My 9th month at WA & where did I go wrong?

byCuriousOwl

350 followers

Updated 4 years ago

A Big Hello to my awesome WAwesomes,

How are you all?
I hope you all are safe, are in the best of health and are having a good time with your loved ones.

I have completed 8 months here at WA and as of today (1st Sep 2020) I start my 9th month as a WAwsome (I coined this term just now, do you like it? do let me know in your comments below :)

9 months! A whole new human life form can be made ready to be brought into the world in this much time, so I began to question myself "What ground breaking, earth-shattering work were you busy doing in these last 9 months SR?"

I caught myself in the middle of my brushing ritual when this question popped like a popcorn in my head so I could witness in the mirror my change of expression from "Tuesday Morning Blues" to "Ummmm, Aaaaaaa, Well..... Sigh!"

I pondered over this all the way through rest of the morning chores... yeah... all of them !

When I finished my breakfast, I realized that even though I had not been a lazy bum, wiling away time on the couch, binge watching Netflix YET.. I was far behind the goals I had set out for myself in Jan this year.

I joined WA end of Dec 2019 with the aim of building a sustainable online business, and I gave myself 2 years to do that.
I had seen a few examples of people who had joined WA a few months before I did and they were already taking a bit into the fruits of success from their efforts, yet knowing my limitations and constraints I thought 2 years should be a practical time frame for me.

I have spent most of the 1st year and this morning I found myself still standing very close to that starting line.

Where did I go wrong?

I have been dissecting these thoughts since morning, it is almost 4PM here and I have come to a few realizations which I wanted to share with all you WAwesomes so I can have your feedback as well on it.

1. Obsessive Compulsive Reader

I suffer from a mind that is interested in too many disparate subjects. I like reading about History, Philosophy, Technology, Finance, Automobiles, Software Coding, Economics...

When I pick up something from each of those interests, I get behind it like an obsessed woman, I spend weeks absorbed into the subject (books / articles / videos / courses) till my eyes start to itch and my brain starts to ache, that's when I go and find something else to break the monotony but again fall into the same cycle and it keeps repeating.

How I started with WA and why I abandoned it for 8 months

I was obsessed with learning all about Website creation, Keyword research, SEO, Content marketing, Copywriting in Jan2020. Apart from WA training, I found 4 other sources to learn about these topics.

I used to watch Kyle's videos while making my breakfast, while eating it, while getting ready for office, on my way to office, on my way back from office, while having dinner and all the way till I crashed in my bed.

Within 2 months, I had designed and published 2 websites.
I am particularly proud of the 2nd one I designed for my husband's business because I surprised my own self with how well it turned out.

But then Covid happened, things changed drastically and the whole website business went on a side track.

It has been a very hectic 8 months, but I still managed to take out time to read about things that interest me.

I read about Nietzsche, Confucius, Karl Marx and their philosophies.
I picked up lessons in Salesforce Apex Coding
I am reading a book by Mr Vivek Kaul on the evolution of money from Robinson Crusoe to the First World War.

But I did not come back to WA or the two amazing websites I designed and published during this time, why? I think it is because I exhausted myself going all engines fired behind it the first time.

I was scared to go back because I realized I will not be able to spare as much time anymore. I waited 8 months be able to spare whole day of the weeks to pick up those threads again.

So I realize the first and biggest problem with me is that I am an Obsessive Compulsive Reader.

2. Not having a day planner

The second mistake I made is not having a day planner.

I know now that it is very difficult to work on a side hustle along with your full time day job.
Well, if you want to stay true to your day job that is!

The only way I can do justice to both these things is if I plan and assign certain parts of my day to each of them.

So, I have decided to break my productive hours in a day into parts and dedicate the 3/4th of them to my Day Job (obviously) and 1/4th of them for everything else, which would include my website and other interests.

I think this will help me two ways -

1. It will help me maintain a healthy balance between my work and personal life

2. It will help me keep a track of my time so I don't overdo certain things which leads to a burnout.

3. Not breaking goals into daily / weekly / monthly targets

This is another culprit which made me go all over the places and kept me from inching towards the goal I had set out for myself in Jan 2020.

I had set out a very practical and doable goal for myself, but the mistake I made in the planning process was that my goal lacked some S M A R T ness.

My goals ticked in the Attainable, Relevant and Time-based check boxes, but they were certainly not Specific and Measurable.

So I have decided to re-work at them and break them down into chewable bite size targets to achieve within smaller time frames of a day, week and then add them up to a month.

I think if I can fix these 2 mistakes of my last 8 months, my 9th month might just turn out to be a bit more productive. What do you think?