Finish What You Start. It’s That Simple!

Sometimes all it takes is standing up, taking a deep breath, getting clear on the end game and tackling each task on your plan until they are complete.

So why isn’t everyone a successful online business entrepreneur? If that’s all it takes, why aren’t we all reaping the rewards of the 4 hour working week and living the digital lifestyle?

I believe the answer is as simple as people not taking the initial action of ‘standing up’ (metaphorically speaking) and not having a plan. Or they do stand up and do have a plan, but the task always seems to hard to tackle and the next episode of Game of Thrones or Orange Is The New Black is always a much easier option.

So, maybe if we simplify the tasks, and make the ‘chore’ of becoming a successful digital entrepreneur seem an easy option, we may have a solution to help us stay on track to living the life we deserve.

Here are a few solutions that help me get to the finish line of each and every day:

It Doesn’t Have To Be Perfect

My quest for the perfect way to complete something has many times seen the task pushed aside. Have you every experienced this? You want to polish everything until it is “perfect”. The problem with this way of thinking is not only will you never complete the task, but you will also never complete the next task… and the next one… and the next one… until all of a sudden you have 10 tasks half done and the thought of tackling anything is simply to overwhelming.

You must find a balance within yourself where you simply trust in your ability to do great work and to not judge it or get lost in trying to make it better or more than it is. It will only truly be great if it is authentic, truthful and yours only. No one else’s.

You will find, as I have, that over time this balance becomes a natural instinct. With each task completed you feel a sense of pride, accomplishment and growth and these things comibined will give you momentum.  Once you’re in a state of momentum, your ability to achieve is limitless.

Set That Deadline

I still do a lot of website design and email / social marketing campaigns for a lot clients. By setting deadlines with my clients I achieve so many ‘things’. If I chunk these ‘things’ down, I would say that i get a lot of shit stuff done on time every time.

Unfortunately, it has taken me a lot of time to figure out that I can apply ‘deadlines’ to my own projects. Including making sure that this blog post was complete on October 15th. 🙂

Now, I’m not saying that every single one of ‘my’ deadlines gets met. But give or take a few days, and my tasks do get completed! Setting deadlines kick’s my own butt and it is generally a great way to ‘not be perfect’ and simply get the job done. After all, a job done is better than a job not done at all!

Create Some Boundaries or Rules/Limitations For Yourself

The last part of a blog post or email campaign or website can often feel like the hardest task left to do and it’s very easy to begin to procrastinate and look for the easy out (dare i say House Of Cards or maybe Facebook…. just a little).

By creating some rules for certain tasks throughout your day/week, you can improve your focus on the tasks that are really important to your digital dream. Tasks such as how often you check email each day, how much time you spend on social networks and forums, how much time you take to go down to the cafe and grab that morning cup of caffeine goodness 🙂

Imagine if you only checked Facebook between 830am and 845am and then 845pm and 9pm. Imagine if you only checked your email for 5 minutes every second hour. Imagine if you unsubscribed to all that shit junk that you hit delete on 148 times per week and focus on creating better replies to the email that really mattered! Imagine if you made a coffee at home!

Imagine how much time you would have to complete the tasks on your plan if you just did these 2 or 3 of these things! You must admit that this would make a massive difference to your productivity, focus and sense of achievement.

By incorporating some boundaries like these into your every day digital lifestyle, you are more  likely to keep your eye on the prize and complete your tasks.

Chunk It Down!

What do I mean by chunk it down. Its simple.

I can say to myself that im going to complete a task… Let’s use writing a blog post as an exmple.

One way to say I’m going to write a blog post could be:

Im going to write a post on this topic, to do this topic i need to research this, this, this and this, then once Ive researched this, I’m going to create a story board and work really, really really hard to make sure that the order of my research fits into the little boxes of my story board so that when i start writing i know what boxes need to be filled and how the post needs to flow… once ive written the initial post im going to go away and do a little bit more research, then I’ll come back read my post and begin to edit it over the next four hours, once ive editted it to the ‘enth degree I will need to match an image to bring life to my post, so now im going to go through 33 pages of stock imaging and create a shortlist of potential images  that i could use and then I will……………………………………. OMG stuff this!!!!

Or another way to say this, or chunk this, is simply to say Im going to write a post!

Getting bogged down in every detail of the tasks needed to complete the task will overwhelm you and put you in an early grave. Chunk it! Chunk it like you do when you clean your teeth, or drive the car, or make dinner! Imagine if you had to spell out all of the tasks you needed to complete to drive your car from your house to the shops and back… you would never drive again!!!

In summary, don’t sweat the small stuff, trust your own judgement in the first instance and take the action required to get the job done. If you do this I promise you that you will achieve more in a year than many people do in a lifetime… or a digital lifetime 🙂

I trust, that you trust that we can all achieve a 4 hour working week. We can all achieve a digital life. So just do it! And if you need some one on one inspiration, then reach out and ask. I’d be happy to stand by your side and walk through this journey with you.

Enjoy and Live with passion!

Ben Morris
Digital Life Mentor &
Six Figure Mentors Elite+ Partner