How to avoid burnout when running campaigns 24/7
You open the tracker, and there it is - ROI -99%. Great.
Affiliate marketing is a job where you cannot predict the outcome. There is no certainty in payouts. No matter how much you test, sometimes you don't come across good offers. There's no fixed work schedule, no paid vacation, no sick leave. More accurately, they exist if you organize them yourself.
It happens that everything goes neither here nor there, and it just doesn't seem to go at all. At first, you think, "It's okay, I'll find a good offer soon, we'll set everything up, and we'll recover the money." But the moment of getting things on track doesn't seem to be in a hurry to arrive.
Where to find motivation in such moments to keep going? How to find a balance between work and life? How to launch traffic and still have time for living?
Motivation
There's no universal formula for success. It's not like a magic wand that makes you instantly motivated and eager to work.
We are living beings, not robots or superman. We get tired, and at times, we want to throw in the towel due to exhaustion. There are moments when we just want to lie down and do nothing. Peaks and valleys are normal. It's essential not to avoid such moments but to learn how to embrace them. Falling down, getting up, and dusting ourselves off is all part of the journey.
He could - I can too
Stories and autobiographies of other people's lives can be a great source of motivation. Do you know that Elon Musk nearly bankrupted PayPal? And that the launch of his SpaceX rocket failed three times?
Do you know that 12 publishers rejected J.K. Rowling's first Harry Potter novel? The publisher who agreed (a year later!) was convinced the book would fail.
Stephen King's first manuscript was rejected even more - 30 times. He gave up, but his wife believed in him. She persuaded him to finish the work and try again.
The great Michael Jordan, a basketball legend, was cut from his high school basketball team in his youth. He also faced rejection from colleges.
He said, "I've missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times, I've been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that's why I've been successful."
Inventor Thomas Edison went through thousands of prototypes before creating a working electric light bulb.
The internet is full of success stories, each of which is backed by hard work. It's also filled with disappointments and failures along the way.
How many attempts did you make before deciding it was time to give up?
Where am I going, and why do I need to go there?
Can you answer this for yourself? Why do you engage in affiliate marketing, why don't you put out fires or trade stocks on the stock exchange? Why do you launch campaigns?
What are you aiming for? What is the goal?
It's unlikely to surprise anyone that most people "go to work" to earn a salary. The biggest motivation is often "to avoid getting fired”. Money is a necessity for all of us, and we all want to eat, preferably delicious food. But is that enough motivation to do uninteresting work?
You can strive towards a goal if you keep it in your mind. Goals provide motivation. Who said that a goal has to be only one, necessarily grand and immense? Who said that you can't change your goal during the process of achieving it? Who said that you can't break a goal down into smaller parts? The journey can consist of several steps. Taking breaks and rewarding yourself is important. Even small, simple, and clear goals can make life easier. They can give you a sense of motivation and self-belief.
Chinese wisdom states: "A journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step”.
Something other than affiliate marketing
Something besides testing, launching, optimizing, and scaling endless campaigns. Everyone has their own way to relax and hobbies. If you don't have them yet, why not explore and find some?
Schedule in your calendar: every month, acquire a new skill or try something new. Karting, ice-cold water bathing, skydiving, diving, mountain biking, shooting at the range, camping trips - anything you fancy. New emotions and experiences are guaranteed. Cross-stitch, draw, sculpt from clay, sew bags - explore your creative side.
Some find meditation, breathing exercises, journaling, or morning pages helpful. Others need walks in the forest, music, or heavy athletics. Making dumplings, horseback riding, or photography - there are various ways to find relaxation and inspiration.
What about a blog or a Facebook group? Or any other platform? You can share your thoughts, let off steam.
Do something to break the routine of launching campaigns, fatigue, and despondency. It won't feel as disheartening when things don't work out as expected.
Work schedule
Deciding to work for 9 hours a day is simple. Sticking to it is the challenge.
Do you have a work schedule? Do you have weekends? Or do you work around the clock without breaks and then sleep for 2 days straight? Chaos in your workday can disrupt your state. So can the absence of rest and weekends.
Margaret Thatcher and Napoleon slept for 4-5 hours a day. Einstein, on the other hand, slept for 12 hours and believed that extended and restful sleep was the key to a clear mind, creativity, and brilliance.
Reducing sleep can provide more time, but will it be productive? Some people can function well on 6 hours of sleep, while others need 10. Find out how much sleep you need.
To organize your work time and self-motivation, you can follow Brian Tracy's advice and "eat the frog" first. In his book of the same name, he recommends listing your priority tasks for the day and tackling the most challenging one first – the task you're least inclined to do but need to accomplish.
In other words, you "eat the frog" before moving on to other tasks, and this can lead to a sense of pride and satisfaction once the challenging task is completed.
Using paper, Asana, or Jira for tasks that need to be completed is a good idea. It helps clear your mind, structure work tasks, and bring order to your workflow.
Effective hours
Each of us is effective at different times. Some are ready to move mountains at 5 am in the morning, while others can't get their brains to "turn on" until 1 pm in the afternoon. The beauty of entrepreneurship is that you can decide when to start working. Create a schedule that suits you best by trying different work times and noting when you are most productive.
Research conducted by the bureau of Statistics suggests that we are productive at work for no more than 3-4 hours a day. The rest of the time from the "allocated" eight hours is spent on reading news, social media, chatting with colleagues about work and not so work-related matters, breaks, phone calls, lunch, coffee, snacks, and memes.
Do you need a standard eight-hour workday? And will it be productive for you? The decision is entirely up to you.
Conclusion
Life is not a zebra with black and white stripes but a chessboard. Everything here depends on your move.
Sometimes things may not go as planned, and sometimes they can even go worse. Loss-making campaigns, a drained budget, a lack of good offers, and no time off.
Think about yourself before you completely burn out. If you burn out, even profitable campaigns will be sidelined. You'll be out of both life and work for weeks on end.
Reflect on your goals, motivation, and work-life balance. Keep moving forward.
Share: What gives you strength and motivates you on difficult days?
