Web Worker Daily

We have a tendency to impose restrictions on our abilities and potential by creating glass ceilings for ourselves. It starts with arbitrary boundaries.

In recent months, I’d been working toward a certain fixed, arbitrary goal, when it came to my business and my income. Read the rest of this entry »

My lack of routine in recent weeks has made it abundantly clear how important routine can be for productivity, for creativity, and for creating a life by design rather than by default. The key, though, is making sure to develop a unique routine deliberately, with intent and purpose.

Successful musicians, athletes, writers and entrepreneurs all have one thing in common: They practice their craft, and then they practice some more. They dedicate time for practice by creating structure in their daily lives. By establishing their own unique routines, they ensure progress is made in the most important areas of their lives on a regular basis. Success is about consistency, and there’s no better way to establish consistency than through daily routine and habit.

I’m still trying to figure out a good routine for me, but I’m fairly confident it will follow a few basic principles. Read the rest of this entry »

If you’re a small business owner or freelancer, you probably feel like you’re being pulled in about a thousand directions. Everything seems to be competing for your attention, and you can’t figure out what’s the most important priority for this very second. You have phone calls and emails to return, projects to complete, quotes to compile, and somehow, you have to figure out how to generate more business (that you really aren’t sure how you’ll keep up with).

At the end of the day, you feel spent, yet you don’t feel that you’ve made any real progress toward your goals. You’re left feeling frustrated, like you’re floundering and can’t find solid ground.

The good news is, it’s actually fairly easy to get out of this mess and start moving forward again. All it takes is laser focus and the willingness to let go. Read the rest of this entry »

How do you know you’re, in fact, succeeding in your business? It may seem like you’ve had a steady flow of new customers, but are you tracking the numbers to be sure?

It’s easy to lose track of time and get confused about when you signed that new client and how many jobs you’ve had this month or this year.

Tracking key metrics for your business can help you see exactly how well your business is doing. It can help you make improvements, forecast income and set goals for your future. Read the rest of this entry »

Do you ever wonder what is keeping you from making progress toward your goals? Perhaps you’ve set up a schedule for yourself, outlining the things you need to do each day so that you focus on the most important tasks related to your business, but somehow, you still seem to be falling short. Maybe the solution is not in the lack of planning and foresight on your part, but rather the lack of clarity around the things that need to be done. Read the rest of this entry »

Last night, I was reading Wayne Dyer’s book, “Excuses Begone!,” and came across a statement that really resonated with me. “We don’t always want to undertake the necessary steps to create the life we desire.”

Many times, there are limits as to how far we’ll go to achieve success in our lives and businesses. Maybe we don’t want to move, or give up a certain type of lifestyle. Maybe we don’t want to have to bootstrap our new business idea and drop some of the luxuries we enjoy on a daily basis, like cable television or expensive cell phone plans, or maybe we don’t want to have to do things we’re uncomfortable doing, like promoting our businesses and “putting ourselves out there.” Read the rest of this entry »

How many times do we allow the sideshows to run our lives? What do I mean by “sideshows?” Well, sideshows can be many things: Read the rest of this entry »

Nothing will motivate you to achieve your goals like making other people aware of the specifics of what you’re aiming to accomplish. At least for me, the threat of public shame is a great tool you can use to prevent yourself from giving up on your dreams. Making others aware of your plans also has the added benefit of potentially providing you with great feedback about how you might best go about carrying through with them, too. The web is a great place to publicize your professional goals, especially if that’s where you do the bulk of your work. But just tweeting your aim doesn’t mean it’ll come through. As with most things, a plan will help increase your chances of success.

Step 1: Alert the People You Trust

If you’re worried about the feasibility of your goals, bouncing them off of your closest friends and relatives is a sure way of getting some invaluable early feedback. You probably have some good friends who aren’t afraid to make you look foolish (and, in fact, might relish the opportunity), so you don’t have to worry that they’ll pull punches to spare your feelings. Conversely, if you have a good idea, they won’t summarily cut you down, like some of your more trollish online contacts might. Read the rest of this entry »