I'm in Traffic Exchange Live, chatting with Jon Olson and John Guanzon. Literally typing this while chatting with them. The topic? Burnout, balance, and motivation.
One of the hardest things I find is keeping a healthy level of motivation. I tend to go in spurts of doing a ton of work, and then being so unmotivated to do anything. It's really hard to keep it a constant. So what do you do when you are down and out, totally unmotivated?
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I am down and out! unemployed for 14 months, this is what keeps me motivated. I’m making about $100 a month online, but it is growing. Just wish it would happen faster! tdemex
Terry I really understand your situation. I put up a link on twitter once a day of paying no cost to earn sites, If it’ll help you you can follow me. Good Luck!
pat h aka incensedude
It’s easy when you have 2 baby bulldogs a 10 month old grandson to watch over. Oh and 2 daughters who think the house is a laundry bin not forgetting a wife who works out of the house and who has forgotten what it was like to be a stay at home parent housekeeper chauffreur etc. Although she did it for 15 years so you’d think that would have left and impression wouldn’t you lol???!!! Any way I live for my time to market and those pain in the butts I mentioned above are my inspiration. For good or bad I wouldn’t change any of it except maybe the laundry thing!
Get a team who are relying on you to take care of all the little stuff that keeps a team running! That’s motivation! When it’s just you and you are trying to make it work, it’s easy to just say, I am going to take a day off or I am going to drop this.
Add a little pressure and it’s easy to stay motivated or someone is emailing you wondering what’s happening! The best way to stay on top of it is with lists that you can check off, the more focused I am on tasks, the more likely I am to get things done. Also, don’t watch you tracking all the time, it can be a bummer when your new “awesome” pages tank! Earle
Hi Tim, what keeps me motivated and pushes me to surf traffic exchanges and to mail ads till the end of time, is my plan for my son’s future. I want to get the best education for him in my country. Also the goal to live better and safer…
Be well
Ivan Golemdzhiyski
There is one thing that keeps me going on: the thought that the difference between losers and winners is Giving Up.
When I make a sale I start duplicating my promotion but if something doesn’t work I often leave it and move on to better products that sell. The truth is that not all the offers sell the best, only about 10 % I’d say. That’s a part of the game.
Hi Tim,
I’m exactly like you. Some days/weeks I’ll work and work like no tomorrow. Then some days/weeks I just get in a rut where I just don’t feel like doing anything.
To keep me motivated I usually look at my income I made from the month before and remind myself that if I want to beat it I need to work for it.
Chris.
I see the individual in the responses and feel selfish in regards to mine. I finished an 18 year marriage last month have 3 kids dependent on me succeeding on my own. I am so proud of myself for jumping off the proverbial cliff and am now having a blast! Am I making money…no! Have I learned a lot…yes! Will I succeed …yes. Why? because I am focused on doing so. How? By getting the best resources and using them. I now believe in myself when I had not before.
Believe…Do…Succeed!
Hi Tim and All,
What keeps me motivated, is life itself!
I do work out side of the home,my hubby is very sick..
After I come home, cook and clean to get ready for the nest day..I take a long leisurely bubble bath…While in bath, I do not worry about anything…I just forget about the previous day and think of me..
Thanks,
Shirlene
P.S. Do not mean to offend any-one, this is just the way I do it. Do not worry any more if I surfed enough sites today to keep active. My life is more important than than a few clicks per day
I’m like you, Tim. But I think, at least for me, it is because the days I’m overly gung-ho, I tend to put in way too many hours. I set a goal and keep at it until I’m satisfied that I’ve made sufficient progress. But enough of these days in a row, and I tend to get burnt out on it, then need to focus on something totally unrelated for a day or two. I suppose the actual amount of time I put in all evens out in the end, and I would be better off if I just paced myself and set time limits of how many hours to invest per day.
It can be tough to stay motivated, but I try to keep my eye on the ultimate goal & keep promoting my business. Also, my family is the main motivator.
Well, I have to say there are three things that keep me motivated – the first being my members – they are just awesome – love hearing that they got a referral, won some cash and chatting with them in our shared chat. Helping others keep me going.
The 2nd is getting to my email account and seeing you have referral, you have money received in paypal or alertpay – that lets me know that what I’m doing is working and that keeps me wanting to keep going.
Third, like everyone else I need the money and being unemployed this pays the bills.
I was so there last year. Just started my online business, then two deaths in my family so felt I couldn’t care less about it. I told myself every day (even when not feeling that way) how great it was to start my business.
I didn’t have much of a head for planning, and it was not easy trying to learn in those circumstances. A lot of the time I only could surf. I just did what I could. Kept getting back in every day.
I found the key to getting yourself up and motivated is the version of your story that you tell to yourself even when you do feel totally down.
For my partner and I it is the members how well they are dong or not to see the numbers climb and know that we have had a good week.
Having the ad exchanges at last after so long of waiting is motivating me.
We have so much to do to improve them. The week we have just had has been amazing a new site with 512 members after 8 days will motivate up for long time.
