Tips for Staying Focused on Your Goals

Getting focus and maintaining focus is a difficult task for many people. Learning to have focus is a process and will take time and effort. Stick it out and eventually you will see progress.

One of the most important things you need to do is plant your butt in the seat during work hours. Make sure other chores are done and not a distraction for you. Either do them before or after work hours—like normal working people do. That’s one of the biggest obstacles of working from home, especially for women, single men or couples that share household tasks. There’s always laundry, dishes and other things that need to be done and it’s so easy to think you can take care of those and work at the same time. For most of us it just doesn’t work. I’ve tried it both ways and my work hours are more productive if I concentrate on work and leave “home” work to its own schedule.

Another important aspect of reaching your goals is enthusiasm. If you lose your enthusiasm you will lose sight of your goals. Staying committed or even re-committing to your goals on a regular basis will help you stay motivated and enthused. Read over your list of goals as often as you need to.

Make your goals a priority. If they aren’t a priority, you’ll never reach them. Learning to focus should also be considered a priority so you’ll work on it.

Dedicate 30 minutes per day to working on your goals and staying focused on them for the entire 30 minutes. More often than not you’ll find yourself inspired to work past the 30 minutes and you will make progress. If 30 minutes is all you manage in any given day, then be satisfied with that. You’ve crossed a major hurdle already.

Starting is the hardest part, so make it a point to start. Once you get started you should find that you’re able to keep moving forward.

Balance working on your goals with your recreational activities. You may need to give up some recreation time to focus on your goals, but don’t give up too much of that time. All work and no play will soon wear thin and cause unwanted and unneeded stress in your life.

Create your own motivation. Listening to motivational speakers is a great way to keep motivated but it’s not always convenient and eventually you need to create your own motivation that you can tap into anytime you need it.

Give yourself rewards for accomplishing tasks. In fact, make your whole journey a reward. Celebrate every obstacle you overcome, every small step you take or task you complete. Instead of worrying about how far away the main goal is, be positive in the here and now with each milestone you cross.

If you complete those 30 minutes of focused work, give yourself a cookie or something, anything that feels like a reward. You’ve earned it and you deserve it so treat yourself.

Push yourself once in awhile. If you’ve reached the 30 minute mark, push yourself to go for another 30 minutes before you enjoy the reward. Doing this constantly will not produce better results; in fact it will probably create burn out, but if you push yourself once in awhile (at least once a week) it will become easy and help build your focus muscles.

Be consistent by working on your goals daily. Instead of spending one day per week working on goals for 8 hours, spend a little time each day so by the end of the week you’ve accumulated 8 hours of working on goals. If you only work on your goals one day per week it’s the equivalent of starting over from scratch each time. But if you build on the day before with a smaller chunk of time, the accumulative effects are far greater.

Be mindful with your 30 minutes per day. This means to fully concentrate on the task at hand and not let other thoughts wander in; stop thinking about your grocery list, who’s responded to your message on social networks, what’s for dinner. Be present in the moment and focus all of your attention on what you’re doing for that 30 minute period. It will be difficult and you will catch your mind wandering more than you ever realized, but once you start becoming aware of it, you realize just how wishy washy the mind can be…it likes to go places, with or without your knowledge, so be mindful and keep it focused on the matter at hand.

Make a commitment to yourself to stay focused for longer periods of time and keep plugging away at it until it becomes second nature. It won’t be easy, but it can be done.

Do you have any tips for staying focused on your goals? We would love to hear your tips and tricks.

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How to Re-Ignite Your Blogging Fire When You’re Feeling Burnt Out

A Guest Post by Glen Allsopp from ViperChill.

In 2006, at 17, I started a blog about marketing which was very successful from launch. In fact, the first blog post I published was linked to by 4 of the Technorati Top 100 at the time, and I felt like I was on my way to joining the ranks of A-list bloggers.

Yet, within a few weeks, I had already ran out of steam. I had plenty of things to write about, and loved the industry I was covering; yet I simply had no motivation to keep going. At the time, I just assumed that my lack of motivation was because the site wasn’t making money, so I left blogging and decided to start working on other online projects.

When I moved to South Africa at 18 in 2008, I had the urge to start up another blog. I didn’t want to write about marketing this time, but instead I decided to focus on the topic of personal development, which I was passionate about at the time. For some reason, things were different this time. Again, I loved the topic and I had a lot to say. And again I wasn’t making any money (by choice). Yet my passion was never-ending and I was left with over 150 blog posts to show for my first year of blogging.

