Did I ever tell you that I have ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder)? I can’t focus very well on just one thing for a long period of time, and I tend to jump from thing, to thing, to thing. That’s why being a freelance consultant, blogger, and affiliate marketer works well for me – I’m not under some big bosses thumb, and I don’t have to meet any crazy deadlines set by someone else.

On the other hand, the only one in charge of me is “me”, and sometimes I do more of what I like to do, and less of what I “need” to do. The Internet is one of the greatest sources of information (and ways to make money), but (unfortunately for me) it’s one of the greatest sources of distraction as well. I think I’ve tried everything I can to be as organized as possible to stay on track with my existing projects. I’ve tried sticky notes, time tracking software, a big dry erase board over my computer, web applications – all kinds of crazy things.

I’m also a big “list maker” (my wife hates this). I create endless lists of things to get done. Lists for the store, lists of things to do around the house, lists for the holidays, lists for long and short term projects, lists for my dry erase board, lists of things I need to pay, etc. Sometimes they work, and other days I only get a few things done out of the entire list. At least I ‘tried’ to stay on track.

I am not perfect. I waste a lot of time (every day) – but I’m getting better. In a couple hours it will be the end of the normal work day (here in Eastern time), and the end of the work week.

I want you to ask yourself one question: “What did I do to make money today?”

Here’s a tip I learned from my experiences with Digital Altitude, “Ask yourself that question every day – and then write down the answer in a notepad somewhere,” (now I’ve got you making lists! lol). If you are having trouble making the kind of money you want online, maybe you aren’t doing enough daily to make money! Maybe you’re not spending enough time writing content, building links, article marketing, writing ebooks, and guest posting. Maybe you’re distracted by “shiny objects”, like google, twitter, facebook, trying new wordpress plugins, and so on…

What Do I Do?

Set goals, both long and short term – and work on them daily. But don’t create a list of 10-20 tasks that are impossible to do at once. Instead limit yourself to 3-5 tasks per day and leave an hour or so to do something new or unplanned. Turn off twitter, email, IM, facebook, and other distractions for a few hours while you complete a task or two. Then (and ONLY then) reward yourself with a little distraction time. LIMIT it to 30 minutes or less (before time slips away again), and move on to a new task.

At the end of the day you’ll thank yourself, because you will have accomplished something that directly relates to making money. Do this on a daily basis – and eventually you WILL be making money online, because every task is little putting a little deposit in the bank.

What did YOU do to make money today? I wrote this post…it was one of my tasks!