Every now and then, there comes a time when your productivity goes out the window. You have big plans but they simply never manifest. Could be you are suffering through a bit of burnout or it could be that you simply need to kick your productivity up a notch. In this article, we’ll discuss some proven techniques to improve your productivity so that you can start producing. Let’s get started.

Try the Pomodoro Technique

One of my favorite productivity increasing techniques is the Pomodoro technique. With this productivity enhancing technique, you set your timer for 25 minutes and work specifically on one thing for those 25 minutes. If you finish before the 25 minutes is up, you can work on something else. If you don’t finish within the 25 minutes, you can use the next Pomodoro to finish it up.  To me, this is a tremendous way to increase your productivity.

Do Something Fun

Another method to increase your productivity is to do something fun.  Sometimes, a break is all you need to get up to speed with the work you need to produce. The breaks can be reading a chapter in a book, an article on the internet, or checking out new gadgets to give you a new reason to work. Just make sure to keep your break short and sweet.

Check Out the Competition

Take some time to check out the competition. Spy on them and see what they’re doing. By realizing how much time you’re wasting being idle and how much they are accomplishing, you might actually inspire yourself to get with the program and get busy..Plus, your spying might actually cause you to see something new or spark a bit of creativity.

Isolate Yourself

If there are too many distractions, your output is never going to be at an optimal level. This in fact could cause a bit of resentment within you because of the interrupted time. Therefore, find your own personal space and let others know that once you enter this zone, it’s time to stay away so that you can get busy.

Get Help

We all need some assistance at one point and if you are productive but lack time, you need to get an assistant to work some of the more mundane details. This way, you can stay focused on moving forward in your career and business without having to spend so much time on the minor details. A productivity coach is great for helping you crank up the productivity a notch or two!

Go on a Vacation

Recharge your energy by taking at least one day off a week. No one can sustain working 7 days a week and not start to suffer in productivity. The mind will slow down and your body will start to move like quicksand. If you take a day off to rest and relax, you will find yourself feeling energy boost good enough to last you until mid-week. As for the remaining week, your energy boost will come from knowing you’ll soon have time off.

A few weeks, one of my readers commented that she had a really hard time seeing herself as an entrepreneur. I mean, she wanted to make passive income online and she wanted to be her own boss but she was having a hard time making it happen. She couldn’t get out of the employee mindset. When I left corporate America to become an entrepreneur, I too suffered from this ailment and I know many other marketing writers who suffer as well. So, here’s some tips that helped me conduct an entrepreneur mind shift:

Create a Realistic Schedule

Since there will be no one to look over your shoulder and tell you what to do when you’re your own boss, it’s important that you create a schedule and stick to it. Doing so, will keep you motivated to work. Divide your time between work and play, and stick to that schedule. Also, use the Pomodoro technique to get those tasks done.

Seek Motivation

Review stories of others who have started their own businesses and were highly successful at it. This will motivate you, and help you realize that you can do it too. Sometimes, it can feel like you’re spinning your wheels, but when you have the right motivation, you can spin those wheels in the right direction. Wealthy Affiliate has an entire section dedicated to others who have succeeded at internet marketing.

Reward Yourself for a Job Well Done

Although it can take some time and effort to build up an online business, rewarding yourself for meeting your goal is a great way to find motivation. By doing this, you’ll feel proud of yourself and will start to see yourself as a real entrepreneur – someone who sets goals and meets them. Always keep your goals attainable and when you meet them, treat yourself to a movie, an extra slice of chocolate candy, or a mini shopping spree. Whatever it is, make sure you’re acknowledging the fact that you’re succeeding!

Join Communities of Like Minded Professionals

Join communities of other entrepreneurs. A great one is Wealthy Affiliate; a paid membership site for internet marketers. You can get feedback, tips, and support with your internet marketing efforts. It will help you get your mindset right to talk to others who are going through the same things.

By taking these steps and getting out of the ‘employee’ mentality, you can really get on the right track to internet marketing success. What do you think?

Some days I am a producer that gets all of my internet marketing tasks done with ease and other days it seems as if I struggle and get absolutely nothing done at all. On those non productive days, I have every intentions of getting my work done but somehow my intentions and my actions don’t connect.  If you find yourself in a similar situation, you may be wondering how can you become more productive on a daily basis? Well,  here are some guidelines that seem to help me accomplish more and play less. Are you ready? Let’s begin.

Be realistic about what you can accomplish.  Although we would all love to complete every one of our to-dos on a daily basis, it isn’t always humanly possible to do so.  Therefore, it is much better to set smaller goals and then accomplish them instead of setting unrealistic goals that you can’t achieve. By doing this, you’ll not only feel better about yourself but you’ll be more motivated to accomplish additional tasks the next day.

