Monday Motivation :: Little Steps, Big Results

A couple of weeks ago, Darren Rowse over at ProBlogger asked me about my blog’s tipping point. I actually had to think about it for several days, and still wasn’t able to give him a solid answer until I finally sat down to type it up. The reason it was so hard to me to tell him about Sparkplugging’s tipping point is because I really don’t think there was ONE point that changed everything. It was a series of milestones that I, then we, hit together over the course of 2 years.

As I started out today I was poking around in Google Analytics and it was a little depressing to see that the growth I had projected wasn’t where I wanted it to be. Switching domains actually caused a dip, not growth. I then thought of that post - not because I’m on the verge of another tipping point, but more because I felt in-between tipping points. And sometimes it’s hard to stay motivated when you are on a plateau. But then I started playing around with their (new?) Benchmarking feature, that allows you to compare your site to that of the rest of your niche, in your size bracket. I was pleased to see that we were kicking arse on that front.

Sometimes we find it hard to see what we have done, instead seeing what we haven’t done. I know I am guilty of it. It was ironic that I was at first focused on our plateau, only find that no matter where our growth is, we are doing very well for our industry. I think there is a ‘glass half full’ everywhere, as long as you are willing to look for it.

So today, I wasn’t feeling very motivated. But I can take a few more little steps this week - hopefully you will join me.

So here’s the Monday Motivation drill:

Step 1 - let us know what you are going to get done today, tomorrow, or this week (your to-do list, so to speak).

Step 2 - put it in a comment below or a post on your own site.

Step 3 - let us know what will motivate you to get it done - a reward, consequences, or whatever you need to think that will ensure you do what you say you are going to do. I’ve found that the public announcement and accountability is a particularly great motivator, but throw down consequences if you really need a kick in the pants to get stuff done! Unless, of course, you are working towards a new laptop too, in which case I think the reward is particularly motivating.

We don’t care how you get it done, we just want to support you in reaching your goals.

Today before I go to sleep I will:

• Clean out my inbox of 304 emails

And before the end of the week I will

• Finish Pamela Skillings’ Escape from Corporate America (Last week I committed to two chapters. I got sucked in and read half the book. )
• Do minor updates to WendyPiersall.com (which has been neglected for.ev.er.)
• Write a course outline
• Develop pages for cart
• Develop a rough sales funnel outline

If I don’t have all of this done by the end of the week, I will clean my garage this weekend. ICK.

So what are you going to get done?