Did you ever feel this overwhelming effect when you started something new? The more complex the subject is, the more difficult it will be to know what to do next – and the bigger will be this overwhelming effect. Blogging and Internet business in general are very complex subjects. And it all summarizes in the following: There is a lot you can do. But what SHOULD you do?

Let us start with a little analysis what procrastination in general is: When you procrastinate, you put off intentionally the doing of something that should be done. “But”, I hear you say, “when I suffer from the overwhelm effect because of all the things I learned, how can you say that I put off INTENTIONALLY the doing of something?” This is what I will show you. And of course, we will find an answer to the question: How can you stop this effect?

First let’s make clear that this is not tended to be some medical advice whatsoever. These are just a few quick tips that I will share with you to stop procrastinating. So with no further ado, let’s begin…

Tip # 1: Everything starts and ends with YOU
What does that mean? If someone said to you that you were procrastinator your immediate reaction would be to defend yourself. This is quite normal. But in this matter, everything will be more difficult. The sooner you accept the fact that you CHOOSE to procrastinate, the sooner you will be able to overcome this overwhelming effect of procrastination.

Tip # 2: “I want NOT to procrastinate anymore”
Once you accept that procrastination is a weakness – your weakness – the easier the next step will be. You surely want to eliminate the weakness. It should be your sincere desire not to procrastinate anymore. And you need to demonstrate that determination through small daily gestures.

Tip # 3: Mea culpa – take responsibility
This goes in combination with tips # 1 and # 2. After applying them you have to tell yourself that if you fail to achieve a particular goal or a given task, it is because you procrastinated. Admitting guilt is taking ownership of your actions, and this is very important. That way, you will change your behaviour. You have to change the way you acted before. And this is a great beginning.

Tip # 4: Analyse in what ways you procrastinate
Take pen and paper. Writing these points down will help you focus and identifies things more clearly for yourself. It is like an early action plan.

Tip # 5: The goals you did not meet because of procrastination
After listing the ways in which you procrastinate, make a second list of goals that you failed to achieve because you procrastinated. This way you can measure out the consequences of a missed opportunity. Every time ask yourself if the consequence was worth the delay.

Tip # 6: What is the dollar value of missed opportunities?
In fast-paced societies, people tend to think of time as precious and valuable. You know expressions like “time is off the essence” or “time means money”. This reinforces the value of time. You can use this practice to your advantage: if we made it a practice to “tag a dollar sign” for each of our procrastinations, we would probably resolve to procrastinate less.

Tip # 7: Filtering the essential from the petty
You have to understand that procrastination is the opposite of action. Decide which of your tasks need immediate attention. Differentiate between them and those that can be done later that day or the week. You have just learned the fine art of prioritizing. So decide once and for all which task should be assigned top priority and that then act upon it!

Tip # 8: Better in black and white
Putting things down on paper is much more effective than just thinking out how to avoid procrastination. If you write down what needs to be done, you will focus on those tasks from the implementation to completion. Once it is completed take it off your list. This is the sense of accomplishment, no matter how small this accomplishment is. Then you go on to the next task until you actually get used to the idea of doing rather than procrastinating. This is much more productive.

Tip # 9: Discard old habits
We are creatures of habit, even if we know that a certain activity is no longer cost effective, sometimes we continue doing it anyway. Let’s take an example: not looking for alternatives. It’s always good to have alternative ways. So look for them every once and awhile. Necessarily, you have to be balanced between looking for alternatives and deciding which way to choose. Otherwise you would probably end in another state of procrastination which would be counterproductive. So be circumspect.

Tip # 10: If you fall back a few steps, climb the stairs again
Sure it will be difficult staying on course for the first few days or even weeks. It is like going to the gym for the first time: you are all motivated for the first three days and then you stop. Old habits die hard. But since everything is on your written task list, revise it and plan on doing the tasks within a specific time frame. Do not dwell too long on what you failed to do, but start climbing the stairs again and get to the top without looking back. Try it. It will work!

