You are on Your Own

Another thing with IM is that you are your own boss. Because of that, you are on your own. Nobody cares if you earn nothing or if you earn a million bucks tomorrow.

So to keep the momentum going, you need to be able to self-motivate. You must be able to pressure yourself and stay hungry all the time. The reality is that it is easier said than done.

I mean how do you choose between watching a thrilling sci-fi action movie on HBO and building websites that you are not sure if it will make you any money?

Just the other day, my partner was feeling really down and lazy. As the leader, I needed to do something. I had to pull her one side and motivated her. I gave her reason after reason why she should give it her all. I even gave her a little pressure.

And guess what? She completed what she set out to do that very day, something she was struggling all week to complete! And as ‘BOSS’ it is your job to do these for your underdogs… and it’s your job to keep yourself in top form in order to grow your business under all conditions.

Motivating people ought to be easy. Use some sort of reward or my penalty system. You will soon see your workers completing their work fast.

But how do you get yourself motivated when you yourself are feeling down? One good way is to read a motivational book. Better still, read this book.

Get inspired by other people who have done it before. Imagine yourself buying the things you really want.

I remember a time when I was feeling really lazy so I drove out for a quick breakfast. Along the way, I saw my dream car whizzing by.

That was the car I wanted so much to have! I told myself, man you’ve got to get yourself that car one day! That got me motivated the entire week.

Another thing to keep in mind is that you should try to set up your home office as far away from your bed or bedroom as possible. It’s just so darn hard to concentrate on your work when you have stuff like the TV or bed beckoning you, and a host of other distractions.

So the important thing here is this: if you are feeling down, you know that you must take action to motivate yourself ASAP. Otherwise such distractions will bring you down like a disease. And the situation can get to a point that you feel hopeless and you just give up this internet business in the end.

Don’t ever let this happen.

Let’s talk a bit about the next important issue…

Holiday mood

There are times when you feel like not doing anything at all, especially when you are already making some money from your business. This is largely due to the fact that when you start to make some money a huge part of the pressure lifts off your shoulders.

You feel like you can leave the task you need to do for tomorrow… as if you have all the time in the world. Soon you’ll see that nothing gets done soon enough.

So how do you beat this Holiday Mood? First thing you can do is to plan your work either in the morning, before your start your day or before you go to bed at night. I prefer to do it in the morning because if I plan at night, I will have too much racing in my mind and that will disturb my sleep. And yes, sleep is a major part of helping you get the right energy to work the next day.

Fix a date on the day you absolutely must complete the task at hand. And punish yourself if you don’t complete on time. Following this routine, I usually get my work done quickly and on time.

Let’s say you want to create a product launch. Decide on the date of launch at the very start. From day one you started to take action steps.

That way you will have a sense of urgency to get all the stuff done before the launch date.

Give yourself a time sensitive reason to act and you will find yourself trying to get it done. Why does it work? Remember the time when your boss says, I want this done by Monday? It’s Pressure, Pressure, and some more Pressure that makes you perform and show results

The Zombie Mode

Ok I am going to contradict myself here a little, so just bear with me a second. There will be times when you try to motivate yourself, you try to punish yourself and everything else… but you just can’t seem to get the mood to work at all.

What do you do? Nothing. Just rest it out. This is the beauty of IM. You get all the free time in the world if you choose to. When you are feeling that low, it’s really no point forcing yourself to do anything.

Why? I tried. And the result was terrible. I just couldn’t seem to get anything done even when I forced myself to sit in front of the computer.

It’s just not productive. So I’ve learned to give myself some days off according to my mood.

When I feel like a zombie (after trying all you can to motivate yourself)I just stop and rest. Do whatever I like but bearing in mind that I must make up for lost time the next day.

One thing I usually do is this: go over the to-do list, pick the task that is very easy and fast to complete and get that done before taking that rest I deserve. That way I can clear up those small tasks that need to be done sooner or later anyway. Then go out to have fun without feeling too guilty.

The Hyper Mode

There will be days when you are ULTRA motivated as well, and this is a golden opportunity you must absolutely GRAB. We all get this feeling that we can get a lot of stuff done sometimes.

And whenever I get this kind of surge in my energy and motivation, I don’t ever let it go. There has been a lot of Sundays when I felt like this and I reschedule every other activity I set out to do just so I can work on that motivation filled Sunday. I’ve woken at 2 a.m. with a brilliant idea.

Glowing with excitement, I tried to go back to sleep but just couldn’t. So I just went downstairs and worked till I drop. Why would I do this? Oh, you will be amazed at the amount of work you can get done when you are in hyper mode. Try it and you will see what I mean.

“The clock is ticking…”