Assignment: Your Time
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The first step in starting and running an Internet business is to set aside the time you’ll need. You’re going to need at least 10 to 15 hours a week to start. Later, once you’ve put your systems in place, you won’t need to spend as much time on your business. But, if you are just starting out, this is the amount of time you’ll need.
So, where are you going to find that time? You probably have a job where you have to spend at least 8 hours a day. Maybe you have a spouse and kids and you need to make sure you have time for them as well. You might even have commitments to groups or organizations that will require some amount of your time. And, of course, you have to sleep.
Remember that… YOU HAVE TO SLEEP. The last thing you should do is cut into your sleep time to work on your Internet business. You’ll be less productive in all areas of your life if you don’t get the sleep you need.
So, again, where are you going to find the time you need to spend building your Internet business?
You’re going to have to prioritize. Put your sleep time on the schedule first. If you need 8 hours, great. If you need 10, that’s fine, too. Some people only need 6 or 7 hours a night. Whatever time you need to feel fully rested, put it on your schedule for the same time every night and stick to it. If you change your bedtime from one night to another, your body will not get into a proper rhythm and you’ll end up feeling tired every day. And feeling tired will kill your productivity. You cannot afford that.
Your J.O.B. probably has fixed hours that you’ll have to work around. So put them on your schedule next. If you have time commitments because of your religious affiliations, get those on the schedule, too.
If you have a spouse and/or kids, reserve a daily slot on your schedule for them. Make sure they know when that time is and make sure you stick to it every day. It doesn’t matter what you do during that time. The important thing is that you make the commitment and you follow through.
Nobody’s situation is exactly the same. You might have things you have to spend time on each day or each week that someone else doesn’t. Just get everything on the schedule so you know what you have to work with.
Once you’re done, look at the schedule and find any time that you’ve marked for watching TV. Cross that out. You’re building an Internet business, not a career as an entertainment critic. You have no time for TV. The bad thing about TV is that it programs your brain with lots of negative junk, including the need to watch more TV. Just turn it off and never turn it on again. If you find yourself reaching for the remote out of habit, you might just have to throw the TV set out to remove the temptation and the distraction.
If you are not willing to remove TV time from your schedule, then stop reading right now. Leave my blog and never return. I’m serious. You will not achieve your full potential in business or in life if you allow TV to own any part of your time. Let me say that more clearly: YOUR INTERNET BUSINESS WILL NOT SUCCEED IF YOU WATCH ANY AMOUNT OF TV.
Some readers will want argue with me on this. If you’re one of them, don’t bother trying to argue your point. I won’t waste my time arguing back. Just go away and try it your own way. When you figure out that I’m right, come back and pick up where you left off. I don’t mind if you want to take a detour and waste your time. Just don’t ask me to waste mine.
The next thing to cross off your schedule is time for radio, newspapers and magazines. I’ll allow one exception here. If you have an industry specific publication that you need to read to keep up with what’s going on in your chosen market, that’s OK. But, if it’s ever had Brad, Britney or Paris on the cover, you need to stop reading it.
Now, let’s clear some more time from your schedule. Resolve to check your email only once per day. At that time, deal with every email that needs a response and then delete everything else. If checking your email takes you more than 15 minutes a day, then you’re subscribed to too many ezines. End those subscriptions now. You don’t need them any more. At this point, you’ve learned all you can from them. It’s time to take action. You’re building your own Internet business now. You don’t need to keep helping them build theirs.
One last thing. No more aimless Internet surfing. The world wide web is set up specifically to allow you to drill down deeper and deeper into any topic you choose. The problem is that there is no end to how deep you can go! It is entirely possible to go looking for information on the web and end up losing several hours of your life just clicking link after link without finding what you started out looking for.
Stop doing that! You’re now an Internet business entrepreneur. You do not have the time any more to do anything except the specific tasks that will build your business and put in place the systems that will allow it to grow over time even as you reduce the number of hours a day you put into it.
OK, you now have your assignment. Go make it happen. I’ll be posting your next assignment in a day or two. To make sure you get it as soon as I post it, just sign up for my blog announcement list. The form is near the top right corner of this page. Just fill in your first name and your primary email address (no disposable addresses, please) and click the “Subscribe Now!” button. You’ll get a confirmation message with a link that you’ll need to click to confirm that you really want to get my announcements. Once you do, you’re all set.
And by the way, I’ll be sending out a link to all confirmed subscribers this weekend to download a free gift. To make sure you don’t miss that, sign up for the list right now. Until next time…
“Build Systems And Prosper!”
- Daniel Joseph Moran
