Personal Discipline and the Home-Based Business Owner

Allow me to let you in on a little secret you’re probably already wise to anyway.  As often as not, the inspiration for article topics comes from struggles with my own personal demons. Writing about them is my way of giving myself a good talking to (a.k.a. kick in the rear end).  And so it is with this one – the personal discipline demon.

It wasn’t always like this.  There was a time when I could and would happily sit at my computer for hours at a stretch.  Doing this, doing that.  Reading email, reading e-books, doing research for articles, writing the next issue of AHBBO.  It used to be fun, something to do in my off-time.  A break from the grind, if you will.  But now that it’s my official job two or three days a week it’s not so much fun as it is work.

So, what’s changed?  Quite simply, my online business has gone from something I always *wanted* to do to something I *have* to do.  And that, alas, is my demon.  As soon as I *have* to do something, I start playing the same mind-games that I played back in school when I wouldn’t start an assignment until the absolute last minute.  I told myself it was because I worked well on deadlines.  What it really was, of course, was procrastination. With a capital P.

Does any of this sound familiar?  If not, perhaps you’re just one very focused, very self disciplined individual.  Good for you.  Now go away.  Or maybe you just haven’t been doing this for long enough yet.  You can stay.  Think it won’t happen to you? Maybe not.  But if you’re reading this at work when you really should be doing something else, like what they pay you for, you may just want to entertain the teensiest possibility that it might.

So, for those of us mere mortals with actual lives and who start businesses out of our homes for quality of life reasons, you’d better get a handle on this demon and quick about it too.  Because if you don’t, it will slowly but surely bring about the end of life as you know it and you’ll be back to the 9 to 5 grind at your J.O.B. before you can even *think* about turning on The Young and the Restless.  (Just for background noise, of course.)

OK, so, enough about what can happen and why and on to what you can do to make sure you get to keep the best of all possible worlds.

Here are six tips for getting the job done:

1.  SET A SCHEDULE

If you approach your business with the attitude that you can do whatever you want, whenever you want, guess what happens?  You do whatever you want, whenever you want. And the stuff that needs to be done but which you don’t particularly feel like doing doesn’t get done. Ever.

Lesson #1 – there’s no such thing as being able to do what you want whenever you want all the time.  It’s a fact of life that sometimes we have to do that which we would prefer not to do.  The best you can hope for with your own business is to choose the time for doing.

So, instead of seeing your days as a big, blank canvas, ready for you to paint as and when you feel like it, decide which hours of the day you are going to allocate to working in your business.  And stick to it.  Of course, the huge advantage you have in running your own business over working at your J.O.B. is that you get to choose what those hours shall be.  Want to start at 6 am and finish at 2 pm? No problem.  Want to start at noon and finish at 8? Go for it.  But do it. And when it comes to scheduling, don’t fall into the trap of thinking that just because you live where you work you have to work seven days a week.  Be sure to schedule some entirely work-free days.  That’s MY big lesson from the past few months.  I was making the mistake of working at my J.O.B. for three days and then working the four days I was home in my business.  Got to the point where I was sick to death of it.  All of it.  So I started taking weekends off.  Much, much better.  I’m actually starting to enjoy working again.

2.  DO WHAT HAS TO BE DONE, NOT WHAT YOU’D RATHER BE DOING

It’s all very well to set a work schedule and stick to it, it’s quite another to spend that time doing what has to be done rather than what you’d rather be doing.  Sure, we’d ALL prefer to read and respond to email than write the next chapter of our e-book.  Reading and responding to email is easy.  Writing is hard!  But reading and responding to email won’t grow your business.  Creating new product lines will.

3.  ALLOCATE ACTIVITIES ACCORDING TO CONCENTRATION LEVEL REQUIRED

Following on from the previous point, if you’re spending the first three hours of your peak concentration time reading and responding to email rather than writing the next chapter of your book, you’re doing the right things at the wrong time. Yes, you do need to read and respond to your email but it’s not an intellectually demanding task.  Do it when your brain is winding down, not when it’s at its sharpest.  Do the hard work when your brain is at its best.

