"Paralysis By Analysis" And "Pseudo-Work". How Much Is Your Time Worth?

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scottspfd82

scottspfd82

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"Paralysis By Analysis" And "Pseudo-Work". How Much Is Your Time Worth?

I just read "Four Hour Work Week", and while I don't think it's the best book I've ever read, it helped me realize where waay too much of my time goes.

I don't know about you guys, but I know for a fact that I waste way more time than I should when I'm on the computer.

Anyway, I probably could/should have realized this on my own, and I knew it, I just didn't do much about it. So instead of forcing you guys to read the entire book I'll just do a quick summary of what I took away from it.

Paralysis By Analysis

This basically refers to trying to absorb too much information all at once. I know I had this problem when I was learning the ins and outs of AM. I still have the same problem when I'm examining new niches, new offers, ect.

When you're first starting out it can seem like a lot to learn, when in reality there's only so much information that you need.

Once you understand how to buy a domain, how to set up a landing page, how to set up a PPC campaign, how to optimize for quality score, and how to track your campaigns, you're done.

You won't learn anything else without just going out and trying stuff. So if you already understand the fundamental concepts, and you aren't taking action, you're just wasting your time. You could have a $500/day campaign set up in the time you're trying to learn how much to bid on broad match or whatever instead of just trying things for yourself.

Pseudo-Work

This is something I'm extremely guilty of, even right now. (This post won't make me any money.)

Today I woke up with the intention of not doing anything for 3 hours except being productive. After this post and some lunch, I'm going back to the same thing, being productive. In 3 hours today I've already accomplished more than I have over the last couple of days.

My biggest time wasters are as follows:
  • Checking email too often.
  • Checking stats too often.
  • AIM, Gtalk, and other IM devices. I shut them off.
  • Wickedfire and other forums.
  • Youtube and similar distractions.
All of these things combined can end up killing a whole day. The solution? Check email once a day. Stay invisible or turn off all messaging devices completely. Only check your stats when it's necessary, more than twice a day is probably overkill unless it's a new campaign. Have a set time to get caught up on forums and blogs.

The old 80/20 rule applies here. 80% of my income comes from 20% of my effort.

Once I eliminate the other 80% of my wasted time, that frees it up to be more productive, or spend my time on activities besides rotting in front of the computer.

I'm sure this is common sense to a lot of you guys. It's been a huge problem for me though.

I guess the point is if you want to make more money than get rid of the distractions. Seems simple enough, but I never realized how huge of an impact it's had on me until this weekend. I probably have entire months wasted on "work" that doesn't earn me any money.

So, there's my tip for the day. Quit wasting your time, it's worth more than you probably realize.

I'm going to get back to work. In the meantime, who wants to photoshop a toupee onto my beer face? (Yep, that's my hidden agenda.)
 


I didn't read your whole thread, but if you pick up anything from 4HourWork week its essentially what you said. Unless you add up all the time you waste on WF, Checking other forums, email, checking stats (huge time waster if your stats are not changing often), then you really don't know how much time you waste. Add that shit up and you will be horribly surprised.

Sometimes I get "on a roll" and get more work done in a day then i did the whole previous week. It only happens when I shut everything that wastes time down, reduce distractions, and get to it. It especially helps if you have a list, prioritized out.

A distraction like a phone call seems like it only kills 2 minutes, but then you do some other time wasting shit before you "get back to work", go out for a smoke, then spend 20 minutes trying to get back into the flow of things .... There goes a whole hour!
 
Nice tips - I think Im developing OCD checking my stats.. major time waster!

Back to work it is then.

Dave
 
When I get in the zone, it's amazing how much shit I do. But when I get interrupted everything goes to hell in a handbasket.... phone calls,ims,forums, GTA 4, etc...

Stats are a bitch for me too, because you check them a lot when things are going great, just to see how much more you've made, and you check them when a campaign is sucking wind, just to see if it's picked up.

I took time out from setting up two sites, just to post this worthless post.:mad:
 
4 Hour Workweek is actually a good read and it got me to really evaluate how I use (or fail to use) my time. Eat that Frog is also good and along the same lines.
 
If you take the four hour work week, and make a forty (or more) hour work week out of it, you are going to be able to build and scale a company both quickly and efficiently. I've definitely seen the effect in my bottom line.
 
One thing I think for newbies (including myself) is that there's this, not fear, but apprehensiveness of losing money, so I feel like I have to check my stats all the time. I guess getting over that is part of it
 
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