I left the comfort of my day job as of June 1st. Before that, I’d thought I’d write every day about how I was leaving my day job gracefully to go full-time into professional speaking, consulting, coaching and writing.
But I didn’t.
I didn’t execute anything. I did leave my day job as planned but I didn’t write.
I didn’t write at all.
In fact looking back, since I wrote about my last 100 days, I pretty much quit writing altogether. Everywhere.
I stopped executing.
And I stopped seeing results. Big time.
Twitter alone is not the way to success in business. Neither is Facebook…or LinkedIn…or any one thing.
It’s about doing what you do, execution on your plan, every day. For me, that means at least 2 original useful posts a week. Plus a newsletter every week. Plus some time on Twitter. And LinkedIn and Facebook.
And executing for my other business ventures too, which I’ll share with you soon.
If you’re still with me, thanks for your loyalty and attention. And if you left and are thinking of coming back, please do. There’s a lot more energy and insight where this post came from.
Execution matters a lot…And I plan to do a lot of that in the coming months. Stay tuned!
{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }
It helps to get off the toilet Phil
Great point Lora! Thanks for the reminder!
Phil,
I have five things I’ve identified that I must do every day to remain successful. 1. read, 2. write, 3. tweet/face/link, 4. engage customers, 5. sell something (even a small affiliate sale counts) each day. That’s it. Looks simple in words. As you know it’s the execution that matters. Sometimes I slip and forget the plan for days or even maybe a week. It’s OK, I go back read the plan again and boom, back on track and I fall into the habit again quickly. It’s not starting over. It’s not even picking up where I left off. It’s better because now I have more tools and more knowledge to not stray from the plan “that way” again. – Make sense? Love ya man! Jim
Posts like this take a lot of guts to write. You’re already back on the path just by putting it out there because you know your friends care and will ask gentle questions to keep you accountable.
Awesome perspective Jim. Just gotta pick up where I “left off.”
Thanks! Love you too man!
Phil
Great post. Without execution, we have great plans and no results! It’s also important not to beat yourself up – changing from full time employment to your own consultancy is a huge step. I got made redundant in Nov 08 and went “full time” for a while running my own biz. Partly I hadn’t realised the difference to that very comfortable income coming in, regardless of what you do! I am PT Self employed now, realising that there is a bit of me that currently likes that “comfy-ness” to be able to focus on the abundance of designing the work I want to offer.
Good luck!
Claire
Thanks Claire! I appreciate the luck and warm wishes!
It is funny, but I think you have a good idea on productivity. In fact, it is surprisingly similar to my version of being productive.
REF: http://www.awebguy.com/productive.jpg (photo)
Awesome photo! Made me laugh. Thanks for sharing
Yours as well, although in order to multi-task most effectively, you will need to lift the lid.
BTW, that photo was staged and I was not as surprised as it may appear. I didn’t even need to light a match afterward.
Give yourself all the time you need.
How could we forget YOU?
We’ll be here.
Thanks Corinne. I am feeling the groove again, so I feel back. Feels good too!
Glad you won’t forget me. Friends like you make the world worthwhile.
Phil,
There’s a time a time to “execute” and there’s a time not to. “Slacking off” gives you some breathing space for the next shift. There’s a reason you weren’t executing . . . neigher right nor wrong.
Most of us bloggers take a break from time to time. I always go back to my favorite bloggers when they get back online – and you are definitely one of them!
You rock! Thanks Deb!
Big hugs! Hope you are great!!
Part of executing well is also giving yourself some time to decompress from that corporate work. I’m reminded of a manager friend of mine who retired from work and he noted that all he did for six months was sleep.
You’re slacking off (Slacker Manager?? Heh…) was your mind’s way of telling you that you needed some recovery time.
Yeah, I’m doing a LOT more sleeping, probably from the change in stress levels. MUCH lower now.
When you’re flying solo it can be difficult to find the motivation to stay on top of things and do this and that. I’ve quickly learned that there are certain people in my group that get my creative juices flowing. I make time at least once a week to sit for coffee (or just a conference call) with these individuals. We set goals for one another, and stay on top of each other and hold ourselves accountable. That, more than anything, is the most helpful part!
Ricardo – great point. Accountability does help. I’ve been planning to write about that for a while. Stay tuned for that next week.