In virtually any line of work, you have distractions that you must overcome. An entrepreneur will especially have distractions that he/she will have to overcome. Some of these distractions are ones you can definitely control.

In this day and age of social media, virtually everyone is on Facebook and even other social media networks (Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, etc.) constantly. These sites will continuously have new content being posted from all of the users on these networks, and these networks are configured to alert you instantly whenever there is new content available on the network.

It’s human nature to want to know what is going on with family, friends, and/or fans/followers on social media networks. Therefore, whenever you get a notification that you have new content posted or a new friend request, you want to check what it is or who it is.

Unfortunately, this will take your focus away from your work. Thus, you have the ability to not log onto your social media accounts while you are working on tasks and projects. Leave your social media accounts to your breaks during work and/or when you are not working; let your family, friends, fans, and followers know this policy so that they understand why you don’t respond to their content as they post it.

A similar approach can be employed with your email accounts as well, such as Gmail and/or Hotmail. Both of these email accounts give you notifications of when new mail arrives or when a person wants to chat with you. You can stay logged out of those accounts when you are working, or you can choose to be logged in and mute or deactivate the notification features of when you receive new mail or a new chat request. It would be wise to keep the window behind your work or minimized on your taskbar (if you are working on a computer) to ensure your focus remains on your work, not on your email account.

Turning the notifications and ringer off of your mobile phone is another distraction you can control. This way, you stay focused on your work and not lose concentration on what you are trying to accomplish.

Therefore, the distractions listed above are ones you can definitely control to keep them from slowing you down when you are completing tasks and projects. It is up to you to take the initiative and stop these distractions from happening so you can produce the best-quality work you can as efficiently as possible.

To your success.

Michael W

P.S. If you want to learn more about building and developing your confidence, you are invited to visit Confidence and Motivation. This membership site has a level that will be just right for the level of confidence that you want to reach.

P.P.S. If you are on Facebook, check out Develop Confidence in Yourself. Here you will get access to articles and videos related to developing your confidence levels.

For virtually everyone who works on long-term projects that span days, weeks, and even months, their attention span and enthusiasm for the project can waver and drop off over time. Obviously, to complete such important projects, you need to remain engaged and enthusiastic on the project over the long term to ensure it is completed on time or ahead of schedule and at the highest possible quality. How can one work to keep his/her attention span and enthusiasm up throughout a long project?

A good way to keep your enthusiasm and attention span up throughout a long project is to focus on the post-project benefits and rewards you will receive when the project is finished and is done well. Of course, one of the primary things you will receive is payment, whether you work for a company or work for yourself as an entrepreneur or even an independent contractor. The monetary compensation you receive for your hard, consistent work throughout the project period is one benefit or reward you will receive.

Note, though, that it’s not just the money you will receive that should motivate you, as there are other benefits to think about as well. Think of the recognition and increased reputation you will receive from your bosses, peers, customers, and/or target markets when you complete a project well and on time. This can only the door to more profitable opportunities because people will want to work with you because you demonstrated skill and focus in completing a large, successful project on time.

In addition, think about the free time you will get after the project is over. All of the hard, sustained work you put in will lead to time off for you to recharge and enjoy as you choose. You could spend more time with your family/friends, do a leisurely activity you’ve been looking forward to doing, and/or purchase an item you’ve been wanting to buy for a while.

Also, think about how you will feel when the project is completed and has gone well. You will feel as if there was a giant weight lifted off of your shoulders. Additionally, you should experience feelings of joy and satisfaction from working hard on a project, doing it well and on time to benefit your business, your customers/target market, and your own reputation.

Therefore, when you are faced with a large project and have to sustain your motivation and focus during it, think about the long-term benefits and rewards you will receive once the project is finished. The more you focus on your work and the more efficient you are in completing that work, the sooner you will be able to enjoy those rewards and benefits.

To your success.

Michael W

P.S. If you want to learn more about building and developing your confidence, you are invited to visit Confidence and Motivation. This membership site has a level that will be just right for the level of confidence that you want to reach.

P.P.S. If you are on Facebook, check out Develop Confidence in Yourself. Here you will get access to articles and videos related to developing your confidence levels.

In order to succeed in today’s fast-paced, content-driven world, you need to be efficient at creating high-quality work, information, and products. This means that you can’t be taking longer than is necessary to complete tasks and projects at a high quality level. If you take longer than is necessary, you won’t be able to produce as much as you could, thereby negatively impacting your profitability and even your credibility and reputation. However, being able to work efficiently all of the time can be challenging for many, due to the constant struggle. How can one continue to work efficiently for long periods of time?

One good way to ensure you can work efficiently for long periods of time is to make that work fun. You may be wondering, “How do I make efficient work fun?” You can make efficient work fun by challenging yourself to continue producing work at a high-quality level AND doing it as efficiently and quickly as possible. You can challenge yourself to continue becoming faster and better at producing high-quality work in a short period of time.