I did end up selling that blog at the end of 2009, but that was when it was making $5,000 per month and had over 6,000 subscribers. Right now I’m doing the same with ViperChill – writing about a topic I love (marketing, again) – and doing so for a very small amount of money. Yet, I’m still highly inspired to write for the site and grow my audience.

If it wasn’t a lack of income that caused my to run out of stream on my first blog, then what was it?

The answer actually comes in four parts; all of which I believe can help all you regain the motivation to write for your own blog if you’ve found your interest to be waning. Some of these were made clear to me after reading the excellent book Drive by Daniel Pink, and I encourage you to watch this great video on Youtube which illustrates a talk he gave at a TED conference.

Challenge Yourself to Learn New Things

I think one of the greatest things about blogging is that there is so much to learn and test, especially when you’re starting out. Installing Wordpress, customising a blog theme and writing compelling content are all things that can seem tricky at first but become much easier over time.

It’s this challenge that actually keeps us interested in what we’re doing. It’s a challenge I believe I was lacking with my first blog, but found in my next (building an audience in an entirely new industry) and the one after that (writing new content in a highly saturated industry).

Is there something you can challenge yourself to do with your blog?

• Can you try to rank in Google for a certain keyphrase?
• Can you get better at networking and build stronger online connections?
• Can you write an eBook that helps solve a problem your readers have?
• Can you post a better article about X than any other blog?

If you take the time to think about this, you’ll come up with a long list of things you can try. This alone may be enough to help you re-ignite your blogging fire.

Really Interact with Your Audience

You may be wondering how this can help bring back your blogging passion, but the reason behind the heading is actually quite simple. As Daniel Pink points out in the video I linked to earlier, the desire to belong to something is a strong desire within us all as human beings.

It’s why people spend hours upon hours writing articles for Wikipedia or coding fixes for open-source software for absolutely no monetary gain.

It’s partly why people support different sports teams and wear their colours with pride and it’s also why some feel passionate about their gaming ‘clans’ which exist solely online.

If your blog isn’t getting many comments and the big bloggers in your niche are ignoring you then it’s unlikely you feel like you belong to anything. Yet one of the greatest things about blogging is the connections you can create and sustain with others who have similar interests.

Instead of waiting for people to come to you, go out there and email fellow bloggers, comment on their articles and interact with like-minded people on Twitter or Facebook. You’ll quickly find a new urge to start writing articles to get the feedback of your new community.

Set Smaller Goals

If I offered you a date with your favourite celebrity if you’re able to grow your feed count by 5,000 legitimate subscribers in the next 30 days, how motivated would you be to even try? If you’re like most people, probably not motivated in the slightest.

If I set the target to 500 subscribers, however, I’m sure you would be far more interested at giving it a shot.

When you read the success stories of people with over 100,000 feed subscribers or hear about successful six-figure product launches, it’s easy to feel discouraged if you attempt to achieve similar results and don’t even get close.

It’s important to remember that exceptional stories like this are the exception. It doesn’t mean you can’t achieve them to, but you shouldn’t base targets like that as your blogging goals. At least not initially.

Another great thing about blogging is that it tends to come with a snowball effect once you grow. It took me 7 months to grow my personal development blog to 500 readers, yet just 5 more until it reached 4,000.

Don’t be afraid to think big, but set smaller goals for yourself so you’re constantly achieving things along your journey.

Identify Your Hurdle

If none of these seem to be helping, then this last piece of advice – as simple as it may seem – could be just what you need. Though it’s possible to misdiagnose the reasons you’re not feeling inspired to continue with your blog, it’s still worth attempting to identify the cause of your demotivation.

I had assumed the reason I lost interest for my first blog was because it wasn’t making money, yet looking back I think it was because I didn’t have any challenge to overcome and certainly didn’t feel part of the online community.

Common hurdles bloggers face include:

• Struggling to see a return on your time investment
• Running out of content ideas
• Not having enough time to work on your site
• Feeling like you’re not helping people

The best thing about identifying your hurdle or “block” – whatever it may be – is that you can then look at ways to get past it.

If you’re running out of content ideas, then read some books on your topic or sit down for a few hours and brainstorm new ways to help your audience. If you don’t have enough time to work on your site then log your actions on your next normal day and identify time-wasters which aren’t essential to your daily life.