I sit here late at night having said goodnight to my partner 3500 miles away and I just worry because he will stay up to late without me to make him go to bed. I think we are motivated to go on to better things for all 8 sites.
I shall remember this when we are tired and have had enough that it is all there still to be done tomorrow. I thank God that I have what I have.
That happens, I believe the main motivation is first making a living, then once you are achieving that it is making a difference and an impact. If neither of those two are happenings then it is really hard to stay motivated, except to hope that somehow you can if you keep at it that it will happen. If those are happening, a good way to keep motivated is to journal it and look at it to try and map it out, so you can break it down to a daily level.
There will always be highs and lows, another thing to keep in mind is not to focus on how you feel at the time, but what you know, i.e. that if you do x, y, and z odds are good you will achieve such and such. Knowledge should drive your work, while the feelings take a back seat. I believe the most difficult times are when you are trying to find out what works and doesn’t and struggling through failure after failure. Success tends to motivate, failure tends to deflate.
Lastly, the business should be a means to an end and not an end in itself, just keeping that in perspective is an important motivator.
i’m one of those positve thinking ppl… i pray alot, and i just stay pretty upbeat, i dunno why but thats how i am, and i have alot of fun surfing or just hanging out with freinds and family…. i’ve been pretty blessed most of my life. but i think what motivates me now is being able to help other ppl.. it makes u feel good to help others ;)
I think the main thing is that you have to do something you like. There are many ways to make money on the Internet, and one person just can’t do it all. So it is important to find something you really like doing day after day and focus on that.
Then the motivation comes more easily!
Right now I feel so blessed. I have two jobs that are my dream jobs. I am a Rehabilitation Practitioner by day and a fitness instructor two evenings a week. I have two grown sons that just moved back home and a marriage that has lasted 29 years. However, the pay is poor and I know that jobs do not last forever, nor does your health. Two and a half years ago I had a heart attack. I was only 51. To keep motivated, I have a plan each day to accomplish certain tasks that I have set for myself. Then I reward myself with something fun. Life is too short to have regrets.
Hi Tim,
When I can’t get myself going, I take myself to the ocean and fill my lungs with salty air and let the wind blow the cobwebs away. Usually only takes about 20 minutes to restore my motivation to earn a living so I can stay by the ocean to restore my motivation so I can…hmmm, I thought I was in a rut, but it looks like it’s more of a circle!
Seriously, the only way I can motivate myself for the mundane, boring tasks is by promising myself a nice treat when I finish.
Lynne
Interesting to see this discussion here. I too am pretty wiped out at the moment, working too much and haven’t really got much of a life off the computer. What keeps me going is knowing that this is my choice, that I am making progress with my skills and online biz, and that the money is coming in. And like Lynne, I go to the beach to feel good. Also spend time with my kids and cats, they keep me tied in with the “real” world.
From Tim
“One of the hardest things I find is keeping a healthy level of motivation. I tend to go in spurts of doing a ton of work, and then being so unmotivated to do anything. It’s really hard to keep it a constant. So what do you do when you are down and out, totally unmotivated?”
After practicing, consulting and observing business practices for over 45 years, I find there nothing wrong with the Spurts.
Many VERY Creative people operate that way…
Massive, almost superhuman, Creative Effort for a period of time and then a restful time to re-group.
I believe the MYTH of continued High level performance represents a Hold to the EMPLOYEE Mentality.
Most of the TRULY successful Entrepreneurs I have been privileged to work with exhibit that Fluctuating Energy..
But they NEVER lose sight of their Definite Major Purpose..Waht to do?
In Tim’s case it is easy, just look at his Family for a moment and the Motivation is there. True for all of us.
But also Important to look Seriously in the Mirror each evening and reflect HOW YOU HAVE satisfied the few Simple tasks you charged yourself with each Morning.
As ole’ Will said a few hundred years ago…
“to thy own self be TRUE”
I am retired and on a pention and SSI. So the internet is my fun place.I have 3 goals.
Help newbies with simple tasks.I surf TX’s till I get 100 points in 10 of them. I do inhouse surfing at safelists that let me store my ads.I go in,assign my ads and leave. Out of credits? Internal surf. If I do not like the safelist, I let it run out of credits.I like honest biz on the net. The one I do is groceries. No gifting.
Tim, I would love to see you redo the scam article.
i keep myself motivated by knowing the future has to be better then the past little at a time it’s getting better.
I do the spurts also, but I find that my biggest motivator is that I have fun and enjoy working online.
You can’t stay motivated no matter how many beach trips you take… if you don’t enjoy what your doing.
I read one comment above about mundane tasks… didn’t sound as if there was much enjoyment there!
If there is no enjoyment in the tasks involved in running Your business, how long do you expect to be in business?
Who would you rather buy from or be affiliated with… someone who is excited about the products or services they offer, or someone who is just going through the motions to earn a buck?
Who do you think would be more likely to succeed?
If your hell bent about earning a living working online, then find something that you enjoy… a niche that your passionate about and run with it. Your success will be your motivator… why? cause you are actually having fun. You enjoy what you are doing!
DA
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