sorry for the analogy, but they can). In YOUR business YOU own it. YOU do. YOU.

Come on, bash me up. Tell me I am wrong with all this. Convince me that I am reading this all incorrectly. You can sway me if you have a convincing argument. I can usually be talked around if somebody has a more compelling or accurate appraisal than my own of any given situation.

I welcome your thoughts on all of this. Over to you …

Gary Simpson

Well, the Gazz-Man is at it yet again. He gets out of bed and walks into a room that he calls the “Parlour” – a room designed for thinking, a room of peace and tranquilty, a room overlooking his tropical garden paradise, a room where he reads and thinks. So he walks outside to greet the day and do a few exercises and then it hits him…

… the PALM TREES! Look at them.

The Gazz-Man's Tropical Paradise

Now, it may not be quite so obvious in the photo (taken this morning at approx 7.00am for this very thought that I wanna share with you) but…

… all the palm trees are of different size. Why? They were all planted together. They were all the SAME size when they were planted. They have all been lovingly nourished and watered (the Gazz-Man LOVES his extensive collection of palms and ferns and cycads). They have all been treated EXACTLY THE SAME. And yet some are taller and thicker and far stronger than others. Some even look pretty puny and weak by comparison.

This has had the Gazz-Man stumped many times just thinking about why this is so. Many a time I have looked up from Hill, Frankl, Proctor, Maltz, Helmstetter – a Phantom or Commando comic or two, even a rudie magazine – and just pondered why this is so. And this morning was no exception. But this morning the Gazz-Man’s brain made a connection…

So, here is what I think… some palms just have greater internal strength. Some just have a NEED to grow bigger and stronger.

Now, you probably know where this is heading, don’t you? I mean, the title really gives it away, doesn’t it?

Why are some students of the F500 flourishing and why are some languishing? They have all had the same exposure to information. Why?… “why, why, why, Delilah?” (I have actually worked with the singer of this song but that can be a story for another day).

Right now, I wanna know if you are gonna be one of those big strong palms or will you settle for being a puny little one. Or maybe you are gonna be like the Gazz-Man’s rare casualties – ie the palms that just say to themselves [shades of the Shadster here 😉 – some of you know what I mean 😉 ], “This is all too hard. I’m checkin’ OUT!” Dead palm. Victim. Casualty. Cut the bloody thing up. Get the dead trunk outa here! I don’t want it stinkin’ up my vista with its dead leaves and stuff falling everywhere. OUT!

Will you still be part of the F316 or the F201 or the F177 or the F87 or whatever the “F” becomes when the fall-out happens and so many people decide it is all too hard and it just isn’t worth it? And they go back to looking for the “push-button cure” to give them… dare I mention it again? … the orgasm they want from doing NOTHING! (In my youth I actually used to know a few… well, um, I’ll leave that thought right there – LOL!)

Are you gonna be an EXCUSIOLOGIST? (See my MOTIVATIONAL MOMENT in the Profit Pulling Project newsletter #2). You betta get that newsletter and read EVERY word of what I say coz I don’t want YOU to be a victim here. Make sure you check Garry Parkes‘ blog often over the next few days coz he is almost ready to publish it.

Ponder these thoughts while you decide which palm you want to be like. I might just take a swim now. That pool and the 100F temperature that is forecast for today is just too alluring. Bye for now…

Gary SIMPSON

PS: I did say in my “explanation” at the end of my “A New Year Begins” thread that I was gonna ramp things up. In fact, I have just been on the F500 private members’ site run by the very talented Mr Thomas Northrup and I have left a very strong comment there. The first response to that came just minutes later from Alan, who said, inter-alia, “You’re a straight talking guy, well done!” Yep.

So, if you wanna hear mamby-pamby, politically correct, bullsh*t designed to feed FALSE egos with garbage information then PLEASE – DON’T come here because you will be offended by me. Like I said, this is a NEW YEAR – more than a month has elapsed since this started – the HONEYMOON is over. This is my opening salvo for 2009. Have I upset you? I ain’t apologising. Toughen up princess. Have a spoonful of cement in that coffee.