Tip # 11: Break every task into small parts
Divide every project into small parts. When you set up the project’s outline, pick out the sections you think are the most difficult and start working on them. You can leave the easy parts for later. Breaking a job into tinier segments is an effective way of taking immediate action instead of postponing it for later.

Tip # 12: Procrastinating can lead to tunnel vision
If you analyze things a lot, you could get “paralysed” and stay stuck in analysis mode. This could lead you some sort of tunnel vision effect. If you eliminate procrastination from your life, you will avoid tunnel vision. There is always more than one way to get to where you want to be. Look for those alternatives. Jump on new opportunities. Even if they are hard to find at first. And I have to repeat the same as for tip # 9: be careful. Too many ways can make you stand where you are.

Tip # 13: “Urgent” is the soup of the day
Today, everything seems to be urgent. We cannot escape this fact. Time has a great value today. You need to squeeze 26 hours out of only 24. If you have to sift through reports or you have to read e-books or anything else to educate you on new topics in your business, try to get to the bottom line. Filter through the essential data and read those. Try to identify the key chapters of a book and concentrate on them. Identify the most important stuff. These things have to be done first, and that way you stay focused on what to do.

Tip # 14: “You’ve got mail”
How much time would it take to go through all the messages you receive every day? Voice mails, e-mails and even tweets from Twitter take you away from your main functions. Being interrupted too many times can make you procrastinate. How can you overcome this? Deal with the most important messages and decide which ones can be dealt with this afternoon, tomorrow or next week. You could file them away in a subfolder. So they do not take a visual space on the computer screen. Do not read your e-mail messages every time they arrive. Do it once or twice a day, but not every time. And by the way, even Twitter can be turned off!

Tip # 15: When are you the most productive?
You should be tackling your most difficult responsibilities when you are most energetic and productive. Leave the less essential ones for another time. There are some people who like to work through their lunch hours because that’s when they reach peak energy levels. Find out when you are the most productive and concentrate on those times to deal with tasks that need “full brain power”.

Tip # 16: Do first what you hate most
There are certain aspects of our business we don’t like. But you need not let these unpleasant tasks derail you. Make it a daily habit to tackle them first. They become easier for you to do and will not be as unpleasant. And in that way you are not procrastinating but will feel the sensation of having accomplished a hated task right at the beginning of your work day.

Tip # 17: Upgrade your skills, expand your knowledge base
In business, you will need to improve. Always. Don’t procrastinate, because you will never know when those new skills must be at hand. The Internet Business itself changes all the time, so you have to be on the qui vive for everything that happens. Be sensible to new developments, but at that same time be careful not to be overwhelmed again!

Tip # 18: You do not have to change everything
People procrastinate because they are overwhelmed by the enormity of what they are facing. To stop procrastinating does not mean radically changing everything or suddenly switching from one state of mind to another. But bear one thing in mind: The more you delay, the more dissatisfied you will be with your life and its results.

Conclusion: I am sure that when you are just beginning your journey in blogging or in Internet marketing that you stumbled upon many pieces of advice who could be somewhat contradictory. This is due to the fact that there are many “gurus” out there teaching their stuff. The first thing you have to recognize is that many ways lead to Rome, also in Internet Marketing and in the Blogosphere. And you cannot follow all the systems at once and at the same time. But the initial effect of recognizing this could make you procrastinate. But you have to TAKE ACTION. So choose one system at the beginning. This shall make you going. But be careful, circumspect – and balanced. Apply the tips mentioned above. This is what helped me – and it helps me still.

If there are other things you encountered or if you want to share other tips, please feel free to leave a comment. Thanks!

Here is the audio version of this post:
Download audio file (procrastination.mp3)

Motivation is the key for everything you want to do. And for everything taking some time to accomplish you will have to stay motivated. This is true for climbing the Mt. Everest, and it is true when you want to start out in Blogging or the Internet Business in general.

