Beware the Hamster wheel !

I can't remember where or when I read about it, but I recall some time in the past being warned about the Hamster wheel.

A pet Hamster will jump merrily onto his wheel and go dashing away for all its worth, only to find that despite all the effort, he (or she) is getting nowhere.

I've got to be honest, I have a tendency to fall for this all the time.

I come up with ideas and I start making plans, getting busy, convinced I'm doing things to advance towards my success, only to get nowhere.

Before the internet, I might spend time shopping for a new briefcase and pens to carry to business meetings, when really I had no business to goto any meetings for and I needed to get on with building that and not dashing around my exercise wheel !

Now along comes the internet, and it's even easier to be caught up thinking your doing vital jobs that will launch your business only to find in reality you are not.

And forums, well, they can really suck up your time !

I find if I really want to get somewhere, a good start is to make a list of all the things I need to do - a bit of project planning. I write out what I want to achieve at the bottom of a piece of paper and then write start at the top. In between these two points I list in order all the things I need to do to move me from the top to the bottom.

And then I go back once I have the list and put time lines in - targets for each area to be completed by.

Now as I go forward, I have an idea about what I need to be focused on, and this can help me avoid spending too much time on the Hamster wheel. When I'm doing something, I can ask myself if it moves me closer to completing the relevant task or not.

Planning and project management is a far deeper subject than I have touched on here, and we all know the old 'fail to plan, plan to fail' - but I hope I have illustrated my main point - don't get sidetracked by irrelevant things that make you think you are doing something but in reality are getting you nowhere.

Of course,related to this is the idea of getting everything perfect. For myself, I prefer to get something done, and then come back at a later date to tidy it up if needed.

A good example of being on the Hamster wheel is spending day after day getting your sites header graphic just right. You think you are doing something really important, but let's face it, how much money is it earning you?

Perhaps every entrepreneur should own a pet Hamster to remind them to stay focused :-)