Many of us, me included, have encountered times in our life where we became slow in getting something done. We are working on a project every day and it seems, somehow, we do not proceed in the way we intended to. What’s the cause? Why is that so?
There are various reasons. One of them is the lack of a deadline.
When you are (or were) an employee your boss usually gives you deadlines (or s/he asks you to give him/her one; pretty much the same.) Miss them and you get into trouble.
In the Internet business world, you are your own boss. Do you set yourself deadlines?
The majority says “no” here; so this issue needs to be addressed.
Do you have a Mentor? Great! Make sure s/he keeps track of your progress by, for example, using a Weekly Action Plan. In that plan, write down your last week’s accomplishments and the goals for the upcoming week. These weekly deadlines, when treated seriously (!), WILL boost your accomplishments every single week. (At least you’ll find yourself finishing the remaining tasks before you submit the report to your Mentor. ;-)
Again, you need to treat it seriously. If you start thinking you don’t have to send anyone anything, well, you’re probably right. And when you’re zealous with a strong discipline you might very well be able to write a Weekly Action Plan to yourself and follow it to a tee. Still, there exist countless people getting stuck in simple tasks. I’m confident they’d get past the hurdles when they’d use and follow such a plan thoroughly.
Been there, done that, and bought the t-shirt. :-)
Don’t have a Mentor yet? Get one! It’s not launched yet, but I’m going to start a Mentoring Program in the future. Meanwhile, either you continue your search and get one NOW, you seek someone else whom you trust and DO follow, or you become your own mentor for now.
Beware… It doesn’t help a single thing when you send this document to your mom, and then once the day arrives where you’re supposed to send the next plan to her you come up with excuses why you couldn’t do this and what kept you from doing that.
Do you get the idea?
Remember, at the end of the day, the work you do is not for someone else; you do it for you and for yourself only. The Weekly Action Plan is just an instrument to push you forward and bring your Internet business to the next level, every single week.
Another method is to increase the pain accompanied with NOT fulfilling a deadline, also known as “away-from motivation.” For instance, “If XYZ is not finished until DDD, I am going to pay $XXX to YYY.” Sound familiar? It should since something like that does happen when you miss sending in your tax return on-time. Why not apply that very powerful method in order to create a First Class Progress in your Internet business?
At least it’s a method that has been proven to work countless times! ;-)
And here’s an advanced technique you could apply to this…
– Specify an amount that would really hurt to pay; preferably that would be twice your monthly earnings.
– Write a letter to someone you’d really HATE sending this huge amount of money to. It should really make you think, “No, not to THAT person!” Exactly that person would be the right one. ;-)
– Send the letter to that person and to at least five others. This is to reinforce the power and urgency that is behind the goal you set yourself and the promise you wrote down in the letter in case you do not fulfill what you’re supposed to do.
The biggest accomplishments often lie in finishing the simplest tasks.
—Marcus Hochstadt
P.S. Wanna know what stands in MY Weekly Action Plan? Well, part of it you are going to find here on this blog next week. ;-)
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[…] Hochstadt presents First Class Progress, Or The Power Of Deadlines posted at Marcus Hochstadt, saying, “Many of us have encountered times where we are working […]
[…] Hochstadt presents First Class Progress, Or The Power Of Deadlines posted at Marcus Hochstadt, saying, “Many of us have encountered times where we are working […]
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[…] Hochstadt presents First Class Progress, Or The Power Of Deadlines posted at Marcus Hochstadt. Many of us have encountered times where we are working on a project […]
[…] Hochstadt presents First Class Progress, Or The Power Of Deadlines posted at Marcus Hochstadt, saying, “Many of us have encountered times where we are working […]
[…] Hochstadt presents First Class Progress, Or The Power Of Deadlines posted at Marcus Hochstadt, saying, “Many of us have encountered times where we are working […]
[…] Hochstadt presents First Class Progress, Or The Power Of Deadlines posted at Marcus Hochstadt, saying, “Many of us have encountered times where we are working […]
Carnival Of Tips – January 19, 2008…
Welcome to the January 19, 2008 edition of Carnival of Tips. We had over 40 great entries this week on:
Career:
James Feudo presents Self-expression during an interview posted at Overnight Sensation, saying, “Some people have a unique style that…
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I agree – mentors are a HUGE help. But, yikes, that “hurt to pay” method could work in plenty aspects of my life – I may just have to try that!
You’re welcome, Tip Diva.
Yes, it is powerful, if followed precisely. In other words, when the deadline approaches and you’re about to “fail,” no excuses allowed! ;-) (Or else you’d fool yourself.)
But I assume this does not happen to you since you would finish the tasks way before the deadline, wouldn’t you?
I Googled for something completely different, but found your page…and have to say thanks. nice read….
[…] good technique to curb procrastination is making a list of your goals and then utilizing The Power Of Deadlines. Also, have a look at Brian Tracy’s short yet powerful video I posted the other Sunday. […]
Mentors and deadlines are really great for creating accountability. Another point that might be worth addressing is getting into the right head space. A lot of first-timers don’t really view their business as an actual business. It’ll always be about the reader and the hardest thing for a marketer to accomplish is learning how to leverage themselves to benefit and serve others, not the other way around.
Having a mentor is always the best way to run your online business or any business. When I was starting out, if I didn’t have any help or someone constantly asking me how my day went. I don’t believe I would have any success. Times are still tough, but it would be even harder if I had no help.
Thanks for this post.
I don’t have a mentor yet. I have a business partner and we hold each other accountable and that helps a lot. We often are quite comfortable letting ourselves down but less inclined to let others down.
Since my last post, I signed up for a coaching program. So I don’t exactly have a mentor, but I will have access to someone who is very successful in my business that I can at least have an email relationship with. It’s a start, right?
Great post. I work from home and deadlines is my biggest problem. There is always a distraction that is usually more interesting than work!
Thankful conversation! I must agree with this point that mentors are a HUGE help. What you wrote here is really very helpful and its create motivation to the needed people. Thanks mate and keep it up!