This should not need to be said, but it does: if you do not enjoy what you are doing, you are going to have a very difficult time achieving your goals. And I am not talking about loving every minute of every task. I am talking about the overall direction of your work. If the fundamental activity of building your online business feels like a punishment, something needs to change.
The reason is simple. Even when you know intellectually that you should be working on your business, the pain and discomfort of doing work you hate will push you away from it. You will find excuses. You will procrastinate. You will choose almost anything over sitting down and doing work that makes you miserable. And you will blame yourself for lacking discipline, when the real problem is that you set up a business you do not actually want to run.
Make the Work Enjoyable
The fix is not to grit your teeth harder. The fix is to redesign your approach so that the work itself becomes something you do not dread.
Here is an example outside of business. Say your goal is to lose weight, but you hate going to the gym. Forcing yourself to go every day is a losing strategy — eventually your willpower runs out. But what if you took long evening walks instead? Or found a sport you enjoy? Or worked out at home with a program you actually like? You can achieve the same goal through a path that does not make you miserable.
The same principle applies to your online business. If you hate writing blog posts, try podcasting or video. If you hate social media, focus on SEO and email marketing. If you hate the niche you chose because you picked it purely for money, pivot to a niche you actually care about. There are many roads to a successful online business, and the one that works is the one you will actually walk.
Choose a Niche You Care About
This is why I have always recommended that part-time entrepreneurs get involved in niches they genuinely care about. When you are passionate about your topic, the work does not feel like work. You actually want to create content. You enjoy learning more about the subject. You look forward to connecting with your audience because they share your interests.
When your niche bores you, every task feels like a slog. You dread opening your laptop in the evening. You find yourself watching television or scrolling your phone instead of working on your business. That is not a discipline problem. That is a niche problem.
Life is too short to build a business that makes you miserable. Find the intersection of what you enjoy, what you know, and what people will pay for. Then build there. The money comes easier when you actually enjoy the work it takes to earn it.
Everything you said is true. Focus on niches that you enjoy and that you can relate to and for sure your passion for it will continue to burn. It is then that work is not already called work.
Thanks Mark. I really look forward to your inspirational posts. They remind me why I sit down at the computer every morning. It can all become a bit of a ‘big sigh’ time if we aren’t careful. Sit back, re-assess life, and get on with what we love remembering WHO we love and WHY we are doing it.
Keep up the good work.
Hi just want to say i enjoy your podcasts. I love the one with pay flynn
You are right mark . I am going to start revising my current approach so that i can work more on my goals. Great motivational tip .
I’m going about my career in a different way than most people. I first found what I liked to do (read, write, think, be creative) and then I decided that I would put in whatever work I needed to in order to make that into a career. And you know what? It is working out for me pretty well. At this point, I love what I do, I just need to persist, be more innovative, and continue marketing it to others.
Great tips Mark.
Whilst I agree that it is important to enjoy what we do on a regular basis, getting involved in niches that one really care about is not always the best thing. What if that niche is saturated and makes no money? My goal is to be financially independent and in order to achieve this I need to focus on niches that will produce results.
Great Post mark. I’m totally agree with you. Focusing on passion is very important.
Thanks for sharing this great Post Mark.
Good reminder. There’s an old saying that really is true: Happiness is an inside job. (Actually, that sounds like a Wayne Dyer-ism, doesn’t it?) Tragedies and other dire situations that Life often brings us aside, it’s usually as easy to be happy as it is to be UNhappy. It requires a simple shift in focus — look for things to BE happy and grateful about and to enjoy, instead of focusing all the faults and flaws and negatives.
And crying over spilt milk is really pointless and counterproductive. It’s so much simpler to just say to ourselves what I’m told is a Buddhist saying: “That being the case, how shall we proceed?”
That’s the ultimate truth..you must love your work…if not..it will become a job.
“TrafficColeman “Signing Off”