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Finding myself with some of my writing time still outstanding, and feeling singularly uninspired, I decided to play a game.

The Aim

To overcome my writer’s block and write a complete article no matter how good or bad I think it is whilst writing it.

The Setting

I’m in a public library.

The Game

Go to the bookcase where a number of my favourite books are housed and select the book that is on the fourth shelf down and 20 books from the left. No matter what it is, use that as my inspiration for writing.

. . . walks to the bookcase and selects . . .

The Book

The Way of The Explorer – An Apollo Astronaut’s Journey through the Material and Mystical Worlds.

by Dr. Edgar Mitchell and Dwight Williams

The Writing

Well, that was an interesting synchronicity since I feel this year of internet marketing mentoring is a bit like my own personal journey through “material and mystical worlds.”

Creating an internet marketing business is the material world whilst coaching is more mystical and more of a journey into the unknown.

But can these things be separated really?

My focus for this year is not so much on the material goals as on the process.

I like to think that if I keep taking action and adjusting my course on the basis of the experience and the results I’m getting I may end up somewhere that, from here, I can’t envision. All very mystical.

But my rational, left-brain, feels a pressure to stipulate some goals and to know where I’m going.

Generally, material goals hold little attraction for me. Nothing I could achieve, during this year, would be worth it to me if the journey to get there was constantly dull, uninspiring or a struggle.

When I set out this morning I was dragging my feet but now I feel excited and I’m enjoying the process of completing my writing and my CFT.

