A Journey with Time
One of the major challenges in affiliate marketing, and indeed in many areas of life, is how to make the best use of this fleeting reality we call time. After all, we just celebrated the New Year, and now suddenly we are nearing the end of January already!
For years, I have wrestled with this, seeking to become more productive, to find the best tool to use, to deal with whatever challenges I may have that prevent me from being/doing all that the Lord intends for me to be. I know I am not alone in this, as there is an absolute ton of information out there on productivity, use of time, managing time, etc.Â
Travel Together
I’m going to take a few blog posts, how many, I’m not quite sure just yet, and invite you along with me in a journey, if this is something you feel you may benefit from. Now, before you decide, please allow me to answer what may be some questions in your mind, with the first possibly being, who are you and why would I follow along with you on this journey, Michael?
Why?
- Let me first say, I am no productivity guru. I am simply a fellow traveler (time traveler? LOL) who has done a ton of study, using different apps and platforms, discovered much about himself and learned a lot about how to improve my handling of this slippery substance called time. Thus, this is for you if you have interest in improving your own use of the present and preparing better for what’s to come, should the Lord give you the day ahead.
- Second, I write in context of relationship, first and foremost to the One Who is outside of time, but Who entered into time for a short 33 years, and because of Whom we now base our calendar. But relationship as well to others in my life, whom we cannot live amongst without impacting. Every decision we make impacts someone besides ourselves, though we may not be aware of that immediately. Relationship also includes the context of responsibilities, pursuits, awareness, strengths, giftings and limitations, among other things.
- Third, I have no small amount of hands-on experience in the tech arena, and an appreciation as well for the way we are designed as humans, who were created and lived a long time on this earth without tech. So, pen and paper is just as valuable, if not more so, than having all my devices reminding me of things.
- Fourth, while I have not been diagnosed with any specific condition, I seem to struggle with what is called EFD, or Executive Function Disorder. This is often associated with ADHD, but they are not one and the same, and in fact, while someone with ADHD most always struggles with EFD, not everyone with EFD has ADHD. Put in simple words, I may have the best of intentions (i.e., planning, purpose, projects, etc.), but I have difficulty fulfilling on those intentions at times (sometimes more than others, admittedly).
- Fifth and last, how will this help with affiliate marketing? Well, if the answer to that is not already obvious, let me put it this way. We intend all kinds of things, with grand visions which we have been sold. But to see these things become a reality in our lives, it takes a bit of this thing called discipline. Sometimes, that word is a big, hairy, scary, fear-invoking monster of a word, especially when it comes to little things like doing the things we need to do on a daily or weekly basis to move the ball forward. I will be dealing with that, and if you join me in this journey, in my humble opinion, you may well benefit from the things I have learned.
Intentionality
Now, before I close this introductory, invitational post, let me share something with you. This is not going to be easy for me, because this all means that I have to be CONSISTENT and DISCIPLINED to write at least once a week, to keep my intentions in view and to follow through on those intentions.
Hold me to it. Together, we can indeed do so much more than we have done alone.
Comment below or subscribe and let’s do this.
Michael, your post really hit home. Although my issue is not getting the task done, it’s rushing through it. I have ADHD and struggle with slowing down and taking my time to complete and really play with learning each skill set for affiliate marketing. My brain is moving a million miles an hour, trying to do multiple things at the same time, and it feels like time is fleeting so fast, I must finish, but often finish quicky and not enjoy the journey or learn all the lessons the journey has to show. I appreciate your post, and I look forward to following your journey!
I hear ya! Let’s just get ‘er done and get to the important stuff – making money, right?
But at the same time, I’m finding that slowing down enough to recenter our focus on why we are doing what we are doing in the first place – what’s beneath making money – helps me enjoy the journey.
A great resource is https://www.additudemag.com/category/adhd-add/adhd-in-adults/, if you’re not already familiar with it.
Thanks Alison!
Hi Michael,
Thank you for sharing your story. I do appreciate your candor. I love also this talk about time. Just today I was watching a video that talked about time, one that we cannot control (biological) and one that we can (psychological) and I was intrigued.
It feels as though we may not be able to control some aspects of ourselves but we can develop discipline and other mental or spiritual aspects of ourselves to make the most of our time here on earth.
I am like you wanting to develop discipline and consistency. Sharing your intentions and holding yourself accountable feels enormously empowering.
I look forward to sharing this journey with you. See you in the next post.
That’s encouraging, thank you, Eleanor. I look forward as well to you sharing what you are learning to enrich the journey.
I can relate to the third point of your “Why?”. I certainly do like to start my time management with pen and paper. Then when I have a good starting formulation, I move it to digital.
I’m thinking your EFD has something to do with loss of time. In that regard and for a bit of comic relief I present a quote from Douglas Adams, “Time is the worst place, so to speak, to get lost in, as Arthur Dent could testify, having been lost in both time and space a good deal. At least being lost in space kept you busy.”
LOL – apropos indeed!
Michael, putting aside those 5 wonderful reasons why I should follow your blog, you completely missed one big one: you’re simply a phenomenal storyteller and your message was absolutely engaging. So, thank you for standing out from the crowd and offering something I was able to chuckle at. You’ve now set the bar quite high… so from here on out I expect nothing but this perfection in your posts.
