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Do The Work Right From The Start To Accomplish Goals Within Their Deadlines

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Last Minute Stress

When we give ourselves a deadline, many people make the mistake of doing the work as the deadline approaches. Some authors give themselves a month to write a book they were supposed to write within a year. As the deadline approaches, we put in more work than we have ever put in before.

Instead of living the crunch time lifestyle as the deadline approaches, why not do the work in the beginning. I was recently listening to one of Seth Godin’s lectures, and he explained what happens when people work in the beginning and when people start working as the deadline gets dangerously close.

The people who work in the beginning are able to get their goals accomplished before the deadline. Working in the beginning and finishing before the deadline will give you the overdelivering effect which is always good to have.

The people who start working towards the deadline create an overwhelming schedule that is virtually impossible to implement unless sacrifices are made for that period of time. Some bloggers who try to write a book sacrifice updating their blog to add content to their books as the deadline approaches.

Working in the beginning will save you a lot of time and stress. Starting to work towards the end will result in deadlines that are not reached. The reason most people do not get their New Year’s resolutions accomplished is because they start working to accomplish their resolutions with 6 weeks to go before the New Year.

There are two choices that you have. You can either start early or rush in a desperate attempt to get some goals accomplished as the deadlines approach. Your best bet is to start early so you aren’t cramming everything in later.

 

A Goal Without A Plan Is Just A Wish

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Shooting Star

It is easy to give yourself a goal and write it down. Getting that goal accomplished is not.

Most people go into their goals without giving themselves any kind of plan to get there. If you want to double your sales, how are you going to make that happen. The only way to make your goal happen is by giving yourself a plan and implementing that plan.

I find it annoying when people wish upon a star. Most people who wish upon a star simply wish for something to happen, and just by making the wish, most people expect that wish to automatically happen. No matter how many stars you wish upon, that goal will not get accomplished without a plan.

A goal without a plan is just a wish such as becoming a professional athlete and have a big house. How could those things possible happen? Creating the right plan will allow you to experience the results you want to see.

Stop wishing and start planning.

 

How To Respond To HARO Pitches Twice As Fast The Right Way

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Imagine having to respond to 50 emails in one week. That’s exactly what I had to do when I submitted my queries on HARO. As the amount of sticky notes on my desk increased, there was a moment when I asked myself why I decided to give myself that much work. The problem was not the workload. The problem at the time was that I did not know how to get rid of the workload fast enough. 

The people who use HARO for journalism know that it often requires a lot of work. Some journalists read hundreds of emails that they get from HARO every day. I knew that would eventually happen to me as I sent out more queries. However, I knew that by sending out more queries, I would also be able to build more connections and provide my readers with more quality content.

After sending out the query and getting all of the pitches, the first thing you need to do is read all of those pitches in 1 day. As you read the pitches, write in a notebook the names of the people who you would like to contact. On the next day, send these people emails telling them they are possible candidates or have already been chosen.

The big thing you need to do is have a rubric set up for the email. When I tell people that they may be included in my book or blog post, I send the same exact message. I am a big fan of personalized messages for the first few customers, but when it comes to responding to pitches, sending personalized messages is too time consuming. Create as many rubrics as you can until you are confronted with writing the content that will be included in your book or your blog post.

In order to send out emails faster, you need to flag all of the emails related to your HARO query. By flagging the emails related to your HARO query, you will be able to easily find those emails instead of searching for them in your inbox time and time again. When people respond to your first email, flagging those emails will allow you to identify the total number of emails that you need to reply to. Seeing the number of emails that you have to write will give you a goal. It is a well-known fact that we get more done faster when we give ourselves goals.

Your goal should be to dedicate an entire week of your time to send out all of the emails. After you send out all of the emails and start to get some responses, dedicate another week to respond to all of the responses. Another thing you want to factor in is how you will ask for more information. Some journalists call the people they want to talk to while others type some questions for the person to answer. I type the questions for people to answer because that saves a lot of times. Only during rare exceptions will I call someone on the phone.

The secret to being a HARO journalist is seeing and responding to as many pitches as possible. It’s not about creating a master piece of an email because the person who sent the pitch already sees you as a possible opportunity to build their preeminence. Saying “I’m interested in hearing more” and leaving the questions would still get a response. However, the ideal way to respond to a pitch is by saying you are interested in learning more (in 4-6 sentences) and then include the questions. In the sentences I use, I thank the person for sending the pitch, say they are likely to be featured on my blog or book, repeat the process of thanking them, and then remind them where they will be featured (some people send out numerous pitches every day).

