Day 34: An “Anti-Distraction” Plan….and More…
Today, continuing my “26 Weeks to Freedom” accountability project, I sat down with pencil and paper (actually it was pen and paper—does anyone use pencils anymore?) and began putting together a plan for learning and implementing the many components of Internet Marketing as featured in Steve Clayton and Tim Godfrey’s superb training program called Commission Blueprint 2.0. One of my biggest challenges, as I’ve mentioned before, is to avoid getting distracted and to stay focused each day on what I need to do. (You may have noticed yourself just how easily one can get distracted on the Internet. You know the routine: I’ve just got to check my e-mail because there might be a new and critically urgent message….I’ve just got to check Twitter and Facebook because somebody might have posted something absolutely vital….I’ve just got to log into that forum or discussion group so I don’t miss out on the really important stuff that’s going on there….I’ve just got to check out that latest celebrity gossip headline on MSN….etc., etc.)
Anyway, an important part of my plan for success is to have a built-in anti-distraction element that will keep me from wasting valuable time. That doesn’t mean I won’t ever commit those transgressions I just outlined in the above paragraph—it just means that I’ll do them after I get the other things done first each day. So, be forewarned: if you send me an e-mail in the morning or afternoon, I may not see it until that evening, after I’ve been a good boy and gotten all my “homework” done first (at least, Monday through Friday. I’m not saintly enough to enforce this self-discipline 7 days a week…)
When you step back and think about it, it’s really fascinating to observe all the internal struggles we go through to avoid doing what we know we need to do in order to bring about meaningful change in our lives. Of course, a lot of people assume they can’t change (for any number of reasons) so they don’t take their wants seriously and don’t even bother trying. Others have a pretty good idea of what they’d like to achieve and may take a few tentative steps in the right direction, but then give up quickly when the obstacles start to appear. Still others keep plugging away, starting and stopping…starting and stopping again…but determined not to give up until they get it right. I want to be in that last category. Over the years I’ve started and stopped (more times than I can count) pursuing all kinds of goals, but rarely have I kept going until I “got it right.” This time, as I pursue creating this new business, I am determined to plow through all the distractions, all the self-doubts, all the excuses that seem so reasonable….and keep going until I get it right.
Here’s one of my favorite quotes (and I don’t know who said it): “If you’re willing to spend the next year or two doing what you don’t want to do, you can then spend the rest of your life doing exactly what you do want to do.” And the truth is, what I am doing for the next several months (or a year, or two years, to get my business up and running) is not necessarily something unpleasant that I “don’t want to do.” Actually it’s very exciting learning all these new skills, especially knowing that I’m learning them from the best of the best teachers.
If you’re curious about how I’m doing on this 26-week “accountability”
project–including the full, unedited blog postings for each day as I go along (with videos, photos, comments, and other links)–please visit my Creating an Internet Business blog site. I’ll look forward to seeing you there!