Beyond Productivity
A few months ago I wrote about the power of persistence. I think that it was one of my better posts, and I think that adopting the habit of persistence and working hard is one of the most important habits I’ve picked up.
Since January I have been tracking my productivity. Besides having a log of what I’ve done nearly every day since I started, it’s made me be a lot more mindful about my productivity.
And as a result, I get a lot more done now. I can sit down with my laptop and bang out a batch of work without procrastinating.
I’m still not perfect, of course. Sometimes I’ll get distracted, or put something off a bit, but I’ve mad such exponential improvement that for me it’s not really even worth worrying about these imperfections. The bottom line is that if there’s work that needs to be done, I’ll get it done with no problems.
Back in the day that wasn’t the case at all. A lot of the time I would miss deadlines, self set or otherwise, or let stuff fall by the wayside. Just look at the archives of this blog as an example. There was a string of months where I posted 2-4 times per month instead of the eight I’ve been averaging recently.
So what do I have to show for it?
Well, things have been good. I finished Conversion Doubler and I’m just now starting to market it with the help of a friend who is “in the business”.
I rewrote Make Her Chase You. Sales have slowed down a bit from their heyday, but it’s still making me a bit of money.
Blog posting has gotten more consistent.
I started Daily 15, which now has over 700 people who check it every day.
All that’s great, and I’m really happy to be maxproductive.
BUT…
A new problem has cropped up. It’s actually been there all along, and I’ve been peripherally aware of it, but knocking my major stumbling block down has thrust this one into the limelight.
I’m not focused.
Look at all of these projects I start and then get distracted from. I have several more ideas for things I want to start, but I’m now restraining myself.
Even if we boil it down to the core projects of Conversion Doubler, Make Her Chase You, and this blog, that’s three major ways that my attention is being split.
Will I really rise to the top of any of these projects if it only gets one third of my time and energy?
The truth is that I probably won’t. Especially when I start to be drawn to new projects every time stuff gets boring.
Right now that means marketing. Conversion Doubler needs to be marketed, and I hate doing that part. I want to make something and let its excellence sell itself. But that’s not how it works.
Same with Make Her Chase you. I need to spend more time on adwords, rewrite my copy, etc. Every week I write a new newsletter for it, which takes up time.
But of course what is much MORE exciting is new projects. I have a really good idea for a book now - one I think I could sell like 4HWW. But I’m starting to realize that I just can’t divide my attention anymore.
I have a tough time saying no to anything.
That’s the problem I’m dealing with. I don’t know what the right solution is, but for now I’m going to stop myself from doing any new projects. That alone is pretty drastic for me. I’m not sure when I’ll allow myself to do new projects, but maybe I’ll know when I get there.
And really I know that this isn’t as thorough a rule as I should give myself. Really I should cut out one of my projects that I have now, but I can’t see a good way to do that yet..
(5 votes, average: 4.4 out of 5)
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June 22nd, 2008 at 6:58 pm
This is why I wanted you to read The Goal. In any system, there are at most one or two factors (”constraints”) under its control that limit its ability to obtain more of what it wants. Improving any part of the system aside from these constraints will not improve the overall performance of the system. In the same way, strengthening any link but the weakest in a chain will not strengthen the entire chain.
June 22nd, 2008 at 7:50 pm
Why not have your cake and eat it too.
Your able to produce great ideas and see them through to create a superb product, if its a dislike of marketing that is holding you back then pay someone else to do it.
Hire a professional copywriter to crank out great sales letters for you and more while you move on to creating more products.
Thinking that you can only handle a few products is clearly a limiting belief that is holding you back from greater success.
Do what you do best and let someone else take over the rest.
Look at Tyler, he gets Papa and staff to handle the business allowing him to focus on important stuff.
I’m sure you will overcome and triumph.
Bill (basil)
June 22nd, 2008 at 7:58 pm
I have no idea how much money you earn from Make Her Chase You, but I would imagine that you could make significantly more money from Conversion Doubler. Why not Focus on Conversion Doubler, make it your main source of income, and then start other projects?
It sounds like a lot of work to rewrite MHCY as well as write weekly newsletters, and from my understanding you aren’t all that involved in the pickup community anymore.
I hope that you maintain all of your sites, because I enjoy reading them, and also I assume that you get some enjoyment out of writing them.
June 22nd, 2008 at 10:59 pm
Perhaps, you have answered your own question. If management of your websites isnt your favorite activity, then hire somebody to deal with it. As for the daily 15, write up the next 15-30 days of stuff before hand. For your blog, you can write up some stuff beforehand that you post on days that you “lack creativity.”
Whats most important about work is that you have to enjoy it. If your passion is to start new projects, then by all means start them (but I would suggest adding just one project at a time). You never know what you will be able to accomplish without trying.
David
June 23rd, 2008 at 12:17 am
If you wrote a book I’d buy three of them the day it came out and send the extra two to my parents.
You kick ass in every area of life, and I strive to be like you all the time.
Thanks for the continued writing…I do really think you could do well with a book though.
June 23rd, 2008 at 9:04 pm
I agree whit has been said about hiring someone else to do the parts you don’t like.
Notice how, what really excites you is to *conceive* and *start* new projects. There is some other people out ther who actually gets excited about *marketing* … let ‘em have their share
June 24th, 2008 at 12:17 pm
I don’t know how much money you make total, but it may be time to hire a part-time assistant that you can mentor to be able to do all the miscellaneous things to keep your business running. At the very least, you can contract out things like marketing as others have said.
I have an assistant myself, allowing me to focus on new things, while they maintain what’s already there. The upside of this is that you have automatic feedback on your products, before they go to market, and someone to help you with the initial push. For example, in your case, you can still write the initial copy and the newsletters, but your assistant can edit it and get formatting right; I know I prefer to write, and let someone else handle how it looks.
You may not have enough work to keep them busy more than 10 hours per week, initially, but saving that time yourself can allow you to start any new project you wish. And it really won’t cost a ton; you can get good apprentices for $8-10/hour if you’re allowing them to work from home; most times they’re just looking for good experience and a mentor to help them better themselves. In fact, my assistant and I are about to start a project together split 50/50, and it’ll be even better than if I did it myself. Something to think about…
June 26th, 2008 at 3:54 am
Read about the 80/20 principle.
June 26th, 2008 at 8:59 am
Richard Branson (Sir) has 300 companies
I think its awesome that you are travelling and yet you still produce all these articles.
July 1st, 2008 at 10:19 am
Cut out make her chase you.
Its clearly not a passion of yours. If you really wanted it to be a big thing you’d be out in the field every day and doing seminars and things like that. Your blog is more of a hobby and I don’t think you have to be as strict on yourself in updating it.
Conversion Doubler for me looks like the thing that adds the most tangible value and also has the most money making potential. I reckon it could make you millions (it might not but it has the best chance of the three in the medium term)
http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2008/05/the-value-of-ideas/
(steve on value vs implementation)