I could go on with this, but I’m sure you get the point. It may be that the blog you’ve started just isn’t something you want to continue with which is fairly common, but don’t give up until you’re sure there isn’t just a hurdle getting in the way, or another one of these tips that you can try.

Glen helps people build remarkable websites and writes about viral marketing. If you liked this post, you may also enjoy his guide to Wordpress SEO.

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Just Maybe… He Who Blogs Less Blogs Best

A guest post by Larry Brooks, of Storyfix.com

Or she. 

Regarding the title… it’s just a saying, no penis required.  It’s not your father’s media anymore.  Hard to cull the gender-based colloquialisms out of the language sometimes.

She who blogs less blogs best is every bit as gender-biased… but let’s move on.

When we begin our blogging journey, we are overwhelmed with advice. 

Most of it terrific, some of it downright confusing. 

Like ash from a nearby fire, it all settles on the emerging structure of our blogging dream, and what remains after the first stiff wind tends to infuse itself into the content-driven infrastructure upon which we are building.

A little purple, I’ll grant you.  Let’s just say we need to filter what we read and make our own way.  This is why blogging is always a lesson in life 

One of the best pieces of conventional wisdom for newbies is to saturate your site with quality content as quickly as you can. 

If you can begin your branding with a muscular archive in place, credibility ensues.  And because that can’t really happen, what does happen is that you find yourself putting up a new post each and every day.  Sometimes for months.

It works at first.  And then, after a few months a dark day arrives, usually completely unannounced, when you stare at a blank screen and realize you have nothing.

The well is dry.  You’ve said it all. 

It’ll be temporary, followed by a guilty flurry of contrived and slightly redundant takes (you’ll call it spin) on previous stuff.  Or someone else’s stuff.  Or completely irrelevant stuff.

Much of which will suck.  Thus deepening your emerging sense of depression.

But even then – especially then – the blank screen will return, inevitable as your forthcoming middle age double chin.

I’ve been there, suffered through that. 

And got the chin lipo to show for it.

Then suddenly – also in alliance with prevailing blogging wisdom – after 15 months online, I rounded an equally inevitable corner into Phase Two of the blogging journey.

I cut back.  Stopped posting daily.  Stopped demanding too much of myself. 

I no longer felt I had to sweat silver bullets to make the team.  My spot on the roster was secure, at least if I continued to show up and Play Big.

So I reduced my output to a twice-weekly pace, and obligated myself to doing so by announcing it in my News Post beneath my banner.

Nothing says commitment quite like something shown in bold red ink.

Great fear accompanies this transition from insecure, ambitious newbie to confidently cruising-forward niche guru.  But with great fear, mixed with the requisite desire, comes a sort of courage you never knew you had.

And courage, tempered by the right kind of confidence, almost always rewards you.

Here’s what happened.

My subscriptions had gone flat.  Same with my daily visits. 

Flat as the Neilson ratings for American Idol.  Flat as Heidi Montag’s forthcoming breast reduction.  Flat as Whitney Houston’s latest televised version of I Will Always Love You.

Soon after my Great Awakening, the numbers quickly, if not markedly, reversed.  Subscriptions and visits began to grow.  Pingbacks began to ping.  Guest post proposals began arriving from both directions.

All for one reason that had everything to do with the scaling back of my output.

Somebody once said that less is more.  In fact, many wives declare this the day they hit menopause.

Other than making money, this advice is golden in any context.  Ironic, because sometimes that’s precisely what it takes.

It was quality trumping quantity.

The transition had nothing to do with my enthusiasm, commitment or ability to deliver value.  It had everything to do with allowing what is perhaps the most potent essence of value to work its magic – I allowed time to enter the equation.

Fewer posts can mean better posts.

Such a strategy – functional only if your site does indeed offer a hefty backlog of archived content – rarely fails.  And you’ll know it’s time when your ability to conquer that blank screen makes you want to go do something else.  Like exercise.

After a day or two of power walking the mall, you’ll be itching to get back to it.

It’s like sex in middle age.  Less really can be more.  Nature steps in to jack up the stakes.  Anticipation is the sweet torture of impending passion. 

With or without a penis, you can take this advice to the blogging bank. 

Write less.  You just might find yourself writing better.

Larry Brooks writes about storytelling on Storyfix.com.  His book, “Story Engineering: Mastering the Six Core Competencies of Successful Writing” comes out from Writers Digest Books in February.  As you can see here, he’d really rather be writing about sex.