Use a prioritized to-do list. Everyone needs to use a “to do list”.  By having one at your disposal, you can easily see what items need to get done and which ones do not. I typically find that it is best to limit your to-do list to 4-5 things per day. This way, I am more likely to get them all accomplished.

Give yourself rewards. Everybody loves rewards and accolades. So, make it a point to reward yourself when you accomplish a task.  For instance, you can give yourself a small prize or treat when you complete an article, 30 forum comments, backlinking, etc. This will definitely motivate you to keep going.

Focus on one task at a time. Although it can be extremely hard, you must focus on one thing at a time. The best technique for doing this is the Pomodoro technique that forces you to work on one task at a time. With the Pomodoro technique, you set your timer for 25 minutes and once you’re done with that specific task, you can either move on to the next task or continue working on that one. Then, when you’ve finished three Pomodoros, you can take a 10 minute break. Not only will this force you to be more productive, you’ll enjoy the satisfaction of knowing that you are a real producer.

Evaluate  your daily accomplishments and be honest with yourself. Every single day, figure out how much work you did and how much playing around you did and then make it a goal to better the next day. With practice you can improve and have more productive days and less fooling yourself ones.

Good luck!

Do you procrastinate? Do you consistently miss deadlines? Do you often feel stressed and rushed because you have poor time management skills? Well, if you answered “yes” to any of the above, I have great news, “you can overcome procrastination and achieve more every single day.” You simply need a realistic time management system that you can work to your advantage and this system is called the Pomodoro technique.

With the Pomodoro technique, you break your task into small 25 minute chunks, set your kitchen timer for 25 minutes ( or use a free Pomodoro downloadable timer) and focus on it for 25 minutes. Then, you remain focused and committed to that task until the 25 minute session is over. For instance, let’s say that you want to write an article for your Pomodoro. Well, during that time frame, you can only work on that article. You can’t read emails, daydream, text your best friend, etc. Then, when your time runs out – you can continue for another 25 minutes or simply take a break of 5 minutes and then work on a totally different Pomodoro. And, if you finish the task before the 25 minutes is up, you can work on something else or go back to the original task and work on it for another 25 minute block. Then, after you have finished 4 Pomodoros, you take a 10 minute break and then start over again.

Pomodoro is really a great technique because anyone can do any task for 25 minutes right? Sure you can. 25 minutes doesn’t seem like much but with focused attention it adds up to a lot. So, check out Pomodoro and accomplish those tasks and watch your procrastination tendencies fade away.

One of my biggest challenges with freelancing has always been finding enough time in the day to get everything done.

What I’ve learned is that the only way I can make this work for me is to not take on too much work and work smarter not harder.I typically work 6-8 hours on my business. These hours are not the typical 9 to 5 hours. Instead I am a shift worker.

I work throughout the day long. I take frequent breaks because I have to in order to take care of my family’s needs.To me, they are my first priority so I work my IM business around their needs.

Here is my family-friendly work schedule:

Work 2 hours before the kids wake up. During this time, I check emails, prospect for clients, surf the ‘net and write 1-2 articles that I submit to Associated Content.

Take the kids to school, run household errands with the baby, complete housework, etc.

Work 1-2 hours when my toddler takes a nap. During this time, I complete my clients’ work consisting of web content, articles, press releases, whatever.

Pick kids up from school.

Work 1 more hour while kids play and complete homework. Here, I work on some more client projects.

Make dinner. Spend time with my family and get kids ready for bed.

Work 1-2 more hours once kids are in bed. Finish clients’ work and work on some more IM projects for myself. During this time, I review online forums, write my IM writer blog entry, and complete 1-2 more articles.

Weekends

On the weekends, I limit my work time to 3 hours max (if I work at all). During this time, I concentrate on my IM projects and don’t ghostwrite for clients.  On weekends, I typically write eBooks, articles and press releases, build new websites, market existing ones and read IM course material. Once I’m done with my assigned projects, I do fun stuff with my family.

As you can see, I work 6-8 hours Monday – Friday  and 3 on Saturday and Sunday. The rest of the time, I spend time with my family and enjoy my life.

This schedule forces me to work quickly and to get as much done as I possibly can. For instance, I speed write and typically write 2 high quality articles in about an hour. If it is PLR articles, I can usually get three done within one hour.

I work quickly and efficiently because I don’t have time to play around and this schedule works for me and my family.

