How To Stop Wasting Time and Start Making Money Online
Do you aspire to be wealthy? Would you like to make more money, even just a little bit more? What’s preventing you from doing so? There are many reasons why you have not reached your goals or realised your ambitions, but I wouldn’t mind betting that those reasons include some I have listed below because I speak from experiences. These are some of the ways in which I could stop wasting time and start making money online, and they may just apply to you too. Let’s both learn from my mistakes.
Time Management
One of the things that makes you no different from all those successful business men and women and all those wealthy entrepreneurs, is the 24 hour day. No one gets any more or less. It’s a resource that cannot be increased nor decreased, but what separates us is the way those 24 hours are used.
Think about your average day. What are your daily and weekly routines and tasks? They probably consist of several or more of these following. If you can think of any more leave a comment at the foot of this post:
- Sleeping. No one escapes this one. People’s need vary but about a third of your average day is spent asleep. This is when not only our body but your brain detoxes.
- Eating. Even if you don’t cook or prepare any meals yourself everyone has to eat and drink and the quality of your food and your mealtimes has a direct effect on your productivity.
- Exercise. For some it’s an option, but like food and sleep, if your life lacks the enhancements that regular exercise can bring your productivity will reduce and it will lessen still further as you get older.
- Chores. Maybe someone does these for you, perhaps you pay someone to do them, but few of us get away with none at all.
- Socialising. How much time do you spend with friends and family? Again, it’s part of a healthy lifestyle. You can’t live in isolation.
- Recreation. Do you have any hobbies? Do you play any sports? Perhaps you accommodate exercise into your routine here.
- Work. Are you working full time while you build your internet empire? Are you obliged to devote a third of your day to your employer?
- Traveling. Do you have to commute to work? If it’s on public transport you may be able to make use of this time, but if you drive your options are limited.
- Vegetating. I couldn’t think of another word that describes watching TV and browsing through social media. You can kid yourself that it’s relaxation or even interaction with friends and family, and although there’s no harm in it in small doses, how much time do you lose each day due to these activities?
You can see how the above list quickly eats into your precious resource of time. Somehow you’ve got to allocate time and energy to researching, planning, training for, and building your (online) business. It takes self-discipline to:
- Stop losing time spent browsing through Facebook and Twitter and allocate that time to being more productive
- Stop losing time spent reading, watching, or listening to news that has no relevance to your life. Most of it is pretty depressing anyway.
- Spend more time on things that make you a more productive, well balanced, and energetic person. Use the nourishment of sleep, good food, exercise, and the support network of family and friends.
- Spend more time focused on your goals and make sure that time is free of interruptions. We’ll cover this next.
- Do [easyazon_link identifier=”1848549253″ locale=”UK” tag=”bensblog888-21″]one thing[/easyazon_link] each day that is productive. Complete a task, start another, take one step on the path every day.
Do Not Disturb
Perhaps you’ve arranged your time so that you’ve got two hours per day during which you can devote yourself fully to your business goals or any other ambitions. Maybe it’s more or less than that, the actual amount is not as important as the quality of the time. This is your Golden Hour as some business coaches like to call it. This is the time when you have to do the most important tasks of the day. If you do nothing else that day use this time to write that blog post or article, do some training, create something etc. In other words, be productive.
In order to achieve this you need self-discipline and concentration. You need to resolve to achieve the task you’ve set yourself, but you also need to be free of interruptions. Go offline, switch to ‘do not disturb’ on IM. Turn your phone to silent. Turn off the radio and write. Tell your family you’re not to be disturbed and don’t answer any requests for contact in whatever form they come. Stop checking your email and above all, stay off social media.
Writers of any type; authors, copy writers, bloggers etc. will tell you that writing is hard. It’s the discipline needed to keep going day after day, sitting down to a blank page in front of you and starting, but that’s how they succeed. They don’t allow themselves to be distracted or interrupted and they forge ahead with the task with the mental equivalent effort as the physical strength that a blacksmith uses to hammer and shape a rough piece of metal into a polished utensil.
Practice Discrimination
If you’re certain of your goals then this section probably won’t apply to you, but if you’re open to all kinds of ideas then you may be searching for any means to make money online or elsewhere. This may mean that you’re losing time and energy by spreading yourself too thinly and trying too many things at once.
Google ‘make money online‘, or ‘work from home‘, or ‘build a successful business‘ and there are thousands of sites and blogs that claim to be able to advise you on these subjects. You will also find a lot of people trying to sell you a course or tools that will lead you step by step so success. After you’ve been researching these for a while you begin to notice a pattern to all these offers:
- A free giveaway to entice you to register your email address
- A discount on the full price of the course
- A time limit for the discount
- Free bonuses included
- Up-selling of other products if you do buy the course
The above is a sales formula and it works. It doesn’t necessarily mean that the course or suite of tools doesn’t give you value for money, but you have to discriminate and only buy those ones you really need. It can take a long time to complete a course fully and to put into practice everything it has to offer, and it can take just as long to derive the full benefit from the suite of tools you bought. During that time, don’t be distracted by starting another course or buying another set of tools. It’s better to be adept at one skill or with one tool than just a beginner with several.
Play The Long Game
Finally, keep in mind that apart from a large inheritance or winning lotteries there are no (legal) get rich schemes that work. Keep in mind that you’ve embarked on a long term project. Set yourself goals and milestones and keep moving ahead day by day. That is a method that has brought success time and time again.
- Manage your precious resource of time efficiently
- Be productive every day and don’t get distracted
- Discriminate and stay focused on the key tasks
If you can offer any advice or feedback feel free to use the comment box below.
