Behind The Scenes With Lynn Terry (A Peek Inside My Mind, Life, Tasks & Goals)

Fair Warning: this is me "thinking out loud." A public ramble, up for open discussion. Plus an inside look at what's going on in my life and online business... and where I'm headed next with it all. 😉

Things haven't been all that great here lately. I can't even call it "organized chaos" anymore like I usually do, lol. It's just been plain CHAOS.

From crazy things going on in my personal life over the last year, to a half-rearranged home office full of PILES (ugh!), being sick for 3 straight months the first quarter of the year - and of course my insane out-of-control task list that overwhelmed me into a frozen panic every time I sat down to work... yeah. 😯

I knew exactly what needed to be done to get everything back on track and in the direction of my goals again. That's usually the case, isn't it? You know what you have to DO. It's the DOING it (or the lack of doing it!) that's the problem.

Why is that? Why do you get stuck, hung up, overwhelmed & shut down? It pays to sit down and really spend some time answering that question...

Note: I answered it for both of us in this video. 😉 The biggest take-away from that video is that doing NOTHING is the WORST thing you can do.

Whatever your reason (my reason, our reason), the real question is: what's the solution? Most of us have a quick answer for that: more hours in a day! But...

 

 

This weekend I had reason to pause and get realigned with my life goals.

Sometimes that's what it takes: a little shake-up.

I've always said, complacency is evil. Someone else once said continuing to do what's not working is kinda stupid (or something along those lines).

I think you just have to reach a point where you say "enough is enough, already!" and get SERIOUS about making something happen, or fixing stuff, or getting back on track - or whatever the case (or all three, lol).

Wait... Backtrack:

Things here really aren't all that bad...

My home office is "half rearranged" because I'm making major improvements.

There are piles everywhere because I'm getting things seriously organized.

I'm back to feeling GREAT and hitting the trails again, and I'm in love. ♥ And while I do have a monstrous task list and ambitious goals... I am getting shit done.

Plus I somehow manage to get the trash out just in time every single week, which always makes me do a happy dance! 🙂

If I just made your head spin... welcome to my world, lol.

I should probably tell you that I'm a true Gemini, which means I'm often a walking contradiction.:) But the truth is, things really aren't bad here at all.

It's usually just our perception that determines whether a situation is "good" or "bad." And maybe a situation just IS - period.

In most cases, our current circumstances or situation are a direct result of a series of choices we made that got us exactly where we are. Or a series of choices others made. Or even a series of choices we chose NOT to make. Right?

Not making a deliberate choice... is still a choice, that has results.;)

 

I almost scrapped this blog post altogether because I got overwhelmed trying to make, er GET TO my point -lol. I decided to just continue on anyway, because I think the extra words it took to share my thought processes are worth it.

Otherwise this post would just end up being another dry how-to post with great advice you're not going to take - which wasn't my point in writing it.

My point is to SHARE something with you, which I haven't done in quite awhile - not publicly anyway, outside of my Private Brainstorming Group (where I share *everything* - the good, the bad, what I'm working on, etc).

 

Actually, this leads right into the point I wanted to make next...

As I was sitting down to brainstorm my current goals & priorities, and create a strategic plan to "make it all happen," everything totally shifted. This is exactly what I wrote in my business journal (which is a "free writing exercise" I do daily):

Wow, I have some brilliant ideas to work with here. 🙂 The more I organize my tasks/plans... the more motivated and pumped I get! I'm actually excited about tackling this list now - instead of avoiding & dreading it. 😛

That's when it hit me:

"I should be sharing this on ClickNewz."

Not just that I'm getting my ambitious goals organized and feeling excited about it - but HOW I'm pulling things back together, what my goals are, and what I'm learning in the process. Why? So that you can learn from what's working for me (and what's not) and put that to use in your own online business.

That's been on my priority list for awhile now, to get back to blogging here on a regular basis. Because that's what I *do* - I'm a professional blogger!

My goal has been to get back to the basics, back to the root of this blog, which is sharing what I'm working on and WHY - and the RESULTS.

So I sat down to do that (write this post).

What happened next?

I started questioning whether I was just getting myself totally sidetracked by writing a blog post, instead of tackling some major project on my list.

I went back and forth on that. I started, stopped, came back to it, second guessed it, went and finished something else, and now - here I am again. 🙂

Note: I'm currently on my 22nd revision of this post...

I decided at the beginning of this year that I wanted to bring ClickNewz back to life. Actually I decided that last year, but I REdecided it again at the New Year. 😛

Then Q1 passed (I was sick). Then Q2 passed (I was busy playing catch-up). And here we are heading into Q3, halfway through the middle of the year already, and I've still been ignoring it for the most part. 🙄

I got lazy and started "blogging by email" instead. Meaning, I'd just share tips & resources, or what I'm working on directly via email instead of blogging it. Which is SILLY considering I have a Blog Broadcast set up through Aweber, so blogging it sends it out by email anyway! Which is exactly what I do on my niche blog.