Keep track of the amount of time you are spending on each task of a project and see where you are doing well and where you can improve. See what tasks are slowing you down to where you are not as efficient and work to improve those areas. Think about what is causing you to slow down when you do certain tasks – is it just that you’re not that proficient with them and you need to improve your skill to complete them or is your mind wandering while you are doing them, causing you to slow down? Figure out whether it’s a skill-based issue or a focus-based issue that is causing you to slow down and work to improve that area to improve your overall time in completing projects.

You can reward yourself when you perform high-quality work in a short period of time, especially when you complete a project even faster than you anticipated. You can treat yourself to extra time off, spending time with family and/or friends, doing a leisurely activity, buying an item you’ve been wanting, etc.

This is how you can make efficient work fun- treat it as a challenge to get more high-quality work done in less time. Keep track of how long it takes you to complete tasks and projects and identify areas where you slow down. Reward yourself when you perform as well or better-than-expected and continue to improve the pace that you work so that you can produce more high-quality work in short periods of time for maximum profitability.

To your success.

Michael W

P.S. If you want to learn more about building and developing your confidence, you are invited to visit Confidence and Motivation. This membership site has a level that will be just right for the level of confidence that you want to reach.

P.P.S. If you are on Facebook, check out Develop Confidence in Yourself. Here you will get access to articles and videos related to developing your confidence levels.

When many people take on a major project that lasts days, weeks, or even months, they have a tendency to take their time throughout the project, thinking that they must slow down their work in order to complete it at a high level. They doubt their own ability to work at a quick pace and still complete that work at a high level.

While you do have to slow down some work in order to complete it at a high level, many times, people will slow it down to such an extent that they become less productive than they could be, which will hamper their profitability and even their credibility and reputation. Many people associate the idea of having to work slowly throughout a major project because if they quickly finish off a task or an entire project, they fear people will think that they didn’t put enough focus on it, they worked haphazardly on it, etc. If they work slowly throughout the project, they won’t be accused of not putting enough effort or putting enough attention to detail on it.

The problem with this way of thinking is that people use it as a crutch or excuse to work slower on tasks than they really need to to still complete the work at a high level. Whereas at one time, employers, customers, and target markets cared more about the quality of the project rather than the time it took to complete it, nowadays in our content-driven, fast-paced world, people are looking for both quality and efficiency.

Businesses need quality content and quality products created efficiently on a regular basis in order to survive and thrive. Those employees, independent contractors, and entrepreneurs that take too long to complete quality work will likely be replaced by those who can complete that same level of work at a faster pace, as it’s the only way businesses can gain an advantage over their competitors in this fast-paced world.

Therefore, if you start doubting your ability to do quality work quickly, you will make yourself less efficient than you could be, which will damage your credibility, reputation, and profitability. The key is to remain focused on what you are doing and be confident in your ability to perform and complete high-level work at a rapid pace. There is a reason businesses, customers, and target markets turn to you to perform the work they need done or purchase the products you produce- you are a credible expert in your field, and you need to believe in your own ability to complete tasks and projects at a high level in an efficient period of time to be as successful as you can be.

To your success.

Michael W

P.S. If you want to learn more about building and developing your confidence, you are invited to visit Confidence and Motivation. This membership site has a level that will be just right for the level of confidence that you want to reach.

P.P.S. If you are on Facebook, check out Develop Confidence in Yourself. Here you will get access to articles and videos related to developing your confidence levels.

Procrastination is the act of avoiding something on purpose when you want to avoid it. This often occurs when there is a specific task you want to avoid doing because you dread doing it, whether it’s because you’re not very proficient at it or you’re just not fond of the actions necessary to complete the task. Many people think that if they procrastinate, it will help them to avoid the task they want to avoid doing. In truth, however, procrastination will just slow you down and cause you to have to work faster and harder to accomplish the task and any associated project connected with it.

When you procrastinate, you slow down your work by intentionally taking longer to do other work you find more enjoyable in an effort to avoid the work you really don’t want to do. Unfortunately, this will lead to you being less proficient because you are intentionally slowing yourself down on a task that you can do much faster and still produce the same or higher-quality work as when you are procrastinating on it. In addition, it will take you longer to get to the task you are trying to avoid, and if you are not as proficient at it, it’s a likelier bet that you will need longer to do that specific task instead of the more enjoyable one you are working on now.

In effect, you are slowing yourself down in two ways. First, you are slowing yourself down on a more enjoyable task that you could do a lot quicker and still do just as well or better on. Second, you are avoiding a task that might take more focus to complete well, which means that it will take you longer to complete that less enjoyable task. This will result in you either missing the deadline you set to complete your project, or you will rush through the less enjoyable task in an effort to meet the deadline, likely leading to lower-quality work.

As a result, your project will not turn out as well as expected and/or it will be completed later than you anticipated, all because of procrastination. When you procrastinate to avoid a task you are trying to avoid, all you’re really doing is slowing yourself down and leading yourself to perform work that either takes longer than it should take, is not as high of quality as it should be, or both.

To your success.

Michael W

P.S. If you want to learn more about building and developing your confidence, you are invited to visit Confidence and Motivation. This membership site has a level that will be just right for the level of confidence that you want to reach.

P.P.S. If you are on Facebook, check out Develop Confidence in Yourself. Here you will get access to articles and videos related to developing your confidence levels.