Procrastination is a bad thing, right?

Well, it certainly can be. It can be a real productivity killer.

You have a deadline, it’s getting closer and closer, and you still haven’t closed your Twitter page and got started.

Some people argue they work best under pressure, so procrastination is a positive thing. I’m not sure about that. Sounds like a clever, or not so clever, rationalization to me.

All that said, I know there have been times when I have been procrastinating for what turned out to be a pretty good reason.

For example, in one instance I was due to send a prospective client a proposal for a substantial writing project. We had agreed on the scope of the engagement and I had told him I was going to submit the proposal by a particular day and time.

As the due date for the proposal got closer and closer, I was sitting around doing nothing. Or rather, doing just about anything other than writing the proposal.

Finally I paused and asked myself why I was putting this off. Why was I procrastinating?

After a period of introspection, I finally figured out that I didn’t really want the job. The money was good, but it wasn’t really my kind of gig. Furthermore, I was getting some bad vibes from my contact person. I hadn’t worked with him before, but I was getting a feeling that he wouldn’t be very good to work with.

Finally, I trusted those little voices in my head and declined the project.

The same thing happened to me when considering a business partnership with someone. On the face of it, all the signs were good. We had complimentary skills and resources, and a good idea to work on together.

But as we went through the process of putting our plan together I found myself procrastinating, again. And for similar reasons. In spite of the plan looking good, it ultimately didn’t feel right, and I let it drop.

My point is that when you find yourself procrastinating, it isn’t necessarily a negative thing.

Sometimes it is, and you need to address that. But on other occasions what feels like procrastination is actually something quite different. It’s a group of smart and rather quiet voices in the back of your head warning you that you might want to reconsider.

If you find yourself procrastinating about just about everything, that’s probably a problem you need to address.

But if you are generally pretty productive, and find yourself procrastinating only over specific tasks or decisions, you might want to sit back and listen for those little voices.

You might not be procrastinating at all.

About the author: Nick Usborne is an online writer, copywriter, author and coach. Read more…

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If I look back over the last 10 years, I can’t even imagine the number of things I have learned. For the sake of argument, let’s say I have learned 10,000 different things that might be useful to my work.

I have learned from articles and posts, from books I have read, from conversations I have had, and so on.

Now let’s say, out of those 10,000 things I have learned, I was smart enough to identify10 things which, if I applied them, could actually have a significant impact on my success. Those were 10 moments of learning that had the potential to transform my business in some meaningful way.

But out of those 10, how many did I actually apply? And of those lessons I have applied, did I work at them hard enough to achieve some positive change?

Those numbers are made up. I have no idea what they really are. But the point I’m trying to make is that while we may be very good at soaking up information and learning things that are new to us, we are generally very bad at identifying the good stuff and then taking action and persevering until positive change takes place.

In part, this is because with access to the web we find ourselves positively deluged with new information. It’s like we learn something new every minute. It becomes impossible for us to absorb, let alone act on, all the information that comes our way.

The trouble is, amongst all that noise lie some nuggets of gold. But their importance is lost within the distracting noise of too much information.

The first thing you should do

Cut back on the noise. If you have been reading a particular website or blog for a while and it has failed to deliver any lessons that you feel could truly transform your business, stop reading it.

If you want to be able to isolate the good stuff, you have to cut away all the bad and mediocre stuff. Turn the firehose into a trickle.

The second thing you should do

Think hard about the core of your freelance business. What is at the center of your skill set or business?

Transformative change doesn’t come about through tinkering around the edges, it occurs at the center.

For example, if most of your work involves writing sales pages for ecommerce companies, you probably shouldn’t get distracted by learning how to write case studies or white papers.

And if you most of your clients come to you through a strong and robust business network and word of mouth, you probably don’t have to invest a ton of time learning about the finer points of Pinterest. It’s not at the core of how you attract new clients.

Always focus on learning those lessons that drive your core.

The third thing you should do

When you have cut back on the noise, have learned to focus on what really matters to your business, and have identified something truly worth learning…take action.

Mark some time on your calendar. Commit to learning that new skill, or internalizing that new information. Learn it formally, as if you were at school.

Now, armed with new knowledge or expertise, apply what you have learned and keep applying it until you achieve positive results.