New Year Resolutions – ever made any? I have.

Is it any wonder that all these marvellous ideas that run through our minds on the last day of any given year NEVER, or hardly ever, come to fruition? Oh, they sound so good. Next year I’m gonna be a better person. Next year I’m gonna go for all my goals. Next year will see a new me. Next. Next. Next. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah… (sounds like an old Beatles’ song).

Well guess what folks? Most people won’t even last the FIRST week. 90 to 95% of all people who even BOTHER to make a New Year Resolution will succumb to weakness or inactivity and will blow their brainwave idea before week’s end. Of the rest, most of them will collapse in a screaming heap in the following week. The longer it goes the harder it will get – UNLESS you do three things:

1 – Make a personal pledge. Write it down, sign it and read it every morning and the last thing you do before you hit the sack at night. That will “infect” your mind in a most positive way.

2 – Be as descriptive as you possibly can and make sure you describe how you will feel as though you are already in possession of the thing or things that you desire RIGHT NOW! (Bob Proctor of “You Were Born Rich” fame taught me that!)

3 – Make yourself acountable by telling somebody that you trust and who believes in you. Keeping it a secret to yourself is too pathetic to be useful. Don’t even bother.

So, on the subject of number three above, do you want to make yourself accountable here?

Let me tell you something folks and you can think whatever you want about this, I really don’t care. On December 31, 2002 I decided to get real with something I am very passionate about and just want to get better and better at. Today on December 31, 2008 – 6 years on – I have NOT ONCE broken that committment. That will be 2,190 consecutive days. I do this thing EVERY day and I enter it into a very large ruled up exercise book. (Incidentally, do you have my ACTION Planner?)

I can hear some people saying, “Oh you’re a real hero Gary!” Nope. I am just like everyone else but I made a COMMITTMENT to myself and I got REAL! NO MORE BLOODY EXCUSES. And now my ability in that thing is extra-ordinary. Call me bombastic, self-serving, self aggrandizing, trumpet blowing. Call me what you want. I am trying to TEACH you something here. Take it or leave it. It’s YOUR life.

Six years on, I am so far ahead of anywhere I could have ever dreamed of. And every day I get just a tiny bit better. Why do I tell you this? Because if I can do it, so can YOU. I am nobody special. Well, maybe I am now. But I wasn’t before. I just built myself from the ground up. Brick by brick by brick…

Am I proud of what I have done? You better be sure of that. Of course I am. And NO I am not gonna disclose what it is. That is unimportant to you. What IS important is YOU and what YOU want to do. Will YOU commit to yourself? I don’t give fig WHAT it is. All that is important is that it is IMPORTANT to you. Are you passionate enough? Do you have the hunger? Do you have the need? (Hmm… shades of Alice Cooper there).

William James, a revolutionary American psychologist, said words to the effect, “most people use only 10% of their brain.” Well, how much are YOU using? Are you serious? Have you had enough? Do you want to waste even one more year? Coz I’ll tell you this… TIME will wait for NOBODY. How quickly did last year go? How quickly did the last five years go? How quickly is the FORTHCOMING year gonna go?

Come here and tell everyone – if you are prepared to commit to the 1,2,3 above. Well? Are you? You don’t have to say EXACTLY what it is – broad terms will do but I want to know if you will take ACTION!

Have you made a personal pledge? Have you described it in detail? Will you read it every morning and evening? Have you told a confidante?

Do you want to make a comment here? No scaredy-cats here please! Pussy cats will never be roaring tigers. And eagles don’t flock. Neither do sharks. Pigeons and sardines flock.

You can always waste another year if that is YOUR CHOICE! And please, if you are a tiger in the making, make it brief. We don’t want a day by day account. Three or four sentences is enough (Fancy me saying that! LOL!)

