Have you ever noticed that whenever you want to learn something new, you are faced with a million experts who want to tell you ‘THE WAY’?…

For instance, last year I was immersed in learning about the stock market, and spent many months studying various books and courses, from books about trading and investing to courses covering economic and financial basics. As I progressed, I noticed that although my comfort with financial and market concepts grew ever stronger, the information I was reading was more and more conflicting.

As my knowledge grew I could see the contradictions in what people teach, moreso than I could when I had just started and was only trying to grasp terminology. In every book or course there is someone who says ‘If you follow my way you will make money. If you don’t then good luck while you crash and burn!’…but how can they all be true if they are completely conflicting?

I found this all a little confusing until I remembered that in ANY industry or subject, we find the same phenomenon. Whether you are studying the Law of Attraction, health and fitness, or almost any other ‘How To’ subject, there will be conflicting opinions from ‘experts.’

The fact is that there are many ways to make something work, and this is reflected in the many different strategies you will find to accomplish a given objective. Each person can only speak from their own expererience and perspective, and the more you learn, the more you can apply to your own life and create your own unique strategy using what works for you.

Of course we need to learn from the trials and errors of others so that we can shorten our own learning curve, but we are all different in our likes and dislikes, schedules and tolerances, etc.. Thus, what will work best for us is usually a combination of techniques as unique as we are. In fact, I would go so far as to say that if we follow someone else’s strategy blindly, we may actually fare worse than if we experiment and try and find a combination that works best for us. Because we are unique, what worked wonders for someone else may not be best for us at all.

Do not lose sight of the truth that whatever strategy you choose in any endeavour, it is the back-up traits that you bring to the game that will help you win – traits such as commitment, consistency, integrity, desire for growth and learning, and ability to visualize the end result – NOT the strategy itself. With this in mind, choose your strategy/ies, commit yourself, and change as you feel the need to make adjusmtents. As the always awesome Brian Tracy says, you cannot adjust the direction of the arrow until you launch it into flight!

Ever heard this saying – garbage in, garbage out? It originates with computer programming, and anyone who deals with anything computer-related can tell you it’s VERY true. One tiny piece of punctuation in the wrong place can render an entire program or website nonfunctional, and conversely, it’s very satisfying to find that one little thing you’ve done wrong and have everything magically work. Ta-dahhh!!!

We – humans – are a lot like that. We are very complex (although we act quite simple at times – ! – ) and it takes a web of beliefs and actions to accomplish what we desire. As we learn and progress towards a goal we’ve set, we often come across layers of emotion which act as obstacles. We may not have realized we even has such thoughts or feelings buried inside, and we must explore and dissolve them in order to move past them.

With the pursuit of a goal, like the building of a computer program or website, there are specific requirements for success.There is a certain skillset and there are very specific tasks which need to be undertaken to create the desired end result. We also need patience and persistence, without which we may give up at the first sign of frustration or boredom. We may even need the help of someone who knows a little more about the subject than we do, to overcome any hurdles we come across. Not only can we then complete our project, but we also learn more so that next time we can do an even better job because our knowledge base has expanded.

It is the same with life. When we want to achieve something, there are things we need – people, skills, advice, mindset – necessary for the desired end to be met. Sometimes we have most of the pieces in place, and we can draw on the wisdom of someone who has been there – an expert. Sometimes there is just one little thing missing, and we think we are far from the goal we’ve been pursuing but in fact we are very, very close. A small but key piece of advice or a change in perspective can often be all it takes – the thing that was missing – for us to suddenly have the light bulb go on; to finally get where we wanted to be.

If you have been striving for something and feeling frustration in not ‘getting there,’ perhaps it’s time for something to change. If the saying ‘garbage in, garbage out’ has any truth to it, it could be that you are only missing one small bit of the combination of things it requires to achieve your goal. Begin exploring and changing things one by one – your mindset, a habit, the reasons for wanting what you want, the people you are drawing on for advice – and see if you can’t create that magic moment when everything suddenly falls into place. As another popular saying goes, ‘You can’t continue doing what you’ve always done and expect to get different results.’