I must admit that procrastination has always been a strength of mine. I routinely put things off to the last minute and actually feel like I work a little better when the pressure is on. But with this project, there was no way I could wait until the last minute to get started and complete it on time.
I have played around with the idea of writing an eBook for one of my websites for quite some time. The fear of failure (as in writing it and never selling a single copy) always kept me from taking the plunge. In February, I decided to just do it and see what happens. I say that I would rather do something and fail than not and wonder “what if” so I decided to put my money where my mouth is, so to speak.
I gave myself a deadline and I made it with a few hours to spare. Here’s how I did it…
1. I announced to other people on the message board of the site that book would be for that I was writing a book. I also told them that I would have the rough draft done by March 1st. It was very important for me to tell others about it so I would feel a sense of accountability.
2. I broke the book up into sections and then did a mental calculation of how long I had to work on each section to meet my goal.
3. I dove in and just started writing without worrying about editing or how perfect it would be. I continually reminded myself that my goal was to get a rough draft on paper, not to create a masterpiece in a month’s time.
4. When time was dwindling down, I posted on my Facebook page about my goal. Several people keep me motivated by posting on my other status updates about where I was with the book project.
On February 28th, with just 6.5 hours to spare, I completed my rough draft. Not only that, but I had also completed importing it into the eBook format I created.
My next goal is to have the eBook ready for sale by March 15th which is when my next newsletter for the website goes out to over 2,500 subscribers. Knowing I have a concrete deadline helps!
I have also revisited the Smart Passive Income blog where Pat once commented about how much money he probably left sitting on the table because he had not released his eBook when he first thought of it. I don’t even want to calculate that figure but it does help to motivate me to complete it and get it out there.
So my first foray into really setting goals and attempting to reach them has been a success, at least thus far. The real success will come on March 15th when I can announce to my readers that the eBook is ready! Wish me luck!
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