I assume you know what a push up is, but if not, here’s a video that explains:
Ever tried doing push-ups until exhaustion?
That means you start doing push ups, and you don’t stop until you literally can’t do anymore. I’ve tried it many, many times, as it’s part of my favorite workout.
And I HOPE that I actually accomplished it. What do I mean by that? And why don’t I know if I’ve accomplished it?
Because when you try to do push ups to exhaustion, your brain comes up with a million excuses why you “can’t” do any more push ups. Some people quit as soon as it gets hard… even though they were capable of doing several more.
Some people keep going when it gets hard, but still quit before they literally can’t do anymore.
You may be surprised to discover what your body is capable of if you continue until exhaustion. In the “Four Hour Body”, Tim Ferris quotes someone as saying if you’ve never thrown up doing bicep curls you’ve never worked hard.
Have you ever pushed yourself that hard? I can’t say I’ve ever thrown up lifting weights.
So how does this relate to business?
Because many people quit working on their Internet business when the excitement wears off and all that’s left is work. Unfortunately the money usually comes after this work is completed, and hence most people don’t make any.
These people make excuses for why they “can’t” work today… or can’t start this project this week… or can’t continue the routines they’ve kept for approximately 5 weeks.
The truth is – they’re probably quitting because it’s started to get hard and they found an excuse to quit they could believe in. It’s probably a made up excuse, but that doesn’t matter. If they believe it, then game over.
At some point, if you’re building a business, your brain is going to make up excuses to try and get you to quit. To be successful, you have to see past the false-excuse and keep moving forward.
I hope you can do that for your business.
As for my business. It’s been my goal for the last 6-7 weeks to write daily blog posts (business days only). And I’ve kept it up.
But since I’m in the 5-7 week range, I feel I’m also in danger of making up an excuse to quit. Especially since I think I have a good reason to switch gears for a while. It sounds suspicious to me!
But with daily blog posts I haven’t experience the growth I had hoped. A little, but not enough.
And I think I should take some time off from writing blog posts and spend that time on laying a better foundation to leverage those posts.
Like optimizing the list building aspects of the blog, optimizing conversion aspects of the blog, AND automating a few traffic sources so I have new people coming on to the blog each day.
Doing those things in addition to writing daily blog posts, writing copy, Ready Spaghetti work, and product creation is just not going to happen. I have too much on my plate as it is.
I think those are good reasons to take a breather.
What do you think? Have I made the right assessment? Am I just making excuses?
Please give me an outsiders view by leaving a comment. Thanks!
Hmmm… Exercise to exhaustion can be dangerous because it increases the risk of injury.
Example: I once was doing supersets on bicep curls with another guy at the gym. It hurt super bad, but I kept pushing. Next thing I knew, I felt a “pop” in my left forearm, then pain and heat radiating out. I had to stop lifting and was forced to take a few weeks off.
To this day, I don’t know exactly what I did, but I still have a small bump on my forearm where, I assume, something popped through the muscle.
The point is: Yes, push hard. Push harder than others, even. But also be smart enough to know when enough is enough. 🙂
By the way, this is why I haven’t been writing on MY blog as much lately. Right now, it’s more important that I create new products. I usually make money when I create new products, whereas blogging rarely drives immediate revenue for me.
Yikes! I’ll have to concede the point, being since I’m far from an expert.
I think I have my new strategy mostly planned out. It’ll be easier to switch from daily blog posts to my new strategy if I think it’s just as much of a commitment or more – that way I know I’m not taking the easy way out.
Saw Gary Varynerchuk tonight – that gave me some motivation!
I’ve been throwing kettlebells for years and I know that I’m pushing myself hard enough when I feel like I’m at the edge of puke or pass out. (Then I take a quick break and hit it again!)
I applaud your dedication to hit 5+ weeks of daily posts and affirm that doing it w/o a plan for how to leverage it doesn’t sound like the most productive thing you can do.
I *do* suggest you keep up your habit of starting a ton of blog posts, that way when you sit down to blog you can crank out a bunch and schedule them.
I had been posting 6+ days a week for 6 weeks on one of my blogs. I stalled out with the same issue of no follow-up plan once I’d collected a bunch of posts.
In hindsight, I’d put a week or two worth of posts in the queue and/or drop back to 2-3 posts a week before changing to another activity. That would give a little breathing room while also giving time/energy to use on other aspects.
HTH
Hi Stephen,
Yes, it’s amazing how much our minds get in the way. I do alot of yoga, and sometimes in class we are told that we will hold a certain pose for 20 minutes. Your mind immediately says, “no way, I can’t do that”. But when you work at quieting those thoughts, it’s mind blowing what you can do!
I think that it’s perfectly reasonable for you to reassess your priorities. That’s not giving up in any way. It’s just taking a step back to figure out whether you are indeed directing your energy in the most productive manner. It’s an important thing for any business owner to do once in a while!
Thanks Wayne. I think I’m going to send out daily emails to new subscribes with links to past posts, so they’ll be getting new content from me everyday. And for my regular readers, I’m going to work towards posts with more substance. Not that I don’t like what I’ve been posting, but I might take on bigger ideas. And I might be happy with 2-3 times a month for these posts.
We’ll see. I haven’t planned it out yet. And the daily posts will continue until I do. Cheers!
Welcome Martina! Yikes, I’ve done some yoga and the idea of holding a pose for 20 minutes frightens me to no end.
And I agree – everyone’s feedback is giving me encouragement. My plan is to stick with this plan until I create a new plan 🙂 which should be soon. Cheers!
Hi Stephen, I actually do push-ups and my trainer is crazy enough to make me do it at the end of my workout routine when I am totally worn out. I love the analogy to building your business and thanks for sharing the 5-week milestone. I have another week to go to get there.
You are right that your mind comes up with all sorts of excuses but I have already mentally told myself that building a business takes time and not an overnight thing that many seem to be selling.
I admire you for posting daily. My goal is 2-3 posts a week and anything more is a bonus. Keep it up!!!