Learning To Forsake Short-Term Pleasures While Building Your Online Business (A Rant)
It’s no secret that we’re prone to distraction.
A large percentage of people also tend to be comfort seekers— seeking short-term pleasures that trigger dopamine release to get them through the days of a life they aren’t enjoying all that much.
This is fine for your average Joe. But if you have higher hopes and goals for your life, you must learn to pave over habits like these.
And if you’re planning to build an online business (or businesses), being distractible and comfort-seeking are certainly at odds with this goal.
What are some habits of the distractible & comfort seeking?
You might be distractible and comfort seeking if…
You scroll social media several times a day - an ambitious person who is actually going to achieve their goals does not bum around Facebook or go into an Instagram scrolling stupor. This is a huge waste of time, your most precious and finite resource.
You can’t focus on one task for more than half an hour - if you’ve been online doing research for your future online business idea(s) and find yourself opening tabs that aren’t really related to this goal, you need to work on self-discipline and staying focused on the task at hand.
You spend too much time socializing - If you’ve got your house in order and are mostly on auto-pilot not hoping to achieve much more, then socialize as much as you’d like. But if you are living paycheck to paycheck with your parents, and are beyond the age of 19, this isn’t time to socialize anymore than once or twice a week. And when you do socialize, do it with people who hold you to a high standard of existence.
You make excuses for why you deserve relaxation time - There’s a lazy mentality that permeates our snowflake culture today that they are somehow entitled to relaxation. These same people complain that their life isn’t what they want it to be, but seem helpless about changing it. On the flip side, most people do work a lot of hours at jobs that hold no meaning for them, so I understand why they come home in the evenings and veg out. They’re comfort seeking! But - if you keep this up, you’ll never climb out of the root problem. Turn off the TV and dedicate at least an hour to investing in your future online business. No one is coming to save you. Only you can save yourself.
You are busy but not necessarily productive - Do you run around a lot “doing” things but at the end of the day feel you haven’t accomplished anything that matters? You could be falling prey to poor time management skills. I recommend having a clear to-do list for each day, making sure to prioritize the 3 most important tasks for you to achieve your goals. Complete at least these top three things each day, if not more.
Visualizing goals
I am shocked when I ask people what they see playing out for them in the next 3-5 years and they stumble around speaking in abstracts, not really clear about the answer.
Folks - goals are your map to life.
They are important things.
If you don’t know your overall goals, then how do you know which actions and steps to take each day?
Get clear on the lifestyle you want, what that looks like, then figure out the ways to make that happen.
Do you just want to work online? Or do you want to establish more of a passive mode of online income? Because those are very different paths. The former could take you the route of learning coding or web design while the latter would require research moreso in niche websites or Amazon FBA (as examples).
You will waste your time if you aren’t clear about what you want and what you’re working toward.
Accept Imbalance For now
Understand and accept that this might be an imbalanced time. It might feel like a lot of work and not much play. But this doesn’t have to make you dull.
On the contrary…
It’s time to cultivate a new mindset. Time to see the bigger picture. And time to challenge yourself to reach new heights.
Right now, my work-life balance is less than ideal. I spend a lot of time working my “day job” as a web designer & SEO specialist, while simultaneously working on long-term passive modes of income.
This means I work a lot. I just get to do it from my own personal laptop.
I sacrifice socializing, I sacrifice lots of pleasurable things. I sit on my butt for way too many hours each day which goes so against who I am.
But despite, I’m happy. I’m happy because I’m working toward my goals and I feel the momentum building, and this feels good and full of possibility.
Within a couple of years, I should be living out my dream lifestyle! (Because of the sacrifice and determination of these imbalanced days.)
In conclusion
If you are hoping to make a lucrative income online, know that building an online business takes a lot of WORK. No one else is going to hand you the curriculum and walk you through the steps.
It’s on you.
No one is going to scold you when you hang out with friends every single night of the week and don’t accomplish anything toward your goals.
That’s on you.
Can you do it? Can you value your life enough to really show up?
WELCOME!
Hey there! I’m Tiffany ~ a Web Designer & SEO Specialist. Here on the blog I write about web design, SEO, and running an online business. I hope you’ll find some nuggets of knowledge and inspiration and that you’ll stop by again and again.
Feel free to contact me at: tiffany@tiffany-davidson.com