This may sound obvious, but I know many freelancers who have invested time and money in learning something new…and then they have failed to act on what they have learned.

Wrapping it up

Learning new stuff is easy. Too easy. Being more self-disciplined with your time and attention is a lot harder. But it’s worth it. Stop cramming your head with new information that will do nothing to help move you forward.

When you find something worth learning, get serious about it, as if you were studying for an exam.

And finally, once you have finished learning, apply what you have learned vigorously until you achieve the change you are looking for.

About the author: Nick Usborne is an online writer, copywriter, author and coach. Read more…

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This is Matt Cutts’ idea, as you’ll see from the video below.

He talks for only a few minutes, because it doesn’t take long to share his simple but powerful idea.

Matt changed his life by giving himself a series of 30-day challenges. He went without sugar for 30 days. He cycled to work for 30 days. He wrote a novel in 30 days.

The idea is powerful, because he’s not trying to force himself to do something new for every day of the rest of his life. He is talking about just 30 days. That’s a much less threatening idea.

One of the things he described really stuck with me. He showed a picture he had taken during his 30-day challenge to take a photo every day. He made the point that he remembered exactly where he took that photo, and goes on to say that by doing these challenges he now has far more vivid memories of how each month passes.

I think the idea is a great one, and it’s easy to get started.

And if you think about it, you can apply the same thinking to growing your freelance business.

In addition to any challenges you might want to take on to enrich your life in general, here are a few business-related challenges any freelancer can try.

- Write a blog post every day for 30 days

- Watch an inspirational video every day for 30 days

- Send a letter or card to a prospective client every day for 30 days

- Find someone new and interesting to follow on Twitter every day for 30 days

- Read some positive affirmations out loud every day for 30 days

- Make a small improvement to your website every day for 30 days

- Phone a prospect, colleague or work friend every day for 30 days

- Record a short talking-head video every day for 30 days

- Read one chapter of a business book every day for 30 days

- Use a To-Do list every day for 30 days

Imagine if you picked a new challenge each month for the next 6 months. Think about the progress you could make with your business.

Related Resources:

My coaching service for freelancers...

My ebook - Affirmations for Freelancers

About the author: Nick Usborne is an online writer, copywriter, author and coach. Read more…

We have dreams. We make ourselves promises. We make resolutions.

And…all too often, absolutely nothing happens or changes.

When nothing changes, we are quick to find excuses. We find a way to make other people or circumstances the cause of our failure to take action and move forward. If all else fails, we can simply say something wooly like, “The time wasn’t right. Maybe next year.”

It’s easy to get away with this kind of non-action, because we keep our plans and promises to ourselves. In fact, if we hard work on it, we can even persuade ourselves that we didn’t really promise ourselves to do anything at all. (As humans we’ll go to almost any lengths to protect our self-esteem.)

One step forward is to make yourself accountable by letting other people know what you plan to change or achieve. In fact, there are whole websites devoted to sharing your goals with other people. At this time of year, people also share their resolutions on social media sites like Facebook.

I guess that is one step forward. At least you are committing to your plan publicly. But the thing is, do you really care that much if you disappoint a bunch of strangers? Besides, a few months after you have made your commitment public, all those strangers will likely have forgotten about you anyway.

If you really want to get serious about making some changes for the better this year, you should share your resolution with someone you deeply respect or love. Someone you would truly hate to disappoint. Someone who won’t forget the promise you made to yourself.

A parent. A mentor. One of your children.

In other words, put some skin in the game. Make it so there is a price to pay for not fulfilling your promise. Make the prospect of giving up on your goal painful.

If that sounds a little scary, well, that’s the whole point.

If there is no price to pay for not making positive change in your life, your chances of success are low. The higher the price, the more likely it is you’ll succeed.

Think of someone you would hate to disappoint, and go tell them about your plans for this year.

When? Now would be good. By tomorrow you will have forgotten you even read this post.

Related Resources:

My coaching service for freelancers...

My ebook - Affirmations for Freelancers

About the author: Nick Usborne is an online writer, copywriter, author and coach. Read more…

Sitting at a desk for 8 hours a day is not very good for your health. In particular, it’s bad for your spine.

For years I used to suffer from back pain. Just too many hours sitting in front of a keyboard.

