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Home-Based Business Owners & Freelancers & Prioritize Your Tasks - Put off procrastination forever!
by Frank Lunn
Make
Forward Progress
You’ve set your goals, made your plans, now it’s
just a matter of taking steps in the right direction to reach
your planned destination. Taking action will help you cross
the bridge between your goals and accomplishment. One of the
biggest obstacles in your path is procrastination- the failure
to begin, to delay the start and ultimately leave your potential
wasted in the end. It’s
worth remembering that a week from now – it will be
a week from now and you will either be closer to your goals
or you won’t. Start by reducing some of procrastination’s
best allies. Probably the strongest of those has just two
initials …TV. Is your TV time cutting into your productive
time?
Take
this little test. Estimate how many hours of TV you watched
last week. Be honest with yourself. On average people spend
20 to 30 hours watching TV. If you reduce that even by a little,
you have more time to take the actions that will lead you
to your goals.
Try
these 10 steps to get past procrastination en route to your
small business goals:
10
ways to squash home-based business & freelance procrastination
1.
Identify your task list
of things to do and write them
down. Many times we magnify how much we have to do and it
overwhelms us. By writing it down you eliminate this in your
imagination and take control over your tasks.
2.
Prioritize your tasks
so you know which has
highest potential payoff. Strive to do the highest paid work
first. It may be tempting to knock off a two dollar task that
seems less intimidating than the thousand dollar one, but
keep the payoff potential in mind.
3.
Create task deadlines
for yourself and your tasks.
Having a deadline gives you urgency.
4.
Break larger customer's projects into smaller parts
or action steps. In just a few minutes, you could complete
an action step that brings you closer to your goal.
5.
Use your mood to your advantage.
Sometimes
you are frustrated, tired, angry or in a state not conducive
to your best output. This is the time to just continue to
work. Too often when we are not feeling like it is when we
need to push through and maintain momentum for a better day.
Even if it is not the highest payoff activity, in this case
sustained activity is better than no activity.
6.
Clear off your desk and concentrate only
on one task.
7.
Develop the habit of “Do it now!”
especially with small tasks before they pile up.
8.
Enjoy your time off and allow yourself to
stay fresh for your project at hand.
9.
Reward yoursself along the way.
Delaying gratification
until your final results is important, but small and targeted
rewards can help move you down your path. Target rewards to
suit your goals. If your goal is fitness, reward yourself
with a new pair of running shoes as you progress.
10.
Put the concept of incremental advantage on your side.
Add more time to your day for a slight edge. Get up a little
earlier or take less of a lunch break and over time you will
begin to accomplish more than you thought you could. Not only
will you get more done, but you will feel better and more
in control of your destiny. Adding 1 hour of productive time
a day is 365 hours a year that could be invested in your future.
This is the rough equivalent of an extra 2 weeks a year of
productivity.
Successfully
getting what you want or achieving a goal boils down to the
following components: STACK- Set your course, Take Action,
Accept results as feedback, Correct course based on feedback,
Keep on “Stacking The Logs!”
Overcoming the temptation
of procrastinating & taking action is absolutely essential
to this small business strategy.
Having
a roadmap without traveling keeps you separated from your
destination. Put off procrastinating and start down the road
to your goals.
This is an excerpt from Frank F. Lunn’s
book Stack The Logs! Building a Success Framework to Reach
Your Dreams…purchase Stack the Logs! visit www.stackthelogs.com
or email frank@stackthelogs.com.
One-tenth of the selling price of $19.95 will be donated to
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital to further the
work of: “Finding cures. Saving children.”
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FREELANCER'S GUIDE TO TIME MANAGEMENT The most common problem that freelancers face is figuring out the balance between work and the rest of life. While there are a few freelancers out there who don’t work as much as they need to in order to pay their bills and improve their business, most freelancers have the opposite problem – they work ALL the time. And that’s why there are a great number of freelancers who “burn out” after a short (or if they’re lucky, a long) time. In order to make sure that you aren’t one of those people who “used to freelance but got burned out”, you need to set limits on how much you work. Then you need to stick to those limits.
SHOULD I TURN DOWN FREELANCE PROJECTS? As freelancers, we often feel as if we have to say ‘Yes’ to every single job out there. However, we as freelancers are in a position where we can choose to say ‘No’ if we want to. Believe it or not, there are certain projects that you probably shouldn’t accept. Turning down work is probably the hardest decision you will need to make when running your business, but sometimes turning down a gig is necessary. In this article I will explain to you the details that you need to consider when you aren’t sure which route to take. Consider the following:
COOL IDEAS FOR YOUR BUSINESS CARDS As freelancers, we need to promote ourselves with business cards. How about putting yourself ahead of the rest of them by designing and printing completely unique business cards? You are about to take a look at the coolest and most innovative business cards that you have ever seen.
LIST OF FREELANCE FORUMS & MESSAGE BOARDS Looking to get together with other freelancers? Want to network? Want to ask questions about freelancing that you can’t find the answer to anywhere else? Look no further than the freelance forums that we have listed below. Feel free to let us know about forums that we have missed.
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Browse through our extensive list of free Business, Computer, Engineering and Trade magazines, white papers, downloads and podcasts to find the titles that best match your skills and interests; topics include management, marketing, operations, sales, and technology. Simply complete the application form and submit it. All are absolutely free to freelance professionals who qualify.
All Freelance Work is a Community for Freelance Workers Including Free Portfolios, Job Search, Job Posting, Helpful Articles, Forums, & More for the Self Employed.
