I don't check either very often. I know my site is new in the internet world. I know I don't have traffic yet and I know I don't have any sales yet. I also know that it will be disappointing to even look right now.

So I join you in your challenge. I pledge not to check Google Analytics or Amazon until March 24, 2018 (one month from today). I haven't checked it in over a week, so that will make it over 30 days.

Anita

Ok. So I read this last night and have been thinking about it ever since. I'm in for your challenge... but I'm going to go for 1 week (to start). :)
I always update my "progress chart" on the first of the month, so I'll do my best to solely focus on content writing until then! No peeking!

Thank you Mike, this is a good Resolution.
On my side, I don't check, because.... there is nothing to see (lol)., probably only me looking at meeeee...
But I look in Bing Webmaster Tools to correct the Errors. So it makes sense, well, when I Can correct them....

Have a nice weekend,
Anne

I agree. I may check once a month at most. My time is better served getting better at writing. ~Mark

I'm in

Thank you, most of us do it so I say I fell to that but you are right just add content never mind that Analytics.

Mike,

I really want to thank you so much for this. We are all OBSESSED with numbers in this day an age. It doesn't matter if we are talking about money, analytics, or popularity its all a numbers game. We need to stop focusing on what we want to see, instead of working with an illusion. DONT CHECK THESE NUMBERS and stay focused.

Mike, as always, I appreciate your thoughts as well as your honesty.

One thing I do is ask myself, "How am I going to use this data?"

If I'm looking at the data because I need emotional support, I'm probably going to be disappointed. I need to get my emotional support from my relationships. And since we are prone to put all kinds of interpretations on the data, we can actually depress and discourage -ourselves- just because we draw conclusions and assign meanings to, say, a slump in traffic that may not be accurate.

However, if I have a particular use in mind for the data, that helps take the emotional nature out of it.

For example, I might say, "I'm going to check Google Analytics because I want to see which one of my posts is the most read. Then, I can read that post and see what I can learn from it that I might replicate elsewhere."

At that point, it doesn't matter if my "most read post" was read by 400 people or 40 (or 4). Because the data is not my measurement of whether or not I'm succeeding; it's a tool I can use to take more productive action. It's not a performance metric.

So, yeah, even though we can't help it sometimes, I'd recommend not checking analytics just to see "how you're doing." I'd come up with an actionable purpose for checking that data, then doing so.

I’m with you on this one, I used to check regularly but now I only look at months end and mid month.
I check at the end of the month to see if I reached my goal and mid month to see if I am on track or not to hit next months goal.
With Grace and Gratitude
Karen

Hi,

Great information for those that begin as new online business owners or affiliate marketers. I agree with your statements. It makes good sense. It can be very discouraging if you keep looking at those tools and don't see any results.

Great post!

Best wishes,

George