I tried a few things. Not pills, because I avoid those like the plague. But I went to a chiropractor, I tried scheduling times during the day when I would get up and do some walking around and stretching, and I even tried setting up my computer so I could work standing up.

There was nothing wrong with any of those approaches, but the solution that really worked for me was to throw away my regular chair and use a kneeling chair instead. Not every office supply store carries them, but some do. Failing that, you can find one online.

To go a step further, watch the video below. It contains some interesting information and some tips on strengthening your lower back.

Why am I even writing about this?

Because as a freelancer you are your only employee. Your financial success depends on your own health and ability to sit down and work, unhindered by illness or pain.

In other words, to achieve your goals as a freelancer, you need to pay attention to your health.

This is a big topic, and maybe I’ll write again about health issues for freelancers. But for now, you can take the simple step of taking care of your body when you sit down to work.

If you don’t, your work will suffer. You can’t work at your best when you are feeling uncomfortable or in pain.

Related Resources:

My coaching service for freelancers...

My ebook - Affirmations for Freelancers

About the author: Nick Usborne is an online writer, copywriter, author and coach. Read more…

I’m not a big fan of paperwork. I don’t think most other freelancers much like it either.

But beyond the paperwork I have to do, there are one or two other things I choose to do.

Foremost among my voluntary pieces of paperwork is a spreadsheet that shows my income, month by month.

I fill in the months that have passed, and also make projections for three months to come.

Projections? That sounds like something that “real” companies do, not freelancers.

Well, I treat my freelance business like a real company. And I think you should too.

Here is what I do with my spreadsheet.

The header to columns 2-13 simply lists the months of the year.

Column 1 lists various sources of income by line, vertically…by client, partner or by project.

It’s a pretty simple page.

But what it allows me to do is see where I have been and where I am going.

The totals for the previous months show me how much I have earned and, more importantly, where that money came from.

If a particular source of income or project type has been growing, that alerts me to keep doing more of that, and I’ll project some healthy revenues for the next three months.

If a source of income has been shrinking, that alerts me to the need to either breathe new life into it, or dump it. If I dump it, then I’ll be projecting zero income for that line over the next three months.

In other words, by keeping the spreadsheet up to date, I can see where I have been, see where I’m going, and be alerted to any changes I might want to make to my business and marketing plans.

And how, you might ask, does this make me feel better?

It helps me feel in control.

Anxiety is never far away when you’re freelancing. Sometimes you feel adrift in an ocean, with no control over the winds or tides. You feel you are at the mercy of your clients and other outside forces. This doesn’t feel good.

By having this spreadsheet I feel my hand is on the wheel, making my own choices and decisions.

Granted, this sense of control may be perceived as often as it is real.

But it still makes me feel good. Like I’m the skipper of my own ship.

Try it and let me know if it helps.

Related Resources:

My coaching service for freelancers...

My ebook - Affirmations for Freelancers

About the author: Nick Usborne is an online writer, copywriter, author and coach. Read more…

The reasons we come up with for not getting things done are pretty lame sometimes.

We set ourselves a task or a goal, and get started.

Then we find our goal is not as easy to achieve as we first thought.

Then we pause. We get distracted. We decide we need to do some more research.

Then we find reasons why the whole plan might not work. We lose confidence.

Then we find that some elements or components to our plan are not easy to find or develop.

Then we get scared of failing. We lose faith.

Then we abandon the plan.

Then we blame all kinds of outside circumstances for the failure of the plan.

Like I said, pretty lame.

Contrast this with the approach of William Kamkwamba of Malawi, Africa.

His goal? To get some electricity into his family’s home because they had no lights, and they needed to pump water to irrigate the land.

He went to the library and found some books about electricity. He even found one about wind power.

Then he had to find all the components that go into building a windmill and using it to generate electricity. His family had no money to buy anything. This all happened during a severe drought and famine. William, his sisters and his parents were each getting by on 3 mouthfuls of food a day.

So he goes to a garbage dump, and slowly puts together a collection of materials from junked cars and other discarded items.

Then he goes home and builds his first windmill. All from junk, working from the books he found in the library.

His first windmill provided enough power for 4 light bulbs.

Then he built another one for his family. Then one for his village.

BTW – at the time he did all this William was 14 years old and half starved.

