“If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten.”
Picture: veyselkurucu
I remember reading that quote in one of the numerous self-help books I’ve thrown my eyes across over the years.
At the time I committed that line of text to the screen, I couldn’t remember who’s quote it was but Google reminded me it’s the work of Tony Robbins. Thanks Google.
And, thanks Tony. I mean that most sincerely, because I always come back to that line when my life isn’t quite going the way I think it should.
It encourages me to look at whether I’ve slipped into old habits or whether I’ve failed to challenge myself enough to overcome the obstacles.
Tony’s words also come back to me when it all gets too difficult and I’m ready to throw in the towel.
….And it occurs to me from time to time to do just that.
Sometimes it feels too difficult to juggle all that’s required to run the home, make the meals, do the shopping, walk the dogs, exercise, read with children, try to stay in budget and out of debt and a whole host more, whilst trying to find out where I fit into the online world and whether I can make any sort of a living from my endeavours.
My online activities thus far have been geared to learning about the way blogging works and exploring the vast potential of the Internet (and there’s still plenty to explore).
I’ve been busy educating myself and I’ve learnt a great deal, not least of which is the great fun that can be had in the blogging community with some very engaging people.
Considering how long I’ve been blogging (not yet three months) it’s going much better than I expected. My blog rank has gone from numerous millions to under 500,000 (though it couldn’t have happened without your support. Thank you). I’ve managed to land a couple guest posts with the prospect of another two before the year is out. I’ve collaborated with Tara and David to launch a great online fitness community with BlogToFit.com, and there’s still more in the pipeline.
All in all, it’s been tough this last few months and I’m probably about to make it tougher still.
Why?
Because I’m still getting what I’ve always gotten – fatigued, a little stressed and financially challenged, so clearly something or things need to change.
I don’t mean I’m going to work even harder (although I probably will initially) but I am going to try to work smarter.
I’ve been building to this for some time now, what with my plans, checklists and compartmentalising- and I’m happy to report it’s all working – but it could work better and I’m determined to make sure it does.
I’m ready to push the envelope even further.
I wrote a while ago about how I was going to get the online stuff done during the evening after the kids have gone to bed. Now, over a month later, I can tell you that I have had some success with that approach but it’s still not really working for me the way I’d hoped. I still find myself struggling.
Some of my problems come from the fatigue that sets in at the end of the day. Everything takes twice as long to do, my motivation wanes and I lose focus.
Some of the problems come from the hectic activity first thing in the morning, which then impacts on the rest of my day and I never really seem to catch up.
So for the last five weeks of this year I’m going to experiment with getting up at a seriously early hour.
I want to be out of my bed every weekday by 4am. I KNOW!!!! IT’S CRAZY!!!!!
But here’s the thing…. It worked for me before when my old job got on top of me and I needed to take the initiative. Those early hours where my brain was rested from 7ish hours of sleep were the most productive I’ve ever experienced. I got my exercise done plus all the important tasks – the ones that took me forward in leaps and bounds.
Now is the time to seize the initiative and change what I do so that I don’t have to settle for what I’ve ‘always gotten’.
The actions I take now might make a massive difference to the way I live in 2009, so I’d be crazy not to try.
Whilst I’m in such an experimental mood I’m going to try out a few other ideas to see what works and what doesn’t. You may have noticed I’ve started this process by changing the layout of my blog. I’ll happily explain why. But not today. You’ll have to come back for that. 
If you want to find out how I get on with the early starts you could sign up for free updates in your feed reader.
