21 Days to Create a Habit - my accountability experiment

I’m going to do an experiment.

I’ve had some reversals of fortune lately and need to generate income quickly. I’m not new to Internet Marketing, so I have a good idea of what to do and how to do it. I had to move which took up 3 months of my time due to the actual moving and health issues. So it’s been hard to get back on track.

This thread is one of the ways I’m using to get me moving again.

You know the law of physics that says that a body at rest tends to stay at rest and a body in motion tends to stay in motion?

Well this is how I’m getting my body in motion. They say it takes 21 Days to Create a Habit. So I figure if I work this experiment for 21 days, I'll be back in the habit and that will create the momentum I need to keep going forward.

[NOTE: before I say anything else, while something from this experiment could end up as a WSO (as one never knows what’s going to happen), at this point, I have no intention of creating one. I’m doing this particular thread/project because it’s going to help ME.

If it helps anyone else along the way, that’s just frosting. You’re welcome to follow along or not. If you’re interested in participating in this experiment, make a post and I’ll add a forum to my accountability site (21 Days to Create a Habit | Creating success in 21 days.

And don’t get bent out of shape – I’ll be posting this same information to that site, as well, for people who’ve never even heard of the Warrior Forum. Again, this whole experiment is for ME.]

Also part of the plan is no unscheduled interruptions. No checking my eMail every 10 minutes. No checking voice mail every 10 minutes. No getting caught up in the latest Stephen King novel because I “need a break”. No quick peeks at the Warrior Forum to see if anything good is going on.

If I check eMail, it’s at 11 am and 4 pm and possibly at 9 pm if I remember. But the rule is I can’t check any earlier and can only check at those times if I’m done with something and am about to get started on something else.

Yes, I’ll be taking breaks to give my body a break. But those breaks are only every 2 hours and involve about 10 minutes of walking outside to keep from getting stiff and mentally stale. Maybe let a cat out, let another cat in, or run to the can. I take a long break at about 4 and then am back at it at 6. While I'm not at a JOB, I want to make the most of every minute so that I never have to go back.

I’m starting in a new niche and am going to target income within 30 days. I’ve become somewhat of an expert on this niche over the past 2 years and have researched it extensively, so I have an idea of what I’ll be able to write about.

More importantly, it’s an area in which I am interested and has a lot of possibilities.

My first step is to create an eBook. I have a (very) rough draft already that I put together in the evenings and during my commute over this past year. It needs additional material which has already been gathered and organized. And it needs at least one solid revision after that to make sure it's going to be good.

I was in the middle of incorporating the new material when I was forced to move. I had to set aside everything else until the move was complete and I had recovered from the move.

I have also just been blessed with getting laid off, so now have the time to get this done – no excuses, no barriers, nothing hanging over my head. All I have to do this month is get the book done and market it.

When the book is done, I will be marketing it both digitally and on paper. I will also be creating a forum for purchasers of the book with a section on the forum for people who are interested in the subject but who are not ready to purchase. Additionally, I will be offering coaching to purchasers.

I’ve created a tracking spreadsheet with separate sheets for each of my marketing spokes that I open first thing in the morning so I can see where I am. (At some point, I will make it available to anyone who is interested once it’s been tweaked a bit more.)

I will also be creating a PDF of all of my steps along the way when this is done for anyone who would like it. However, don’t bug me about either one of these. They will be created when I am finished. If you want it sooner, copy and paste the posts and create your own PDF.

I created an Action List of steps that need to be taken. I’m modifying it as I go so I will have something already in place for my next project and I won’t have to reinvent the coffee cup.

I actually started the checklist because it occurred to me that the best way to get moving and taking action was to explain step by step what I was doing as if I was writing a post on the WF. I knew that daily accountability would help keep my momentum going. And it was likely the only thing that would.

The other thing that works best for me is having a routine. I’m more likely to get the work done if I have a specific set of steps I take every day that get me to my computer and working. A routine makes it less likely I will dribble away time on non-essential “busy work” that can and should wait until the important tasks are done.

Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits book had 2 sections that work particularly well for me and that have stuck with me over the years since I read it:

- Begin with the end in mind, and
- First things first

Begin with the end in mind

I know what I want the end result to be at the end of May and will be working towards that. I’m targeting $500. It may not seem like much, but the hardest part is getting to the first $100 and right now $500 is a stretch for me, but not so big a stretch that it will overwhelm me. I can see that it is possible and possible is what I need right now.

First things first

This means no extraneous crap until the tasks for the day have been completed. When I was moving, there was no time for anything but filling boxes and carting them out to the storage pods that lined the street (I used Door to Door and they bring small pods to your location, you fill them and then they take them away into storage or to your new place.)

