First Steps Of Time Management…Making Progress Every Day
“In infantry battles, there is only one strategy: Fire and Motion. You move towards the enemy while firing your weapon. The firing forces him to keep his head down so he can’t fire at you … If you’re not moving, the enemy gets to decide what happens, which is not a good thing. If you’re not firing, the enemy will fire at you, pinning you down.” –Joel Spolsky
If I could go back in time to when I started internet marketing, if I could tell myself one thing, it would be this: “Put 100% of your effort into getting a car before everyone else does, so you can get chicks!” Seriously, you are dozens of times more productive if you focus on just one thing, and have just one end-goal in mind. If you’re 16 years old, that goal should be to get enough money to buy a car, even if it’s a jalopy, just because that’s something most 16 year olds don’t have.
Maybe you are older and your goal is to pay for college and stay debt-free, or maybe move out of your parents’ house. Maybe you need to pay for your own kids’ college fund, want to retire early or quit a job, or just go on a road trip. Whatever your goal is, you are not going to make any progress if you are juggling 7 or 15 different projects! Just focus on one thing. If you want to write an e-book and focus on video marketing, schedule an appointment with yourself to knock that e-book out, and THEN let yourself market with videos, and then…
Get the heck off the computer and enjoy life:
View your Internet marketing work as a “The Hot Chair”… sit down and get things done at a “smoking hot pace”, because your time is limited. You need to eliminate extra projects in your day because your brain can’t switch back and forth.
It takes 10 – 15 minutes to re-focus once you are interrupted. If someone interrupts you just once every hour, 25 to 30% of your productivity is gone. Twice per hour, 50 to 75% gone. Complete one task at a time and 80/20 out sites and activities that don’t work (instant messenger, phone on all day, forums, twitter distractions, and YouTube). 80 percent of your results come from 20 percent of the effort, and 20 percent of your results come from 80 percent of your effort, so get rid of that “20% stuff”…that you can do without.
Finish everything you start:
Stop thinking in terms of, “This project is 90% plus complete… now I can work on this other idea and come back and finish up the remaining 5 to percent.” That’s without a doubt the worst mentality you can have. Think in absolutes! If you start an e-book, finish it before you do anything else. If it’s taking too long, take what you have and market it. Keep your products shippable by writing the “essential” chapters first, so your book has the minimum amount of information for you to feel comfortable selling it. Then add-on the slightly less essential stuff later… so at any point, if you get bored, you can start selling.
Learn to make decisions quickly:
Apply the 90 second rule to everything. Don’t know where to eat lunch? Only allow yourself 90 seconds to choose and go with your top choice after the time’s up. Don’t know what to work on next or what your next product should be named? 60 second rule!
Recognize incoming and outgoing distractions:
Instead of checking your email 10 to 15+ times a day…Only check e-mail 1-2 times per day, and archive or delete items once you’re done with them to keep your in box a place for urgent issues only. When you market on forums or other blogs’, limit your time with a countdown timer for from 7 to 15 minutes.
Take A Look The FREE Video: “Action Manage 2:0 Time Management Software
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9sCE2BSPqE
Enjoy Everyone!
Dan Brown