How to Earn Money at Home | The time challenge

15th February, 2010 - Posted by admin - 5 Comments

OK, so you’re learning how to earn money at home – maybe it’s because you’ve been laid off at work, maybe because you want to create a little wiggle room in your budget, maybe you’re just tired of reporting to a boss and want to have your own business.

Whatever it is that’s spurring you on, and whatever route you take to earn money at home, you’re going to run smack into…

THE TIME CHALLENGE

See, being the boss of your own time is great!!

But it’s also the downfall of many freelancers.

Time management’s a bear that will bite you in the bippy every time until you master it. Of course mastery of anything requires trial and error (often a lot of it).

So, would you like a tip I picked up from my mentor Kevin Wilke?

First, let me tell you, the guy’s a systems genius. He’s got this down cold and it’s paid off well for him… really well. Looking at the results he’s created, it’s worth listening up!

OK, so you probably have had time management tips out the wazoo and a lot of them sound like:

plan your day
schedule your top priorities first
stick to your schedule
stuff like that

All good. And I’ve used these.

I don’t know if you’re like me, but I run into a problem sometimes. It’s a little something I call “being completely out of touch with reality” when it comes to getting stuff done.

You know… it looks like this:

You try to get ready in 15 minutes in the morning because you’re running late… even though you always take like 25 minutes to get ready.
You’re working on something and look at the clock and can’t believe how much time has elapsed.
You’re late to appointments because you didn’t allot enough time for travel.
You end up pulling late nighters to get a project done.
ok, that’s enough… getting depressing!! : )

What causes that?

A warped sense of time – and it entices you to believe you can bend the laws of time to get “it all” done.

There’s a lot you can do to become more effective and efficient as you work… but NOTHING you can do to create more actual time.

So, here’s the tip: get a realistic grip on how long it takes to do stuff.

Here’s how to use this tip:

Before you do something, estimate how long you think it will take.
Time yourself.
Take notice of how long it took – were you dead-on? over by a little? under by a little? way off?
Make a note for your calendar so that the next time this task comes up, you can be more accurate in your scheduling.

Have a time mastery tip you’d like to share? Let’s hear it!

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Tags: how to earn money at home

Posted on: February 15, 2010

Filed under: Freelance writing, Make Money Writing, Uncategorized, work at home

5 Comments

Terrell

February 15th, 2010 at 3:51 pm

Yes! Amazing the time warp thing, isn’t it?!? I have started keeping a timer by my work area. A silent one, not a clicker, but I can see the minutes as they count down.
It helps keep me on track and focused.