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5 Clever Ways to Make A Sticky

A Guest post from Stanford from Pushing Social.

No doubt about it – Content is King. However, the formula for successful blogging doesn’t end there. In fact, content is just the beginning. If you want to make money, create a loyal readership, or attract new clients, you need to keep your readers ON your blog.

In a word, your blog needs to be sticky.

A sticky blog compels readers to read more than one post. A sticky blog immerses readers in an experience that results in comments and retweets. Sticky blogs are more profitable than regular run-of-the-mill ones because they put more offers in front of the same reader.

Got your attention?

Let’s talk about how to create a sticky blog by studying the 500 million-member juggernaut – Facebook.

The Facebook Trance

In 2005 Facebook was catching fire in the US. It had just passed the 5 million member mark after just being in existence for 18 months. Although Facebook’s growth was incredible, what made its college-dropout founders excited was something they called – The Facebook Trance.

If you watched a person interacting with Facebook, you would see them almost hypnotically clicking screen by screen. Every click sucked the visitor deeper into Facebook. Every “engagement” deepened the trance.

Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s founder and CEO, soon insisted that every new feature should enhance the “Trance”.

It worked. Even today people religiously visit Facebook and get lost in a trance for hours at a time.

You want to create something similar for your blog

5 Ways to Stick Your Readers to Your Blog Like Glue

#1: Interlinked Posts

As you write, look for opportunities to link to other posts that add value to your current topic. Go ahead and note these posts in your editorial calendar along with the topic you are planning to write. Be frugal with these links, only pick one or two of your most relevant posts; too many links can become a distraction (and obnoxious).

#2: Tell the Story in Different Ways

People learn in different ways. Up to this point, blogging has favored visual learners who like reading and viewing charts. Now you can use video and audio to create a great experience for your auditory learners too.

It’s simple to read your post and offer as a podcast, or turn your post’s main points into a PowerPoint slide and offer it as video. You can take this one step further by adding a video commentary or introduction to your post.

The point is to appeal to your reader in the way that gets them to “lean forward” and gobble up your content. Video, audio, and visual slideshows are can’t fail tools that should be in your toolbox.

#3: Comment Responses

Have you noticed that a post’s comments can be more interesting than the post itself? This is actually a good thing. You’ve made your blog sticky when your readers actively respond to your posts.

You can encourage this interaction by quickly responding and following up with an “open-ended” question. Your commenters will get pulled deeper into the experience and “stick around”.

Try this: Take your most provocative comments and republish excerpts of them on Twitter. This will draw in a wider audience who can add reach and appeal of your post.

#4: Mini-Email Courses

Most blog posts are filled with “Why” and “What” information, but many fall short of offering excellent “how to” advice. This means that many readers are left feeling cheated out of the good stuff.

You can make your blog sticky and build a list by creating a “How To” email mini-course focusing on a specific post. Select a popular post and turn it into an email course or even an ebook. You’ll build a list that you can monetize with follow-up products. Bonus!

#5: Extend The Experience

Gary Vaynerchuk is a social media high-roller because he understands how to use multiple platforms to create an experience. He uses Viddler for video, Facebook for community shout-outs, DailyBooth for photos, and Twitter to tap into real-time conversation. Once you get pulled into the Gary V’s world it’s hard to leave.

You can replicate the same experience. Think of each post as a “show” that can be supported by other social media outposts. Ask yourself how you can use still-photos, video, Facebook updates, and tweets to surround your reader in an immersive trance.

How to Get Started

You might be wondering if all of this is a bit over-the-top. It isn’t. In fact, turning your blog into a “Sticky Blog” will soon be the price of entry. Anyone can write a post, but readers will flock to the author that takes it one step further.

With that being said, you can start slowly. Take a popular post and use the tips to make it sticky. Pay close attention to your stats and comments to see if your readers like what they see. I’m confident you’ll be impressed with the results.

Tell me, have are you making your blog sticky? How can your sticky blog be a competitive advantage and make you stand out?

Stanford obsesses about how to get passionate people’s blogs noticed and promoted at Pushing Social… except when he’s fishing for monster bass. Follow him to get the latest about his new ebook “Get Noticed.”

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How to Build a Blog Network from the Ground Up

Guest Post by Elle from Couple Money.

