Many authors are overwhelmed with all the daily operations of their business. They struggle to make progress in the areas they want to grow. Others suffer from so many things to do that they feel they are never truly gaining ground on anything. A great solution for this dilemma is called “implementation day”. This is a day where the entrepreneur blocks out the entire day to get something important done. If you cannot make time for an entire day, even a half-day will yield great rewards. Some of the types of implementation days I have created and have worked with others to try are:
- Marketing days, where we worked on the marketing
- Rough draft of novel
- Launch dates
- Blog writing days, where I wrote articles for my newsletter, finished up creating an e-course, and wrote an e-course.
As you can see, the tasks can be just about anything that you need to grow your business or to keep your business running smoothly. Here are some of the rules for establishing an effective Implementation Day:
- Have an implementation day buddy.
It is way too easy not to hold true to the day and getting things done. It’s easy to let other things take over the day when you don’t have a partner to hold you accountable.
- Go somewhere different.
It is best if you can go somewhere that is not easy for distractions to find you. If you are able to really focus on your task and not have a multitude of interruptions, you will more likely get into the flow and have a more successful day.
- Prioritize what is most important for you to accomplish, and then work down the list.
It is essential to know what your main goal of the day is and then have a second goal. Make sure that you have everything you need to get the goal done and you have things lined up. The point of implementation day is to get things done, so make sure you have organized so there is no thinking about what you are going to do.
- Be very specific about how often you are going to take breaks and what they look like.
Breaks are important and needed in order to function and produce, but you don’t want the breaks to get out of hand. So make an agreement with your accountability partner concerning what you will do and won’t do.
- Make sure that you have proper nourishment and drink with you.
It is impossible to keep on working at your best if you are suffering from a sugar low or you are thirsty. Make sure to have supportive food and drink around you.
- Keep track of how much you have accomplished.
Make sure that you note, before you start, where you are in your project, and then mark how much you accomplished by the end of the day. Being able to see how much you have accomplished is a huge reward that not only gives you a sense of accomplishment but lets you see how effective your implementation day was.
- Schedule you next implementation day.
A great thing about implementation days is that they don’t have to be a one shot day. It is something that you can put into your schedule on a regular bases.
Your life and your books are going to feel much different after scheduling regular implementation days and giving yourself the blessing of single focus.
