How To Manage Boring and Repetitive Tasks
ByWe established in Once The Shiny Wears Off that one of the challenges in the early stages of setting up an internet marketing business is the necessity to consistently complete tasks that, for most of us, are boring and repetitive.
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.
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Gillian, I really liked this post…all of it. There is a lot here. I think about these things often but it’s usually a fleeting thought and then I go back to work and forget about these things. I actually printed it out and am putting it on my wall. If one could somehow learn to do all of the things you list here one could, I think, be successful in anything they try to do. Thanks Very Much.
Hi Scott
Glad you liked the post.
One more thing I would add is to look for the feeling. Don’t force yourself to do something when it doesn’t feel good. In my experience that’s almost always counter productive. You end up resenting the work or making excuses to yourself not to do it.
Take a step back and sit quietly. Then, when the noise in your head has settled you will know whether or not to continue.
Gillian