Choose 2. Pick 3. Succeed.

I just clicked a link from an email and heard myself say…”Jackie… what the hell are you doing?!” I love it when that happens, because some kind of learning always follows that question. 🙂

Today I attended an excellent webinar about getting traffic from youtube.

I clicked a link in an email and was ready to sign up for a free webinar about how to get traffic from Google+.

I read 3 blog posts about how to build my facebook fanpage.

All of which… I should have said no to.

As I was sitting here, thinking about the 2 marketing strategies I’ve chosen to focus on to drive traffic to my blog I realized… none of these things I did today had anything to do with either of them.

I also remembered… somewhere in the back of my mind… that a while ago I’d done a video on focus. 😉 I went back and looked up the video and sure enough it was all about how having focus is more about saying NO than it is about saying yes. (well, aren’t I smart?! and when will I start listening to myself for more than a day at a time lol). Here it is:

I think there are a couple reasons it can be hard to stay focused.

1. You have no (or not enough) clarity.

If I was to ask you right now, this moment… ok, I’m gonna do it… what 2 marketing strategies are you using to drive traffic to your website.

How long would it take you to answer me? More than 2 seconds and you’re not clear. (take some time to get clear… it will be time well spent I assure you).

2. You’re not clear enough about the steps to DO the 2 things you’ve chosen.

If I was to ask you… oh you already know I’m gonna… what 3 things do you need to do everyday to move forward with each of your chosen marketing strategies?

How long does it take you to answer? More than 2 seconds? You need a little more clarity.

The problem is… there are SOOOOOOOO many options… and they all work.

Even when you narrow down your options there’s probably at least 5 different ways you can use each option, and you have to decide which ONE you will choose.

When you choose ONE it means, you’ve chosen to exclude the other FOUR… which is HARD and SCARY. 🙁

It means that if you’ve chosen to exclude those 4 things you’re no longer going to DO things that are part of the four you’re excluding… even if it only takes a second to do a piece of it.

Example:

My two strategies… connecting with people through my facebook profile. Connecting with people via pinterest.

Now… I used to find myself eagerly sending my blog post link to twitter. It only takes a second… so what’s the big deal?

Well, here’s the big deal.

Sending your link to twitter doesn’t do you any good. If you’re not actively gaining followers, engaging in conversation, getting to know people on TWITTER… then the fact that you’re sending your link over there is completely meaningless. Yeah, it only takes a second, but it does nothing for you.

During that second you’re sending that link over, you could be pinning a new post, or repinning something on pinterest. You could be connecting with a power user. You could be doing any number of things that moves you forward with one of your chosen strategies.

It literally causes me physical pain to NOT send my link to twitter… but… I don’t. Because, I don’t spend time over there. I didn’t choose twitter and at this point if someone did click on my profile to see what I’m all about all they’d see is me sending links about my own stuff over there because I’m not doing anything else… which would give them a bad impression of me, and how I behave on social media. So, that second of sending a link actually turns into a detriment for me.

Focus. It’s all about choosing, (and honestly…what isn’t?!). Choose what you’re going to focus on… and then choose to ignore everything else. When you dive deeply into one strategy. You learn the ins and outs, the ups and downs, everything there is to know about that strategy… you become an expert. Which gives you power. The power to use that strategy more effectively than 99% of people in the world. Or, you could spread yourself across 4 or 10 different strategies, and have a cursory knowledge of all of them, and basically end up with nothing to show for it. But hey, it’s up to you.

I can hear it from here… yeah but, yeah but, yeah but.

Sure you can add to your repertoire of traffic sending strategies… as soon as you focus on the first two. When the first two are so easy, and so natural they come without thinking about them, you can do them on autopilot, and you’ve gained enough traction they pretty much work without you… yeah, then add another strategy. But, don’t do it until then.

Funny thing,  because you’ve taken the time and effort to be focused, and you’ve gone in deep to your two strategies, you may find they provide you with so much traffic there’s no reason to go searching for more.

The reason we fall prey to free webinars promising a million new leads a day?

You wanna know the answer?

Here it is…

Because we lack clarity.  Both in what we’ve chosen to do and in the steps it takes to do it.

That’s it. Period.

Choose two. Exclude all others. Identify 3 daily action steps to move you forward for each. Do it. Today. Tomorrow. The next day. The day after that, and on and on and on…

It’s not rocket science. It may hurt to say no to free webinars, but I guarantee you… if you do it, you’ll find out for yourself, that it’s worth it.

One other thing that will help you stay focused… get a blog buddy. Seriously. Get someone who is willing to give you a kick in the ass reminder that you chose 2 and picked 3, and will ask you if you’ve gotten them done today. 🙂 That’s part of what I love most about being part of the Rebel Marketers… we hold each other accountable. Want to learn more about our powerful team of bloggers? Click here. 

Go on now… get out there and get clear, get focused and take action. 🙂