Over at 30-Day Digital Product Profit Program we work with some of the most ambitious, talented and well-intentioned aspiring entrepreneurs on the planet today…often there is a MAJOR disconnect at play that holds them back (which is likely how they found us in the first place)
The mind is a tricky thing. You can work through your day with a combination of consumption, distraction, learning, planning and being “busy” without actually having accomplished a SINGLE productive thing toward your goals – but still FEEL euphoric, as if you conquered the world!
The problem is (let me know if you understand), this only works for a few days until we become “conscious” of the disconnect between our actions, interim results and final goals. Unfortunately, by altering the methods of escape, learning and escapism – you buy yourself another few days…and so on.
Some people spend their entire LIVES operating exactly like this…sprinkle in bouts of depression, frustration and hopelessness requiring something BIG to make you think it will be ok
To better illustrate, here is the typical daily focus average for the most enthusiastic of people (I’m not even including the 55%+ of the population that has already given up and spend 100% of their time either wasting time or doing something they absolutely hate)
Before you scream at me that YOU are different, it’s really worth auditing your day – and not JUST today (it’s too easy to cheat for 1-day), but audit yourself for the next 7-days and REALLY – in an objective way – categorize your activity into one of the 3-buckets – wasting time (dreaming, wishing, consuming content, relaxing, escaping or ANYTHING that is not core activity to what you want to achieve; BUSY time – all of the other “work” you do that is adjacent to, but not directly leading to new content you are releasing or new marketing programs you are putting into place.
When we do this with our clients, the first realization is that they spend a LOT more time doing things to avoid the critical tasks AND THEN the second epiphany is when they have trouble categorizing what is “Busy” work versus what is highly “Critical Productive” work.
There’s a reason that last one is so hard.
To be able to properly understand the critical work items you MUST be clear on 1) Your ultimate goal 2) Your detailed plan and 3) The critical elements that need to be done in order to fulfill the plan
While some have #1, many aren’t as clear on #2 and MOST (all actually) haven’t gone so far as to break down the exact activities and accomplishments required to check each item off of their plan
While this may not be the most FUN you will have this year when it comes to working ON your business, I do guarantee that the more time you spend on Critical activities, the more happy you will be and the results you will see will be far greater than the additional time spent
