Making the most with the time you have.

How do you start a home based business when you have a day job? When you have a family to look after, commitments relentlessly pulling us in every direction it can seem impossible to ever get a good run at building our business!
If you’re trying to make money online, but can never find the time to get it off the ground and profitable...

Today I am going to give you some tips for getting productive.
How can you arrange your day to make the most of the time you do have to apply towards your online business.


Focus
That may seem obvious, however, your ability to focus on what’s important is key.

It’s very easy to get distracted online. It seems like everything is clickable. Obstacles everywhere, removing you from your goal and directing to the goals of others. 
Consider that for the most part, every Email, every Advertisement, every Facebook message are all fulfilling the goals of the sender/publisher. A constant distraction intended to have you focus on their objectives and not your own, An email sent to you that needs your urgent attention is for the most part working on the goals of the sender and not yours. 
These distractions can be endless.

When planning your time, no matter how short, don’t allow any yourself to drift, fulfilling everyone’s else’s desires other than your own. This is YOUR business, take time to FOCUS on your goals. 
Set aside a predetermined period of time each day to work ONLY on what's important to you. Don't open other tabs, don't allow yourself to get sucked into other peoples days. 

The best time to do this is first thing in the morning. Before the distractions start, try and own your morning, Own your first hour. I find this hour is the time when we are most closely allined to our goals, waking up with a fresh mind, ready to focus on what is important to us with a clear head and no distractions



Ritual
Completing tasks everyday.
Successful people make their daily tasks habit, a ritual performed daily.
Often it’s the same task performed everyday, that will bring success.
Taking extended breaks can be detrimental and often where we run into trouble. 

In my experience, I have found my productivity to go like this
After a few days break. 

Day 1: First day back to work, I catch up... Find where I left off and catch up on a few things. This equals Zero progression.

Day 2: I start to work... make plans of what is next, get my mind back into the game.
Making money online is often about developing campaigns content and creation, a certain level of creativity is required that cannot be forced. 
Day 2 generally gets me back in the mainframe required to get creative.

Day 3: Finally, things start to take shape, back in the game, being productive completing tasks with clear direction working towards my goals, therefore, 
If I never work 3 days in a row… I never progress. I only maintain.
I am not suggesting you must do 8 hours of work a day... Simply that you must have some consistency no matter how small. Without it, your business will stagnate... It will continue, but never grow. While starting, you can’t afford to remain stagnant.
Progression is necessary. No matter how small, set side time every day to work on your business. Make it a ritual


Be specific
Start specific tasks and finish them. One thing at a time.
Again, It’s very easy to get distracted and pull yourself away from the task at hand, jumping to another that’s seemingly more important.
Don’t do that… complete one task at a time, get it working and move to the next. 
Complete only Income producing activities

Ask yourself frequently, is what I am doing right now an income producing activity? Is this working towards my goals? If I continue doing this, will it find me success?

This is one I personally must remind myself of on a constant basis.(several times daily) It’s easy to find yourself clicking through the tabs in your browser without even absorbing what you are looking at... Subconsciously looking for short breaks from the task at hand, checking your phone… getting another snack… we must resist these urges. So much time is wasted sitting in front of the computer NOT working. Therefore, it's surprising how much time can be gained providing we keep on top of our behavior 

What is an income producing activity…? 
Tasks that will help you realize your end goal.
Checking FB business groups to see what others are writing... isn’t
Checking your account balance in your affiliate commission area every hour... isn’t
Checking your email/skype every 3 minutes to see if someone has contacted you... isn’t
Some tasks like this are required occasionally. The key is to make specific times for this

The question we must ask ourselves: For every 2 hours spent in front of the computer, are we getting maximum effect? This comes back to focus… Make sure that your focus is "pinpoint", Only applying energy to those activities you must accomplish to succeed. Those activities are Income Producing Activities.

Content creation, Testing, Tracking, Strategy, Education and Self-development are all income producing activities. Stick to theses and you will be fine.


Summery
Apply focus to specific tasks that are income producing everyday like clockwork.
This is how you will find consistency and success in your online business, regardless of how much time you have daily to dedicate, consistency will always trump larger sporadic bursts of work.

This takes discipline. The best part is, we as individuals are in complete control of our actions.
Choose the correct actions on a daily basis and you will undoubtedly find success. 

Luke Millard

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