4.  KEEP DISTRACTIONS TO A MINIMUM

Doing the right things at the right time is all for nought if you’re going to be interrupted every ten minutes.  Turn OFF the email program that chimes every time you get new mail. Most likely it’s NOT a new order and, even if it is, it will still be there at the time of your next allocated email check.

Similarly, let the answering machine answer your private phone.  Get a second line installed to be used exclusively for your business.  And let the machine get THAT when you’re not working.  Maintaining separate worlds as much as possible is the best way to avoid burnout.

5.  BE FLEXIBLE BUT ACCOUNTABLE

The best-laid plans of mice and men and all that mean that you need to be flexible in response to an unanticipated change in your schedule.  If something comes up that needs your attention when you had intended to be working, by all means attend to it.  Just make up the time later on.  It’s swings and roundabouts.  It all comes out in the wash.

6.  CARROTS WORK BETTER THAN STICKS

Finally, my favorite tactic.  Reward yourself for getting the job done.  Nothing motivates me more to finish a set project that the knowledge that when I do, I have full permission to curl up on the couch with a good book for a couple of hours.

Give yourself an incentive to get whatever it is done.  Then you can truly enjoy the best of both worlds.  You can relax and enjoy whatever your reward is, free of the guilt that comes with knowing very well you should be doing something else, and with the certain knowledge that you’ve taken care of business first.

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Copyright © 1999-2001 Fawkner Publishing

All Rights Reserved

If I Knew Then What I Know Now …15 Rules for Success In Your Home-Based Business

Someone sent me an email the other day. Supposedly General Colin Powell’s Rules for Success. Now, I don’t know whether they really are or not, but as I read them, I thought they really should be called “15 Rules For Success In Your Home Business”. So, here they are:

Rule 1 – It ain’t as bad as you think, it will look better in the morning

If there’s one experience universal to ALL home-business owners, particularly those running a business on the internet, it’s the occasional feeling that you’re just spinning your wheels, and not getting anywhere. The number of people who give up on their businesses just as they approach the brink of success is staggering. So hang in there and remind yourself, when things look bleak, that tomorrow is another day, things really aren’t as bad as they seem and things really WILL look better in the morning.

Rule 2 – Get mad, then get over it

OK, I concede this is more general advice than home-business advice but it applies in your home business just as it does anywhere else. Resentment and unexpressed anger really don’t hurt anyone but the person feeling resentful and angry. Have you ever noticed how completely unproductive you are when burdened by resentment and anger? So feel it, express it (constructively) and then move on. As the man said, “get over it”.

Rule 3 – Avoid having your ego so close to your position that when your position falls your ego goes with it

Over the course of my career I have, from time to time, met people whose identity and sense of self-worth is so enmeshed in what they do for a living that they literally don’t have an identity outside of their work. Because they rely on an external source for their self-esteem and confidence, they find it necessary to continually and relentlessly bolster their personal positions, often at the expense of others, often resorting to political maneuvring in the workplace to maintain and improve their supposed ’status’.

These people are the ‘empire builders’ you sometimes find in organizations. They jealously guard their power base all the while gathering unto themselves more and more responsibility, beyond the point of being able to do everything they take on.

Because their identity and sense of self-worth depends upon their position within their organization, what happens when their position disappears, such as in a corporate downsizing? It freefalls.

Don’t let this happen to you. Remember that you are something separate and distinct from your business. Sure, you can be proud and pleased with your accomplishments but don’t define yourself through them. Your self-worth is something that comes from inside your human self, not your business.

Ironically, keeping a professional detachment is more likely to secure the ultimate success of your business. Detachment brings perspective, objectivity and clarity, which helps you make better quality decisions.

Rule 4 – It can be done

Don’t allow self-imposed limitations to restrict what you can and will do. You can do anything if you set your mind to it. Well, of course, it must be something that is within your power – you can’t just set your mind on growing a third arm, for example.

But for anything that is within human power and capability, the saying “where there’s a will is a way” is so true.

