Branding David

One thing I have learned in all my years working online is that people as a group are lazy, and to be honest, I am guilty of this as well sometimes, but as individuals, there are many things we can do to combat this side of our personality and in doing so, we will slowly get a leg up on the people and businesses we compete with.

Work When Your Energy is Peaking

Everyone has certain times of the day where they have the most energy to be able to concentrate and get things done in a manner that would take much longer during other parts of the day. Figuring out when you are at your peak energy can be quite difficult if you don’t have a normal routine, but it will usually be one, two or three times in the day where your concentration, creativity, and organizational skills are their highest.

For myself, I am able to get massive amounts of work done in the early afternoon between two and four, and then in the late evening between ten and midnight. This means I have four hours where I try to focus on my most important tasks, such as creating content, organizing various projects, or working on programming.

Outside of these special times, I deal with things like e-mail, phoning businesses, and other more menial tasks that would be a waste of my peak times.

Removing the Crud

Do you really need to watch three different prime-time television shows each night? Do you really need to rent movies every week?

There are so many things we do in our lives that are huge time wasters and because its consistent, it becomes a habit, and for some, an addiction, but removing the extra distractions in our lives can give us more focus, drive, and determination which can quickly lead to success.

Working from home, I sometimes find it very hard to not get distracted, but I have set aside some space for myself to have an office, and I am always working on streamlining it, so that it efficient for me, and free of as many distractions as possible.

Start Something!

One of the easiest ways to combat laziness is to start something. I usually start working on something I’d enjoy as it gets my energy up and as I am being productive my whole mood changes. It then becomes easier to tackle the tasks I don’t enjoy, and as long as I keep aware of my mood and energy level, I can bounce back and forth between various tasks that I enjoy doing, and those that I don’t, but the whole crux of this plan is that I need to start something.

One way to help with this is to get a system going that before the end of the day you start something new. For me, I do a quick planning mind map on the next article I want to write. I get the structure ready, but I don’t go any further than that, as it makes for a very easy start to my next day.

You would be amazed at how much of a boost to your mood it can be to complete something, even if it was nearly complete the day before.

Play Your Favourite Music

I am sure many of you have heard this before, but music can have a huge effect on your mood, energy level, and persistence in working on any task. I have found some good Internet radio stations in iTunes that fit my music tastes well, but I suggest everyone take the time to get together some music they can listen to that will help shut out the world, and focus on the tasks at hand.

Play things that make you feel happy, energetic, and powerful, and it will help when working on a variety of different things.

Reward Yourself

The last major tip I have is for people to reward themselves. We live in a world that doesn’t really “give” us anything, and so we must earn it, but if we are spending all of our time, money and energy on sustaining the bare minimum to live comfortably, then we aren’t creating a happy life.

If you enjoy reading books, as I do, buy yourself one each month as a reward for the work you have done. Rewards don’t have to be expensive. They just have to be something you enjoy, and something that will make the daily grind worthwhile. Make sure to remind yourself of what you are working towards by keeping a note in your wallet or purse, or a reminder somewhere else that you will constantly see.

Conclusion

We are all intrinsically lazy, but those that fight off laziness in a variety of different ways will find themselves outperforming others. Sure, there might be things you can’t do on this list, but everyone should be able to try one of these methods. Don’t let the side of you that is lazy win, as it only leads to the hard road in life.

Recently, I attended the Blog World Expo in Las Vegas, and while in the city of excess, I noticed very few people seemed worried about the negative slide that has been occurring in the American economy.

Personally, I am very interested in what happens with the American economy, as it is strongly tied to the Canadian economy, and the economies of many nations around the world. While China is jokingly said to produce everything, the majority of the media content that I consume comes from the United States.

Economic shifts tie in strongly with being a web worker because advertising dollars are usually the first things to be reduced as belt tightening happens within a company, and a large percentage of the revenue being moved around online today to pay my own, and many other peoples, wages is directly related to advertising sales.

As a web worker, I feel as though we are in the height of the conference and events scene in my industry, with many companies spending thousands of dollars for a small booth at these events, and dozens of sponsors spending an arm and a leg to have their logo adorn the promotional materials and session halls. Will these events dry up as the economy shifts, advertising revenue slows, and bloggers pay is continually reduced for bloggers, freelance designers and other web workers?

Despite being a positive person and a bit of an idealist, I find the current outlook to be fairly bleak.

I hope that as the economy shifts, more businesses will realize that the web is an inexpensive way of reaching a wider audience, and so, as certain advertisers leave the table, or reduce their spending online, a new group of businesses will throw their money, in a cautious but substantial way, into advertising online and at conferences, events and trade shows.

How does a diminished American economy effect your bottom line? How will it effect the way you work, live, and network with your peers? If you are a speaker or consultant, how will it effect you in the short term?

Things are definitely changing, and more now than nearly any time in history, it may be time for both businesses, consultants and employees alike to evolve and adapt or struggle.

For the longest time, the only way to compete in blogging as a business was to start a blog and own a niche. The more narrowly focused your niche was, the more likely you could find a way to compete and become a resource for people on that topic, but what ended up happening was that many bloggers began focusing in on niches based on the advertising revenue being spent on them, and quickly bloggers found themselves having higher and higher amounts of competition.

One blog network that took niche blogs to the extreme was b5media, a company that I greatly respect. They started hundreds of blogs focusing in on fairly tight niches. They had half a dozen blogs on gaming, a blog for each separate major celebrity, and television series, and they ran like this for a few years before realizing the power of the portal system.

They have since started creating portals for their blogs, bringing together the best content from each niche blog under one brand. An example of this is the recently launched Starked, an entertainment news portal taking the best content from all of their celebrity, television and movie related blogs. This, to me, shows the major shift just starting in the blogosphere, especially where business blogging is concerned.

No one has a single interest. Most people aren’t interested in one celebrity, or one television show. They are interested in a variety of people, shows, topics, and have reached a saturation point when it comes to subscribing to RSS feeds, tracking blogs manually, or connecting with writers. People are starting to go back to looking for one stop where they can find all of the information they are looking for in an efficient way from sources they can trust.

If you are starting a new blog today, while it might be more difficult than focusing on a tight niche like a single product or device, you may be better off, instead, focusing on a demographic that you can connect to, and become the number one source of content for.

Become the portal that like-minded people can connect to and trust, and you won’t have to ever hear the word niche again. Build a brand, be a trusted source, and connect to people that are as diverse as you are.