I like this game. I will play it again.

~~~~~~

Obviously, you don’t need to be in a public library to do this exercise. You could choose book shelves at home or in your office. Or you could go into a shop and choose the second aisle on the left, third block down,  fourth shelf from the top and 7th item along. The possibilities are endless. The most important point is to make a commitment to write about whatever you’ve chosen, regardless of what you end up with.

Once you take the pressure off yourself by allowing it to be a mediocre piece of writing as well, you can just relax and enjoy it. And from that place you are far more likely to produce something original and inspired.

Please feel free to leave a comment and tell us how you get on with.

Technorati Tags: critical focus time, writing

So, here are 5 ways to help make these early days a little less onerous:

1.  Know Why You Are Doing It

If you know what you want to achieve from having an internet marketing business you can remind yourself of this when the going gets tough. The more specific you are the better. Don’t just say I want to get rich. Get clear about how much you want to earn on an anuual basis and then spend some time thinking about why you picked that amount.

Pay particular attention to what you are waiting to create in the the furture that you could do/have in some form now. Then don’t wait. Do it now.

2. Don’t Keep Giving Yourself Negative Messages

Don’t keep telling yourself how “boring” it is – or whatever your particular moan is. Don’t talk about it, either to others or in you head. Just get on with it.

The human brain is a magical biocomputer. It sends us energy when we send it something inspiring and it slows us down when we send it something negative or depressing.

The important bit to understand is that we are the ones who are sending the thoughts to the computer. Life doesn’t send the brain anything. We do by how we interpret what life offers and the story we tell ourselves about it. For example we might say “These tasks are dull and boring and I don’t want to do them” or we could say “This process is a necessary step along the way that is taking me closer to what I want and it won’t be like this forever”. Both are interpretations and stories. BUT, one sends energy and enthusiasm and the other frustration and fatigue.

3. Break Your Work Down Into Manageable Chunks

Don’t work on any one task for longer than 45 minutes. And break up the work with something that requires you to move your body and get away from the computer. ( See my Critical Focus Time post for more on this).

4. Celebrate Your Successes

Rather than focussing on what you still have to do make a record of what you’ve done. For example, I’ve found it motivating to have a chart on my wall that I colour in every time I write a new article. I also have one for number of articles submitted. Watching the numbers increase shows me that I’m achieving something, even if the anticipated results of my work, in terms of visitor numbers, rankings etc. have yet to arrive and this helps me stay motivated.

Another example is recording exactly what you’ve done in your CFT.

5.  Learn Something New

Whist your daily work is still at the stage of boring and repetitive it’s worth making the time to learn something new. This may or may not be work related.  However, DO NOT do this, until you’ve completed your CFT activities.

Research shows that the brain actually adds physical capacity (similar to the way an exercised arm adds strength) when you learn something new. It doesn’t just add the information, it adds “learning strength” by way of dendrite growth in the physical brain that can actually be measured.

When you learn a new language, or a musical instrument, for example, your brain actually grows smarter and more capable of solving problems. So keep your brain healthy by balancing out the monotony with something new and stimulating.

Whatever you choose to do, there is no getting away from the necessity to develop discipline and keep repeating the essential tasks in your critical focus time blocks, if you want to make a success of your online business. Hopefully the 5 tips above will make your efforts a little easier so, before you know it, you can outsource this stuff and spend more time on the things that are most inspiring to you.

Technorati Tags: critical focus time, motivation tips, Success Mindset, time management

But these are the times when it’s especially important to keep your agreements with yourself. The longer I let things slide the harder it is to get going again and the longer it will be before I see results that will help to motivate me further. And, in the meantime, there’s the little boost in energy I always feel, when I’ve kept my agreements, especially when it took some effort to do so.

So, here I am in my favourite cafe, treating myself to a cappuccino and writing. And of all the “tricks” I have for developing my writing habit this one is my favourite. I find it very hard to write at home. It’s the same with any task I’m resisting. There are just too many distractions – too many excuses. But taking myself off to an environment I enjoy being in works a treat.

I find that even when I’m really struggling to write I will always produce something when I’m in the cafe. Even if it’s not particularly good. I also enjoying writing in the public library (reminds me of happy college days) and on a bench on the prom overlooking the beach.

A productive environment is an important factor in relation to motivation so I recommend experimenting with what works/doesn’t work for you. It’s not just about physical space either. I find I can’t write, for example, if there are songs playing in the background. Classical music I can manage but anything with words I can hear and I just can’t concentrate.

Sometimes I find lighting a candle on my desk helps me to tackle tasks I’ve been putting off. No idea why. There’s just something I find comforting about it.

So, I encourage you to experiment with different places and environmental conditions and build up a selection of circumstances that help you feel more motivated to work on those tasks you have been procrastinating over.

Technorati Tags: motivation tips, writing

But the easy money adsense days came to an inevitable swift end and I then spent years in the web marketing wilderness trying to recreate that buzz. I tried Underachievers, Ultraunderachievers, Jeff Johnson’s Coaching Club, Perry Marshall’s Adwords Course, Traffic King Pro, PLRPro’s 90 day challenge, the 30 day challenge, The Lazy Affiliate, PPC Kahuna, authority loophole, and numerous seminars etc. etc. But all to no avail. Until this year, I never managed to create a decent IM income again.

Looking back I can see that all my previous attempts at setting up an internet marketing business were externally motivated. I was focussed on the money I thought I would earn and the tactics that would get me there. I never stopped to question why I was really doing it or what I was hoping to achieve, beyond the dollars. I just blindly started, but rarely finished, one project after another.

And I am not alone. Thousands of people have spent thousands of dollars chasing the internet marketing dream but relatively few have succeeded. In some cases this is simply due to a lack of skills but more often than not it is due to a poor understanding of what it is we are really after. We find ouselves chasing a dream that’s not really ours and focussing on purely external goals. When these goals aren’t connected to our internal motivation then it’s easy to get distracted and give up when the going gets tough. So we adandon what we’ve been trying and move on to the next shiny, new toy.

So, this time around, I’ve taken the time to consider why I am trying internet marketing again and what my internal motivation is. This has allowed me to define success on my own terms rather than in purely monetary ones. Instead of blindly chasing the “get rich” dream and making money the goal I have set up the game so I can play it by my own rules and measure success in a way that is meaningful to me. So now when the challenges come they will be worth making the effort to face because the reasons I am doing this are now connected to my internal motivation.

Technorati Tags: 30 day challenge, goal setting, improve focus, motivation tips