And to think that I went back over those to see if I had missed anything and it still slipped right past me!
You’re too kind, but am so glad to know what I’ve set myself up for from here forward! 0_o
Hi Michael, thanks for this, made me stop and think. I guess there is very little that is as important as making the best use of our time, it is after all finite, and none of us know quite how much of it is left for us to spend.
I look forward to following along
True indeed, and something to remember daily!
Hi Michael, thank you so much for your post. I was thinking about it and wondering if you’ve ever heard of the 12 Week Year which is a program that Brian Moran came up with and founded. It’s basically based on the premise that we need to have more urgency in our tasks and tactics to get goals completed and the problem is most often that people think of their goals in yearly increments and what he proposes is that you have 12 weeks for a year and that’s all you get. So you’re going to have more urgency because each week has to do something to reach that 12 week goal so instead of a 365 day here it’s a 12 Week Year, and somehow with the accountability aspect, which is you meet with other people to discuss how we were doing on the 12 Week Year and your goals and the tactics you’re doing to accomplish them. Just with those two things combined. It makes it so that you could be super productive. One thing that I’m learning is that I have to make sure that my goal is Realistic and then if it’s realistic, I know that if I have the right tactics underneath it that reached that goal, I know that it’s something that possibly I can accomplish. One of the things you shoot for in the 12 Week Year is for 80% accomplishment of all the tactics on a weekly basis and that gives you something to shoot for because most likely you complete 80% of those tactics on a weekly basis by the end of the the 12 weeks you will have accomplished the goal. They have a Quickstart program and it’s completely free so all you have to do is go to their website 12weekyear.com and sign up and you can get and they will send you information on a daily basis how to do it.
Anyway, thank you for your post. It was very helpful to remind me to stay focused, and to value every moment that I have for my personal as well as my business life.
Steph
Thank you, Steph. While I am not familiar with the 12-week year, I am familiar with the concept from OKRs that you focus on a quarter at a time, and if you hit 70% of your goal, you’ve done well both in setting a good goal (aka, Objective) just outside of your reach as well as in pursuing the attaining of your Key Results throughout that period of time
Thanks again, and I’ll be sure to check it out!
Michael,
Time management is defiantly a tough subject. Especially when it comes to having learning challenges. I am right there with you in the struggles. I have dyslexia, mental retention issues and ADHD. What takes the average person 1 hour take me 4 to 5 hours to learn. This make time management extremely difficult and requires a lot of discipline.
Add health issues in with the mix and it becomes overwhelming.
However, with our creator all things are possible. He can do abundantly above all we can ask or think. He is the ultimate Mentor and guide.
Keep me posted on your journey & may we encourage each other along the path.
CJ
Indeed. In fact, I no longer attempt to manage time. I believe self-control is listed last in the list of the 9 fruit of the Holy Spirit’s work in the life of a follower of Christ because that’s the one that is so often the toughest to see any evidence of! So, I am learning to manage myself in view of how I am constructed and the impact of my environments. The hope (and my experience so far as well) is that time becomes more of a friend than a foe.
Hi Michael,
My problem for example is that I like the process of planning way too much sometimes. But when it’s time to take action, I procrastinate a lot. I don’t have this problem at work, but this usually happens if I have to start a project at home and I’m faced with distractions.
What I recently did to my bedroom/office space, is to declutter and decided to throw away or donated things I had around me and never used. Many of these things were actually other learning materials but never even bother opening.
In a way this helped me focus on one thing which at the moment is this Beginners Advantage course.
Great move, Albert! Decluttering your space (physical and digital) is one of the things we’ll be looking at in time, so kudos to you on that!
One of my biggest challenges in affiliate marketing is productivity. Very often, I will sit in front of my laptop for hours, only to realize that little to nothing is being done.
So I will be looking forward to any productivity tips you can share.
Hey Alan, thanks for your comment. I look forward to sharing more, and to hopefully helping you take the necessary action on your part.
Michael, great post and I have subscribed as well, just waiting for the email. I have to disagree with you on point number three where you said you have a little experience. From what I know of you, you have a lot of experience in the Technical world. You’ve helped me personally, as well as the whole group during seminars and calls you have the technical answers for pretty much every query. So you need to give yourself a little bit more credit. Thank you so much for your help in everything and I look forward to your next blog . Thanks, Atif
Hey Atif – thank you so much. Please check Junk Mail for an e-mail, as it probably went there.
On the experience thing, that phrase is what is called a colloquialism, or spoken “tongue-in-cheek”, so when someone says they have “no small amount” of something, it is a subtle way of saying they have a lot!
Hi Michael,
Yes time is the most important thing we have, once gone it’s gone forever.
You say you’re not a guru and need to improve your productivity and yet looking at the work you done you’ve accomplished so much great stuff!
Yet, we can and should always improve, especially in use of time 🙂
Great post and until the next one 🙂
Denny
Hi Denny,
Thanks for your valuable input and great perspective. I appreciate it!
I’ve learned to take a more relaxed approach to time, which has enabled me to look at habits I need to discard in order to up the productivity quotient. A balancing act, for sure!