Johnson.

I realised that productivity is another topic I wanted to focus JohnsonKee.com on. I mean, not only is it relevant to me, particularly as a final year Bachelor of Science student, freelance writer and Internet Marketer, it is also a topic that is discussed quite a lot in many circles, both online and offline. First, I’ll tell you how my productive my life is in general.

I am a lazy ass. I can’t deny that about myself. I leave things to the last minute, I go onto Facebook, WLM and just let myself get distracted. I’m the typical university student. I mean, the only reaon I’m writing this article is because I didn’t write one yesterday, so I’m doubling up on my load today, just so I can complete the EzineArticle Hundred Day Challenge thing.

Anyway. I figured sometime earlier this year that if I really want all the things I want, you know, high marks in my degree, successful Internet Marketing business online, all that sort of thing, I’ve really got to be more productive and get more stuff done.

God knows that we are always beggars of time, each and every one of us. One of the biggest reasons we pursue the Internet Marketing dream is because we want more time to do what we want. Yet we procrastinate endlessly. In that sense, we are too frivolous with our spare time. We make spare time unknowingly. There are so many parallels with money and the fact that the value of time changes depending on the situation is no surprise.

What I’ve done in the past to try and make myself get more stuff done is to remove distractions. For example, if I’m doing my homework on this laptop, I exit WLM, Facebook, Skype… anything from which I can get distracted or anything from which my friends can contact me. I try to reason with myself by saying that if I get this done now, I have more time to do more important stuff later. The reasoning hasn’t been that effective, as I have found myself still procrastinating.

The times when I have been the most productive is when I’ve been motivated by fear. I was doing a programming subject in 2009 and because I don’t have an eye for detail, I was scared that I would fail. After my 2nd exam, I studied about 30 hours in the following 5-6 days to make sure I would pass. That subject turned out to be my highest and I was stoked.

I don’t want to have to raise my heart rate every time I want to get stuff done. I have a friend who studies extremely well. She does thing ahead of the due date and I believe it is just her habit. I guess making it a habit is the ideal goal, but I’m sure there are some steps leading up to it that make it a lot easier to establish that habit.

There is something from an Internet Marketer called Jason Fladlien. He has a report for article marketers and he has a bonus in which he does something called “time folding” and uses NLP techniques to work such that he “tricks” his mind to enjoy otherwise tedious work. I think this is an important point to address: your attitude going into the activity. Regardless of if you remove all distractions, if your mind’s not on the job, your progress will be slow. You want to be distracted. I’m thinking of investing in it just for this bonus.

This article was inspired by Hugh MacLeod, a guest blogger for CopyBlogger.

If you’re a beginner blogger, one of the best things you can do is get a domain, buy hosting and start blogging about whatever you feel like blogging about. It’s simply a matter of sticking to a certain goal of writing 500 words a day, everyday. This is good for the blog since it gives it content that gets natural SEO and more importantly, if you really write from the heart, then people are going to find you and become a fan of your work.

What you write doesn’t even have to be that crash hot. As long as you have a clear message and you know how to best convey it to your ideal audience then that’s all you need. Once you do get good enough to have a following, you will be noticed by other bloggers. If they like what they read, they will link to you.

More often than not, you will find that for certain topics, they will tend to link to you more simply because they like how you write. The content itself might be mediocre and not garner much of a response from either your audience or the other blogger’s.

It’s a prime example of blogging or writing for someone else and not yourself. It is essentially Marketing 101 as well. There is a demand and there is a supply. Your audience demands a certain kind of content from you. You’re supplying content, but who is your audience that you’re satisfying?

A. Pro-bloggers

B. Your niche audience

There is nothing wrong with getting excited about massive traffic spikes when an article of yours gets picked up by a massive blog that you read and look up to. You’ve just got to make sure that when the readers land on your site, you convert them in a way. The spikes come and go. So do the readers. Make sure that you form a relationship with them ASAP so that your blog becomes a long-term lead generation device, in essence.

That’s a whole different topic altogether. The focus of this article is to get your content in front of the eyes of the people who you want it to be read by. Write like how you talk. Write personally. Tell a story. Don’t ask too much or come off as desperate. Most of all, write as if they’re not there. Write for the sake of writing. It’s not a competition or a race. Your blog is about you and people will come to appreciate that in the long run. That’s what will keep them coming back for more.

So yesterday I was just going through my inbox as usual when an email from Lateral Action caught my eye. The post was called, “Remember Yourself” by Mark McGuiness who was guest posting on GapingVoid.com.

