Distractions and Your Online Business
Written by Ryan Ambrose · August 18, 2008
Want to know a big problem with running an online business? They’re online.
Yep. They’re on that big, huge, distraction-filled wonder of our day, the Internet. The one with all the blogs, and social bookmarking sites, and YouTube, and online games, and…well, maybe I should stop here. Otherwise, I’m going to start indulging in one of my worst habits, which is getting distracted by all the things I can find online.
Distractions have eaten hours of time I could have probably spent doing something more productive, like building my business. If you let them, they’ll do the same thing to you. Fortunately, there are a few things you can do if you’re as distraction-prone as I am.
- Earn your fun time.
If you enjoy doing something online that’s always on the back of your mind while you’re online, force yourself to accomplish your daily tasks first, and earn your fun time. There’s far less guilt that way, and you actually accomplish something. - Learn from them.
You know some web sites or fun things distract you. Find out what makes them that way, and see if you could apply them to your online business. That way, you might be able to put your otherwise frivolous distractions to use in making you money. - Restrict them.
Only allow yourself so much time in a day to indulge in your online distractions. That way, you don’t find you’ve Stumbled or Dugg for hours on end to the detriment of your business.
Distractions are everywhere online. Don’t let them get in the way of your business. Manage them, and you can make your money and live a little too.
My name is Ryan Ambrose, and I’m one of the co-authors of Can I Make Big Money Online.
I totally feel your pain, my vice is reading news stories on MSN or celebrity gossip…did I really just admit that? I love technique # 2- learning from the websites that addicted to. Obviously they’re doing something right.
I’ve also found another method that prevents me from getting off course during the day is to allow myself time the beginning of every morning to eat my breakfast and scour MSN or People, but once I’ve eaten my last morsel of jelly toast my break is over and it’s time to get to work. The internet is always going to be a distraction but it’s up to each of us individually to combat this- self discipline is key and something that must be mastered for us to become everything that we can be.