If you missed it, read Part 1 here and Part 2 here.
After you’ve set big goals and changed your mindset about money, now it’s time to have the rubber meet the road
3) Make the Time to Turn Your Goals Into Realities.
While following the principles in this series will definitely put your well on your way to earning more while working less, I want to be clear in reiterating that there’s no shortcut to success. If you want your dream to become a reality, you’re going to have to work hard to make it happen. This may mean short-term sacrifices and more time invested upfront, but keep at it and it will pay off in the long run.
If you’re feeling like you don’t have time to add something new to your schedule, here are some ideas:
::Track Your Time
You may not have time because you’re not managing your time well. Keep a detailed time log for a week or two to see where the 24 hours of each day is actually going. This exercise will invariably be enlightening and possibly disheartening when you realize how much time is being wasted or spent carelessly. Use the information gleaned to make positive changes to that will push you closer toward your goals and objectives.
::Eliminate Time Wasters
As much as is possible, remove time suckers from your life. If you’re spending a lot of time on the phone, set specific phone hours and let the answering machine or voicemail pick up otherwise. If you’re wasting time surfing the internet, impose a time limit for each day and create a plan for how you will spend your time online.
One thing I recently eliminated was my Facebook account. I loved interacting with people on Facebook, but I realized that I was using it as a distraction or time staller. When I should be focusing, I was, instead, checking to see if anyone had updated their Facebook status. I tried to come up with various solutions, but finally just decided I needed to completely disable my Facebook account right now. I figured that the world will still go on, I’ll be a lot more focused on the computer, and my friends can call, text, or email me if they need something. 🙂
::Stop Making Excuses
As long as you keep making excuses that you don’t have enough time, you’ll never get any closer toward your goals. If something is important enough to you, you’ll make time for it.
::Practice the 5 a.m. Principle
Getting up early and working for 30 minutes or an hour while the rest of the world sleeps is one of the most efficient and simplest ways to make great strides toward your goals. Sure, when the alarm clock goes off early in the morning, another hour of sleep sounds so much better than tackling a project, but I can guarantee that if you faithfully get up and put in that hour’s worth of work, it can pay off big time.
This is how I wrote my book earlier this year. I knew that I didn’t have much extra time in the middle of the day for writing (especially since I have three young children!), so instead, I went to bed by 8-9 p.m. and got up at 4 a.m. almost every single weekday for three months in order to have at least an extra hour of uninterrupted time to write in the morning. I had to drag myself out of bed some of those mornings, but now that the book is done, I know it was every bit worth it to rearrange my schedule and get up earlier in order to accomplish this goal.
::Delegate
At face value, outsourcing might not seem frugal. In reality, it can be a powerful secret in your ability to work smarter, not harder.
For years, I felt like I had to do all of the tasks of running my business myself because it would be extravagant to pay someone else to work for me. However, I finally got to the point where I was working way too many hours and was constantly behind. In short, the business had outgrown what I could handle myself.
As I’ve slowly brought on people to help, I’ve found that not only does it free me up to focus on what I do best, it also makes my business stronger because I’m able to hire on people who are strong in areas where I’m weak. Yes, it has significantly increased my business expenses, but since it has strengthened the business and allowed me to focus on my core competencies the result has been major growth and income increase. In fact, my expenses have only gone up slightly in comparison to how the business income has increased.
Recommended Reading:
The Other 8 Hours — This book is packed with helpful advice and suggestions for how to earn income outside of your day job. If you feel like you don’t have time to start something on the side because you already work full-time, this book will especially be helpful.
Eat That Frog — This book is jam packed with practical ideas for prioritizing your time and life so that you make the most of your days.
Quitter — I loved this book! In his witty style, Jon shares a wealth of advice for getting from where you are to where you want to go.
…to be continued next Wednesday
Crystal, you will be even more glad you disabled FB with all the crazy changes that are happening now! Oh man, I had to deactivate my account because it was just waaay too busy, and the privacy things were starting to bug me. You aren’t missing a thing! 🙂
Where or how do you get photos to use for your ebooks or blogs? How do you know when it is ok to use them? Do you need permission?