I’m not going to regurgitate the contents of that post here. I want to ramble about what went through my mind as I was reading it and the mini-epiphany I had.

So. In this post, Mark cited one GI Gurdjieff, who talked about the difference between Essence and Personality of Man. In my own words, this is what I took from the post:

Essence: is a man when he strips himself bare to the soul and is entirely true to himself (whatever that means).

Personality: is a man with the expectations and opinions of the World oppressed upon him. More often than not, this culminates to become the Ego.

And it’s the Ego that I want to talk about.

For anyone who is keyed into themselves, they will be aware that their Ego is something to rid themselves of if they want to advance in any area of their life. If they can do this, there won’t be any mistakes or discouragement, or failures… only Beauty.

(Click here to check out someone who does this in her artwork)

What I’m getting to is the clash between Entrepreneurship and Ego that I struggle with.

I’d like to see myself as an Entrepreneur, even though I’ve done nothing remotely remarkable (yet). I’m full of Ideas, virtually none of which have been crystallised (yet). When I make excuses to myself, I’ve realised that they predominantly revolve around my Ego.

For example, whenever I meet someone younger than me who has that success that I want, I experience Tall Poppy Syndrome when in reality, I can still be classified as young, at least compared to the people who discover their Entrepreneurial Edge later in life. I fear joining the Entrepreneur group at uni, in case I find someone who is “better than me”.

And that’s where the core of it lies: the “better than me” mentality. Why are they better than you? Because they earn more than you do? Because they have the attitude that you lack?

No. They’re better than you because you’re leting your Personality and Ego get in the way of your Cause. What happens if your Cause was based on P & E from the get go? Well, depending on when you realise it or whether you realise it or not altogether, you could be heading for a Crisis.

I’d like to think that my Causes are noble: being enough of a Man to support myself and those I love, ending or at least lessening the ravages of global poverty, etc.

It’s this latter Cause that I’m concerned about. Whenever I think about it, I always imagine myself receiving awards and recognition. Yet there are thousands of people who do it everyday as volunteers or on  a grander scale without any obligation.

I mean sure, if it ever does happen, millions will benefit, which is never a bad thing, but I think I’ve got to dissociate my Causes related to Ego from my Causes related to Essence and somehow shift the Noble ones over to the Essence side of things.

It ain’t gonna be easy, but I think I’ve gotta start living in the moment more and let my Essence speak for me, not my Ego.

Has anyone ever noticed that most, if not all of the big name Internet Marketers, sell Internet Marketing stuff? I mean, I’m sure that they also deal with niches other than Internet Marketing, but the only reason why they’re famous is because of the hype they have around their own individual Internet Marketing product. Why does it have to be the case that all Internet Marketers are so wary to show their niches? The reason why it’s so hard for the little guys to make it eventually is because everyone’s so secretive! How are you meant to learn how to do that niche research in the first place?

Does anyone actually know of a professional Internet Marketer who’s professional because of his expertise in identifying profitable niches and turning them into profit? I want to be a part of a new wave, a new generation of Internet Marketers who focus on niches other than Internet Marketing to actually make money online. Sure, I don’t think I’ll make as much money as the big boys do, but I won’t have to sell my soul at least. I want to be transparent with my campaigns, which is going to be hard, but I think it’s what will make me stand out and that which I will ultimately be known for.

I will focus on social networking and not for building business, but for spreading awareness. I’m young, I’ve got this need to socialise on Facebook and Youtube so why not make the most of the my youth in an Internet Marketing context while I still have the chance to?

I am a university student, first and foremost. I have to focus on my studies, which means that the income I make online will have to be passive. It will either be passive or it will be money that I can make in a short amount of time.

Oh and in other news, I was just banned from the Warrior Forum for a week for “blatant self promotion.” Should’ve seen it coming. -_-” Oh well. On the bright side, it will take away a distraction for me, meaning that when Wednesday does come, I can fully focus on Internet Marketing and niche research and stuff like that.

Today, while I was sitting in the doctor’s waiting room, I felt this laser-sharp focus settle upon me. I just wanted to go home, defeat my indecision and start making the serious money online that I want and deserve. This is what I’ll think about next time to inspire and focus me:

• mum asking if I can check online for her, to look for any new jobs,
• dad working his butt off for me his entire life in restaurants to provide me a future,
• me, needing to be ready, needing to be a financially secure man, in the event that I am a father,

These all inspire me to get that passive income that I want. And I will get there, no matter what. I just have to remember to take massive action, to not deliberate for longer than a minute on a decision and to not get it right, just to get it going!