Getting exposure is a goal of many bloggers. They work hard writing and sharing their thoughts on various topics. Once they achieve a certain size however, growth seems to plateau a bit. They need a bigger platform so to speak and some decide to join a blog network.

Blog networks have different meaning for different people. There are networks that are business focused and the members form a more formal alliance. They share revenue for example. There are networks that are more interest based, with the intention of helping the members grow. The network typically is based around a common niche, such as personal finance. When I’m referring to blog networks in this post, I’m referring to the more informal network

Note from Darren: this is what I’ve previously talked about as Blog Alliances.

Join a Network or Start a Network?

However, for some niches it can be hard to join an established network, as current members have established their brand and they add new bloggers slowly. Understandable for sure, but it can be frustrating.

Starting a blog network is an option, but for many newer bloggers it appears to be daunting. So many blogs have come and gone that it can seem hard to keep everyone focused. Is there a way to start a blog network that can help spread the word of member sites quickly and effectively? Can any group of bloggers start a network and get their best material to a larger audience.

I want to share a case study behind the scenes of a blog network that promotes others and has grown rapidly.

Case Study of Building a Network

Financial Samurai had a post back in January about an Alexa Challenge. It was an open invite to personal finance bloggers to help promote one another and improve their Alexa ranks. It started as an informal gathering of hungry bloggers and in less than 9 months it has become a network of around 100 bloggers.

If you’re willing to work hard and have fun, building a (or revitalizing a stagnant) network is possible. In the spirit of Yakezie, I asked members to share their best tips on building a successful network.

Set a Specific Goal

The wonderful part of this network came about was how it was presented as a challenge. Having a specific metric to measure our efforts helped many to work harder. Competition and camaraderie can go hand in hand.

Develop a Pattern of Cross Promotion

One of the big phrases thrown around was ìselflessly promoting othersî. The idea was to get the word out on each other’s sites and learn from one another. I believe a successful blog network is truly collaborative.

It’s certainly one thing to say you’ll promote each other’s best material, but it’s something else to organize and execute that. How bloggers promote each other in the network varies, but there has to be some strategy behind it.

What are some things that you can do to help promote your network?

Mini Carnivals can be a boost: Submitting to carnivals is something encouraged to new bloggers, but lately it seems to have tapered off in the personal finance niche. The Yazkezie holds a network carnival, with different members signing up to run a small and tight carnival promoting other members’ best posts. It’s a great way for members to discover each other’s sites and to promote favorite posts.

Reciprocate when appropriate: You should never feel pressured to link back to any post just because they linked to you. Sharing great content whether it’s your own or someone else’s is vital to the success of the network. Providing useful material to readers is what will help your site and network to grow.

Some Yakezie members are meticulous and use spreadsheets to keep track of bloggers that have helped them by sharing a link. When the time is right, they are gung-ho with returning the favor. It’s a balancing act to be sure, but it’s worthwhile in the long run.

Make search simple: Yakezie has a tool in the form of a special search page that allows users to quickly check to see which topics have been covered. If your network hasn’t done something similar already, I highly recommend doing so.

Be open to guest posts: Sometimes bloggers get overly possessive about their sites. It’s certainly understandable to want to maintain a certain level of quality on your blog. You can, however, broaden out and still keep the spirit of your blog.

Guest posts are a wonderful way for you to expose readers to other viewpoints and topics. Coordination between bloggers in the network has allowed sites to round out their blog’s scope while promoting other bloggers. It’s a win-win situation.

Mentor Newer Members

When you have new members, it helps to get them quickly on board with the goals of the network and help them maximize content and monetization on their blogs. You can’t expect them to know what more established bloggers know, so mentoring them can beneficial.

Some topics that you can assist one another with include:

• How to handle advertising inquires
• SEO tips that have worked for you
• Blog and logo design feedback and recommendations

With helping newer ones with the above topics, you’re also reviewing your own decisions and may be able to refine the network and blogs.

If you have a blog network established, do you take time helping newer members with their specific goals? Do members volunteer to help one another?

Next Steps

For a network to survive, it has got to keep engaging bloggers and readers. An inactive blog network can become a liability. With a few leaders in the group, though, it can become a great to interact with your online colleagues and your readers.

How about you? Are you part of a blog network already? Do you have plans to start your own?

Elle has been blogging about personal finance and freelance work over at Couple Money. To follow Elle you can chat with her on twitter (@Elle_CM) or

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