I simply got out of the habit, that's all.

So I'm starting back up, and going back to the origins of this blog as I mentioned above: sharing the things that MATTER, the things that will have the most impact and bring the best results - for me, and for you.

 

What To Expect Here Moving Forward

(or: Why You Should Even Care)

I always say "start every single day with a money task."

So from now on I'm going to share MY money task for the day - what it was, why I did it, how it works, and of course: the results. 🙂

I'm tentatively calling this my "Daily Internet Business & Smart Marketing Diaries" but I'm not settled on that just yet. And I am NOT going to get hung up on titles and branding and redesigns and all that jazz. I'm just going to DO, and let things unfold and play out as they will as I go.

I'm guessing most future blog posts will be short and very specific: what I'm doing and why, and how it works. Points you can USE and implement in your own business.

I expect I'll be sharing a lot of failures and confessions too. 😛

 

Example: What I'm Working On This Week...

To kick it off I shared the two list-building plugins I recently installed, and creative ways to use those plugins to increase revenue and build a responsive email list.

I installed both of those plugins here on ClickNewz too, which was a great money task because they're awesome plugins that improve your readers experience. I did it to refresh myself on the process again though, while I was blogging about them.

Speaking of, I mentioned in a recent email how ugly and outdated my niche blog is, and how it desperately needs a new theme. While I was in MyThemeShop downloading the WP Notification Bar plugin again to set it up here... I discovered a whole slew of FREE (awesomely cool!) wordpress themes as a bonus in my account - and chose one to set up on TLC. 🙂 So that's on my list to do this week.

They have a great 2-tier affiliate program, by the way. You can get the details here: MyThemeShop Affiliate Program

I also sat down with Evernote and started organizing all of my ideas, notes & files and getting a Strategic Action Plan outlined. That's not finished yet, but it's a work in progress - and it's going GREAT so far! 🙂

I've also been back to the task of rearranging/organizing my home office. Part of that is procrastination: something physical to do when my brain gets overwhelmed, lol.

But the ultimate goal is to increase efficiency and productivity, and to have "the spaces" set up in a way that make it EASY to accomplish things like product creation (which for some reason I require A LOT of space for), shooting a quick video, etc.

I'm working on a million other little things too, like: catching up on email, outlining my next low carb challenge, setting up my membership affiliate program, studying the Pinterest Success Strategies guide, creating new products, yada yada yada.

It's all VERY overwhelming at the moment, so I'll keep you posted as I figure out how to tackle it all - and what I learn in the process. 😉

 

Will I Fail At This Goal?

That's a question I've asked myself several times over the last few days.

I hesitated to publish, or even FINISH this blog post for that very reason.

My task list is impossible. As it is, I should say. I'm analyzing it, prioritizing the tasks on that list, and making decisions on what I can outsource.

As I was writing this post I went searching back through my archives here for something I wanted to link to... and realized just how far off track I've really gotten over the last few years. I also realized WHY (ugh!). That's a good start. They say awareness is the starting point for finding solutions and making positive change.

I'm off for now. I have to get back to that Strategic Action Plan I'm working on...

Stay tuned. I'm excited about getting back to the roots with ClickNewz, and using this platform as a medium to better help YOU succeed too - while I'm doing the same.

I do a lot of really cool (creative/fun!) things in my online business, so I think you'll really enjoy & benefit from following along.;)

Best,

p.s. The photo below from one of my hikes in Savage Gulf crossed my screen, and reminded me WHY it is that I love being an entrepreneur so much. It's the same reason I love my off-trail hiking adventures!

I love the challenge of discovering new ways and new things, of doing things my own way, and the exhilarating feeling of facing a challenge head-on. And mostly, the RESULT: how amazing that sense of achievement FEELS. 🙂

Being stuck somewhere sucks. Like between two massive rock peaks with a death drop between them. Or in the middle of a thick project that gives you that same sense of panic. My advice: Make The Leap! Or go around - which is probably safer, lol. Just DO something. Make a move. Because doing nothing will get you nowhere...

I'm sensing a strong correlation between my crazy hiking adventures and my business lately. Both feel like I might need to invest in a machete to cut through the shit that gets in my way. 🙂

That's one of the things I love about an internet business though: there are no real standards. You can "blaze your own trail" and practically create something out of nothing! It's an amazing thing, the endless possibilities online... and I'm FULL of creative ideas I cannot wait to implement. 😉

~

What stood out to you most here? Everyone has their own unique take-away from reading another person's thoughts & insights. Care to share yours?

 

Also see:

Are Your 2017 Business Goals Realistic – or Even Achievable?

Overwhelmed? Make Your Business FUN Again!

6 Ways To Revive Your Business Passion & Focus On What Matters