Rabs To Riches

Archive for the ‘Personal Development’ Category

Last week, I started heading over to the library so I could complete my work without distractions.  What I realized was that some tasks are time-consuming (and it wasn’t just my distractions).  One day last week, I ended up spending about 6 hours straight trying to finish up a product, and left quite frustrated when I wasn’t as done as I thought I’d be.

Then, I started thinking about my days working in the financial industry.  I couldn’t wait till 5 and I came home relatively satisfied about putting in my hours (even though it is quite unheard of anyone in the financial industry to leave at 5 - I was just a slacker, I guess). I would ofcourse want things to get done, but my self satisfaction was measured by the time put in, not necessarily the task.  For example, I knew that Project A was taking up X amount of hours per day, and it would be done when it would be done.

Now, working for myself, trying to ‘make it’ online, trying to start different revenue streams and create products, putting in any number of hours a day just does not seem to satisfy me.  Even worse, sometimes it makes me even more frustrated - “I put in all day today and I’m still not done”.

I was just reflecting on this and of course the difference is that at my J-O-B, I was getting paid no matter what.  I was getting paid to be there.  Of course my salary and job security would be reflected by my performance, but all in all, I was getting paid to be there.  As an entrepreneur, you don’t get paid for the hours, you get paid for the results.  The cut is much more fruitful in the end, but for a lazy person, it might seem like too much of an effort without any guarantee (I guess the lazy part of me might feel like that sometimes).  However, I see it as a challenge for myself - to push myself, to motivate myself to deliver.

‘Cuz that’s the only way I’m getting paid.

It’s been a while since I’ve written an update.  Mostly because the couple months were busy with both back to school and getting the hang of it, and then Ramadan.  And ofcourse, partly due to procrastination and task overload - because I’m sure I could have meant to write for 5 minutes - after all, I did have it in my planner - up to the topic even.  Anyway, I have a lot of stuff I learned during my Internet Marketing Journey that I want to share, so I hope to be writing more frequently.

We always hear about information overload, and how it leads us into this paralysis of not being able to digest anything and results in the worst possible thing of all - IN-ACTION.  Taking action and flopping is much better than not taking action at all.  This is one thing that I have to start getting myself / pushing myself to do.  Just do it.

I definitely suffer from information overload - I don’t have enough hours in the day to digest and take action on everything that I want to.  That’s why I’ve just started to focus on organization and planning.  Following thru.  Taking things one step at a time.  These are such basic concepts and these are the ones that bear the fruits of success.  I think if we can get some good habits down, some good successful habits, then success will follow.  Being organized automatically leads to a desire to be more efficient and when you start accomplishing things, you start seeing success.

But I think I suffer from something else too - let’s call it ‘task’ overload.  I have so many things to do that sometimes I get overwhelmed and just don’t feel like doing any of them.  The thought of the enormity of the thoughts (which is most often exaggerated in my own heads) makes me want to procrastinate and doing something irrelevant.  This of course leaves me in a worse situation than I started off with.  I think the lessons are the same — just do it.  Think of the tasks as smaller steps and just do them.  I have some tasks on my list that would literally take 5 minutes if I just did them, but for some reason they are there, being passed from day to day — not getting done.  Why? There is no need.  Make that to do list and ATTACK.  That is my plan of action.

I have come to the realization that the most successful are not the smartest people, and they are not necessarily the hardest workers, although that is usually a big plus, but they are the most consistent workers. Whatever, they do, they do consistently, and that will make them more successful in the long term than the crash n burn guy.

This is my biggest weakness as well. And one that I hope to overcome. It’s better to do a little over a longer period of time than a lot for a shorter time period.