Taking that experience and applying it to this project, that means that whatever I have decided needs to be accomplished today, gets done today before anything else. After all, a trip to the grocery store can be done later. The laundry can be done later. If something is on TV, it can be recorded. It’s not going anywhere. But the opportunity to accomplish something important and create a new habit will vanish as time ticks away

The last thing I want is to have to take another Just Over Broke (JOB for anyone who doesn’t already know).

As I accomplish each task, I write it down on my Day at a Glance calendar so I can see what I’ve managed to actually get done that day. I also update the Action Checklist with anything that’s not already on there. Seeing my actions add up is a great motivator for me.

[NOTE: I was going to keep track of how long it took me to do each of these steps, and then realized that it didn’t matter. Sometimes it goes fast and sometimes it doesn’t. It all depends on what’s going on, if there are computer problems, you’re upload umpteen themes, the cat is just about to throw up on my desk, whatever.

Some actions take no time at all – other take what seems like forever. It doesn’t matter. The steps need to be taken to get to where you want to go. So just put your head down and plow on through until you’ve done everything you can for the day.]

Just remembered a great video I saw that shows that you can do a heck of a lot more than you think. Jeff Herring sends out Sunday Morning Inspiration eMails with a link to great videos that are inspiring or motivating. This one was particularly good:

www.jeffherring.com/going-further-again/

Also note: There are all kinds of ways of working and getting to where I’m going. This happens to be the path that I use. You need to find what works for you, so tweak and customize it as needed.

Here’s what I’ve done so far (Day 1):

Namecheap.com

Got a domain name: 21-Days-to-Create-a-Habit (http://www.21-days-to-create-a-habit/). I also purchased 21DaystoCreateAHabit.com. (This site is for this experiment. The site that I’m using for the actual niche will go unnamed for obvious reasons.)

I also created a separate website solely on the basis of higher keyword numbers that will be a duplicate of Site A. This will allow me to do some comparisons between the two. I’ll be using Site B as if it’s an affiliate site that then points to Site A, but it will have separate content. I’ll be pointing all the marketing work (article marketing, web 2.0, etc.) at Site A. I’m only doing this because I already had the domain name for Site B and figured it could come in handy, but I wouldn’t have otherwise.

Activated Whois Guard (this comes with the domain name registration for the 1st year)

Changed the Registrant, Administrative and Technical info to an alias at an alias eMail – while I have Whois Guard for the first year, I generally don’t renew and don’t want my real info to suddenly show up after the Whois Guard has expired. It’s easier to set this up now than remember to do it later.

Forwarded the undashed domain to the dashed domain

Changed the DNS to Hostgator

Hostgator

Set up the dashed domain as an Added Domain on Hostgator

Set up an eMail address for the domain (for the contact form)

Set up Wordpress as my site software

I also make sure I eMail the information to both my gMail address and a personal eMail address that goes on my Thunderbird eMail client so I have the information in 2 places – one on the web and one on my computer in case of a problem.

Site

Configured Wordpress settings

Got a Wordpress theme

Picked out a bunch of WP themes from Wordpress.org, plus I had several premium themes. There are also a ton of sites out there with free themes and I’m always trolling to see what’s new, so I have a ton of themes I can pick from. However, I also have a tendency to just do a quick and dirty by picking 10-20 themes from Wordpress.org that are “fine for now” that can be tweaked later. Or replaced by somthing better. It keeps me from getting bogged down by looking for just the “perfect” theme for 3 weeks so that nothing else gets done. I never spend more than 20-30 minutes on this part.

Uploaded the themes to the new site

Selected a theme now that I see what it’s really going to look like

Uploaded Plugins – I have 2 different batches. The ones I always use (like Sociable, Contact Form, Privacy Policy, etc.) and then the ones I think I’m going to want for that particular site

Activated the Plugins I want working immediately. I only activate what I need as I need it, but most of the ones I’m going to want are already installed and are ready to be activated when they’re needed.

Configured Plugin settings

Set up Feedburner feeds

So now the site is ready to go. In this instance, it’s my 21 Days site and the niche site.

The 21 Days site is easy as it is simply my account of my daily intentions and actual activities. It is my accountability site. As I run into inspirational / motivational information, I’ll add that material, but I won’t be putting a lot of time or activity into promoting.

Once I get my info product finished, I will start adding material to the niche site and start promoting it.

Now that the site has been set up, I have my momentum going, so my next activity is to finish the information product.

Back tomorrow