Critical Elements of a Successful Home-Based Internet Business Part 2 – Exercising Discipline

The three most critical elements of a successful home-based Internet business are cultivating the right attitude, exercising discipline, and keeping to a system. In my series of three articles, I review why they are critical and how you can improve them when they’re not up to snuff. Here I discuss the second element: exercising discipline.Exercise Discipline: A lack of discipline doesn’t mean you’re not dedicated or that you’re not hard working. Our youngest son is both dedicated to taking care of our small farmland and he is a hard worker. But the work doesn’t always get done because he sometimes lacks discipline. Discipline is “planning the work then working the plan”. Simply put, discipline is prioritizing tasks and then focusing on them until they are sufficiently complete. Our son usually gets it half right-he knows how to plan the work. It’s following through on the plan that throws him off his game. And quite frankly, it’s the half that throws me off my online marketing game too.

Here’s what to do: Get access to your business mentor’s daily calendar-the regime that he or she follows. Adopt it as your own, modifying it to fit your life’s requirements. But beware of the tendency to justify cutting back from the rigors that you find in the schedule. It’s an all-too-common temptation, but don’t give in to it. Adopt a new level of work and effort in your life. Give no excuses and accept no excuses.

To use a personal example, until recently I’ve been a late-night-late-morning person my entire life. But getting to the next level of success required a difficult change: being up early each morning to start the day with exercise. Now I’m out the door before 6:00 am on weekdays, and I’ve grown to love it. So quit making excuses, and get some discipline into your life. You just might find that you love it!