Recently I was on a call with a coaching student. And almost invariably the question always came up…
…What is the one best technique that if I can use today will make me $10000 a month?
I was about to remind my coaching student that it takes a dedicated effort and following the system to make money.
I stopped just as I was about to spew out those words.
I decided to think about it for a few second before I responded.
Times have changed.
There is so much competition online and distraction that kills our ability to focus deep enough to be successful online entrepreneurs.
But what is the secret to success today.
I reflected on this for a week and looked back at my daily journals. And what I found was startling.
In my personal experience life I am experiencing success simply because of a system I have in place.
And that system is not the specific marketing activities I execute but what I do each day to manage myself.
You see I have done this consistently for years some days I am in the flow and other days I have to motivate myself to stay on track.
Reading through my journal I could see the obvious pattern here.
Every day when I get up it is a struggle. There are only so many hours in the day and so much to do.
And the easy thing is to get distracted and not get them done
So I have five step system that I follow every day that almost guarantees my success.
Step 1: Advance Preparation:
In Africa, the lion gets up every day knowing that it has to hunt to survive for food. He knows instinctively where to hunt, how to attract his prey and what to do that day that will either cause him to starve or survive another week.
The lion knows how to conserve his energy and knows which prey to go after. It is a matter of life and death for the animal.
In my business, I know in advance what activities, meetings and tasks I have to accomplish for the following day, the night before.
Doing this just helps me focus on my outcome and I know with clarity what needs to get done.
I am positioning myself as the hunter.
If I have to start the day without at least having an idea of my activities for the day I become the prey. I become the hunted.
And then I lose all control. I end up checking email. Listening to the next video tip on how to make 7 figures in one day and getting distracted on things I like to do versus what must be done today.
When you stack all of this up and have multiple days and weeks becoming the hunted then you be eaten by the lion.
Step 2: Knowing When To Stop
It is interesting to watch the cheetah hunt in Africa. I was fortunate to be on a safari trip and experienced this first hand at the Kruger National Park.
The cheetah approached a heard of waterbuck. Crouched behind the tall grass waiting to pounce. The waterbuck was slowly sipping muddy water at a clearing sensing the cheetah was nearby.
And then the cheetah pounces on the back of the waterbuck just as the waterbuck takes off. It tries to grab it with its mouth but it slips and had to let it go.
As I watch this I see the cheetah limp back slowly to the shade of the tree and wait.
The cheetah is a waterbuck killing machine. This one prey helps it to survive down in Africa.
Why did it not go on after the rest of the herd?
The guide just smiled and said. “You see the Cheetah needs to conserve its’ energy for the next kill. It knows if it randomly goes around and decides to go after the fastest waterbuck it will have no chance and as result it will starve for days.”
This is instinct and they know when to stop.
And this is the biggest mistake I have been making online.
When I get involved in a specific task I know when to start but do not know when to stop.
As a result I go on for hours and hours and all of a sudden I am exhausted. And the rest of the day is a blur. I do not get much done and easily distracted because of my state.
So what I end up doing right now is have a hard stop. I work in 1-hour segments. At the end of one hour I stop take a 5-minute break and then start again
This one simple act has made me more productive and at the same time helps me in focusing in on the task at hand. I am giving it my best
This sounds counterintuitive but I do not want to run my body down.
I want to be able to go in for the kill on my next task.
Step 3: Time Blocking
One of my favorite authors is Tony Schwartz. He is one of the cofounders of the energy project.
If you have ever read his ground breaking Audi Series “Lighting the Fire Within,” I have I picked up that the body works in natural rhythms and cycles.
It uses up energy and it needs to replenish energy during the day.
If you are constantly using up energy on a particular marketing task or executing the same strategy over and over again and it is not working, eventually you are going to have no energy left be demotivated and go after the next big shiny object
The way to overcome this is to work in small chunks of time during the day. I work in one hour time blocks and then have 5 minute rests in between.
And you can do the same. You can break your day or evening into time blocks and schedule what you will accomplish in these time blocks. And continuously replenish your energy during your sessions.
Most people when they work online have this very different perspective on mental energy.
Online marketing is a mental game you need to keep your brain firing on all cylinders to get fast results.
Time blocking and having small mental breaks helps you achieve those goals
Step 4- Power of Lists
It never ceases to amaze me that so many people rely on memory every day to keep track of the admin stuff they need to get done.
It reminds me of an experiment Stephen Covey did. Stephen Covey wrote the bestselling book “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”
In the experiment he filled big rocks into a huge glass jar and filled small rocks around them. His point is that in order to be effective you need to get the big things done first before the small things.
Just imagine filling up your brain space with small tedious bits of admin tasks the entire day. You do not have the excess capacity to think and focus on an area because you are constantly reminded of the things you have to get done.
The way to combat this is to prepare a to do list. Write down everything you need to accomplish for the day and then prioritize them.
In this way you free from remembering everything and can concentrate on one activity at a time
The reason why most people do not get stuff done on their to do lists is simple.
They do not have a date, start time and end time to complete that activity.
Think about it for a minute. If you schedule your to do list into separate chunks of time like we did in step 3 you are almost guaranteed to set yourself up for success.
We are hard wired to respect appointments and if you prioritize your to dos an appointment then chances are you will achieve them.
Step 5: Measuring Your Daily Outcome
This is big for me. Daily accountability and measurement
We all know instinctively at the gut level that tracking and measurement is the key to success.
Early on I found that the main reason I did not want to track and measure my marketing efforts was that it felt a bit depressing to see no visible results initially.
So subconsciously we talk ourselves out of it.
And lets get straight to the point. I am not taking about tracking and measuring your Internet marketing results
I am talking about tracking and measuring you.
Here is what I do.
I track and measure how many time slots I did today. Sometimes I worked in 6 one hour time slots and that might be a winning day for me.
I had completed all the tasks on my checklist for toady and have them checked off.
I have taken breaks and renewed my energy during the day
This type of personal habit tracking is very counterintuitive and not something we do every day.
In fact not one does this except for successful people
Why am I asking you to do this?
For two reasons
1. Like an athlete you begin to condition your body for success. If you at least keep and eye and track your activities you create rituals and rituals lead to success
2. In the beginning of your Internet marketing career you may not have other forms of tangible results yet. So it is easy to get demotivated. So tracking your personal rituals sets you up for success. Once you build the habit there is no stopping you
There you have it.
My system that will almost guarantee your online success
Before you go, what one thing do you plan on implementing for the new year. Share your thoughts below.
