Internet marketer’s are an interesting breed. We spend a most of our day sitting (or standing) gazing deeply into our computers. We live to improve our financial lives by building our digital assets. It’s really an interesting time in our world. For the first time ever we spend time interacting in a “world” we cannot touch or smell.
With this new lifestyle comes new challenges. Staying motivated to stay on task and stay focused can be especially tough. Here are a few ways you can combat IM fatigue an keep killin’ it online.
1 – Make a Commitment to Physical Activity
Whether it’s a daily walk or hitting the gym, you’ve got to stay active. We live a very sedintary lifestyle as affiliates and online marketers. There have been studies that show sitting all day can increase heart disease drastically. Sitting all day can also cause your glute muscles to atrophy. That will mess up the rest of your body in many ways. Trust me, when one part of your body becomes weak it will have a chain reaction on other parts.
Walking is an easy way to exercise. If you choose this form make sure you’re walking for at least 30 minutes with a good pace. That’s really the minimum. Ideally you’re walking briskly for 45 and doing some body weight exercises daily (push ups, sit ups, etc). This will keep the blood flowing in your muscles, avoiding atrophy.
2 – Use the Pomodoro Technique
The Pomodoro Technique is a time management system. You can read more about it here. In a nutshell it suggest that you set a timer for 25 minutes and work on 1 thing. Use those 25 minutes to work undistracted, completely focused on task. Then after 25 mins. you take a 5 minute break. This is the perfect time to stand up and stretch (helping you avoid atrophy also).
How cool is that? You’ll have a break every 25 minutes! Be diligent in using this system and you’ll find that you get more done in less time. It’s been very effective for me personally.
3 – Keep the Daydreaming To a Minimum
I know, I know… entrepreneurs are great at day dreaming. It’s fun to think about where you could be in a few months time or what you’ll do with all of your earnings. But time spent dreaming is time not spent making the dream come true.
When you find yourself fading into a daydream or surfing around the net unfocused, stop. Take a big deep breath. And then remind yourself that unless you focus on the tasks at hand your dreams will always be just that… a dream.
4 – Be Mobile!
If you’ve got a laptop, get out! Be mobile and get out of the house for a few hours. Changing up your work environment will help keep you fresh, less burned out. Sitting in your house day after day is enough to make anyone stir crazy. If you’ve got the equipment, use it.
5 – Reward Yourself
This is a big one. You must must must reward yourself from time to time. It can be as simple as having a glass of wine (or beer if you’re that kind of person) and watching that movie you’ve been wanting to watch. Or you could plan out a bigger reward. When you reach that deadline and over deliver go for a weekend getaway. Groupon and LivingSocial have amazing travel deals every now and then. Grab one and treat yourself for a job well done.
When you’re the head honcho in your business it can be easy to be too demanding of yourself. The opposite is sometimes true as well. Use these methods to stay on task and feel good about doing what you do.
Have any favorite rewards or methods you use to stay on task? Please share in the comments below.
Rewarding our self with our family is the best tip to motivate us and achieve our goals or dreams. Excellent post.
I associate a target with a reward. The reward is not that big but it makes me happy. Like allowing myself to spend on my fav food when I a weekly target. Or buy myself some accessories that I’ve wanted. But the reward will be base on my target. If I don’t achieve that target, I won’t have my reward. 🙂
The Pomodoro Technique is excellent advice. It is almost impossible to get anything done without singular focus and Pomodoro forces you to focus on “one thing.” Just make sure the one thing you are working on is some type of “cash generating activity” (i.e. generating traffic, building a campaign, creating content, list building, etc…).
One thing I’d add to your list is this: “Set almost impossible to meet deadlines.” It’s amazing how much you can get done when you attach a hard deadline to it.