Last week I had a call with clients on what their #1 challenge was while trying to start their Amazon businesses…
The thing I kept hearing over and over again was:
“I plan on working on my business 1-2 hours after work, but I get distracted with random things”
OR
“I can’t seem to be consistent or find the time to actually work on my business”
If you feel this way, you are not alone, obviously.
Even if you are new to business or a veteran this can be a struggle.
You could have kids, a demanding 9-5 job, or just have ‘real life’ issues that pop up.
Well, I’ve been there too (not the kid part yet, hopefully soon though!), and I want to share some strategies that have helped me and many of my clients overcome this common hurdle:
1. Find A Quiet Time
If your day just pulls and drags you along where you feel like you have no control.
Then you need to find a dedicated work time where there will be none of these distractions.
The best time for this, in my opinion, is early in the morning before the family has woken up and/or before your job starts pinging you.
For some of you rare breeds, this could be at night after everyone is in bed.
Pick a 1-2 hour slot where the only thing you have to do is your scheduled work, and nothing else.
Write this time down and stick to it.
2. Plan Your Whole Day The Night Before
On top of writing down your dedicated quiet time, you need to plan your entire day the night before.
- When you will work on your Amazon business.
- When you will take the kids to school.
- When you eat.
- When you have to be at work.
- When you want to get that lift in.
- When you want to be in bed by.
You will be surprised how much time and willpower you lose when you have to wake up and decide WHAT you are going to do today.
It sets you up for your phone, TV, and all other distractions to start dictating your day and pulling you around.
Be detailed on your plan, such as making sure you write down if you are going to be working on your bullets for your listing or finding 5 product ideas during your Amazon time.
This helps you get to work in that dedicated time faster, as well as your brain will start solving these problems subconsciously while you sleep.
That’s one out there, huh?
But if you look at any big thinkers in history, they would write down problems they needed to solve and wake up and magically have solved them. There is something there.
(I will put the notebook I use and some other resources at the bottom of this email)
3. Sleep, Diet, and Exercise
The 3rd and final solution is a boring one but IF you have a loaded day you have to jungle, you will want to be as energetic, clear-headed, and focused as you can be.
This all starts with Sleep.
Sleep is the #1 thing you can do for your health and energy levels for the next day, so if you do anything, this is it!
If you are getting 7-8 hours of sleep a night, great.
But then we need to make sure that sleep is high quality.
Things like eating 3 hours before bed, alcohol, caffeine, blue light (screens), and not getting to bed at the same time will DESTROY your sleep.
Don’t believe me?
Well, this is my sleep after a night of drinking on the 4th of July, compared to my sleep on a normal day.
Now this is an extreme example of course, but if you do things like stay on your phone too late, eat too late, or caffeine after 2 pm, you will see similar effects (drinking will always be the biggest one, I’ve seen just 1-2 drinks destroy my sleep).
Imagine you trying to be your best self and start a business, if you are only sleeping at 50% of your capacity.
Along with that, exercise and diet are extremely important to your efficiency during the day too.
If you are eating high sugar, bad fats, and processed foods you will be mentally foggy due to the high inflammation.
Along with just being tired of your body trying to deal with the crap going into your body.
Ever eat a couple of doughnuts in the morning, then 1 pm rolls around and you can barely function?
This is what I am talking about.
Simple advice here without going down the ‘diet’ rabbit hole is to just simply eat organic single-ingredient whole foods.
Same thing with exercise, you just need to move.
Walk, lift weights, get out in the sun, MOVE.
You already know how much better you feel when you get a workout in for the day and the energy that it brings you.
We live in a 9-5 desk world, and Amazon is all on our digital devices, so we need to find time to get that heart rate up.
All sounds like a lot, right?
Well, that’s because it is!
But if you want to start a business and be successful in your business these are the things that high performers do to be at their best.
People always think business is about strategy, that is true for about 20% of it.
The other 80% comes from managing yourself.
So now you have a choice, either keep doing the same things you have been doing that are giving you your current results…
OR
Make sacrifices and changes, to get new results.
That is up to you.
Of course, I hope this helps.