If there is one thing that makes all the difference between success and failure, then it has to be the management and utilization of time. How many times do we feel guilty of not being able to do our work as planned before we go to sleep? And how many times do we have to find excuses for not being able to complete a given task on time? And something that is even more frustrating: And how many times do we find ourselves working a lot and trying to utilize the time we have in the best possible way yet not being able to successfully do that?

 

And yet, we procrastinate and postpone when the best way could be doing it right here and right now…

 

Well as we all realize that for being successful, the time we spend must be utilized in an optimum way which means there must be a balance in it. For years and years I have tried to be a successful online marketer and become very rich by doing something that I enjoy doing… talking and learning and teaching what I learn. And for the longest time I was not successful.

 

Why? Because I spent half the time in thinking and daydreaming about the end results and the possible accomplishments. And then I spent a lot of time trying to research all the new things that were coming out.

 

The problem was… I was doing everything but what I should have done… taken some real action and created the content that I needed for my website and that I needed to submit to the directories…That’s the game…that’s what Internet marketing is all about (OK not all, but then most of your business depends upon the amount of content you are creating and the value that you are giving out in your content)… Initially you give away content for free and later on you start making money with it…

 

I clearly remember the day of my awakening to the truth… the day when I was reading and checking out all emails in my inbox… And then suddenly I realized that I had spent 5 hours doing just that…reading and checking out the emails in my inbox.

 

Needless to say, I was shocked. This was so not cool. I had to do something about it.

 

Now, I am not as dumb as I was behaving. I mean as a student a few years back I used to wake up at 4 am and then study all the way till 11 pm taking very short occasional pauses in between. I was creatively utilizing at least 14 hours everyday and I still got the time to do other things… I ate and I even played a game of tennis with my dad. And now, look at me. I was spending 5 hours just “checking out” those emails.

 

And maybe that was the only day I spent 5 hours, but then it is truth that I was spending 2-3 hours a day on an average just going through those emails and trying to figure out what internet marketing was all about.

 

I had been online for 23 months now and not yet made a single sale…

 

And the thing that hurts me most is that all the information I was gathering during that phase was the one which I did not really need to start making profits online. I was probably looking for a perfect way to start my profits online.

 

And I kept looking for 23 months…spending time, money and energy all the way to just end up in my bed each night thinking what I would do the next day and then again getting lost in the research stuff…Trying to find the perfect route…the smoothest and easiest route…

 

Ellie Drake says, “perfection is the killer of excellence”. So true…

 

I am dead sure that if I had spent those 23 months in working and creating content, I would not have taken 24 months to make my first dime online. I would have made it in just one month.

 

I now realize that the biggest mistake I was doing was I was not planning and managing my time well.

 

And then, the same night when I had wasted 5 hours I could not sleep. Due to pretty obvious reasons. And I did not want to sleep… I had planned for the first time in my Internet Marketing Career… what I will do the next day… Very much like I planned every night prior to sleeping as a student… What new topics will I study tomorrow… I write them down and somehow I managed to accomplish it…

 

So here I am listing some techniques that will help you plan your time well and ensure that you complete all your tasks at hand. Now I am an internet businessman and I do realize that everyone on the planet is not an internet business owner, but these time management techniques work well for all…. Internet marketing is a business where you are your own boss and that is where the toughest part comes… There is no one to ask for any sort of submissions… And you can easily “not do” things and tasks and get away with it without any tantrums and scoldings and warnings and pink slips… So I found that these techniques work well for home business owners and so definitely they will work well for anybody on this planet… students, marketers, professionals, business owners….

 

First things first. The basic understanding behind everything is the concept of momentum and inertia. These are the two states that you can be in… Momentum and Inertia…Inertia is the state where you are not taking any real action and doing anything. Instead you are just wasting your time. Inactivity, inaction, laziness, procrastination and guilt. These are the symptoms. You need to get out of this state immediately…

 

The happy state is momentum which is a state of energy where you are working like a computer and doing all your tasks at a rapid speed with ease… There is no willpower required to do things, doing your stuff becomes second nature and it is as normal as breathing…Obviously this is the state that leads to success and you want to spend maximum amount of time being in this state…

 

With these in mind let us dive straight into the real pointers which will help you practically. Make sure you are taking notes and not procrastinating on taking notes because this is probably something that you will never come across again… Internet is an evil necessity…

 

There are a few things that you need. Few raw materials…. A pen, A paper (actually 2 papers…A4 sized sheet will do…), and Dedication to make your life worthwhile…

 

  1. Plan ahead of time: Every night before going to bed, you need to make a list of all the things that you need to do on the next day and write them in the order of their priority. Now I do this every week… I make a list of major tasks I need to accomplish during the week.. On one single sheet (Not a notebook, not multiple sheets but one sheet…)… and then I make a list of all appointments like live shows, interviews, classes, meetings etc. Then I make a list of not so important things to do and add them along the days of weeks. These are like bonuses, if I am able to do them its okay… If not its okay again…

  2. Build up your momentum: Taking massive action at a large speed builds up momentum which is simply a state of high energy where you can accomplish all your tasks with ease and grace and that is probably what you want the most…Now this state of momentum does not get built automatically, you need to start from a state where you are not working and enter the state where you are working like clockwork… And physics states that momentum is equal to mass multiplied by speed. Which means taking massive action at a large speed builds up momentum…

  3. Keep looking at your progress throughout the day: I start at 0 percent and I need to end at 100 % and so the obvious route is keep the list of to do things handy and keep marking off the things that are done…Its important you will know why as you go out and practice it…

  4. Keep going: Do not take a break after the first task…keep the momentum going… When we are working we are in the state of high energy and we can go on work even after the first task is completed with almost s much ease and smoothness as the first task… Now is you take a break you enter a state of inertia and you have to do a lot of work to build up that momentum again… And believe me it is the process if building up momentum that consumes the maximum amount of energy and you will obviously need to keep the momentum going once it is built up…

  5. Make a time log: And as the name suggests log everything that you do in this time log if that task has taken you more than 10 minutes. You might think that you are taking just 5 minutes to have lunch where actually you were spending 25…And you might think that a short nap in the afternoon doesn’t bite where actually you were sleeping from 2pm to 4 pm and wasting the entire afternoon. Time log will make you aware of how much time you are wasting and how much time you are utilizing…

 

Now everyone is telling you… utilize your time well and this is the secret to success. Well it is an incomplete statement. The truth is that all successful people have made an effort to keep a check on the amount of time that they are wasting and automatically this will ensure time is well utilized…