Why is that?
Well, before starting to attract readers to your blog, making a living from being a professional blogger or sell information products online, you have to become an expert on this subject yourself. You have to know how to do things to make people want your articles, products, information or whatever. And becoming an expert takes time. A lot of time. Take Mozart: he was a wunderkind at the age of 4, but before he wrote the music we still hear and appreciate, it took him 13 more years! OK, you do not want to become a second Mozart, that is true, but the quintessence of all this is simple: you want to become on expert on a certain subject; and this process takes time.

You cannot escape this fact, I am sorry. This applies even more to the Internet Business. And if anyone will tell you something else, simply do not believe it. Websites are legion telling you to purchase a product and to become “automatically” successful online, making a gazillion dollars overnight. Forget it! Not true! Let’s take an example:
The only way to learn to play the guitar is by playing it, right? The only way to become a professional blogger is by blogging, isn’t it? The only way to see the top of the world is climbing the Mt. Everest, not true? Well, before I get carried away, you got the idea: if you want to become the expert, you will have to work yourself. Others can help you, sure, but the biggest chunk of work is on you. And this takes time. Plain and simple.

And motivation. Remember: this is fundamental. Motivation is the key for everything you want to accomplish. So, how to get the motivation that will take with it on the way to becoming an expert? Here are 5 suggestions:

1) Find good reasons

You have to define for yourself what motivates you. And knowing why you want to do things can help a lot. So ask yourself the following questions:
a)    Am I passionate about a certain subject?
b)    And if so, why am I passionate about it?
Asking you those questions can help you to define the reason for your actions. And passion can help you to stay motivated over time. So here’s the equation: passion = motivation.

Ask yourself about the reasons you want to start blogging or make money online? Is it just the money, the material reward? Or might it be some personal gain, since you will learn something new and improve yourself in a certain way? One thing is for sure: you will gain abilities you didn’t have before, and this is a good reason that can get you motivated.
Another reason could be that you will have a feeling of accomplishment. You will have completed a very difficult task. Imagine how you would feel in that very moment. Imagine how it will be: having made the first dollar online. This can be a very powerful motivation.

Every reason will be a step closer to your bigger goal. So, what is this bigger goal for you? Learn how to blog about a subject? Make a living with the money you will earn through Internet Marketing? Whatever it is, every little step is a step closer to what you want to accomplish. Make sure to have enough reasons to be greatly motivated to continue.

2) Make it fun

Different people may have completely opposite feelings towards the same task. Some will hate it, others will love it. Why is that? Some of us find ways to make any task interesting and fun to do. This depends on how you look at it. You can have fun doing just about anything. Just look for ways of having fun, and you’ll find them.

You can enhance your experience by asking you questions like:
a)    How can I enjoy this task?
b)    What can I to do to make this task fun for myself?
c)    How can I make this work the best part of my day?

Of course you may encounter some problems: since it is a purely technical thing to install a blog or to change its design, you might feel bored about it. But you can choose to make it fun. Let’s take an example: you eat a few times every day, and this process is a purely “technical thing”. But I am sure you love it. Why? Because the food is different every time, you try to vary a little bit. When doing technical tasks you can do the same. Try to vary things. Find yourself a reason for doing this task that motivates you (see “Find good reasons”). And do not forget, the next time it will be a lot easier. So why not having fun this time?

3) Take a different approach

If you want to stay motivated and accomplish your goal, there is always a way to do it. And precisely this could be the problem: often there is more than one way to accomplish things. And this is so true for the Internet Business and Blogging in particular. Just too many ways to do things.

This offers you an advantage: when one way does not bring the results you expected, just take another way, a different approach. This can help you to stay motivated over a long time.

But this very advantage can get you into trouble. Why? We are wired in a way that we are always looking for the best way to go. THE way, the only one. And we are always trying and looking  for the most efficient way to accomplish a task. This could overwhelm you completely and lead to procrastination: you do not see the forest because of the trees, so to say. But this will be covered in another post. Just one thing to finish this: stay flexible, if one way does not work for you, just choose one and take it. Do not be overwhelmed. You will arrive at destination, and this is your goal.

