As we know, the internet has a huge potential for entrepreneurs and it’s expanding daily.  It’s gives thousands  of people the options to do business and make money. At the same time, the web has a lot of things that will literally waste your time and they are covered under the umbrella of research, information and networking.

Let’s be honest with ourselves; a lot of the time spent in cyberspace is not productive. Since I started my software reviews and coupons blog, the VeryBestSoftware.Net, this truth has haunted me. I had to search through all my online activities and pick out those time wasters in order to make my blogging endeavours more effective and my time more productive. Here are some activities you should examine.

Stop The YouTube Madness!

Is it just me or do you also end up watching F-18 crashes after Matt Cutts’ interviews on YouTube? What about checking your Facebook wall every other minute? (BTW let’s see who pocked me just now) The impact of social sites like Facebook, Twitter and Youtube can not be over emphasized. They are very good avenues for growing your business and gain an active online presence. As beneficial as they are, they are also very good factors that can suck away your time without you knowing it. Most of these sites are addictive in nature and you can’t possibly get out of there easily if you are not disciplined. Watching, uploading and downloading pictures, commenting on group posts, etc, has replaced most of our networking activities on Facebook. You will always want to know whether somebody had a comment on your tweet, or perhaps to look out for a funny video or check out how many people have watched your video on Youtube.

If you want to be safe from this time crippling activities, it is better you don’t go there at all or be disciplined enough to take that back-step when you have to; if not, your online blogging business suffers the consequences.

Stop Searching For Shortcuts

If there is anything you need to do to achieve an overnight success it would probably be on sale now and I am sure you may not even be able to afford it. From the short experience I ‘ve got with my Software Reviews and Coupons blog, there is no such thing as a short cut, don’t spend your entire blogging time looking for one; you won’t find anything. Better get to work right now. I recommend you read Sean Stephenson’s recent motivational book: Get off your “But”.

Don’t Let Your Goal Suffer

Once you have set a goal, keep it in mind and never let it go. It is always better to have a list of things that will lead you to your goal and stick with them. Yes, once you set your concentration on one thing, it goes away from another. If you pay too much attention to the design and layout of your site, you will loose concentration on the things you need to do to achieve your goal.

Stop Doing Too Many Things At The Same Time

It is good to plan and analyze your surrounding factors, but doing that excessively will definitely have negative effects. We may not really know when too much planning becomes a negative, but if you record the time you spend researching and planning, you will get to understand how much time you have lost. You don’t really need to plan and analyze everything; concentrate on the immediate ones. Get them done and face one thing at a time. “The shorter way to do many things is to do only one thing at a time” – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Your Email Is Not Your Work

If you come online every morning and the first thing you do is open your mail box and stay there for the next hour, you are not doing yourself any good. Set out specific times for checking your mail and don’t go there any other time of the day. Avoid opening forwarded junk i.e. Guinness Record videos, “the world longest beard videos” or nature photos Powerpoint presentations etc, when you should actually read your business e-mail.

Stay Organized And Keep Your Focus

One of the major time wasters of every blogger is being disorganized. The time you spend searching for items may have been better spent working on your business. Keep a clean work arena and stay tidy. In fact, take a look at your desk right now and see what papers and other things really need to be there. Be organized in your computer folders too. Better keep your business related documents in a main folder and use sub-folders with clear titles for your various tasks. This will save you a lot of time and will help you stay focused and motivated.

Avoid Too Much Information

When you gather more ideas than you have to, you will surely not know what to do first and where to start. Believe me it happens. Take one step at a time and act on every idea you know will bring you closer to your dreams. Check out their impact before taking another. This will also help you identify what is not working and the things you will have to concentrate on.

Learn To Say No

Don’t act to please people around you. Never give other people the time you should be spending on your business. Take full control of your time and never accommodate any appointment, meeting or call, when it is not right for you. Learn to say NO when it is not right for you.

To wrap this up; do not confuse your being busy with being productive. These are totally two different terms. Being in the “rat race” is nothing but a waste of your time. Don’t forget that results are counted with numbers and statistics, not by how much time you sacrifice in front of your PC or how tired you feel at the end of the day.

Author’s bio: Steven’s new venture is the VeryBestSoftware Reviews & Coupons where he gives blogging tips, software reviews and discounts codes like the Norton 360 coupon and the recent Acronis Coupon.

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