There’s always something more we can be doing in every business to get ahead. True. But in Internet Marketing it seems to be ten fold more than most business. Opportunities online are so quick and globally available, that we run into a myriad of ideas, tasks, and contacts that could help our business.
Why are we distracted so easily? As individuals in this modern society we can’t seem to focus on anything for more than a few minutes. Maybe it’s just me. What’s happened to us (me)?
I decided to interrupt the accounting work I was doing to write this blog entry… Actually, I thought of it while cooking dinner, and cleaning up simultaneously, plus taking care of the dogs, and a few other things. You get the idea. Right now I’m talking to someone online, writing this entry, eating dinner, listening to music, and thinking about something entirely different (hint – real estate)…
Why do I feel the incessant need to multi-task at this level or beyond almost every minute of every day? I couldn’t tell you. But I can tell you that this lack of singular focus is a major enemy of any business.
If you have a well-defined offline business with an online component, then you are probably distracted more at a task level… Should I go get some more links? Or should I write a new article? No wait, I need to update the product listing on my online store. But first, I should send that email to my list… You get the idea.
The hardcore entrepreneurs who can’t ever focus on one thing (that’s me – multitasking Jeff) have what my business coach refers to as “Shiny Penny Syndrome.” If you’ve ever seen the broad array of projects I’m working on, usually simultaneously, you’d understand what I mean.
Like a barracuda, I get distracted by and attracted to shiny objects. I mean that figuratively. I’m not just chasing money around, but all sorts of interesting opportunities and ideas. It’s more of an attention problem than it is a greed motivation. I just see an amazing opportunity and decide I should spend a few minutes thinking about it and writing it down before it’s out of my head entirely.
For this reason I actually keep a huge idea log so I can track the idea and then come back to it at a more convenient time. Of course, half the time I’m brushing my teeth and have to run back into my office to record the thought. Thirty minutes later I’m in bed and realize I’ve missed a key piece, so I have to run back to my office in my underwear and write down the follow-up thought, because I know by morning I’ll have thirty-six other things on my mind and won’t have any idea what I was even thinking about the night before.
Maybe this is too much information about me…
So whether your lack of focus is on a task level (is that the phone ringing?) or on a larger scope such as project level, it’s detrimental to your business. Now I say that, but I also want to stress that I enjoy multitasking. I don’t know why, but I like doing five things at once, and quite frankly I’m good at it. And, I’m extremely productive in comparison to other people. The real question is, how productive could I be if I could just focus on one task and project at any given time, instead of letting myself get distracted so easily (man that chicken sitting beside me smells good…).
So today’s advice is especially applicable in the Internet world, even if it’s not your core business. It’s VERY easy to get distracted online. Just poke around on YouTube for a minute, and suddenly it’s dawn and your wife is up saying, “Why are you up so early?”
To which you’ll have to reply, “You should see this guy ride his skateboard off the roof of this building!”
So let me repeat today’s lesson, since I seem to have gotten distracted. You need more incoming links into your blog… No wait, that wasn’t it. Focus! Yes, focus. I think in the past hundred years or so we’ve had much of our patience and focus erased by mysterious devices such as televisions and laptops.
I’ve exhausted my supply of food while writing this, so I guess it’s time to end this entry before I get sidetracked again. Just remember… whatever it was I said in the beginning. Do that.