So tell me, if William can do all that at the age of 14, what’s your excuse for not getting things done and achieving your own goals?

Related Resources:

My coaching service for freelancers...

My ebook - Affirmations for Freelancers

About the author: Nick Usborne is an online writer, copywriter, author and coach. Read more…

You know the feeling. At the end of the day you look back and see how little you have managed to get done. And it makes you feel bad.

Another day, you look back and see you have achieved a great deal. And that makes you feel fantastic.

Wouldn’t it be nice to have that second kind of day, every day? Of course it would. You’ll be a whole lot more productive, and you’ll feel great too.

Best of all, this is a self-perpetuating cycle. The better your day is today, the more positive you will feel about tomorrow, and so on.

We all know this, and you have probably already heard everything I share in the 4 points below.

The thing is, you didn’t follow through. You didn’t DO it.

Maybe this time it will stick.

Here are 4 ways to help you have a great day, every day.

1. Plan each day the evening before.

Don’t begin each day by sitting in front of your computer and then trying to figure out what you should do.

Instead, write out a clear to-do list the day before. So the last task you have each Monday is to write out the to-do list for Tuesday. And so on, throughout the week.

This way, when you sit down each morning, you know exactly what you will be doing and can jump straight in to your first task.

This may not sound like a big thing, but it really helps.

2. Segment your days into work blocks.

When I write down my to-do list I do more than just list the tasks I want to complete the next day. I also allocate specific blocks of time to each task listed.

For example: Work on new home page for client X, 9:00 to 11:30

I allocate large blocks of time for major tasks, and smaller blocks for smaller tasks…like answering emails or catching up with my social media accounts.

The key here, in addition to setting the start and finish times, is to STICK TO THE SCHEDULE.

3. Avoid distractions.

If you really stick to #2, you won’t have to worry about this. But if you don’t, your day and your productivity will be nibbled to death by a host of distractions.

You know what I’m talking about… taking a quick peek at your Facebook page or Twitter feed. Answering a few emails. Watching a YouTube video. Going down to the kitchen for a cookie. Discovering someone’s blog for the first time and reading a few posts.

There is nothing wrong with doing any of these things. Just don’t do them during those allocated blocks of work time.

You may wonder what the harm is in taking out 2 minutes to check your Twitter feed. It’s not about the 2 minutes. It’s about the break in your focus and concentration. Even if you get back to your task after just 2 minutes, it might take you 10 or 15 minutes to re-immerse yourself fully into the task.

Distractions can be the death of a freelance business. Succumbing to distractions breaks your focus, diminishes your productivity, and leaves you feeling disappointed in yourself by the end of the day.

4. Keep a tidy desk.

A messy desk is another form of distraction. Everything in the periphery of your vision disturbs your ability to focus on the task in hand.

By all means, have a messy table behind you, out of sight. But within your line of sight, keep things clean and organized.

That means filing what needs to be filed, binning what needs to be binned, and only leaving what you need for the job in hand.

Wrapping it up.

Ultimately, this is all about self-discipline.

All the most successful freelancers I know are highly self-disciplined.

They work as if they have the toughest boss in the world standing behind them all day. No slacking. No excuses. No hanging out at the virtual water cooler.

They just get the work done.

And here is the kicker. By getting the work done they FEEL GREAT. They are happier than other freelancers.

You can do this too. Feel good about yourself each day by getting your work done efficiently.

It’s the freelancers who have little structure and no self-discipline that end up feeling disappointed in themselves each day, and then wonder why their freelance businesses never really take off.

Related Resources:

My productivity ebook for writers, Writing Rituals

My coaching service from freelancers…

About the author: Nick Usborne is an online writer, copywriter, author and coach. Read more…

When freelancers are starting out and preparing to launch their new businesses, they generally take forever to get ready.

Me: I thought you were going to start calling some prospects last week.

Them: I know, but I’m not quite ready.

I get the same answer one week later, and then the week after that.

(If you think I’m talking about you in particular as you read this, I’m not. I’m thinking of dozens of freelancers I have spoken with or coached.)

What’s happening here?

Two things, I think.

First, it’s a delaying tactic. You feel nervous about getting out there. A fear of having to do scary things, like calling prospects and hearing them say NO. There is a fear of failure. A fear of being knocked down. A fear of rejection.

