This is a republished guest post by Brand Connell from Brandonconnell.com
As you may know, RobsWebTips.com will no longer be a blog on January 1st, 2011, so Brandon’s guest articles on there will be published here.
Cause and effect are things we learn about in elementary school, but it’s not always something we seriously consider in our adult life. I mean, the basics are there. For example, we know we can’t go out and shoot someone because it will result in our going to jail. But that’s the extent that we think about cause and effect.
If we were to carefully consider cause and effect before we make many decisions in our life, we can better predict what will happen and raise our quality of life. Take for example a teenager dropping out of high school. That would be the cause. The effect may be that the teenager is unable to get a sustainable job. Not keeping a job will result in him/her having to move frequently because they are unable to pay the rent every month. This can go on and go on, and it’s what’s known as a cause and effect chain.
Let us look at that scenario from a different perspective. Let’s assume that the teenager stays in school. This may result in him/her wanting to further their education with a college degree. That degree may allow them to get a good paying job. Having a reliable income creates mental stability and happiness. Because of their happiness, they have a winning personality which attracts the opposite sex. They end up getting married which results in 3 kids and a dog. The kids grow up and result in grand children. So on and so on…
What I know about cause and effect now, I wish I knew many years ago. When I started thinking positive about life, it opened up the doors which allowed me to understand cause and effect in much detail. I think about the cause and effect of my actions now, and it truly changes the things that I might say to someone, or the things that I do on a daily basis. Having this understanding will prevent me from getting into arguments with the wife, or losing a client because of a minor detail that I may or may not offer in my service list.
How does this relate to blogging?
As a full time blogger, I can use cause and effect to my advantage. I can think about what not blog commenting or guest posting will do to my blog. The effect of that lack of pursuit will result in my blog not getting the necessary traffic to be a success. It will result in my inability to create a large network with which to use for marketing and affiliate product promotions later on.
As an affiliate marketer, I can use the cause and effect chain to determine what I am capable of. Take for example the idea that if I were to create 5 new niche sites daily, 5 times a week, and then blog comment to gain traffic and build links to them, then within a year I should have a very niche affiliate income. Building that income will result in me having more time on my hands to spend with my family, and to be able to build even more niche sites to grow my income. Having that residual income will allow me to take my family on vacations that I would not have been able to take them before.
Now let us assume that I did not take that time to create those niche sites even though I thought about it. It would mean that I did not create that residual income. That has the effect that I will remain confined to a regular job working for some corporation that may lay off everyone at any given time. A layoff may result in an eviction or utilities being turned off because the bills cannot be paid. The choice to not go after an opportunity had a very different effect didn’t it?
Think heavily about cause and effect, and the chains that they create.
Each effect becomes a new cause for a new effect. That is simply how life works. It’s your job to mold your cause and effect chain into something that you can be proud of.
What kind of chain are you creating?
Google+ it
BlogEngage it
Pin it
Kube it
{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }
That’s deep Brandon but really refreshing at the same time. A challenge for us, if we want to change our current income/lifestyle/address is to identify the true cause of the effect that we are currently living. That is to say, what things did I do and not do some time ago that has led to the chain of events culminating in today?
The key here is do AND no do. We may have avoided creating those niche sites and instead went to watch a few ball games on TV each time we had a few spare hours. Do and not doing tend to go hand in hand. When we choose to do something we very frequently are shutting out one or more other choices we could have made.
Again, very deep!!! Now I think I’ll go grab a coffee with a shot of something stronger and contemplate a few causes.
Michael
Hey Alex! You forgot to change the message again! It’s not down yet…
Yep! we predict the future. We are always causing an effect but not always the desired effect.
And yep, it is as simple as….”It’s your job to mold your cause and effect chain into something that you can be proud of.”
I loved this repost. Thanks Brandon
Nice Brandon – as people have indicated ’cause and effect’ online can be boring. You do need to repeat the ’causes’ time and time again to see the eventual effect of your efforts. Many successful people online simple repeat those small things that, in time, add up to large things and cause and effect – a very positive pone at that!
