Do you ever have days when you don’t feel like working? I know exactly how you must feel as I get these types of days myself quite often(Even after 5 years)
What do I do to keep myself motivated so that I can remain productive?
Instead of laying around on the couch all day and watching The Walking Dead or playing Call Of Duty, I try to think about the article I’m going to write next or what product I would like to review on my site next.
If you have ever felt depressed or not in the mood to work on your business like you should be then I encourage you to stick around and read this entire article as I’ll be sharing the 7 things that I do to stay productive when I don’t feel like working.
If you still have questions after reading this or you would like to get involved in the conversation or add a few tips of your own I would love to hear from you guys in the comment section below.
As I sat down and started thinking about this in preparation for this post I was able to come up with these 7 things and they are as follows.
1) Take A Walk
This is what I usually do to calm down if I’m stressed and don’t feel like working or being productive.
By doing this it allows me to forget about whatever is going on at the moment, give my brain a chance to reset and think about what I’m going to write about next.
Walking is also a great way to relieve anxiety, get your thoughts in order, and get the creative juices flowing so that you’re able to be productive once you get home.
I would also suggest that you take either your phone or some type of electronic device with you so that you can jot down any ideas you get while you’re taking a walk so that you can write about these later.
You guys wouldn’t believe how much this has helped me on some of my worst days ever.
I can remember multiple times coming home (after getting a shower of course) LOL and writing some of the most kick-ass articles that I have ever written in my entire online career after taking a nice long walk.
Not only will this help you mentally, it will also help you physically and emotionally as well.
I usually take a 2-hour walk every morning as soon as I get up so that once I get home I’m ready to get some work done and have a productive day.
2) Think Back To Why You Started In The First Place
Sometimes if we revisit why we started building a business in the first place it can re-energize that passion and fire that you once had when you first started out in the online world.
Not only that, but this can also give you the opportunity to re-establish any goals that you may have made and motivate you to work harder at your business.
Personally, I have had to do this several times myself for extra motivation and to give me a reality check and answer the question What is my why for building an online business?
Once you establish the why and you have come up with a few the reasons why you need to succeed online, everything else drifts away and you’ll find it so much easier to get back to building your online empire.
This is what has helped me more times than I can count on both hands and I would recommend you guys to give it a try as well and let me know if it has helped you out as much as it has me.
You’ll be amazed at how much this will help you out and allow you to freshen things up a bit and give you that extra bit of motivation needed for you to become successful.
3) Set Some New Goals That You Would Like To Reach By Next Year
Setting goals is one of the best things that you can do to get you excited about your business again, re-motivate you, and give you a general idea of where you see yourself in the following year.
I have just established some new goals for myself just a couple of months back that I would like to achieve by next year and they are as follows
- Buy A House – I had originally set this goal back in 2015 but after a certain theme that I installed nearly killed my business, I had to re-evaluate things and set new goals.
- Go Visit My Buddy John- I had originally set this goal back in 2016 for this year (2018) but after having to put my mother in a nursing home and deal with a bunch of other issues going on in my life, I had to reset this goal for next year.
- Triple My Income- Once again this is a goal that I also had set for this year as well but due to unforeseeable events that took place beyond my control, I have re-established this goal for the following year.
As you can see, I listed my monetary goals as well as a few non-monetary goals.
It’s important for you guys to have a good balance of both so that you aren’t focused directly on the money aspect of this business and you have something to work towards every day.
Obviously, I’ll need to achieve goal #3 before even thinking about my first 2 goals but I think you guys see what I’m getting at, don’t you?
These goals shouldn’t be anything wild or insane like “I wanna earn a million dollars by next year”
You need to think more realistically and set goals that you feel confident in reaching or smashing by next year and setting new ones after you reach these.
These could be things like:
- Increasing your traffic to 2k to 3k per day by next year
- Earning enough to quit your J.O.B if you still have one
- Start earing multiple sources of income from your website
- Take your family on a vacation
All of these things would be awesome goals that you could realistically reach by next year if you set these goals right now at the time of this writing (July 8th, 2018)
What goals would you like to reach by next year at this time?
Tell me all about it in the comments below!!
4) Remember You Are Learning Something New Every Day
Alot of times when we start out building a website we forget that we are learning something new constantly as the internet is constantly evolving.
What seemed to have worked several years ago, no longer applies today and even after 5 years in the industry, I am still learning something new all the time.
This alone should rekindle your passion and light a fire under you to do everything in your power to learn all you can about this business.
