My Dirty Little Secret for Getting Projects Done

Written By Doreen Dilger, The Home Based Business Coach

How to assure you finish writing that book, launch your next program, get your money-making projects out to the world

When you have a “job,” you get things done because you have to. When the boss says that a project needs to be completed by a certain day, it gets completed. Of course it does. That’s part of the job. If you didn’t get things done on schedule, you wouldn’t have the job for very long.

But when you work for yourself, all of the assumed accountability goes away. You have no one to answer to. Nobody gives you a deadline. You need to create your OWN schedule, and hold YOURSELF responsible.

And that is why so many small business owners struggle to get things done.

We start our own business for freedom. We become our own boss so that we don’t have to answer to anyone else. And then, because we have no one to answer to, we lose that accountability. We lose that reliable guarantee that assures that work gets done.

Having someone hold you accountable for getting things done is actually a GOOD thing! (But I still don’t want to get a job and have a boss). So how do we create that assumed accountability without having an actual boss stand over our shoulders?

I start by publicly announcing the launch of my newest program/book/teleseminar series BEFORE it is actually completed.

Sounds simple, right? And you’ve probably heard this before. As entrepreneurs, we need to do things to hold ourselves accountable. And doing it in a public way adds to our level of accountability.

Yet some entrepreneurs still struggle to get projects completed, even if they’ve announces it publicly. They stand up at a mastermind meeting and commit to getting their book written by the next meeting. They announce in their eZine that a program will be launched on a certain date. But those dates come and go, and their projects are not completed.

Well, here is the step that is usually missing:

Add something that makes it practically impossible for you to weasel out of your commitment. Make sure the consequences of NOT getting your project done are something you could not live with.

If you tell your friends that you are going to have your website completed by February 2, and you don’t have it completed by February 2, your friends might tease you. If you make a commitment to your mastermind group or your coach that you will write your book by March 4, and you don’t, it could be embarrassing, and you might feel disappointed in yourself for not following through.

Unfortunately, the desire to avoid that pain is not always enough to motivate us.  But the potential of even bigger pain? Well, that’s a powerful motivator.

Here is my dirty little secret…

I invite people to “pre-order” my newest program/product/book.

I announce the launch date of my program, and I offer a special early-bird, pre-order rate. Most of the time, I get a rush of orders, and this often puts thousands of dollars in my bank account.

Now I have no choice! If I didn’t get my program completed, launched, and shipped by my committed date, I would not only anger my client and sacrifice my reputation, but I would have to repay everyone who pre-paid.

So that never happens.

I get my projects done on time because I have no choice!

Choose to put yourself in a position where you feel you have no other choice – but to get your projects done.

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Remember all it takes is a plan and specific daily action steps to move you to your goals!

Here’s to your success!