I don’t need to explain this one! We’re all up against it when we get online right?

We come online with the best of intentions and before we know it two or even three hours can whiz by and you look back at what you’ve done and it doesn’t seem like much…

Sometimes you might not even know where the time has gone at all! You think to yourself, ‘ well it seemed REALLY important … but what on earth was I doing?’

Oh yes, you recall… you were tweeting with your brother Jack who’s just discovering Twitter, and sending a Facebook cake to Aunty Doreen in Australia. (You’ve got to stay in touch you know – it’s only right!)

Anyway you get the picture… we have all been there. Some of us are family proofed online (most of my family can barely figure out how to log on to Facebook, never mind set up a Twitter account so that’s another thing to be grateful for) BUT I have another time thief.

My time thief goes by the name of ‘latest big marketing thing.’ This thing is launching pretty much every day and hammers on my inbox at regular intervals.

I’m scared of missing something that could be life changing for my marketing I guess but still.. you can’t look at every offer (please don’t buy every offer or you may be spending more money than you’re making!)

Shopperholics online anonymous: Call 0800 XXX XXX

So how can you protect your precious lifetime from the time thief? It could come in any shape or form for you. Perhaps you find yourself playing poker online or shopping in the Next catalogue in the middle of writing your blog?

My Top 10 Tips for Staying Focussed In Online MLM:

1) Buy an A4 Project pad with dividers in it.

Write your weekly schedule in it and plan which hours you will be active online.
Compile all your notes for your online activities so you know exactly what you will be doing in the coming week.

If you’re part-time it could go something like this:

Mondays, Wednesdays & Thursdays – Spend two hours doing online marketing to generate leads to your website. (Take a short break in the middle to drink some water and have a stretch)

Tuesdays – Create a new piece of content for your blog or to post to an ezine site

Thursdays – Email your weekly newsletter to your list and follow up with your leads etc.

2) Time yourself and stick to your schedule. ONLY do the things you have scheduled for that time.

3) Work in blocks of time. 50 minutes is a good amount of time to stay focussed.

4) Turn off skype, tweetdeck (tweeting birds will not help you create good content!) and log out of all other distracting applications you may be tempted to leave open.

Eben Pagen (mind blowing information marketing guru who made it through to my inbox!) says that multi-tasking lowers your IQ, and Tim Ferris of The 4 Hour Work Week strongly advises against it if you want to be more productive in less time.

I think us mothers are real culprits for multi tasking – I can post on twitter, make home-made soup, fold laundry, listen to an audio and help my daughter with her homework as I scoot in and out of the lounge, all at the same time.

BUT I have stopped being such a manic multi-tasker now in the name of my sanity! Living in the present is indeed a present so it is much better to focus on one thing at a time and get it done well.

5) Organize your computer files so you don’t spend precious minutes of your life searching for things.

6) Check your email just a couple of times a day. If you need to send out information to prospects then do it at set times and don’t just randomly allow yourself to drown in your inbox. (I still find this challenging)

7) When you are done turn off your computer and move on. Do not pass go and do not collect £200 if you stay at your computer chit chatting for hours and hours time wasting. (That’s if you want to generate leads and make money whilst maintaining a happy family!)

Take regular breaks. If you work online all day make sure to allow some time for moving around and doing other things. You can print off materials to read offline or download audios to an ipod, to give yourself a break from the monitor and sitting in the same position for hours.

9) Do some kind of daily exercise. I really struggle with exercise because I go full on for months and then stop completely! Now I have discovered the joys of ‘Tai Chi.’ If you are limited for time (who isn’t?) and want to exercise in the house and stay near to your beloved computer, a DVD workout is a fabulous way to stay fit. It also gives your mind a break and sometimes my most creative ideas come to me when I am offline. When I get back online I feel refreshed and focussed.

10) Use a systematic process with an auto-responder. Back to this again because it is so important. When you spend 5 hours or more a week marketing your business online it is critical that you have a system in place to catch your leads that you are attracting with online marketing. Otherwise it can be a big waste of time.

Auto-responders or email campaigns leverage your time for you and allow you to focus on your marketing. All your leads arrive in one place and you can follow up with them at the scheduled time rather than have a leaky bucket where your prospects slip right through if you’re not replying to them manually 24/7.

These are my top 10 tips that come to mind. I’m sure there are tons more helpful tips so please share them at the blog by leaving a comment and twitter this if you’ve found it helpful. (In your online marketing time!)