Thank you for the encouragement! I need this so badly. I’ve been wanting to start a blog since March of this year, I’ve been working slowly on it (figuring out my focus/theme). I finally came up with the focus when inspiration hit (in the form of my blog’s name) mid July. Since then I’ve bee discouraged hitting every road block imaginable. The worst being my 5 mo son constantly stealing sleep. It seems when ever I make it to bed by 9:00 pm that’s the night he wakes up constantly. I’ve been getting less than 5 hours of sleep a night for 3+ months now. Its great to see a post telling me to keep trying. He can’t do it every night. I just need to be consistent! And who knows, maybe it’ll help my husband do better on his MBA while we’re at it! Thank you so much Crystal!
I second the 5 a.m. thing. 10:00 doesn’t work for me because I’m too sleepy and much more likely to get sidetracked just browsing the web. Not sure why.
I totally agree that excuses are one of the biggest productivity killers of all time! When I make them, or see my friends making them, I know exactly what is going to happen – nothing. It can be really hard to catch yourself in the act because we are so used to taking the easy path of excuse making instead of actually doing something.
When I do catch myself making excuses, I remind myself that:
If this is important enough, I can and will find time for it.
If this is important enough and can find the means to accomplish it.
I stopped making excuses and now my e-book on how to work from home using your creative talents is almost done because I found a great writer to help me. I set up my sites, and am on my way. I love your posts, thanks for leading by example.
Thank you for the reminder!
Since April I was getting up at 5 am to train for a triathlon. I competed in August then lost my habit of getting up. My friend and I are doing a 1/2 marathon on Sunday then training for a marathon in February. With 4 kids, philanthropy and a full-time job that is the only time I have to get things done. The day just seems to slide away from me, If I do not get a strong start.
It also reminds me of the Proverbs 31 women; paraphrasing here: ‘she rises while the house is dark, considers a field and buys it’.
Have a great day Crystal and thank you for your service!
I am one of those people who works better at night than morning, but I am struggling now because I try to catch up on the things I cannot get done during the day but end up going to bed late. My four children (ages 6 and under) often get up during the night at least once. My hubby gets up at 3:45 to leave by 4:15 so he goes to bed early so I am on my own both finishing things at night and doing things on my own in the morning. Anyone have suggestions for helping kids to stay asleep at night? I would be much more productive in all areas of life if I could actually get sleep. My youngest is one and I had always assumed that once babies were sleeping through the night then parents would be too…never thought about bad dreams and kids who wake up and then just can’t go back to sleep.
Thanks so much for this series, I just started a new blog and your tips have been so helpful! I’m not a morning person, but I have to get up at 5:45 to help my daughter get on the bus and that time after she leaves is the perfect quiet time to work on my blog! Time management is a big key to success in my opinion!
I’ll chime in here with my thoughts on getting up early. I do that too, and I love it! I’m up between 5:00 and 6:00 am every day, and that gives me 2-3 hours of “me” time before my daughter gets up.
I’ve been doing this for like 7-8 years now, and it works so well for me. I am so much more productive in the mornings. I love being able to sip my coffee in peace while the house is quiet. I do laundry in the mornings. By doing just one load a day it never turns into a big chore. The only cleaning I try to do every evening is cleaning up the dishes — for everything else I’ll do one or two tasks each morning.
Our evenings are busy with my daughter’s extracurricular activity, dinner, piano and viola practice, and homework. By the time we are done with everything we need to do in the after-work-and-school hours, we are both tired and ready for bed, so I usually go to bed shortly after my daughter does.
I was not always a “morning person.” I fell into this routine when my daughter was little. (I’m a single mom). Instead of trying to get household chores done after my daughter went to sleep, when I was exhausted myself, I quit trying to do that and just started getting up earlier. Over time, I became more of a morning person. I’m living proof that you can change your cycle if you work at it.
I realize that with a spouse or even more than one child this may not be as feasible, but it works really well for me in this season of life.
But wait — I saw you on Facebook today! Oh, you must mean you gave up your personal account but kept your fan page.
Exactly. It’s now no longer a source of distraction for me, since there’s nothing I can do but update the MSM page with new deals, etc. 🙂
Thanks for suggesting 168 Hours a while back. I’m half-way through the book. With everything else going on, I’ve been working on reading it for a month and in the mean time, I tracked my time, determined my priorities, and saw ways to stream line things. I am happier and so is my family. We really do have more time than we think!
Is there a way to disable your personal account while still being able to use an account to manage your Facebook page? I am an administrator for a Facebook page but would love to be able to disable my personal account.
Sadly no. Terms of service.
Laura,
My apologies, I may be wrong about that. The impression I get from Crystal is that you can.