There’s the secret sauce. This is how I respond to people on HARO quickly and effectively. What are your thoughts on this method, and how do you use HARO?

 

How To Create An Effective Schedule

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One of the best ways to effectively manage your time is by creating a powerful schedule. The ideal schedule is an uncomfortable adventure that results in progress in the right areas while not being a burden at the same time. I enforce a strict schedule on myself every summer that ultimately allows me to get a lot of work done but also gives me some time to kick back and relax. I do not schedule anything just to put more work on the table. Everything has a purpose. Just to give everyone an idea, this will be the typical day for me this summer.

  1. Work out for 4 hours. I want to have a very strong Junior year for my track and cross country teams.
  2. Work on a book for 1-2 hour. I want to finish another book during the summer and have it published before the New Year. This will make sure Lead The Stampede is not my only physical book.
  3. Create videos for 1 hour. I will be launching membership sites and training courses in the near future. Summer is going to kickstart that.
  4. Write blog posts for 1 hour. That’s enough time to write at least 5 blog posts every day.
  5. Write video scripts for 15 minutes. Before I start a video, I need to know what I am going to say. Speaking off the cuff was horrible, and those days are over.
  6. Other business activities for 30 minutes (reading or responding to emails). When they come up, they will get done.

I understand that I will not be able to do this every day in the summer, especially on vacation days. Regardless, my goal is to get as close as possible towards accomplishing all of these goals on my schedule. This 9 hour schedule does create some discomfort, but the discomfort is needed in order to get more accomplished. It still beats the 9 to 5 (no traffic),

The key elements of my schedule is that everything has a purpose, it is not an easy schedule to follow, and it promises big rewards for being implemented. The idea of getting big rewards (for me, that would be a bestselling book, a membership site with the potential of making thousands every month, and getting a lot faster) will allow you to push through the work. By giving yourself high standards, you will be able to get more accomplished. I could easily get by with writing two blog posts every day and not doing anything else. However, I would not be able to unlock my potential by limiting my growth.

You will never know how much you can truly accomplish until you raise your standards.

 

How Urgency At TJ Maxx Increased My Productivity

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It was getting obvious that my wardrobe needed to be revamped. I was wearing two of the same shirts every week, and I was getting tired of it. The solution was to buy clothing at TJ Maxx because of the low prices and good quality. The only problem is that we arrived at TJ Maxx at 8:30 pm, and the store closes at 9:30 pm.

It took me 30 minutes to find everything I wanted which means I had 30 minutes to try on 24 articles of clothing. I was going at a relatively slow pace until I heard that there were only 15 minutes left until closing time. That was when I kicked it in. I went through three articles of clothing a minute, and it was a close one. In the end, I was able to go on line with five minutes to spare.

The urgency of thinking I would leave with no clothing after spending an hour of the store resulted in me speeding up. Because of this urgency and increased speed, I know have a giant wardrobe and definitely won’t be wearing the same shirt every week.

When we get pushed, we become more productive. Getting pushed forces us out of the shell of stagnancy.

 

5 Ways To Spice Up Your Business Plan (Part 2)

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What if you had a business plan that would give you the optimal impact, and you would be able to accomplish that business plan quickly? There is a way to do that, and in this blog post, I am going to share with you 5 ways to spice up your business plan so you can do that.

  1. You need to identify your interests and commitments. The interests are the things that you’re okay with doing, but when the going gets tough, the interests get dropped. The commitments are the things that you stick with even when the going gets tough. By identifying the interests and commitments, you will be able to identify your priorities (the commitments).
  2. Take strategic breaks. During some of your breaks, you can read books, watch videos, and read blog posts about your niche. This will allow you to learn more about your niche which will have an impact on your knowledge and how you write about your niche.
  3. Give yourself bigger goals with deadlines. By giving yourself big goals with deadlines, you will establish when that goal needs to be finished. This will create the sense of urgency that will allow you to accomplish those goals.
  4. Identify what has worked and optimize it. If Twitter contributed to 50% of your blog’s traffic, optimize your Twitter account so it can have an even greater impact on your blog.
  5. Keep it small and simple. When I say keep a business plan small and simple, that means you should have 3-5 goals that you focus on. Those goals should be big goals that require a lot of work to accomplish. Don’t give yourself 10 goals that require a lot of work to accomplish. Give yourself 3-5 goals that will result in the greatest impact once they get accomplished.

If you enjoyed reading this blog post, here’s Part 1.