Opportunity Knocks. Will You Answer?
Presenting the Opportunity Knocks EZine

Produced by

Tim Johnson
and
No Time Lost Enterprises

Volume 1, Issue 10
May 9, 2001

Sorry about the missed week last week. We had some serious connection problems which took up all our time. Hopefully we will be back to the regular Monday publishing schedule from here on out.

Welcome to the OK-EZine! Presented here are ideas, concepts, strategies and tactics for those ready to embrace the New, the Daring and the Possibilities.

Feedback is always welcome. Please send all comments to timj@notimelost.com. Positive and Negative are welcome.

Who are three people who would like to read this EZine? Please pass this EZine along to them. If you have received it from a friend, formal subscribe and unsubscribe information is at the end of the message.

CONTENTS:

1.) Power Thought - What's the Opportunity Cost?

2.) Recommended Resource - The Power of Focus

3.) Featured Website - The eBook Directory

4.) Main Article - Are you overwhelmed or just whelmed?

5.) Subscribe/Unsubscribe Info

1.) Power Thought - What's the Opportunity Cost?

For those of you not familiar with the term, Opportunity Cost refers to the potential gain from one action that you forego by doing a separate action. In other words, what do you give up to get the results you get now from your J.O.B. (Just Over Broke) or your business? For some of you it may be time with the family or a more direct cash amount.

What about the things you do in pursuit of that J.O.B. or success in your small business? Many small business owners for instance will try run a marketing campaign on their own or they build a website. Never mind the fact that most people know NOT A SINGLE THING ABOUT EITHER THING!

Sure, you save some upfront dollars, but if the results stink or the efforts are ineffective, what have you REALLY given up? Not just the time, expense and effort. You also lost the money you could have made had you used a professional. Opportunity Cost is not always measured in direct dollars or time. Think about it the next time you take on a project you are unprepared for.

2.) Recommended Resource - The Power of Focus

This is a book by Mark Victor Hansen, Jack Canfield (both of Chicken Soup fame) and Les Hewitt. I bought the book to get better at focusing my efforts. There are 10 Focusing Strategies they go over that cover what you need to learn. And most importantly there are action steps at the end of each section.

This is absolutely key to getting success from anything. If you read a book and there aren't any action steps, to-dos or exercises, make some up! At the very least, write in your Success Journal what you learned after each chapter or section.

The book is filled with great stuff and well worth the $12.95 I paid. Read it and follow the action steps. Even if you don't retain 100% of everything they teach, you will definitely be more focused when you are done.

Quote from Amazon: "Whether they are corporate professionals, budding entrepreneurs, or they own a home business, most people are looking to achieve more in less time, while earning enough money to live comfortably. This book reveals the proven techniques thousands of people have used to attain all of the money they wanted while living healthy, happy and balanced lives."

The Power of Focus

3.) Featured Website - The eBook Directory

At http://www.ebookdirectory.com you can find probably the best site out there listing free ebooks and reports. Most are files you can download and run from your PC. Others may need a reader.

The books are divided into categories to make searching a little easier, and there is a lot of good stuff there. Some junk too, but a great resource nevertheless.

http://www.ebookdirectory.com

4.) Main Article - Are you overwhelmed or just whelmed?

For most of us there comes a time (or many) when we are just overwhelmed by all the things to do, choices/decisions to make the possibilities or the consequences. It happens to everyone at one time or another. Often our response is to curl up and hide.

When you do that, you take yourself out of the game and fall into what I call a state of Drift.

When a boat is drifting on the water, it does so because it's engines are not running or there is no wind pushing it's sails. The boat goes wherever the tide takes it. Do you know many people like that? I sure do! And at times I have been one of them.

Usually you realize you are drifting and that creates a serious tension in you that must be relieved. You relieve it by getting in motion. Direction at this point DOES NOT MATTER.

Everyone get that? Direction does not matter.

Have you ever tried to turn a car while parked? Can't do it can you? It is far easier to change course when moving because you use the energy released from being in motion to direct your motion!

Huh?

OK. OK. Look at it this way. If you are starting to take some actions to change your life and you realize that you aren't heading in the right direction, do you stop all activity and then change direction? Does everything come to a halt while you try to determine the proper course of action?

Of course not. You simply stop doing what is not working or is working poorly. That frees up time and energy. This newfound reserve can now be used to figure out the right direction without affecting the positive things in your life. When you get the new direction, that time and energy is now directed there.

Keep taking action. If you stop, you immediately start to Drift again. Action is the only way to avoid Drift. Be warned however, that you got into Drift because you either lost sight of your vision and goals for a while, have a weak vision and/or weak goals or have NO vision or goals.

Eventually you need a vision to know where you are going and goals to know how you will get there. If you don't, getting out of Drift by taking some kind action eventually has you going in a circle over and over. And that is just as bad as Drift because you will think you are making progress at first. Then you might become disillusioned and fall back into a permanent state of Drift.

And the only thing worse than not knowing you are in Drift is to be in, get out, give up and go back without hope of getting out again.

So, when overwhelmed, ACT! But remember to look around every once in a while to see what is happening and have the guts to change strategies when it's not working.

Thanks,

Tim Johnson
timj@notimelost.com