It’s Time To Change – A Guest Post by Jaco Alberts

Philip Verghese 'Ariel'

Last updated on January 2, 2018

It’s Time to Change – A Guest Post by Jaco Alberts

Greetings to all,

I am so glad to be here again on the eve of yet another New Year.

Whenever I talk about my blogging, I used to say about my blogging friends spread all over the world.  I met a good number of amazing friends over the years on my blogging journey!  “Yes, in fact, they are my asset in blogging! As someone said and I quote: “Your Network is your Net Worth” though I heard this several times I never put much weight on it, but in the recent past I could realize the great value of it.

Yes, making a solid relationship through the network is really your net worth.

In 2015 I could meet some amazing people from the blogging world, some are indeed prominent personalities in their respective field of blogging.  One such person is Jaco Alberts, our  guest author for today.

He is a blogger and freelance writer from Durban, South Africa. He is a loving husband and father to two lovely daughters. He is fascinated by our thinking patterns and the effect that our thinking has on our everyday lives. He doesn’t believe in “building castles in the sky”, but love to keep it practical.

Making a solid relationship with like-minded people through the network is really your net worth. Read more #Philipscom
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I was glad to meet him on my blogging journey at Yvonne I. Wilson’s page, Empowerment Moments Blog,  where he is a contributing author.

Read more about him at the links given at the bottom of this post.

Thank you,  Jaco, for your valuable time for writing this amazing post for Philipscom readers.

I am sure my readers will appreciate your contribution here.

It means a lot to me, Brother Jaco.

Over to Jaco

It’s Time to Change

Time never stands still and is surely not waiting for anybody. So 2015 came and now it’s gone. Yes, it is 2016. Time flies by; or does it?

Why is that some people seem to have all the time in the world, while others are complaining about not having enough hours in the day?

Especially in the blogosphere, many of us started blogging so that we can have more time with our loved ones. Yet, in order to be successful, you still need to be very careful, because your blog doesn’t maintain itself and you need to maintain the balance.

I can remember my father always teaching me that as long as I plan my time and I can stay ahead of time, all will be fine. But as soon as you fall behind time, it is very hard to catch up again.

Time is still the same as centuries ago. We all have 24 hours available to us every day. It is still ticking along at the same consistent tempo; it’s not going faster, but it’s not slowing down either. It’s about how we utilize our time. It is our thinking and our lifestyle that has changed.

Time never stands still and is surely not waiting for anybody. Check out this Guest post by Jaco @ #Philipscom
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People Have Many New Year’s Resolutions, But How Many Will Be Achieved?

For many people, the idea of having New Year’s resolutions has just become fun. They will set the ridiculous goals, knowing that they aren’t really going to put much effort into achieving them. Others have good intentions, but soon give up on their new goals. And then you have the group who doesn’t bother because it’s ‘a waste time anyhow’.

Especially when opening a magazine or looking at various blogs, one often hears the response “oh, not another New Year’s resolution article again….”, as we get bombarded with clever marketing strategies and articles about new goal-setting programs.

That in itself is the beginning of the end. Many of us aren’t focused enough on our goals and we suddenly want to set 101 different goals and think that we are actually going to achieve all of them. Are you still wondering why your New Year’s resolutions are often a waste of time?

But that doesn’t mean that we can’t come to a standstill, take stock of ourselves and make a new beginning. To make a new beginning, you can start by changing only one thing; the way you think.

101 New Year’s Resolutions Won’t Change a Thing, But Change The Way You Think and You’ll Change Your Life.

Yes, change your thinking and you’ll change your life. What is your mind focused on? When you do think about setting goals, what are you focusing on? Are you constantly thinking about all the obstacles? Are you thinking about how difficult it’s going to be to avoid the fridge when you need to lose some weight? Are you thinking about all the daily interruptions which will prevent you from writing daily to add quality content to your blog?

The secret lies in shifting your focus. I’m not saying you should ignore the negatives or deny the existence of possible obstacles. Determine possible obstacles and plan ahead how to overcome them.

But even more important is to find the positive benefits if you are to be successful.

Now that you have determined possible obstacles, and you know how to overcome them in advance, you can handle them as they come, but you can keep your mind focused on the positive results to be achieved.

Instead of feeling frustrated by thinking of all the daily interruptions, create a schedule when you will be available for meetings, time to play with the kids etc., and start focusing your mind on the benefits of writing every day.

In our blogging example, positive benefits might include some of the following:

1. Creating quality content (by writing at least 5 to 6 days per week, you should be able to produce at least one good quality article/post per week).
2. By creating quality content, you increase traffic to your blog.
3. Quality content can help you to build trust and develop relationships.
4. Increased traffic can help you to monetize your site.

These are just a few examples to get you thinking. Find more positive benefits for yourself and focus on these.

Your mind is extremely powerful, and so are the words you speak. What you are constantly saying, is absorbed by the subconscious mind. The subconscious mind cannot distinguish between right and wrong, so it will respond to whatever you feed it. If you continuously say you are a failure, you will eventually start believing it. But the same is true if you start saying positive things about yourself.

There is a saying that is based on this truth: “Whether you say can, or whether you say you can’t; it is true.”

