How I Learned To Stop Worrying & Love The Grind

stargazr1968

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I used to spend a lot of time worrying about things. Was the guy on fiverr going to finish my logo on time? Was my shared server going to crash? Would anyone buy my new product? Would my paid campaign have a positive ROI? Would my landlord raise the rent when my lease was up? Would the search engines suddenly decideI don't deserve traffic anymore? Would my product become obsolete? Would my affiliates get poached by competitors? Would I get negative seo'd?

There are many, many things that are worth worrying about.
It can cripple you. It can stop you from making any meaningful progress. It can absolutely demolish your business, in many cases before what you've been building even makes it off the ground.

If you let it.
So don't. You know there are risks when you're building a business or any kind of online asset, but you can't let those risks prevent you from doing anything. Any energy that you spend worrying about something is wasted energy that could have been spent building something.

Prepare, don't worry.
Don't get me wrong. You need to prepare for bad things that can happen, have a back-up plan or measures in place to minimize the damage. But once you've done all that you can do, look forward with hopeful optimism rather than a fearful reserve.

Here's how I was able to do it...
I started embracing the journey, or "the grind" if you will. Being aware and present in the moment sounds like some weirdo hippie nonsense, but when you start to enjoy the journey (including the many obstacles you'll come across), you'll stop seeing the future and success as some far-off distant spot on the horizon and you'll stop worrying about every little detail, especially the ones you can't control.

Instead of thinking "Once I finish this site, start promoting it and getting traffic I'll have lots of money and I'll be happy" I would think "I am building this site." and then when the site is built, I think "I am promoting this site." and then 'My site is getting a lot of traffic and making lots of money." and "I've been happy this whole time."
 
First thread I read on this site... really hit home, damn. Have a feeling I'm going to really like this place.
 
The path has to be the goal, for sure.

I worked on a few things to get over this kind of anxiety that our jobs create.
  1. Learn to juggle as many variables as you can. Efficiency goes through the roof and progress speeds up, actually reducing anxiety even if workload increases.
  2. Close loops. Don't let concepts and ideas and worries be open in the back of your mind. Use a to-do list or reminder list, put it down there, and forget about it.
  3. Realize all is never lost. Worst case scenario, I end up finding a day job. Big deal, because I've been a beginner before and I'll never give up.
  4. Give up the rat race mentality and retirement lie. Yes, you can achieve retirement in our entrepreneurial world but the day job world is ridiculous. You could work 40-50 years, retire, and die the next day. Never put life off now. Goes the same for us. Even if we bankroll hard enough to retire, we won't. So don't get anxious about cash reserves and "safety." We are all moving towards the most unsafe thing ever, which is death, and some say that it's absolutely safe. You have to enjoy the ride, because all of the time passing by on the ride IS YOUR LIFE.
 
I want to read more about this type of mindset... any recommended reading?
 
I don't know if any of you have done much video gaming in the past... I have ESSENTIALLY quit playing games. (I still break down maybe once every week or two for an hour or two but yeah).

The realization I had was many modern games involve a 'grind' or 'level up'. If I shift my mind set to work goals like traffic / clicks / social engagements - or whatever I want that focus to be, it's a much more satisfying grind!

Build a few set structures... X amount of content created, X amount of time grinding back links, X amount of time acquiring social followers. Break down any friction to START doing any of those things, you want it to be as easy as loading your favorite video game.... use a password manager so you don't have to look up your password for some random account, have a browser profile set up that has tabs for all your social stuff ready to roll, keep a todolist and a topic idea log so you can glance and GO without over thinking it.

Appreciate all your victories and realize you are playing the game. It's competitive, skill based, constantly evolving, and with no level cap.

GRIND ON!
 
I like this. The forum needs to recruit a spirit guide or something lol we need more of this. It doesn't get talked about enough but it's the key to overall success.
 
@DDixon

I agree. Business is like the adult's video game. I used to say that until I realized the largest demographic for video games are adult males. But you get the point.

Why play a Role Playing Game when you can play the role you're living? (I love RPGs!)

My inventory is a white t-shirt chest plate (+2 to defense), a tooth brush, and a green towel.
 
I'm tickled that you guys found this post useful, thanks for the positive comments :smile:
 
stargazr1968 said:
I used to spend a lot of time worrying about things. Was the guy on fiverr going to finish my logo on time? Was my shared server going to crash? Would anyone buy my new product? Would my paid campaign have a positive ROI? Would my landlord raise the rent when my lease was up? Would the search engines suddenly decideI don't deserve traffic anymore? Would my product become obsolete? Would my affiliates get poached by competitors? Would I get negative seo'd?

There are many, many things that are worth worrying about.
It can cripple you. It can stop you from making any meaningful progress. It can absolutely demolish your business, in many cases before what you've been building even makes it off the ground.

If you let it.
So don't. You know there are risks when you're building a business or any kind of online asset, but you can't let those risks prevent you from doing anything. Any energy that you spend worrying about something is wasted energy that could have been spent building something.