Well, I didn’t mean to, but I somehow managed to turn my personal profile into a business page.
I’m no longer able to “like” anyone or be in a group, but I can link to my blog posts.
Not sure how you do but I know it can be done. Now if I could figure out how to reverse it LOL!
Thanks for these great tips Crystal.
I have started getting up much earlier than usual lately and it is making me a more productive person in general. I do still seem to have trouble fitting everything I plan into those few hours. I’m working on prioritizing!
We’re you able to fit in your regular exercise while getting up that early and writing the book?
We read “the other 8 hours” a few months ago. I will be having my teenagers read it this year, also. It had some great ideas of ways to increase your income. One of the ideas was getting a job where you can “double dip”. For instance, my friend’s daughter just went to college and got a job in one of the departments where she makes sure everyone signs in who comes into the building. She get to just tell people “hi” as they sign in and can study during her shift. Great job for a student.
Do you think having a blog is necessary before writing an e-book?
Thanks for this series and your insight on saving money and increasing your income. I have been mulling over an idea to launch a website and would love any recommendations on where to look for information that might be helpful. It seems that I can find a great deal of information on starting a blog (which is still helpful), but not as much on starting a website (with a similar feel as craigslist). In searching the internet, it is hard to tell what is a scam or really worthwhile. Any suggestions?
BloggingWithAmy.com has some helpful information on setting up a site (in addition to helpful info on setting up a blog).
Thanks for sharing Crystal! I listened to “The Other 8 Hours” several months ago “Eat That Frog” and “Quitter” sound awesome too! I am looking forward to reading them already.
I use to get up at 5 am everyday to spend quiet time praying, devotionals, reading, and exercising (before Summer Break and traveling). I called it my “Walk & Talk Time” because I could spend uninterrupted time praying and spilling my heart out to God as I walked. I struggle with wanting to be in “control” of my days! Although, I have found that when my heart is in the right place I am less stressed about interruptions or when life doesn’t happen to go as I had “planned”.
Now that the girls are back in school and the traveling is slowing down a little I really need to get back into this consistent routine. There are some things that need to be a higher priority in my life. It’s great for my heart and health.
Thanks for the extra boost of encouragement Crystal! Way to go getting up at 4 am to write your book!!! 🙂
This was a great post. Wonderful tips. I’m trying to do the 5AM thing…but mine has to be more like 4am with getting out the door to work on time.
CONGRATULATIONS upon giving up Facebook…not because of it being a time waster so much, but because of all the dangers on there. I wish my children saw it for what it is, in that dept. At my hubby’s workplace (govt. job), they warned NOT to use either Facebook or Twitter as they are compromised and hacked SO AWFULLY MUCH each and every week. They have not come out and said anything so strongly in all the other 11 plus years he has worked for them. Something to be said there!! Even if you are not on Facebook, you can learn a lot about people by just seeing what is there on the main page.
I am rarely on Facebook anymore, either. It can be informative, but I find that usually I spend that 10 minutes seeing silly posts from a bunch of acquaintances, so there’s not a lot of return for the time spent.
I like your book title- catchy!
I love the idea about getting up early. I got up extra early (for me) this morning and I got so much accomplished! I’m not sure where all my energy came from! LOL! 🙂
I think for some of us, the “5 AM principle” wouldn’t work–and I’ve tried! I have never been a morning person, even as an infant (so I’m told), and I am just groggy – even with 8 hours of sleep – until mid-morning. Those early morning hours of sleep seem to count more than later night hours for me somehow.
So I kind of reverse that and do an hour or so of work after everyone is in bed and my husband and I have had a chance to clean up and reconnect. The house is quiet, which is REALLY hard to get with 4 young kids! 🙂
Me too. I wake up at 8:00 in the mornings because I am NOT a morning person, my kids sleep til 8:30. I spend the extra time at night alone doing work instead of time in the morning. I get more done from 10:30-11:30pm than I do in 4 hours in the morning.
Deanna-
I’m totally with you there! Just like the early morning hours of sleep do more for me than even hours, the later hours of the evening are SO much more productive for me than morning hours. I can be pleasant, but not very productive in the morning (good since I have two particularly early risers), but at night, I can get everything done.
