Desperate Times Call for Desperate Measures

As i mentioned in my post about using time management software, I am taking several steps to stop myself from wasting all my days when I should be getting stuck in and doing my work.

I am going to get right to the point here. Below I have outlined what I am doing and a brief description of why I am doing it.

Uninstalled all Instant Messengers – This hasn’t been a massive time waster for me of late, but in the past it has been. I’ve talked about it before but I’ll mention it again. These make for an unproductive day. I think part of the psychology behind me having IM on all day is because sitting at home all day by myself can get boring. Not only that, affiliates can get detached from the real world. Maybe my thinking is that by being around other affiliates all day on IM it is kind of like going to a real job.

I don’t need IM any more. I have uninstalled both SKYPE and MSN. These are the only two that I use and I really don’t see any need to be on them. I have also blocked Gmail chat, which leads me on to my next point.

Simplifying My Life – I am a strong believer in minimalist living. I have only recently started getting into it, but already it is having an impact on me. Zen Habits is a great place to get started on it.

I use Gmail for all of my email duties. I have all my different accounts coming into the same place so I don’t need to check multiple email accounts. Going through Gmail today I realised I can set it to “HTML mode” permanently. The link is in the footer. This gets rid a lot of the crap I had installed, themes and other junk. I thoroughly enjoy the change. This also disables chat because it doesn’t have that feature.

Blocking Myself from Websites – As I alluded to in my post about blocking yourself from websites I am using a Firefox add-on called Leech Block. I have activated this again and added even more sites to the list. I have created several groups so I can customise it to my liking. I now have all the forums blocked, Facebook, sport sites that I regularly check and torrent sites that I use.

Improving As an Internet Marketer – As a gambling affiliate I am rarely exposed to much (if any) marketing outside of the industry. For a long time I have felt that I am simply replicating and repeating what everyone else is saying and doing. This is undeniably unrewarding. I am working like crazy to improve myself in all facets of working online. That includes business, personal development and life in general.

As you might have noticed I have been taking a look a some business products. There are programs that are accessible from some of the industry’s best performers. I can highly recommend Eben Pagan and Ken McCarthy. So far, for me, they are the pick of the bunch. Of course there are other big names like Jim Rohn and Dan Kennedy, but I haven’t reached that far yet. I can recommend BizTorents and Salad.tl

I prefer the courses that come in video rather than mp3 or pdf. That of course means larger downloads. I have more than enough programs now to keep me busy for an extended period of time. My plan is to watch one 90 minute lecture or so each night. I might extend that to two sessions depending on how I’m feeling.

I Am Reading Books – I have just finished reading “How to Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie. This is, without a shadow of a doubt, one of my favourite books of all time. I plan to continue to keep on reading books in a similar genre whenever I get the chance. Lately I have been slack when it comes to reading. It all comes down to consistency. This is the problem I face in numerous areas in life. I am “all or nothing” to the absolute extreme.

Living Like a Successful Affiliate – I haven’t actively started practicing habits of a successful affiliate of yet. What I believe are successful habits is enough for a whole new post. What I can quickly say that for me that involves waking up early, drinking tea not coffee, getting fit and active as well as eating right and doing Yoga.

This might seem like a hell of a lot to some people. I guess this has somewhat turned into a journal entry. This is not a pipeline dream. These are all must do’s in my life if I am to be successful. I haven’t completely covered everything but there is plenty here for me to start attacking.

If you want to get in contact with me, you can do so via this blog. Leave the email address when you make a post that you wanted to be contacted on. Leave a comment if you have anything to discuss on the issues I raised.