Prepare, don't worry.
Don't get me wrong. You need to prepare for bad things that can happen, have a back-up plan or measures in place to minimize the damage. But once you've done all that you can do, look forward with hopeful optimism rather than a fearful reserve.

Here's how I was able to do it...
I started embracing the journey, or "the grind" if you will. Being aware and present in the moment sounds like some weirdo hippie nonsense, but when you start to enjoy the journey (including the many obstacles you'll come across), you'll stop seeing the future and success as some far-off distant spot on the horizon and you'll stop worrying about every little detail, especially the ones you can't control.

Instead of thinking "Once I finish this site, start promoting it and getting traffic I'll have lots of money and I'll be happy" I would think "I am building this site." and then when the site is built, I think "I am promoting this site." and then 'My site is getting a lot of traffic and making lots of money." and "I've been happy this whole time."
Click to expand...

Thought determines and is the cause of all matter.
Click to expand...

Being centered in the present moment, yesterday you can't change anymore, tomorrow is not yet here and it will be the effect of today.
 
Good stuff in here, totally agree with you all.

Worrying just creates more problems, worry creates worries and it's self-perpetuating. To some degree whatever will happen will happen and we need to know that whatever that is we will deal with it the best we can when it arises.

Don't live in fear of failure.
 
LOL, I loved the white t-shirt chestplate (+2 defence)

I have some serious projects in the video game niche which have always been a major passion of mine growing up.

I notice very often that the world of SEO/IM seems to have more of a A to Z mentality. Where there is just one goal... and if you don't reach that goal (top 10/top 5/top 3) then you just fail and start over. I've always hated that mentality and have relied much more on landmarks along the way.

If I was traveling from Oregon to South Florida you best believe I would have a planned roadmap with some interesting landmarks along the way.
1. Beach in California
2. Hoover Dam
3. grand Canyon
4. Pike's Peak of Colorado and to try their newly "legalized recreational enjoyment"
5. Giant String somewhere
etc... etc... etc...

OR I could just drive straight and maybe see something in return... NAH.

The same should be for how you BUILD your sites and your online revenue streams. We don't go from $0-$10,000/month in one day. No, you must give yourself attainable goals so that you can enjoy yourself along the grind.

If I'm building a site for a super competition niche then should I just go directly for the "payday loans US" "garcinia cambogia" keywords from day 1? You could.. and you could succeed... but even the top guys are failing so what makes you different or special?

Now wouldn't picking 40-50 buying keyword/longtails that you could attain rankings in a 1-2 month fashion with just basic on-site/linkbuilding be much better than a big fat 0? Absolutely...

Attainable goals with results are key in the early stages of big projects.
 
Love this! I can be a bit of a pessimistic myself, but has op said, it's about the journey and what come out of it.
 
someone asked about a book... Do The Work by Stephen Pressfield. about how to beat Resistance (= fear,worry,analysis paralysis, etc etc).
 
I was planning to open a new thread, but maybe there's no need, at least for now.
Yes, this subject is often underestimated and fear and worrying is assumed as something natural. What I and others believe though is it isn't.

And my formula to overcome fear is building an asset with the absolute minimum efforts. Guys, is this a sign that I'm lazy? I don't think so. Marketing is my hobby, but I also have an issue with marketing addiction. And that's not a life for me.

So, building an asset that requires minimum maintenance is what I always aim for. However there's a number of obstacles to overcome.

For example, if you tend to be a hard worker, your brain is trained to ask for new food all the time. Ideas attack you like zombies from all sides and they fight each other for your attention. You are already busy with something and the temptation is to start a new project.

If you don't control it and cut these thoughts, you'll soon find yourself doing 10 things at the same time. This is what really stress the mind and you are on the road of over burning.

So again, I always try to work at the most efficient way possible, with minimum efforts. And I enjoy marketing, but I'm also going out with my band, celebrating holidays etc. That's how fear and stress won't have any chances against me.
 
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Great thread, I wish if I can add something to this, but I see that all of you BuSo's making the point, so a can't find anything more or less to write here.

Thanks to all of you :smile:
 
Kimoto said:
For example, if you tend to be a hard worker, your brain is trained to ask for new food all the time. Ideas attack you like zombies from all sides and they fight each other for your attention. You are already busy with something and the temptation is to start a new project.

If you don't control it and cut these thoughts, you'll soon find yourself doing 10 things at the same time. This is what really stress the mind and you are on the road of over burning.
Click to expand...

I struggle with this same concept. I have a lot of ideas but I realize along the way that most of them are going to be a bust for various reasons. Chasing new projects and sneaking up in tons of SERPs or whatever the shiny nickel is usually is going to fail because the game has changed in a lot of ways. It's all about cutting through the noise these days. I also know that I need to get very attached to a project to maintain the motivation to give it the utmost care it deserves. To be a true signal in the noise requires serious effort in a niche you care about. The way I've solved the problem is to stop spreading myself thin and focus on as few projects as I possibly can. Do I think it's throwing my eggs in one basket? Sure, but that's going to be a hell of a basket that can be guarded against nonsense as well. The longer the basket survives, the more sure you can be that those eggs are going to hatch. I think that's where most people screw up these days in I.M. and SEO.
 
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