Like your work
Peter
Hey Peter,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts mate.
What Educational institution do you work for?
This is a great post. Even more than the “if I do this, this will happen” I like the “if I don’t do this, what won’t happen.” Seeing both the do/do not sides I think will make for a much better decision.
Hi Brandon
Oh to know at 20 what I know now! But through life I’ve learnt that with every action just as you have expressed in this post there are causes and effects. And with our actions we have to take responsibility and accept the consequences of thos actions. That’s all part of growing up.
With my blog I know if I am not diligent and don’t consistently take action to grow my traffic, interact with my readers and be innovative with my business then the effect will be I will not have the successful business I am planning on having.
Always good to be reminded. Thanks Brandon. I know you are speaking from your own experiences here, keeping it real. Much appreciated.
Patricia Perth Ausralia
This is a very nice post that gets you to thinking about what you may be thinking about doing, or maybe you are not doing.
Thanks
Patrick Simpson
http://www.getziggys.com/
There’s a great seed of an idea in this post. To take it a step further, I think it’s useful to focus on the causes that generate the most important RESULTS for our online businessess.
In most online businesses, the most important result is revenue. What causes revenue? A compelling offer. What causes a compelling offer? Rigorous niche research. And so on.
In my business, I’ve recently started working backwards from my desired results to develop causal chains – basically, “chunking down” the components of my business. Next step is to systematize those components.
Not very sexy stuff, but books like “Work the System” and “The Emyth Revisited” show yhr huge importance of gaming this perspective.
Okay, I’ll stop there before I put anyone else to sleep…
Moe
I’m also consistently building my online income by building pages everyday, and building links. I’m being patient with this… but I know I’m planting the seeds for eventual financial freedom. Once I reach a certain money level, I’ll outsource most of the tasks and make it more scalable. And once I reach 7 figures, I’ll probably be a serial entrepreneur, angel investor, and spend my days traveling, at home with my kids, and just doing whatever suits me.
Really great repost Brandon. Actually, I don’t know that I ever read any of these when they were originally posted, so they are new to me anyway.
I have been thinking about this concept quite a bit lately. Most of my “free” time has been spent finding ways to be more self sufficient, and certainly niche sites have been near the front of that. Of course, I have a way to go yet, but things have really been looking up for the past two months.
In a way, building a blog is much like building a computer application or a house. There needs to be a foundation first, then you can add layers/functions/floors on top of that. But, you cannot determine how to build that foundation until you understand the layers that will be built upon it.
Very nice. Have a great day!
Great post Brandon with a point very well made. The key is though, for most people they don’t really want to put all the effort in and are simply looking for ways to make a fast buck.
If you want to make a fortune on the interenet, don’t try blogging. It’s hard work keeping a schedule and producing quality content. Most people think they are going to be a 6 figure blogger after 2 months.
Sadly the reality, for most people, is far from that.
Matthew
It seems a fancy way to say, “look at the big picture”, not
just live in the moment. Which is always a good idea, and the only
way you will move forward/
That was a really deep post Brandon. I agree that once you
understand cause and effect you can always use it to your advantage
to accomplish what you want. I liked your example of using the
cause and effect as an affiliate marketer. You can pretty much
apply this to anything in your life. Great message in this post and
I enjoyed reading.
I think the main problem with cause and effect is not knowing what effect will happen based on our actions. For example, many entrepreneurs have ideas that may or may not work. The cause would be the hard work and effort they put into their product. The effect…who knows. It could be a great fit for the market, or there may be nothing there at all.
I think there are some obvious things that each of us can do to produce certain effects, but then there’s also gray area where we can’t clearly tell what type of results to expect. Don’t you think?
This is great info. I find that positive thinking makes a world of difference in how people view you and treat you. I believe this is also how the “law of attraction” works.
If you think positive and stay positive, then positive things will happen. If you surround yourself with negativity, then negativity will rule your life.
Thanks for your thoughts on this topic. I wish you continued success