The following cycle will give you an indication of the effect your words and your thinking have on life:

1. You decide what you say.
2. What you say will eventually determine what you believe.
3. What you believe, determine what you think about.
4. Your thoughts determine your emotions.
5. Your emotions will influence your decisions.
6. Your decisions lead to actions and habits.
7. Your actions and habits have results.
8. These results will validate what you believe (either positive or negative).
9. These beliefs will come out in words again (you talk about what you believe), which will confirm the belief, and the cycle starts repeating itself again.

So if you want to change your life, change your thinking. To change your thinking, change what you are saying.

How To Start Thinking Creatively.

As bloggers we not only need to think positive thoughts, we also need to be creative thinkers. The good news is that creative thinking is available to each and every one of us.

But you need to get serious about your thinking.

Getting in contact with your creative side can be fun. Dr. Raché Rutherford, a creativity specialist, says that we are creative by nature during childhood. Yet we lose much of our creativity while we learn faulty lessons and adopting limiting thinking patterns.

Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason why so few engage in it ~ Henry Ford

Some tips to encourage creative thinking:

• Ask yourself questions such as: What is the worst that can happen? What if I try? Why not? Who said I cannot write creatively?
• Try something new each week, even if it’s just taking a new route to the office.
• Think of ten ways to celebrate your birthday.
• Surround yourself with interesting people and don’t always try to ‘fit in’.
• When you face a problem, write it down and turn it into a question. As an example; you need a new vehicle but you don’t have the money. Ask yourself how you can raise the money.
• Start some new hobbies.
• Try to do something you’ve never done before.
• Write down what you are thinking of when you wake up.

One thing to remember is that if you want to change your thinking, allowing yourself time to do so is important and don’t quit. Remember, you’ve been developing your thinking patterns over a period of years; you are not going to change your thinking in two days. It will require conscious effort over time.

Be Yourself.

Firstly, it is good to have a role model, but use a role model to see which actions are making him/her successful and follow those actions. Don’t become a duplicate of that person.

Secondly, when we start our blogging career, we often hear that we should ‘give the readers what they want. It’s not about you, it’s about the reader’.

Although this is an extremely important aspect, you shouldn’t take yourself out of the picture completely. When I recently read the excellent post by Philip Verghese Ariel about “What Is Your Biggest Achievement and Biggest Failure in Blogging So Far?” this point stood out to me especially when I read about Jaime D. Buckley of WantedHero.com

It is my opinion that when you become obsessed with what the reader wants, and you neglect the reason why you started blogging in the first place – your passion that moved you to start your blog – there is a great danger that your blog will soon become more of a burden than anything else and you might end up quitting.

It is good (and important) to give the readers what they want, but don’t lose your own identity in the process. Believe me, there is someone out there who will agree with you about your passion. There is someone who wants to hear what you say. So instead of being so focused on what the reader wants that you start trying to please everybody, find the right audience, and giving them what they want will come naturally.

Stay In Touch With Reality.

As soon as you decide to start earning income online, whether, through blogging, affiliate marketing etc., you’ll be exposed to all the hype about the fortunes you can make in a short period of time.

I value the saying of ‘easy come, easy go’. Don’t fall victim to these “castles in the sky” promises. Anything of value will take the time to achieve. Once again referring to the above-mentioned post by Philip Verghese Ariel, it was such a joy to read about Joy Healy and to visit her site at joyhealey.com. There is no hype and false promises on her site. She says it as it is and truthfully points out what is working for her and what not. I appreciate that kind of honesty. Everything is not going to just ‘fall in your lap’ as if by some kind of magic.

Another blogger mentioned in this post that is staying in touch with reality is Harleena Singh from AhaNOW. She is, in my opinion, a great mentor and while always willing to help, she is very realistic in her approach.

Never Stop Learning

I’ve been involved in sports as a professional coach for many years before I started blogging. If there is one thing I have learned from those years which is equally important as a blogger, it is to never think that you know it all.

Yes, be careful who you listen too, but remain teachable. There will always be someone out there who knows more than you and can teach you something valuable.
I would like to end this post with a story about a wise Japanese master. It is said that there once was a very intelligent and highly qualified professor. He heard about this wise Japanese master and wanted to learn more from him.

The professor decided to visit the Japanese master. On the professor’s arrival, the Japanese master requested his wife to make them some tea.

While they were waiting for the tea, the professor decided to start sharing all his discoveries, inventions, achievements and knowledge with the master. Eventually, the master’s wife brought the tea for the two men.

While the professor kept on talking, the master started pouring some tea into the professor’s cup. Soon the cup was filled, but the master kept pouring. The tea started spilling over into the saucer. The master kept pouring and as the tea started spilling over from the saucer as well, the professor stopped talking and pointed out to the master that both the cup and saucer was full of tea and that it was spilling over.

Calmly the master stopped and said to the professor: “Just as the cup was full, your head is too full of your own knowledge, there is no space for me to add any. It will only spill over.”

If you haven’t read it yet, a good place to start looking for people to learn from is Philip’s post “What Is Your Biggest Achievement and Worst Failure in Blogging So Far?”

It is never too late to start, and if something doesn’t work for you, you need to change it.

If there is one thing you can change to make a difference in your life, what would it be?  

Thank you, Jaco, for your valuable time with our readers.  We Wish You A Blessed New Year 2016  

For Philipscom

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Image Credit: freeimages.com; Jacoalberts.

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