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I'm just wondering if one of the biggest obstacles keeping people from being as successful online as they want to be could be as simple as not being focused enough.

See if you can relate to this scenario:

I found an affiliate program that I decided to promote. I go to their website to sign up. But wait...they want a URL...I try to sign up without it, thinking I'll go back later and fill in the URL (when I have one!) But no, the sign up won't go through without it. So I decide okay, I'll go ahead and get a domain name so I can complete the sign up process.

A trip to Godaddy and 20-30 minutes later, I found and bought what I believe is a smokin' domain name for that particular industry. Course, while I was there, I decided to go ahead and get another one I had picked out some time ago...I mean, I'm already there, might as well, right?

While I'm there, I notice that another domain name of mine that I bought a long time ago and have never done anything with yet, has expired. So a few more valuable minutes are spent zipping off an email asking what I need to do to get it re-instated. (Turns out it hadn't yet expired, so all that was completely wasted time)

Back to the affiliate sign up page, brand spankin' new domain name safely under my ownership, ready to sign up, then I read in their terms and conditions that they can refuse a site for any reason they deem appropriate.

So I'm thinkin'...hmmm....what if they won't approve my app with just a domain name and not even a single web page to show them. Maybe it would be better if I had at least a home page they could see.

So I'm off to my desktop to open up Nvu, which I only DL'd the other day and haven't even really looked at. Opened it up and stared blankly for several seconds before realizing that I had no freakin' clue where to begin.

Well, hey, no problem, I'm sure there are tutorials somewhere...a quick Google search and a couple of clicks later and I'm into an Nvu tutorial...I'm reading...and it mentions hosting...and I think, aw, geez, I'll need to get it hosted too...but look!...conveniently, there's a link..."What to look for in a hosting company".

So off I go to learn about what I need to know before deciding on a hosting company. Finished that article and down at the bottom, whaddyaknow...a link to "Budget Hosting Companies"...well, c'mon, I mean I NEED to see them, don't I? After all, I don't want to spend a bunch of money for hosting if I don't need to, right?

By now, I don't even know how long I've been derailed from my original purpose. In fact, I didn't even think of it as being derailed...after all, I was "working" right? HAH!

I looked over the companies that were recommended, picked one and dashed off to THEIR website to read all about what they offered and all the features, etc. Sometime later I clicked back to finish reading the page that had recommended them in the first place.

I was all set to leave...and then...I saw a link at the top of the page that was so compelling, (or appealed so heavily to my greed) that I just HAD to 'check it out'. It said "Find out how I make $1000 a day with Google".

Well hell, I know there are people doing that...maybe this guy's got something to say that I need to hear. A few minutes later I'm knee deep in his Google Cash 3 sales page. Wow is he convincing or what!? Maybe I need to consider buying that book...I mean,it just seems like it's taking so long to start seeing income...the price really isn't too bad...I better see what some other folks have to say about it first.

Back to Google search for Google Cash reviews...scanned through a couple, but still couldn't decide...after all, you never know how many so-called 'review' sites are just affiliate sites. I need some honest opinions...hmmm...where can I go? Oh I know!

Off I go to a favorite forum, where I know if someone's had a bad experience with a product I'll find it there. So I do a search and find several threads that have discussed the book. And then a funny thing happened...

Someone (and I have no clue who, it doesn't really matter) advised against buying the book and suggested an alternative instead. It registered with me, but I continued reading several other threads...most were rather short, (thank god, or I guess I'd still be there), and then someone else advised against it and suggested a different book was a better choice. Again a little bell went off in my head, but there were only a couple more threads, after all...by the end, no less than half a dozen people had made the suggestion that there was a better way.

Finally the light went on and I came out of my coma. I can't even tell you how many hours I wasted running back and forth in cyberspace, lying to myself that I was 'working', getting things done, doing research on stuff I needed to know. I had completely lost my focus...and an entire night of precious, valuable, irreplacable time went down the drain in the process. And for what? I didn't even accomplish the one thing I set out to do...the relatively simple task of signing up for an affiliate program.

So the next night I went scurrying back to my computer with renewed determination. I did some studying, read a couple of tutorials, added a module to one of my Squidoo lenses and finished writing several articles I'd been putting off. I came to the painful realization that I had no business trying to start promoting another affiliate product while I still had so many unfinished projects staring me in the face.

The reason I'm sharing this enormously embarrassing lack of focus is to hopefully keep others from making the same mistake. We have to spend time online in order to build our business, but on every page we're tempted by a never-ending supply of distractions.

Your focus on your goal, on the task at hand, on the very next step, must be laser sharp or a year from now, you'll still be surfin, and searching, and lying to yourself about how much real work you're doing and lamenting the fact that you've spent 'so much time' trying to make this thing work and still have little or no money coming in.

I know because it's what I've done.

I hope this helps keep someone else from making the same mistake.

About the Author

Stop running in circles chasing elusive wealth. You need guidance and direction. You need to stay focused. You need a connect-the-dots plan so easy a caveman could do it. This ol' broad found it. (The plan, not the caveman.) Join her and find the path to the online success you seek and the financial freedom you deserve.