Over to YOU! Go for it! Let’s see who’s got what it takes. Anyone? Do I hear any roars?

I was reflecting this morning on this entire Internet Marketing course that so many of us have undertaken with Alex Jeffreys and some of the great interaction I have been having with people from all over the world.

This I did while taking my pupsters on their daily walk, though I have stopped calling it “WALKIES” and am now tending to call it “STOPPIES” on account of the incredible number of times we have to stop to share poontang-pies and lemonade-crush with all the neighbours on our 2 km (3 mile) circuit. I swear these two females shoulda been born MALES! This morning’s effort(s) went 1-8 for the older one and 1-1 for her younger sister. Yesterday it was 1-9 to 1-3.

Anyway, what I wanted to acknowledge here is something that Mrs Renee Olsen said on my (somewhat unintended) RANT about List Building and how dopey I have been on that issue. Renee said:

“Gary, Gary, Gary,

I finally figured it out. I know who you are! You are the man version of Erma Bombeck! I mean it. Really, she was an outstanding writer in the US. here’s the wiki on her. See for yourself. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erma_Bombeck

I have read many of your comments with great entertainment. My family is starting to think I have lost a little of my mental capacity because I laugh and talk to you quite often when I’m at my computer.

Give me some more time and I’ll figure out who you are as a whole because Erma, she’s the writer in you, but I have to figure out who the teacher is. Perhaps, you have even more hiding in you. I’ll get back to you on that.”

Wow! I went and looked up the reference that Renee kindly included in her long comment and hammed up a bit on Erma Bombek. In doing so, I found a couple of AMAZING quotes. Actually, I found a LOT of amazing quotes but these two really hammered some points home for me with what we are doing on this Internet Marketing course. Here’s the first one:

“Seize the moment. Think of all those women on the ‘Titanic’ who waved off the dessert cart.” – Erma Bombek.

And then there was this pearler:

“When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, ‘I used everything you gave me.'” – Erma Bombek.

What this lady was saying is “Take your opportunity NOW!” Are you seizing your moment? Because it is here. Now. Right now. Right on this course. NOW. Are you active or are you just laying back saying “Give me the orgasm”? OK, I know I used that in the MOTIVATIONAL MOMENT in Garry Parkes‘ PPP Vol 1 #1. And I know I have said it a couple of times elsewhere. But is THAT what you are doing? Waiting? Or are you burning the turf?

Thank you so much Renee. I hope you enjoy the attachment that I sent in my email. I’ll let that thing loose around here when people have a bit more time on their hands (LOL!). And remember, Renee, you are sworn to secrecy about that other thing – for now anyway!

Regarding the last bit of the title here… “the people you meet and the books that you read”… that was an excerpt from a quote from an amazing gentleman who I had the very great privilege of personally meeting TWICE before he passed away. He was Charlie “TREMENDOUS” Jones. And he was TREMENDOUS. Big Charlie (and he was BIG) taught me a lot about attitude. In fact Thomas Skavhellen and me and some of Tom’s visitors had a bit of a discussion about Charlie over at Tom’s blog the other day. That was where I learned of Charlie’s death. And it made me sad.

Charlie always said: “You will be the same person tomorrow, next week, next month, next year and in 5, 10, 20 years except for two things – the people you meet and the books you read.” And I took that on board and you know what? Charlie was 100% correct. Over the years I have attended countless seminars and read literally 100’s of books.

And, I am learning so much just being here in the “F500.” We have some WONDERFUL people on the Alex Jeffreys Internet Marketing Course. I feel so privileged to be among you folks. And even if it all collapsed tommorrow – which I hope it DOESN’T – I will have had my money’s worth.

So, wrapping this all up, WHO are some of your greatest influences – people and books? And why?

Gary

PS: Garry Parkes is just about to release his PPP #2 and there ARE some requirements to be included in it with a personal URL entry so, if I were YOU, I’d go and see what he wants you to do and well… DO IT! Simple.