The reason most people fail at IM!
I got an interesting E mail from one of my mentors today and isn't this the truth?
Thanks to Kenster
The PMG Exercise
This exercise is about productivity and growth.
I have a whiteboard fetish so that's what I use, but you can use a good old pad and pencil. Either way, you want to physically write this down by hand...don't do it digitally on your computer.
You'll be spending the next 7 days (don't cheat yourself) tracking your time.
There are 4 steps.
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Step One
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Track each block of time you spend on a given task each day. This starts when you begin working and ends when you end working each day.
It may look like this...
Day 1 - [Insert Date Here]
25 minutes - responding to emails
10 minutes - browsing funny YouTube videos
45 minutes - perusing favorite forum
30 minutes - updating website
45 minutes - writing blog post
50 minutes - lunch
30 minutes - checking up on celebrity gossip
20 minutes - doing content for next product
etc.
etc...
Be honest with yourself. (You'd be surprised how many people I consult who initially have days that look like the above...even the successful ones!)
Do this for the next 7 days straight.
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Step Two
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Look at each of your time blocks and put a P, M, or G next to each one based on the following.
Put a "P" next to the block if it was spent on something "Personal" such as eating, browsing the web, or checking up on your Twitter friends. If you are not sure if something is personal or business in nature, always lean towards it being personal so put a P next to it.
Put an "M" next to the block if it was spent on "Maintaining "your business. Emails, Skype, calling clients, updating sites, messing with your auto responder or software, and writing blog posts are all maintenance activities. Don't justify something as a growth activity (described next) just because it "could" lead to some type of moderate growth. Just to give you an idea, most of my consulting clients have 80-90% of their time blocks as "M"
Put a "G" next to the block if it was spent on AGGRESIVELY AND ACTIVELY "Growing" your business.
Keep in mind that a growth activity is something that could dramatically increase your income. Writing a blog post may bring in a little more traffic, but it's not aggressive and dramatic enough to be considered a growth activity. Answering emails could lead to a new opportunity or new customer/client, but it's not aggressive enough to be considered a growth activity.
As a general rule of thumb, don't try hard to justify something as a growth activity. If in doubt, it's most likely a maintenance activity.
A few examples of activities that could be considered G's include starting new traffic campaigns, developing the content of a new product you'll be releasing, setting up a new service, hiring employees, etc.
Your chart may look like this:
25 minutes - responding to emails - M
10 minutes - browsing funny YouTube videos - P
45 minutes - perusing favorite forum - M
30 minutes - updating website - M
45 minutes - writing blog post - M
50 minutes - lunch - P
30 minutes - checking up on celebrity gossip - P
20 minutes - doing content for next product - G
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Step Three
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Add all the time up in the three PMG categories and see what percentage of time you are spending on each. If you are like 99.9% of people out there, you won't even be close to productively using your time.
My clients generally start with a breakdown that looks something like this...
P = 15% or more
M = 80% or more
G = 5% or less
A target goal I have them shoot for is...
P = 5% or less
M = 20% or less
G = 75% or more
Most people spend less than 5% of their time actually growing their business.
It'll be very hard or impossible to break six and seven figures or add a zero to your bottom line with that type of productivity. If you want to hypergrow your business and income, shoot for the target PMG breakdown.
I'm willing to bet you'll achieve massive success quicker than you ever thought possible.
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Step Four
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Actively spend more time growing and less time maintaining. Over the next few months, strive to hit the target PMG breakdown above. This may mean dropping tasks, not doing some current tasks as well, not being as responsive with emails and support, and so on.
That's okay.
This is an ongoing process and will become more habitual in just a few weeks.
Eventually you can hire out and outsource those maintenance tasks so your primary role is actively and aggressively growing your business.
This task alone has helped countless consulting clients of mine literally explode their businesses in just a few short weeks.
It's THAT powerful.
Remember Remember Remember...highly successful people do the simple things that others are unwilling to do.
You deserve it.
Try it sometime and scare yourself!
This should help a lot of you perform better I know it will work for me! LOL
Steve
Recent Comments
13
"IM", I thought it meant instant messaging. oops. Now I've got it!—internet marketing. ;) Well, a solid 3 years after you posted this, there's still a fantastic take-away for me. I'm pretty sure most of my time is spent on "M"aintenance, too. Very enlightening. I'm going to test it out; then make some changes. Thanks!
--Fran
Just now getting caught up on all my reading all my WA stuff. This is my first time reading this, So hows it going are you doing this?
As I am building a large site which will eventually have at least 300 posts (products) I TOTALLY agree with Hudson that it is a very important part of your site building work, if not THE most important. It is also one of the most time consuming if you are building an authority site so you can't just dismiss it. If you have no content you have no website!
I actually use a very simple approach which I remembered from years ago and started using again about three weeks ago.
I use a stop watch to time how long I am actually working on my site, whether it is actually on the site, looking for pictures, writing a review or looking for help say on WA.
I stop, if I want to, when I have reached an average of 8 hours per working day for the week. It is so simple and you don't need to keep a record. Your stopwatch instantly tells you if you are spending enough time on the job - or even too much - you need to have a balance and not let it take over your life!
You can decide if you want to work for 8 hours a day or spread the 40 hours over the week but spread it over whatever time you like, e.g. 7 hours one day, 9 the next.
I simply start the clock on a Monday and keep going until it reaches 40 hours. You instantly know if you are putting enough time in or not. Since I started doing this I have got through a huge amount of work.
Note: If you have a mobile phone you almost certainly have a stopwatch.
Very interesting. Like the approach, and it clearly will produce results. I am puzzled why content is not a growth activity. If you are aiming to create an authority site Kyle reckons you need to get to over 300 posts. This cannot surely be classed as maintenance. I understand that a new traffic campaign is growth but wouldn't this also include posts? Also by your definition creating content for a new product is growth. To my simple mind posting is more a growth activity than maintenance. Perhaps you could identify more growth type activities, as this would help me certainly?
Thanks,
Hudson.
DressageHusband! This is exactly what I've been complaining about regarding my typical day since I got back to homeschooling and have had less time to devote to my online work. I've been saying to myself, 'By the time I respond to the emails and make the phonecalls and do this and that, I never get to the real stuff, or write any new stuff! Argh!' And, yes, I do like to read international news when I'm relaxing, and that eats up time too... So I am definitely going to track my time and then do something to improve my productivity. Thank you!
Looks great Steve! I'm sure that this will boost your business!!
However, I also like: ''efficiency'' and ''responsibility'' on my daily tasks in working at - and next to my business!
I LOVE THIS! Awesome information! Thank you so much for putting this out there! I am definitely going to try this!
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Very interesting. Worth giving it a try. Thank you