A blueprint to give yourself your best shot at succeeding without falling into procrastination and self-doubt

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Let’s be honest. As motivated and excited as we all are when we start as solopreneurs, all that energy eventually fizzles out. It’s at this stage you need to understand the true meaning of being your boss.

Have you ever had one of those days when you suddenly realize it’s 6 PM and you just finished having lunch? I have.

Once your mindset adapts to the fact that you have no fixed schedule anymore, you stop worrying about how long everything takes. You don’t have to be anywhere so why bother?

When you have no one to report to, you can easily start losing control of your time. It doesn’t mean you’re lazy or you’re failing, it just means you’re adapting to a new routine and lifestyle.

I’ve fallen victim to this type of behavior.

Believe me, I’ve beaten myself up over it, multiple times. There was this one day a few weeks ago when I woke up around 8 AM. I started by having my morning coffee, checking my emails, social media, the usual.

After that, I was on my laptop reading about social media marketing — you know how that goes. I started on one page which took me to three others. I finished the first page, I went to the second which led me to five others, and so on.

That’s the day I finished having my lunch at 6 PM. I was mortified. Most of my day was gone and all I did was reading. Sure, I learned a lot, but there was so much more I wanted to do that day.

How To Set Goals That Don’t Bring You Down

I’m one of those people who’s extremely organized at work, and the complete opposite at home. When your home and your work become the same place, lines can become blurred.

On that day I sat down and analyzed my behavior, and I tried to look at it from a management perspective. How would I address a chaotic team member unable to manage their day? I’d give them a stricter schedule.

I was being a bad employee, it was time to step into my “Boss Boots.”

First, I wrote down all the things I had to do every week: posting on Medium, sending out a communication to my email list, going to the supermarket, and so on.

That was my must-do list. Once I had it all laid out, it was easy to program what steps I had to take to achieve each goal.

For example, if I want to publish on Medium on a Wednesday, I’ll set up a reminder for Monday. This gives me plenty of time to write, edit, and review.

If I want to go grocery shopping, I schedule a reminder for the previous night so I can look into what I need to buy, plan how long I’ll need, and decide where to go.

With that done, I moved to the things I wanted to do daily: posting on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, read, study, comment, like, share, eat, sleep, break; that list went on for a while.

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It’s important to separate what you must do from what it would be nice if you did.

It’s a common and grave mistake among solopreneurs. When you look at all those who have succeeded, you feel like you’re behind and you need to spend every waking second making up for it.

It would be nice if you were able to be present on all social networks at all times. It would be awesome if you could establish a deep, personal connection with every one of your fans.

It would be nice if you could go on for hours uninterrupted; no need for rest, food, or social connection.

Now the reality is that you must stick to a consistent publishing schedule, you must eat and rest in specific quantities daily. Everything else is a choice — a bad one if you ask me.

Let me tell you right now: you will burn out, you’re not doing yourself any favors. You will end up demotivating yourself and returning to the same kind of job you ran away from.

How to Set Yourself Up For Success

When I look at my calendar now, I have a clear vision of what each day will look like. By scheduling my various activities, my brain has it easier to understand this is a job like any other.

With that out of the way, I could focus on adjusting my mindset towards my work.

We must accept we won’t be hugely productive every single day. Some days we do a million things, others we do about a dozen — that’s perfectly fine.

Once you separate what you absolutely have to do, you stop beating yourself up for having slower days.

You just have to focus on your must-do weekly goals. These are the goals that are taking you one step closer to your dream life.

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Daily goals are important but nothing beats your well-being.

Crossing off items from your daily list will help you get to your end goal faster, no doubt. I’m not saying that you should stick to showing up once per week and expect success within a month.

But what good is Success if you sacrifice your entire life to get it? Or even worse, you sacrifice so much, you hurt your chances to achieve it?

At the end of the day, you need to understand your limits and stick to them. Sure, push your limits once in a while, not every single day.

What Can You Do Moving Forward?

If you’re struggling with your time and/or punish yourself for how well you manage it, take as long as you need today to write down your goals — starting with your weekly deadlines, and moving then to your daily targets.

Try to be as objective as possible; your weekly list should only include all the things you absolutely must do. Your daily list will include all the tasks you’d be able to get to on a perfect day.

Keep in mind, as a solopreneur, you must plan out both personal and professional goals, they’re equally important!

5 Steps to Stop Punishing Yourself

1. Write down your weekly goals;
2. Plan how long you need to achieve them;
3. Schedule these activities in your calendar, as if you were inviting a colleague for a meeting;
4. Now write down your daily goals;
5. Keep these on a list and out of your calendar.

That’s it! Easy, right? As long as you cross off the items on your weekly list, you have nothing to feel ashamed of.

Once you stop feeling bad for not being perfect 24/7, you’ll have more time to do things that actually matter and you won’t bum yourself out before you achieve success.

What are some of your weekly goals? Are you sure they are all “must-dos”?

- Originally published on Medium -

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My name is Mauro Sacramento, currently a Solopreneur and Writer. I’m originally from Portugal but I’m currently living in Bulgaria. I’m obsessed with Superheroes, Netflix, and video games so expect references across my writing!