Five days a week I schedule the social sharing of the posts we write on this blog and some days it can be difficult to find the motivation necessary to do it. However, I know it’s working because the site traffic and subscribers continue to grow at a slow and steady pace. So each day I find the time to go through the routine of sharing the posts on Twitter, FaceBook, LinkedIn and Google+. As mundane as it can become, routine is an effective method for getting repetitive tasks done.
It’s working, keep doing it
The results of routine completion of repetitive tasks are seldom seen in days, weeks or even months. Think about exercise or proper diet routines. Even if you attack both at the same time, it can take a month or more to really see and feel the results of the effort. The progress is slow and incremental but it’s there and it’s worth the effort.
Sure, you can get stuck out on the road for a few weeks and not work your exercise and diet routines into enough of the days. That, however, is no reason to give up. You just pick up where you left off because you know it’s working so you keep doing it. I take the same approach with sharing blog posts or making followup sales calls. When I complete those repetitive tasks, I seldom get the instant gratification of a traffic spike or a sale, but that doesn’t stop me from doing both tasks.
If you stop doing it, get back as quickly as you can
The key is to pick the routine back up as quickly as you can. If you’re a week behind on sales followup, then it’s time to pick up the phone and get yourself one less day behind. The alternative is to not pick up the phone and be eight days behind. Exercise and diet are a bit different. Once you’ve missed a day, it’s lost forever. That’s what drives me to get back in the routine as quickly as I can.
Check your success metrics at the correct intervals
While I may check the traffic for today’s post several times throughout the day, I will not check overall site traffic statistics more than once a month. It just doesn’t make sense to check more frequently as it’s more useful to look at the current 30 days vs. the pervious 30 days. Then if the results aren’t what you expect, make adjustments and check again in another 30 days.
With diets and exercise, I say stay off the scale. I get on about two or three times a week, but not every single day. I’m trying to cut back to two or three times a month. The changes just happen slower and I’d like to see a larger difference.
While improvements may not be happening as quickly as you like, don’t quit or give up when you know it’s working.
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