Amital
The “5 a.m. principle” doesn’t work for me either and I’ve tried, too. I’ve never been a morning person at all. I used to have to get up around 5:30 when I had a job outside the home, and that was always very difficult for me. Even if I go to bed early and get plenty of sleep, I can’t think well in the mornings. It’s easier for me to get things done in the evenings after the kids are in bed. Now that they’re all in school, I have some quiet time around the house during the day, which helps a lot. Even so, I have a hard time functioning on school mornings, even though I don’t have to get up quite as early as 5:00.
Morning is not my thing either. I have tried oh so many times to switch myself around to being a morning person and all it did was make me miserable.
I am barely good at holding a conversation with my husband in the morning let alone get any real work done.
I do get up at 6 -6:30 to feed my kids and get them off to school but I do all of that in a fog and am not really feeling fully awake until about 9am.
My best time to work is late afternoon or evenings. 🙂
We all have our different circadian rhythms. It’s not a character flaw–it’s just biology!
Well-said! I realized this was the case for me when I got sick after just a couple days of waking up early. I would really rather get up early, but it just doesn’t work for my body. The “10pm principle” is something that works for me.
If the 5 a.m. principle doesn’t work for you, then try the 10 p.m. principle–where you do focused work from 10 p.m. to 11 p.m. (or whatever time works for you!)
I think it’s best to find out when you are freshest and most energetic and make sure that you are maximizing on that time. For me, I’ve found that my whole day is more efficient and productive if I get up early. But that isn’t always the case for everyone, so experiment and figure out what works best for you.
We used to use a freelance editor who worked from 10 PM to 2 AM. It was really important for her to be home with her kids so she spent all day with them and then worked at night. We actually really liked the setup because we could get things to her by close of business and they would be waiting for us the following morning. I’m personally a morning person and can’t imagine working in the middle of the night but she made good money and was home all day for her kids.
When did she sleep?
So most of these things DO actually sound like working harder 🙂
Crystal’s point is that there is an up-front time and/or money investment to get started. Re-read her first paragraph:)
I am loving this series! I have recently implemented the 5am principle. The hardest part is peeling myself from my comfy bed, but I know that I am much more efficient and can focus much better when the house is quiet!
I love this series! As always…you give a ton of food for thought.
With our new etsy store and website my husband and I have found that list making and scheduling helps a ton. It gives us clear focus and we waste less time.
Ugh dreaded facebook! I love it for a lot of reason but loathe it almost just as much!
-Meg
Hey Crystal, how did you fit Jesse-time in with going to bed so early and getting up so early? I recently started getting up a half an hour before the kids (6:00am for me) to spend time with the Lord. It has helped me out immensely…but I’m having a super-hard time getting to bed earlier. I’m usually not done with chores/shower/business stuff until after 9pm, and my husband is most certainly not ready to hit the hay as early as 10. I end up staying up late just to hang out with him.
Tell him that he’s coming to bed not to sleep, but to spend time with you. 😉 If he wants to get up again after you’ve gone to sleep, then he can.
I have that same issue. My husband would be very upset if I went to bed really early. He already thinks I go to bed really early (compared to him). I really don’t think he likes it.
I’m trying to find a way so my body will be happy staying up later instead of getting up earlier!
Just thought of something. There’s stuff that I do for my blog that is kind of “no brainer” stuff…there are other things that I do that I need total concentration for. I think I need to flip flop what I do when and stay up to spend time with my husband.
Truly, he is more important than my “stuff”
When I was writing the book, we both sat down and strategized and decided that getting up really early to write would be what would work best for our family for a short season. He got up early with me most mornings and that worked well for us during that time period.
Great strategy! That way you were “in it together!” Having this as a short-term goal, and not forever, probably helped too.
Great points Crystal…communication with your spouse AND making changes for a season of time.
I learn so much from you!
I was wondering this same thing! After our girls go down around 8:30 my husband I want to spend time together, not go straight to bed. We usually wind up awake til like, 11ish :/
I agree wholeheartedly about Facebook being a time waster. However,how do we get the free samples only offered on FB if we delete our account? That is the reason I signed up in the first place and now I constantly check for friends’ updates and pics. I wish the companies would offer samples and coupons outside of Facebook.
You can set up an account specifically for requesting the samples, etc. That’s what I did and that’s all I use it for. It has no friends except for pages I’ve liked or friended to get samples.
