I'm thinking that the best way to discipline myself to get things done is to treat my online business like I would treat my job. Be there are a certain time and make myself a quota to get certain things done everyday. I think if you treat it like a business, it will eventually pay you like one too.
Hi Dave, Scheduling and meeting deadlines works well for many. I don't always use it but when I find myself getting too distracted by unproductive activities, I use a few tools to get back on track. I use a wall calendar (though a digital calendar or personal planner would work equally well), MS Word, and MS Excel to help me refocus on the 20 of the 80/20 rule. I always use a those three tools when planning a project. At two of the four colleges that I attended (completed two degrees), we used MS Project. We also created a web page to accomplish the same. This method works great for creating and managing projects, which involve defining, scheduling, and monitoring progress with project tasks. You might consider one or more of the above options for Project Management. I have found each method to be very helpful at times. How you categorize, manage, and complete the tasks is up to you. These days I mostly do it by instinct but on occasion I have found it helpful to list tasks, sort them by a small handful of general categories , and assign a priority rating to each list item. Then I work through the items highest on the list that I feel are more or less urgent. I then work through some of the less urgent tasks. You can do this for short term, medium term, and long term tasks and you might label them as such. Be as formal or as informal as you like - according to your current needs and style. Feel free to switch out the methods over time ~Newbie Shield~
You have to treat it like a job. You probably got involved with your online business because you either were unhappy with your current job, or you needed a way to make a little more money in addition to your regular job. Either way, nothing is going to change, unless you actually do something. Even with all the promos out there claiming you can make thousands while sitting on your butt, you find that you still need to promote the site.If no one sees it, than no one buys it. The sooner you get past the notion that someone else is going to do the work for you, and begin to do things for yourself, the better off you'll be. A job, basically, is a series of tasks that will produce a result. If it happens to be something that you enjoy doing, than that's just icing on the cake. So, pick the result you desire, then perform the tasks needed to get that result. But remember you get out what you put in.call it whatever you wish, but at the end of the trail, you will still have done a "job"
Give yourself targets to acheive for the day and week. Also remember if you constantly miss those targets, your online business won't grow or might even go down.
My own way for getting hings done is just the good old fashioned 'To-Do' list. I prepare it on a Sunday evening for the week ahead, pick three things I want to achieve for the week ahead and break them down into smaller tasks. I also add in regular things that need to be done every week. By the time I'm done I usually have a list with fifty tasks on it to complete for the week ahead. Most weeks I hit fifty by the following Sunday, though every n ow and again something will happen and I'll only get to around 45 or so. Then I just carry the remaining five over to the start of the following week's list. I'll run it in order too, so the most important things go to the top of the list and get done on a Monday, the next important on a Tuesday etc.
hammerman: You have to treat it like a job. I would be careful with using the word "JOB" so often, though. Yes, it will take some organizational skills to achieve any noticeable results in this field, but we didn't start online business just to replace our 9 to 5 jobs, did we? I think it's important to keep in mind that the goal should be to utilize the power of the Internet to increase ones productivity to the point where desirable lifestyle can be achieved within only a few hours of work per week ("The Four Hour Workweek?") Otherwise it's just replacing one "full time" thing with another, especially if ones productivity stays at the level of making barely enough while working full time.
If I was left with only a few hours of work to do every week, I'd probably go loco and have no idea what to do with myself. I love my work and though I admit I spend far too much time working, I enjoy it and really wouldn't want it any other way. Factoring in marketing, networking, researching, responding to e-mails and, you know, actually getting something done, I'm probably on for about 12 hours a day, five days a week,with extra bits done at the weekend depending on demand (or simply if there's nothing else going on). I usually start around 5.15 in a morning, with a few hours to slowly get up to speed with reading, replying, checking out forums etc before my wife heads off to work. I'll work solidly til around lunchtime then slack off a bit (I'm still working, just at a very reduced speed) until around 3.30pm when I give it one final blast before the wife gets home at 6pm. Then that's me done. I usually achieve everything I need to and my evenings are left free to doss around in front of the television with the missus. It might not be for everyone, but I like it this way.
Dave, I agree completely! Why would you NOT treat it like a job? I see this too often - people thinking it's so great to break away from "the boss," have the freedom to be your own boss, yada yada. Well if you don't WORK HARD, as if you DID have a boss breathing down your back, you're probably not going to get a paycheck from your "boss." So if that's the freedom you're looking for...enjoy! Thanks for the simple, yet profound, words you shared!!! ~Tim
Newbie Shield: I use a wall calendar (though a digital calendar or personal planner would work equally well), MS Word, and MS Excel to help me refocus on the 20 of the 80/20 rule. What is the 80/20 rule? I've never heard that before.