Second, it’s a sincere feeling that you are just not ready yet. You need to learn more, research more, broaden your knowledge and deepen it in some key areas.

The first point is understandable. It is natural to feel nervous about exposing yourself to rejection. But that’s something every freelancer has to get past.

The second point is interesting. Many freelancers feel they don’t know enough. But in almost all cases, they do. If you have spent six months studying online copywriting, for example, you probably know more than most of the clients you will ever work with, however experienced they are.

How come? Because while you have studied this one thing for six months, they have a multitude of responsibilities within their companies, and never have the chance to become an expert in any single specialty.

Besides which, you only have to know 10% more than your client. That extra 10% is the value they are paying for.

A big problem for freelancers who feel they are not ready is that they subscribe to the old adage – Ready, Aim, Fire!

“Ready’ comes at the beginning, so these freelancers are frozen in time. They don’t take action, they don’t even aim…because they feel they can’t so anything until they are “ready”.

If you are just starting out and hoping to become a successful freelancer, you have to get past this barrier.

The easiest way to do that is simply to stop worrying about the “ready” part.

As I mentioned, you are probably ready long before you think you are. Or, looking at it another way, you’ll never be ready, because there is always more to learn. Either way, the belief that you need to be ready will freeze you in place.

Let’s forget all about being ready.

Now for the part about “aiming”. That is to say, decide on your goal, figure out the waypoints between where you are and where you need to be to achieve your goal, and then take action.

That’s great advice. I believe we all need goals. They are vital to our success.

However…many freelancers use the process of choosing a goal and mapping the waypoints along the way as another delaying tactic.

“Nick, I can’t launch my business yet, because I still have work to do on my goal and waypoints.”

Well, the thing about goals and waypoints is that they are never more than a best guess. You plan and work to have achieved a certain goal within 3 years. But a lot of things can change within 3 years. You identify key waypoints, but even those can change.

Back when I set my own goals as an online copywriter, I had a 3-year goal and various steps or waypoints I felt I needed to achieve along the way. I achieved my goal in 2 years instead of 3, and pretty much all of my waypoints changed.

How come? Because I saw and took advantage of various unanticipated opportunities along the way. They weren’t part of my plan, but I jumped on them because I could see how they would help me achieve my goal faster.

So…if you are on the runway, and about to push the throttles forward to take off and launch your business, don’t sit there worrying. Just take off. Take action. Get started.

If you make mistakes, you’ll learn from them. If you get rejected, you’ll grow a thicker skin. If you need to change your plans, just do it. If you need to learn something new for a particular project, learn it on the fly.

You’ll always learn faster by DOING.

And you’ll never get anywhere if you keep stressing about being ready and having the perfect plan.

NOTE: My upcoming webinar event on how to LOVE marketing your freelance business also includes elements that will help you get past being “ready” and stressing over your perfect plan.

About the author: Nick Usborne is an online writer, copywriter, author and coach. Read more…

Too often we start our days with the weight of the world on our shoulders.

We have work worries. We have family worries. We have money worries. And all that is overlaid by the bad news we have just read on cnn.com or foxnews.com.

In other words, we are buried under a mountain of stress, anxiety and bad news.

So how is it possible to start the day with a smile and a light heart? And what good would it do anyway?

Well, to address the first question, watch this short video.

Now tell me you didn’t smile, or feel a fleeting moment of lightness in your heart.

OK, now for the second question: What good will this fleeing moment do? How will it change your day?

Well, it seems that a fleeting moment of positive input is all it takes.

In a study of how quickly doctors could correctly diagnose an illness, based on patient notes, one group made the correct diagnosis twice as fast as the control group. What was different about this faster group? Prior to being shown the notes they were all given a lollipop. They weren’t allowed to unwrap it, in case the rush of sugar influenced the results. But the simple act of being given the lollipop made them smile. It was a moment of positive input.

That is all it took.

In other words, it doesn’t take much to improve your mindset, your mood and your productivity.

Just start each day with something that makes you smile and lifts your spirits.

NOTE: For help and inspiration to help grow your own freelance business, learn about my coaching service for freelancers.

About the author: Nick Usborne is an online writer, copywriter, author and coach. Read more…