This is a guest post by David Lenton from PlayLowballPoker.com. Thanks David for sharing your insights with us.
I have two quite definable mindsets as an affiliate. Both share common factors but one has a positive expectation and one a negative expectation. I’m not just talking about expectation in terms of money here either. Let me explain.
Mindset A is a complete slowing down of the body and mind, a lull and kind of numbness. My brain is still actively thinking but there is some kind of mental block in place which prevents me from being productive. I’ll browse forums, read affiliate blogs and generally feel frustrated by the fact I’m not achieving anything and as a result I’m not as happy as I could be. Mindset A is most definitely negative expectation both in terms of potential earnings and potential happiness.
The most natural thing to do now might well be to describe mindset B, but I’m not going to. Instead I’ll focus on what it is you and I both need to do to avoid mindset A.
Mindset A is both a mental and physical lull and as a result of this physical activity is quite often essential when you’re trying to break out. On the days I get out of bed early and am in the gym by 9.30am I’m never ever in mindset A. Coincidence … I don’t think so, going to the gym or taking exercise in the morning forces your body out of a slow paced existence. A cup of coffee, two slices of toast and a cigarette followed by an hour in front of the tele is admittedly a much more appealing option but it has long term negative expectation on both me and my business.
People who say ‘Take breaks while you’re working, all that time you spend looking at a screen can’t be good for you…’ really get on my nerves but sadly they are usually right. Taking breaks during the day, stepping outside and even stopping for lunch all contribute to the development of mindset B. Fatigue is a classic cause of mindset A. Taking a break is like hitting the F5 key on your body and mind especially if you’ve been at your desk for like 3 hours in a row.
Achievable goals are critical for the long term prevention of mindset A. It’s all well and good, I’m guilty of this too, to sit there and say I’m going to write 10 pages of content everyday until I have a 1,000 page website. Lets face it this is a pretty unachievable goal and one that won’t breed positive expectation. You’ll start to get frustrated, it might be one day in it might be 10 days in but you will and you’ll start slow down. Being behind schedule will start to frustrate you and you’ll become less and less productive everyday. It’s pretty easy to avoid this all you need to do is set an achievable goal.
My personal daily content goal is 4 pages, I often do more and occasionally do less but I achieve my goal most days and it makes me feel good. Good about the fact I’m getting done what needs to be done and good about the fact that at the end of the week my website is 20 pages bigger. Some days I’ll finish the fourth article and be like awesome time to watch TV, play poker, slob around or whatever the hell I want to do and the best part is I don’t feel bad about doing it. I’ve achieved my goal for the day this makes me happy now I can go continue being happy for the rest of the day. I’ll wake up happy tomorrow, as a result I’ll get my work done and it’s all aboard the happiness train!
Achievable goals = positive mindset = Positive expectation.
Being happy allows me to avoid mindset A, in fact I don’t think someone can be happy and be in mindset A.
From reading the above, if you could be bothered to read it all, you should pretty much know what mindset B is by now. It’s active, it’s happy and it’s productive. Mindset B is the exact opposite in terms of production to mindset A, if you can avoid mindset A then you’re well on your way to becoming a successful affiliate.
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