I got lazy and stopped attending to my daily writing and reading duties as an online entrepreneur. On one of my blogs I haven’t written a single post since December 2nd. To say I’ve dropped the ball is a massive understatement.
What the hell do you do when you have a few sites going that have tons of potential and are even gaining momentum, but suddenly, a mad scientist injects you with the lazy bug?
Do you just sit there and watch it all go down?
If you want to ensure your online properties have any hope for the future you can’t allow yourself to be sucked down the whirlpool of complacency and indifference. Doing so is guaranteed to make anything you’ve worked hard on go absolutely nowhere.
But that’s NOT what we’re in the game for, right? We’re not doing this for our health. Let’s be honest here, we’re writing post after post, reading books and blogs and all the rest of it so that we can gains tons of readers and make the bloody mula.
You with me on this?
Laziness can hit anyone
We may enjoy what we do. But that’s not enough. Let me tell you something… the lazy bug can infect any and all people regardless of passion. And if you let it, it can destroy your dreams. I wish I could say this laziness and complacency that overcame me was a result of my busy schedule, but the reality is, it was due to my lack of will.
To be perfectly honest, I hit rock bottom. Not on drugs or alcohol mind you. But on incessantly watching YouTube videos, reading tweets, and in general, wasting time like my life depended on it.
Hopefully you’ll never get as bad as I was. And luckily there’s a technique that can get you out of laziness and into productivity even if you haven’t reached rock bottom.
Overcome resistance to work with this technique
The solution to inertia is putting yourself in jail. Not the kind of jail you go to when you steal a Twix bar from the local 7-Eleven, of course. What I’m talking about is called the ‘jail of productivity’. This jail, my friend, will guarantee that you get serious work done. And the best part is, it won’t let you out until you’ve actually accomplished something.
All you need to do to put yourself in the jail of productivity is simply set a timer and work non-stop until it sounds. This technique permits no excuses and leaves you with nothing in its wake except hardcore productivity.
How setting a timer saved me from laziness
Realizing I was letting days go by without getting much work done, I committed myself to setting a timer every day and working non-stop until it sounded.
By doing the above, I eliminated all outs available to me. I couldn’t watch another YouTube video, I was on the clock! I couldn’t check twitter; that’s not allowed while the timer’s running. Using a timer took me from rock bottom laziness to becoming a diligent worker.
I began my laziness recovery program with setting a timer and reading important blogs for 20 minutes each day and writing 30 minutes each day. The timer guaranteed I got 50 minutes of focused work in every day. That may seem small to you, but it’s a testimony that I’m on my way to full and complete recovery from my laziness addiction.
Why setting a timer is the best way to get you to work
If you’re in the planning stage of getting to work, this can last for hours. “Preparation” can consist of watching YouTube videos, reading the news, eating, TV, almost anything.
But we all know the truth… the “preparation stage” to getting to work is nothing more than procrastination disguised as necessity. Setting a timer, on the other hand, kills preparation. Setting a timer gets you right to work!
It also makes the work you do concrete. If you merely say you’re going to work on something, you have no idea how much time you’ll be investing into working. When work time is undertermined, your mind gets discouraged because it begins wondering how long and dreadful it’ll end up being which leads to procrastination.
But when you set a timer, committed to working for an allotted time, you’ve created a time frame that’s absolutely concrete. There’s a glorious light at the end of the tunnel which continuously entices you toward completion of your goal.
Where to find an effective online timer
I’ve actually created an online timer called Tick Tock Timer.
It’s specifically designed to kill your procrastination and get you to work without all the nonsense. I know it’s ironic that the very creator of a tool to beat procrastination fell into a whirlpool of non-productivity.
But it just goes to show you, any tool at your disposal, no matter how effective, is useless when you’re not using it.
If you’ve contracted the lazy bug, putting yourself in the jail of productivity (setting a timer) just might be the solution.
Give it a try.
About the Author: Bamboo Forest created Tick Tock Timer, an online timer that helps you stop procrastinating, get to work, and stay focused.
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