The popular definition of “growth hacking” is a process of rapid experimentation across a range of marketing channels to identify the most effective ways to grow a business. In other words, experiment more and if you need to fail, fail fast and often. Learn from the mistakes and do things differently to see what works and what doesn’t.
As an individual, you can “growth hack” yourself. The same thing applies: experiment with life aspects and make changes as necessary until you find your balanced self. This “balanced self” is your optimized self.
Apparently, if you’re used to with the idea by adopting it in personal life, you can easily transfer both the mindsets and the actions in business. By getting used to failing, experimenting, adapting, adopting changes, and upgrading yourself to find your optimized self, the neurons in your brain will continue to grow new paths. The same also applies in doing business, where tweaks must be done to gain traction and revenues.
So, how do you apply growth hacking to yourself?
5 Ways To Growth Hack Your Own Life
First, optimization.
Optimize the big eleven aspects of your life. They are: health, fitness, emotion, spiritual, family, friendship, career, finance, recreation, personal growth, and community. Every one of them should be optimized in a way that they’re making you a better person. If you’ve been neglecting your fitness, start exercising now. If you’ve been working too much, start being involved in the community to reconnect with old friends and know new ones. Find your peace; find your balance.
Second, personal branding and networking.
You carry the brand of You and those optimized eleven life aspects are your building blocks. Be aware of where you are in each of those aspects; learn to be better every single day. For instance, when you feel stuck, it’s a sign that you’d need a vacation with family and friends.
When you’re aware of your personal brand, you’d network like a pro, which may open new opportunities. An optimized personal branding requires optimized life aspects, so it’s only logical that those who life a well-balanced life are successful. For instance, studies by psychologists revealed that people with stable marriages tend to be happier, lead more meaningful lives, and are more successful financially.
Third, be a lead magnet and offer something people can’t refuse.
It’s simple: be helpful. Every individual was born a blank slate and pure. In other words, you learn about prejudices and negativity from your surroundings. Study reveals that even babies have an innate understanding of what’s “good” and “bad.”
By offering help to others, they can get a “taste” of your good faith, skills, and talents. Thus, in return to your favor, your satisfied friends are likely becoming your “evangelists” and “brand ambassadors,” which may open many professional and personal doors in the future.
Fourth, adopt several revenue models a.k.a. “sources of income.”
This goes without saying. The more sources of income you have, the better. If you still work from 9-to-5 and love what you’re doing, by all means, stay. Working keeps your mind sharp and social skills polished, which are key to feeling fulfilled.
However, you can build your retirement nest eggs faster if you also have residual souces of income and other types of incomes, including lump sum “per project” income and others. For instance, you can purchase small condos to rent out while building positive equity. Also, you can publish several ebooks and reap the residual earnings. On weekends, you can work on some projects that pay upon completion or based on commission.
Knowing that you have several sources of income gives you a peace of mind that when an industry collapses, your finances would remain manageable. Of course, ideally, your other sources income don’t use up your personal and family time. However, if it only takes a few hours and gives you a lot of joy, do it.
Fifth, make people come back to you because they literally can’t live without you.
It’s a privilege being someone whom others can’t live without. Leaders who are loved are better than leaders who are feared and hated. You’re your own brand, so whether you’re good or bad, your brand would be affected. And when your brand is good, you’d be able to “cash it out” when it’s time. We’re not talking about the Kardashian-Jenner clan here, but you get the idea.
Of course, it doesn’t mean that you should help others at any time and with any cost. No one is that perfect and you shouldn’t try to do so. You should maintain your independence and sense of self ownership. Just because you’re a good person, it doesn’t mean you must help others at any time.
Ideally, you have boundaries with others who ask for your help. For instance, you should be able to distinguish whether it’s something the person can wait or it’s of utmost urgency to be handled right away. Also, you should be able to sense whether the ask for help is sincere or not.
You just need to balance things out by playing the cards of life more meaningfully. When people appreciate and respect who you are and what you make them feel by doing things for them, they can no longer live without you. Happiness only multiplies when it’s shared.
Be aware that you’re a brand and a lead magnet, whose decisions would affect your own future and possibly other people around you as well. Hacking your own personal growth requires awareness of the eleven aspects of life and living a life where opportunities are continuously invited to appear. Eventually, you’d live a well-balanced life with financial abundance.
At last, growth hacking your life does sound like doing business. You’d need optimization, lead magnets, core product, non-core products and other sources of income. If you think about it, we all are marketers. We market our skills, talents, and time to others, so we can make a living.
The parallel between personal and business lives can occur naturally when your mind is accustomed to reframing negative and unproductive thoughts. When it’s reached, you can proudly say that you’ve optimized yourself and you’re living a well-balanced life.
Have you been successful in growth hacking your own life? What would you like to change in your life?
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