31 Jan How to Overcome the Monday Morning Blues
How to Get Going on Monday Morning…
by Paul Barrs
Remember those days when we used to have to get up to go to work, and every Monday morning following a great weekend weād struggle to pull that tired old body up from under the covers and into the office or the factory or wherever it was that someone else was paying us to be?
Are you still there (maybe)?
I remember those days and if I remember correctly I could accurately say āthey suckedā! You know, itās been nearly 15 years since Iāve had to *do that* for someone else; itās what you would call āliving the dream baby.ā
The thing is, whilst the problem may be different, for many of us Monday Mornings are still the same ā we just donāt start the week the way we want to.
So hereās what Iām doing this Monday morning; from it, I hope that you will glean some ideas of how you can connect better with your business (your āpeopleā) and build a better income for yourself.
I started the day off with some light exercise. I never get into it too heavy in the mornings simply because this old body aināt what it used to be ā but I understand that a fit body builds a fit mind. The better shape my body is in day by day the better shape my mind is in and the better decisions I can make, products I can create and so on. Itās a great way to start every day.
Next I sit down in my āthinking chairā (my old comfy lounge recliner) and pull out a new copy of my custom weekly āto-doā list.
I created my own custom “to-do” list because I found that none of the plug and play templates seemed to have everything that I wanted for the running of an internet business.
But now, sitting in my chair I reviewed last weeksā checklist to see if anything needed to be carried over. Then slowly, between measured sips of my morning brew I begin to design my action list for the coming 5 days.
At the top of my list is a place for āConsulting / Coaching Clientsā. I have special place for these people as I am working with them directly; I create action plans for them and they go and do. If I say Iām going to *do* something for them I sure as hell donāt want to forget ā so at the top of my action plan for consulting / coaching is **check follow up list **.
Hereās the thing… I have a great client management program on my computer. It handles details on prospecting, follow ups, action plans record keeping and so on. But truth is, no matter how darn wonderful the program is, it doesnāt do squat if I donāt āturn it onā and open it up! First thing on my ālistā each and every day is to OPEN my follow up action planner…
90% of all potential business that a business could earn is LOST because if you donāt FOLLOW-UP!
… which then leads to seeking out new āpotentialā business prospects, or āprospectingā as itās called in the sales business. Hereās the thing, to be successful in the running of any business, you need to determine where your ābread and butterā comes from. This is the income that you generate that pays your bills, your wages, and your staff. Itās the stuff that no matter what happens in the economy, youāre still going to have to pay it if you want to ākeep your doors openā.
This is your bread and butter income.
For me, my bread and butter is local business. Itās been that way for 8 years and Iām sure will continue to be that way for 8 or more years to come. Whilst I donāt always āactively pursueā local business ābusinessā, I ALWAYS keep my finger in the pot; which for me means each month I make contact with a couple of dozen local business people and offer them free advice on how to improve their websites. Many times, this comes back to me as a job and revenue earned.
Remember; right now Iām just writing my list. Itās Monday morning and Iāll spend and hour writing my list while planning the week to come in my mind.
Next up Iāll look at how I can make new connections in the āinternet worldā. This week Iāll be looking to communicate with my JV partners. I donāt have any particular promotions on, so my goal is to simple āconnectā with some of them; nothing more. Iām just looking to build the friendships.
Next on my custom list is Communication. Now whilst it may seem similar to connections, I see communication more as keeping in touch in a general way with āmy peopleā ā you, whoever you are reading this; with my affiliates, with my members. Itās vitally important to any business to communicate with your people and hopefully have them communicate back with you. Itās always a good idea to ASK.
When youāre finished reading this post, please share your thoughts at the end of it in the comments section.
For me, writing this right now (and posting it to my Website) is one of my communication tasks for the week. I want to publish at least 2 personal posts and share with you whatās happening in my business.
The last two areas of my own custom list are Creation and Content.
These two can often go together but usually they will begin with the creation of a some product (be it a full seminar, a special report or brandible eBook), which is then followed by mating content which is then published on one or more of my websites.
But all in all, everything works together. This week I will complete the creation of another eBook for Free Viral eBooks. Once that is done, I will then communicate with my affiliates that a new brandible report is available for them to help with promotions. If I wanted to (though I wonāt be this week), I could also create a mini-seminar or video series based on the content of the book and publish it to Maximum Success University, or to my video blog…
… as a matter of fact, thereās an idea… I was recently contact by a new JV partner who asked if I could create some content slides for him with which he would then create some custom videos for me in a joint venture share arrangement. I could EASILY create some slides based on the subject matter of the book I was talking about a moment ago ā
Better go write that on to my list!
Then of course, once itās done I can then connect with my own JV partners and share the content with them. I could also communicate the message in another post….
Do you see how this works?
By the end of my first hour on Monday morning do you think Iām going to be suffering any āMonday Morning Bluesā? Hell no! Iām pumped! Iām looking at my list and thinking, āOK, thereās too much for me to do here, how much can I outsource?ā
And the week begins.
You see, the thing is, the running of a successful business doesnāt always involve āselling of productā; yes, you NEED a product to sell to generate income, but once thatās up, the most important thing you can do is start communicating with people ā talking to them ā not trying to āsellā them.
What are you waiting for? Go to it!
Paul Barrs
PS. One more thing… always be on the look out for time wasters. Right now as I write this itās almost 11 in the morning, and I havenāt yet opened up my email program. I havenāt visited any forums and I havenāt stopped by Facebook. In fact, I havenāt even connected to the net yet; because the moment I do, I know that there will be messages waiting for me, people who want things from me ā and things to do that donāt really need to be done today.
My tasks for this morning are simple: create new āto-doā list, write post about it, publish it, and communicate it to my people. Thatās it. Simple. No distractions. Iāll deal with them this afternoon.
PPS. If youād like a copy of my own custom weekly to-do list, you can get it from my Scribd documents account.
Enjoy š