4) Recognize your progress

Your bigger goal can be split into smaller parts and stages, which you will accomplish first. If you want to learn how to run, you will have to learn how to walk first. And before this you will have to learn how to make the first steps. And before this… well, you get the idea.

To stay motivated on your way to become a blogger or make money in the Internet Business, you will have to focus on the small steps that will lead you to the big outcome you want. Recognize this progress. Every time. It will strongly motivate you to continue taking the next step.

When you want to make 1,000 dollars, you have to start and make one dollar first. Then ten, after that a hundred and finally a thousand. But in the beginning, you have to learn how to make that first dollar and to concentrate on that. When you take the next step for the ten dollars, did you forget that you learnt already how to make one dollar? No, you didn’t. Be aware of your progress. Recognize it. Feel it. And do not forget it. This is important, since your progress will keep you going and motivated. A great reward!

5) Reward yourself

As soon as you get one of your agreed results take time to reward yourself in some way. When I made my first dollar online, I cheered and danced and jumped in a way that my wife thought I had gone completely nuts. This was a reward for me

Your progress may not seem to others like anything worth celebrating. But others are not you, they do not understand how great the results were for YOU. So take your time and do it anyway. It is your accomplished task and your reward!

Finally: mix and match

Now that you have these five ways of staying motivated, it is a good moment to give you the key to them all: mix and match! Pick one of the advices and apply it to your situation. If it doesn’t work, or if you simply want to get even more motivation, try another advice right way. Mix different approaches and match them to your task for best results.

Just think about it: finding good reasons to work on your task is bound to help you feel a bit better. Identifying ways to make it fun will help you enjoy the task even more. Finally, if you then plan a few points for easier tracking of your progress and on top of that agree on rewarding yourself as you go – this will make you feel most motivated about anything you have to work through on your way to becoming an expert.

Here is the audio version of this post:
Download audio file (Stay_motivated.mp3)

The 5th of August in 2008 was a big day for me: I was able to set up my very first blog! Oh boy, you can’t imagine all the re-installs of images, widgets, the coding and I don’t know what else. But finally, I did it. And yesterday, I showed this whole new blog to a close friend of mine. His reaction was quite surprising to me. He went like: “Oh yeah, that success stuff.” With a quite negative vibration, if you get the idea I guess, my proper reaction on this was a bit… let’s say, I was not overwhelmed. But OK, my friend was concentrating on the title itself, I was more focused on all the effort I put into the installation.

Nevertheless, my friend’s reaction brings me to this: is the word “success” – and everything that is attached to it – really like worn-out today? If so, why is that?
OK, I have to admit that “success” has more than one definition. According to WordNet, “success” is “a state of prosperity or fame”. Alright, so that’s it! Do we see success always in this kind of light? You are only successful when you live in prosperity and fame? Oh, great! If this is the case, I’m no longer surprised of my friend’s reaction to the title of my blog.

But – don’t forget the other definition of success: it is also “an attainment that is successful” or “an event that accomplishes its intended purpose” (see WordNet for further details). And this is where it gets interesting: success is not ALWAYS prosperity and fame. Very often there are the small things that have value, not the big ones. Imagine someone fighting to loose weight (am I talking about me?). Dropping down a few pounds per month does not make him (or her) prosper or famous, BUT for him (or her) it is an attainment that is successful, he (or she) has success. He (or she) feels good! And he (or she) will get motivated through the roof to continue!

Isn’t that the definition of success we should get used to? The small things mean a lot. The small steps that lead to a bigger picture. Prosperity and fame do not always mean success. Think about the “bold and the beautiful” (actors, pop icons or models, have a look at the news…): they are prosper, they have fame, but are they really successful? In money terms perhaps, but that’s all!

We really should get used to the smaller things, small steps that bring you along the way, that help you to focus on the purpose and to accomplish this purpose, both in private and professional life!

To your success!
Bjorn