Well, I hope this gives you a glimpse into the life of a IM Writer. Now, I’ve gotta finish up an article before the kids wake up.

Right now, I’m in the middle of figuring out my taxes for 2007 and just realized that I spent over $3,500 bucks last year buying Internet Marketing educational stuff. This includes courses, special reports, software, and other stuff.And you know what? I didn’t use much of it at all. In fact, I don’t even think I used half of it. This is very sad indeed.It’s not that I didn’t have good intentions, it’s just that once I reviewed the material, I became information overloaded and began feeling overwhelmed, frustrated, and more confused than before I read it.

Although I hate to admit it, this is how I spent the majority of 2007. In fact, I was so paralyzed with fear that I would do the wrong thing that I didn’t do much of anything. Just dibbled and dabbled here and there searching for the next best thing.

Then, I began focusing on one thing at a time and my luck turned around for the best. Woohoo.

Here are some tips for those of you who are suffering from information overload right now:

1. Realize that you’ll never learn everything about internet marketing that there is to know. Marketing on the ‘net changes every day. New techniques are born every minute. The good news it that you don’t have to know everything to be successful. In fact, you probably know enough already to make money online. You simply have to focus on one thing at a time and then move on once you get profitable.
2. Set realistic goals for yourself. My goal this month is $75.00 a day, and I plan to achieve this by not trying to do too many things at once. For me, I am focusing on rewriting two PLR articles a day and writing two articles a day, too. Then, I plan on creating one report. That’s it. I know that I can accomplish this easily.
3. Remember that there is no right or wrong way to make it in the internet marketing business. You can use social marketing, pay per click, article marketing, and even affiliate marketing. The key to success is to do more of what works and less of what doesn’t work.
4. Don’t get frustrated. Even the gurus had to start somewhere. There are no quick fixes for internet riches. Forget the next best thing. Concentrate and get it done. Focus and work on the small challenges first. My grandmother always says, “How do you eat an elephant? Answer: One bite at a time.” Internet marketing is your elephant and you have to choose whether you want to eat his ear, the trunk, or the mid section first.
5. Master the basics. Learn how to write well, how to direct traffic, etc. For instance, it doesn’t matter if you learn all about creating niche sites if you don’t know how to create quality content that visitors will read.
6. Don’t try to get it all too quickly. There will always be more information. And that information will still be here tomorrow or next year. You are your time. Learn one thing and then move on to the next.
7. Don’t buy a ton of unrelated material. For instance, if you’re going to master Squidoo, then only buy Squidoo products. Don’t turn around and purchase a ton of stuff about affiliate marketing or Google AdWords as this will only confuse and frustrate you. Instead buy that stuff when you’re ready to focus on that method.
8. Remember that the information you have is supposed to educate you, not make you crazy. As long as you apply what you learn and focus, you will succeed.

Information overload is real, but you can avoid it if you follow the above steps. Take it from me, I’ve been there and I have $3,500 worth of products on my hard drive to prove it.

I have to be honest with you. I had been attempting the whole Internet Marketing thing for about a year before I really started seeing any results from my efforts. It wasn’t that I didn’t try to achieve greatness. It’s just that I kept being pulled in so many directions that I didn’t know where to turn.

Every single day, I was bombarded with all sorts of messages from this guru and that one. The more I signed up for “free offers,” the more I received ones that required money. Just about everyone seemed to achieve success but me.This person kept touting this product and this one kept saying, “No, you need this one.”

As a newbie Internet Marketer, I kept right on buying eBooks and courses looking for the newest and best thing that would make me the next internet millionaire.I would then get all excited, read the book, try it out half-heartedly, lose interest and move on to the next thing. The result? I was spinning my wheels getting nowhere fast. After a year, I had accumulated about $4000 in debt from all my reading material and was startng to think that Internet Marketing was a total waste of time. Then, by divine intervention, I found the book by Dennis Becker called 5 bucks a day, which changed my life.

This book was exactly what I needed. It was about focusing on small monetary goals (like 5 bucks a day) and putting all one’s focus into that one thing. Then, once that one was done, I could move on to the next.

With hard work and focus, this would inevitably grow into huge financial gains. In addition, this book taught me the importance of setting goals, doing what needs to be done, and getting it done NOW.

It also gave me lifetime access to a great forum where other struggling newbies were trying to make their first dollars. The great thing is that Dennis wrote from the perspective of someone who had been where I was. It was like with every word, he was talking to and directing me.

I highly recommend 5 Bucks a Day to newbies and experienced IMers. If money is tight, you can purchase the book only, but I have found the most benefit in the book and the forum combined.