This morning I posted in my Insider's group, which is for my Bacon Weekly Mastermind and other coaching clients, and I put up this graphic that said, “If content is king, then consistency is queen.” In that post, what I was asking them is, “Do you have any topics you'd like me to cover on the Bacon podcast or maybe in the Weekly Mastermind?” I'm asking you the same thing. If you have any topics you'd like me to cover or get some guest interviews on, simply go to baconpodcast.com/questions, and just fill in your name and maybe some contact info, but more importantly what topics would you like to hear.

Wishin' Statement vs a Mission Statement

Today's topic that I'd like to talk about is a question: Do you have a wishin' statement or a mission statement? The reason I got this topic in my head is because I was on an accountability call with one of my friends. We do this accountability call every single week. Now, I know some people do accountability calls where if you don't get done what you're supposed to do, you have to donate a ridiculous amount of money to a charity or something like that. If you're going to donate to any charity, pick one that is true to your heart, but it's the amount of money that makes it kind of funky. But this one's not like that, it's just a straight accountability call.

As I was talking to this person, I kept hearing the same thing. “I can't wait to get this done. I want to start a podcast. I want to write a book. I need to start a mastermind. I want to do all these things.” Finally I said, “Hey, you've been talking about this for months. Why aren't you getting it done?” “Well, maybe I'm over-scheduling. I'm doing too much, I'm working 80 hours a week when I should be working 50. I'm getting all this stuff done.” I came back and said, “Wait a minute. That's not the case. Here's the problem, and it's really straightforward. What gets scheduled gets done.”

That was the problem. There was no scheduled time to do this. Now I know this from a personal standpoint because every Monday I do this podcast, every Tuesday I do my blog, every Wednesday I have a guest expert interview, and then every Thursday I have an email that goes out. I've got all of that stuff scheduled in my calendar. I make sure that it gets done.

Consistency Is Queen

Now I've been doing a podcast for well over two and a half years. The last one was episode 290. I'll hit 300 soon, and then maybe 500. But the only way I can do that is through scheduling it in my calendar. My calendar is king. If it's not on my calendar, it doesn't get done. So, I make sure that everything I possibly can put in there, I do. Now there are days where I'm working on client projects and I'll schedule the client projects in there. I just say, “Time for client projects.” Then I will outline that on a piece of paper and say, “These are the things I have to get done today.”

So, how do you get consistent with this stuff? Well, I have a tool for it if you want to check it out, and I'm going to explain some of those things. Go to TheProductivityBundle.com. What The Productivity Bundle does is helps you to organize your time to prioritize, but more importantly, get things scheduled. Make sure that you're doing things in a very particular order. Now, in The Productivity Bundle, I talk about this and I've talked about it before … I have my days actually laid out that way.

Monday is Marketing Monday, that's the day I work on my own marketing pieces, including my podcast. Tuesday is Training Tuesday. That day is allocated for my masterminds, for coaching, for all of my Bacon System clients, which is group coaching. That day is set up specifically for that. Working Wednesday is exactly that. That is the day that I get all my work done. Togetherness Thursday, it's not the full day, but that will be the day that I go out and network and meet people face-to-face, have coffees, do whatever I have to do. Then I have Flexible Friday. Flexible Friday can be work, it can be golf, whatever it is that I want to do. Or it could be maybe working on my next book. But the key thing is every single day has a theme, and every single day is scheduled out.

Create A Scheduling System

That's the one thing that I want you to get used to doing: if you want to get things accomplished, stop wishing and create a mission. That means first and foremost, sit down and say, “This is what I want to accomplish, and this is what it's going to take.” How many hours a day do you need to put together? If you could spend a half hour a day writing a book, and you can get ten pages done, and your goal is to write 300 pages, right? How many days do you have to work? You have to work 30 days to get 300 pages.

Now, you can't do it every single day. Maybe you do it two or three times a week. So instead of 30 days, it may take you three months. But that's it. You have to know what you can get done, what you're going to get done in that time. Sometimes you'll get two pages, sometimes you'll get 15 pages. It just depends on your mood and what's happening.

So you have to start by creating what it is that you want to get done, and really map out what it's going to take to get it done. Of course, if you're trying to schedule too many things, like my friend who wanted a podcast and a mastermind and write a book… Yeah, if you're going to do all those, then you have to schedule them throughout the week, and the time that it's going to take you to get it set up, to market it, to do all the things that you need to do. That's the difference between a wishin' statement and a mission statement.

So the key things that I want you to think about are: What are your top priorities? What are the things that you need to do to grow yourself and grow your business? Then start mapping that out. Then, the next thing to do is get it in your schedule and stick to it.

Organize & Prioritize

Another productivity tip I have, which really helps me, is every Sunday night, I have a ritual. I use that time to watch maybe some football or baseball or whatever, but during that time, I clean out my email. I have 11 email accounts. Yeah, that's a lot. I also have 19 websites, but that's a whole other story. But I go through and I clean them out. I either delete them, I respond to them and sometimes delete them, and some I basically put in folders. So, I file them. I clean out all of my email, so I'm starting out with only things that I have to act upon come Monday morning. That's my system for the week.

The next thing that I do is I lay out my weekly to-do list, and then I go over my client projects and say, “Okay, what do I need to accomplish this week? What is hot? What is not? What's an ongoing project? What's something that has a deadline that I've gotta meet?” So I make sure that by organizing myself, I'm achieving both my business goals, but also the things that I need to do to grow myself and my business.

So ask yourself, what are your top priorities? What are the things that you want to get done? You want to start a podcast? You want to write a book? You want to begin a mastermind? Maybe you want to get out and speak. Whatever those things are, you have to sit down and schedule time, and figure out exactly the steps that you need and how long it's going to take you. Then get it in your calendar.

You can set up repeating things in your calendar every single week: Tuesday at one o'clock I'm going to spend an hour doing this. By getting it in your calendar, it becomes solidified. It's becomes something that becomes part of your to-do list, and you'll get it done.

Final Thoughts

Wisdom tells us that “You Can't Manage Time!”, but you can manage how you utilize the time you have. You can't avoid the distractions of life, but you can prioritize what gets done first. Most time management experts tell you to get the hardest and most important things done first. You can also manage expectations. I try to let my clients know that Wednesdays and Fridays are the days I will work on their projects. It does not mean that I won't work on them the rest of the week in my spare time, but they need to understand that I have a system and a schedule. Can you do some of the same to free up time to work on your business priorities?

I would love to hear your thoughts and comments on this subject. Comment below and share your thoughts and ideas you use to manage tasks, priorities, and making time to work on your business. Do you have any systems or advice you could share?

To learn more about this and other topics on Internet Marketing, visit our podcast website at http://www.baconpodcast.com/podcasts/