They say knowledge is power and the more you know the more money you can earn.
Personally for me, if I remain stagnant, I lose any and all the motivation I may have had and this is 1 of the worse things you can do as an online business owner.
A perfect example of this would be people who work the same job for 20 years or more and do more bitching and complaining than they do anything and they wonder why they’re always broke.
The Internet allows you the unique opportunity to learn just about anything and the potential here is unlimited.
You can learn more about your audience, their likes, and dislikes, what they are ultimately looking for, how to serve them better.
Difference niches, other ways to earn money from your website, new products/ services within your current niche.
There is so much potential out there you just need to grab a hold of it and don’t let go.
5) Change Up Your Work Environment
Just because you’re an online marketer who works from home doesn’t mean that you need to work from home all the time.
As a matter of fact, it’s actually a good thing for you to get out and away from the house and in a new environment to increase your productivity and unleash your creative side.
Over the past couple of weeks, I have personally tested this theory out for myself and it works like a charm.
Working in the same place day after day and month after month can be quite repetitive and sometimes lead to the feeling of burn out.
Here recently I have tried working at different local places around my town like my neighborhood coffee shop and the local Mcdonalds.
To my surprise, this actually increased my productivity level immensely and I was able to concentrate and get so much more work done than if I were to write an article in my bedroom like I normally do.
Don’t keep yourself confined to your apt or house, get out there and explore any possible hot spots that might provide you with a chance to get some work done in a new setting.
6) Disconnect Yourself From The Internet
I know this may sound a little contradicting due to the fact that you work online and your business is based on the internet.
However, studies show that if you unplug your cell phone, computer, laptop, or any other device that allows you to access the internet for even a couple of hours and spend some time in nature it can help you immensely.
I have personally done this just a couple of weeks ago with a few buddies of mine and I had an absolute blast and came back refreshed and had a completely new outlook on my business.
I have also talked to a few of my online business buddies that have also done this and they were about to nearly double their productivity level by simply unplugging for the weekend and going camping.
If your business is bogging you down and you aren’t exactly feeling productive then you might want to give this a try and see how well it works out for you.
7)Don’t Forget To Reward Yourself
They always say that all work and no play is a disaster waiting to happen and this particularly holds true when it comes to building an online business.
Whenever you reach a small goal or milestone in your business it’s highly imperative that you celebrate this victory in some way or another.
If you fail to do this and you continue working then, unfortunately, you’re setting yourself up to fail before you even get started.
This doesn’t need to be anything fancy as this could range from anything from having a coffee at your local coffee shop to treating yourself to a steak dinner to celebrate reaching this goal.
Trust me, I know this from several years experience and when I first started out here back in 2012-2013 and I reached one of my goals I would simply move on, create new ones and continue working.
This may seem like the right thing to do at the time but as I continued to move forward I started to feel burnt out and found it harder and harder to focus on growing my business and taking things to the next level.
Now once I reach a goal, it doesn’t matter if it’s big or small I make sure and reward myself in some way to acknowledge reaching this milestone.
My Closing Thoughts & Overall Recommendation
Building an online business isn’t exactly the easiest thing to do and you are bound to have days where you don’t feel like doing anything.
That’s perfectly fine and like I said earlier, I still have these types of days after 5 years.
However, it’s up to you how you deal with these feelings and whether you let them control how your day plays out.
If you use these 7 things that I’ve presented you guys with today and refer back to them when you’re having an off day or have lost your motivation to work on your business you’ll find that they will really come in handy and help you become much more productive.
If you’re a newbie who is just getting started online and you haven’t exactly started building your online business just yet, then what are you waiting for?
If you’re looking for the best training online that will show you step by step how to build a website based on a hobby of yours and how to write content that ranks then you might want to check out a company called Wealthy Affiliate.
This is the place that has shown me how to build multiple websites around a passion of mine and turn this into a full time money making business.
Also, don’t forget that I’ll be there to help you out each and every step of the way and show you how to avoid the many mistakes that I made when I first started out.
They also make it super easy for you to get started by offering their Free Starter Membership that provides you with everything you need to get started and get your business up and running.
If this sounds like something you would be interested in learning more about then I highly recommend that you check them out for yourself and see what they can do for you.
Other than that, I really hope this blog post has inspired you guys and hopefully motivated you to remain productive when you’re having an off day.
Comments, questions, want to get the conversation started?
Feel free to leave me a comment below and let’s get to know each other a little better.
I look forward to hearing from you guys and I’ll see you in my next post.
Cheers
~Scott~