I totally agree with your comment about Facebook. I absolutely refuse to sign up for yet another time waster. As disappointing as it is, I just let the Facebook deals pass me by. I feel that there are so many other deals out there to take advantage of. Facebook is merely a marketing tool for companies to increase their profits and find out demographical information about you for advertising purposes. And, I’ve always wondered, how is it possible to “like” and be “friends” with a company when you’ve never heard of them before, much less even tried their products?
I’ve done the same as Sam here. I have a special FB account designated only for the special offers. It does not have any of my info except my junk email (for ID theft protection) and I don’t add any of my real friends for them to try and get their information through me as well. It’s been going well for me.
This goes more along with Part 2, but I know more people will see this comment here and maybe help me out. I’ve been thinking hard about creating residual income around our family business (chimney sweeping, woodstove sales, etc). While a wood heating blog I’m sure would be profitable in the end, I don’t know if we have the time right now to focus on that, as we are smack in the middle of busy season and I have three little ones with another one on the way. I can’t imagine anyone buying an ebook about heating with wood as all the info is available for free online. We don’t have a store front to put a vending machine in (although I might look into that for around town!). Does anyone else have any other ideas for other possible streams of income that could correlate with chimney services?
How about paying someone to chop wood for you, then offer it to your customers. You could split the profits with the person who cut it, since you would be promoting them and storing it onsite. Or perhaps ask for a commision to endorse someone as a source for wood, and then hand out business cards.
How about creating a webpage for your business and offering/listing supplies people might use in relation to woodstoves,chimminies, etc. It would basically be putting in one place items they may have to search for themselves. Affliate links for the items perhaps? This wouldn’t seems to take up a lot of time, once it is up, but I haven’t done it before so I don’t really know.
Or could you set up affiliate links with amazon with helpful books related to wood burning stoves and supplies?
I’m constantly having to remind myself that I will make time for what is important to me. If I never want to make time for something, I reevaluate its importance.
I think I found this idea on MoneySavingMom originally but I have a list of my top five priorities and review it before creating my weekly schedule. This has helped me schedule time every day to work towards my goals.
I love this idea! Writing it down right now before I forget!
I love the 5 am principle, and have used it to accomplish great things during busy seasons. I get hung up on the going-to-bed-early part, though. For me the 9:30 pm (bedtime) principle is the crucial flipside of the 5 am principle!
Facebook is not much of a distraction for me, but email sure is. I am currently strategizing to minimize the distraction factor of my email.
Congrats again on the finished book! Can’t wait to read it!
I have the same problem…I can never get to bed early enough to get up extra early. My kids are getting older so their bedtime is getting later. Once they are in their rooms, that’s my time to catch up with my husband, and I hate to lose that time. Wish I was one of those people who could get by on 6 hours of sleep!
Those were great ideas! Thanks for sharing. My biggest problem working at home is self discipline. The computer can such a time waster. I totally understand about FB. I’m on trial with myself limiting my time or I will remove myself.
I have always been a list person. I deal with things not as they get thrown at me, but in order of importance. I love to cross something off the to-do list, even though I know it is never ending. Good reminders to rise early and stay on target. That never fails!
The computer is a huge temptation/time waster for me, too. With everything else, I try to eliminate temptations (like not buying M&Ms so they can’t beckon to me while I’m making dinner). But I HAVE to have the computer on to be ready to help and schedule customers who call our business line. It’s very frustrating.
It’s funny that you just got rid of Facebook and I am finally trying out Facebook. I’ve stayed away from FB for years because I didn’t want it to be a time waster.
Unfortunately, I’ve spent hours trying to figure it out why I no longer have a profile on my account…still not sure that it’s worth my time, but I guess I won’t know until I give it a shot.
Thank you for your “excuses” comment “If something is important enough to you, you’ll make time for it.” Something I need to be reminded about daily!
Some people call them goals, but I call them “my lists” and they help me stay on track as much as anything. Each morning I write down what I need to accomplish with a separate list in each area (i.e. housework, computer time, shopping). I have certain periods of time to devote to these areas and only after I check off the items on my list am I allowed to veer off to something else, such as facebook.
Of course sometimes life happens, but for the most part I’m able to stay on track. And as painful as it is, I’m on the 5 a.m. plan, too. UGH!
Great insight as always Crystal!
That’s a great idea!!!
Have you been looking over my shoulder? I am a freelance writer, and I can’t tell you how many hours I have lost to facebook and other time sucks. Every time a one hour article turns into a four hour article, I kick myself and say ‘never again!’ Until the next day, that is…
Thanks for the great post and reminder!