Get into the discipline of planning your life and where you want it to go. By setting goals and planning the steps that will help you reach them, you can achieve literally anything your heart desires.

Rule 5 – Be careful what you choose, you may get it

Following on from this, it should go without saying that what you set for your goals is something you truly want because if you do practice the discipline of goal setting you will surely get it.

Rule 6 – Don’t let adverse facts stand in the way of a good decision

Keep your eye on the prize and don’t be distracted by what’s happening on the sidelines. Sure, you may not have entered the marathon had you known there were going to be 1,000 other runners but does that mean entering the marathon was a bad idea? No.

Make your decisions based on quality information and what’s in the best interests of your business. If someone else comes along who represents competition for your business, don’t be put off your game. Just run your own race. There’s ALWAYS a way to distinguish yourself from your competition.

Rule 7 – You can’t make someone else’s choices. You shouldn’t let someone else make yours

IGNORE your mother when she tells you you’re crazy for chucking in your nice SAFE secure little job to start your own business. Follow your dream, no-one else’s.

Rule 8 – Check small things

Like the fine print in contracts. Like the URL in that sales letter you’ve just put the finishing touches on. Like your spelling and punctuation. In other words, pay attention to detail.

Rule 9 – Share credit

You’ve heard the saying, “no man is an island”. No woman is either. Remember and acknowledge the people who have helped and continue to help you get where you want to go. Acknowledge the achievements of others.

Rule 10 – Remain calm, be careful

Frenzy and recklessness are hardly the prescription for long-term success in your business. In the face of unexpected challenges, unexplained downturns in business or failure to achieve the results expected, recognize that these are just part of the thrust and parry of business life and use a calm, methodical approach to the problem.

Don’t just react blindly or chuck away all your hard work and try something completely different unless a thorough, calm and careful investigation convinces you that you are completely off-beam.

Calmly analyze your situation and use your intelligence to correct the situation. Sometimes a one degree turn of the wheel is all that is required to get back on course, not a completely new rudder.

Rule 11 – Have a vision, be demanding

This rule goes hand in hand with rules 4 and 5. In order to set goals and plan ways to achieve them you must first set your vision. Think big, be brave. There is nothing you can’t achieve so make sure your efforts are going to be for something truly worthwhile.

Rule 12 – Don’t take counsel of your fears or naysayers

All of us have moments of self-doubt or even fear when embarking on a journey to an unknown destination. If what you have planned for yourself brings with it feelings of anxiety, nervousness, even fear, pay attention to them but don’t take their counsel.

They are symptoms of grand thinking, of stretching beyond the boundaries of your comfort zone. As the book says, feel the fear and do it anyway.

Rule 13 – Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier

This rule is closely related to rule 1. Believe that things will work out, that they will look better in the morning, that everything’s going to be OK. Repeat the words to yourself as a mantra if you must but instill a spirit of indomitable optimism in your outlook and you will attract success into your life.

Rule 14 – Sometimes being responsible means pissing people off

You can’t please all of the people all of the time so don’t waste your time or energy even trying. You have a responsibility to the ultimate success of your business and to your own personal success. If that means you occasionally have to say no to people to stay true to your objectives, do it. If it means you have to alienate some people because they don’t personally agree with what you are doing, that’s their problem.

In other words, stay focused on your plan. If others don’t like it or agree with it, too bad.

Rule 15 – You never know what you can get away with unless you try

If you don’t ask you don’t get. And if you don’t take you don’t get. Leave nothing on the table. If an opportunity comes along, take it. It may not come again. And remember, in chaos there is opportunity. While everyone else is running around like chooks with their heads cut off, you just bring up the rear and clean up on all the opportunities that are just lying there for the taking among the chicken scratch.

Hindsight truly is 20/20, no doubt about it. Perhaps, like me, you’re thinking that if you’d known then what you know now, you would have gone a lot further a lot faster. But as with any form of progress, it’s the journey, not the destination, that provides the education and creates the experience and, through it, wisdom. And that’s something no book can teach you and money can’t buy.

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Copyright 2008 Fawkner.com.  All rights are reserved.