Archive for Success Mindset
How To Manage Boring and Repetitive Tasks
Posted by: | CommentsWe 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.
Once The Shiny Wears Off
Posted by: | CommentsLast week’s webinar was just the kick up the bum I needed and I made a decision and just went with what I had as I said I would in my Fail in the Field not in Your Head post. So I’ve put up a site, done days 1 to 6 of 30DC and the Stage 1, getting indexed linking, recommended by Rob in 30DC+. And . . . OMG . . . drum-roll please. I’ve just checked and I’m already indexed AND ranking for my main phrase and indexed (but not yet ranked) for 2 category phrases. Cartwheels of excitement and all that!
This was written on March 23rd and then the rubber hit the road.
As the site was indexed and ranked I assumed I could now stop doing a couple of the really boring tasks, e.g. adding the links to Traffic Bug and Propeller and Rank Tracker etc. But apparently not. And this is where, without the accountability provided by a coach, I would normally wander off to pastures new.
Interestingly, the subject of this week’s webinar was about just that. Entitled “This S@@t is hard, a job and often times, boring and repetitive”. Every project, once the shiny wears off, feels like a chore. But the difference between being successful or not depends on getting through this bit.
I actually felt encouraged by that because I know that my usual pattern, of changing tack, doesn’t work.
My mind, ever hopeful, at the possibility of getting out of such work immediately turned to the possibility of outsourcing. Maybe I should just pay someone to do this stuff. But I’ve tried that in the past too and it didn’t work. What I learned was that if you don’t have an effective system in place, all that happens is, you have 2 people jumping from task to task, from project to project, instead of one. Outsourcing comes later, once you have effective systems in place.
So, there’s nothing for it but to knuckle down and get on with the boring repetitive tasks that must be done. However, there are ways to make the process less painful which I will cover in another post.
