Looking for affiliate marketing motivation? After watching that Tony Robbins video, or attending a motivational seminar, have you noticed how things just go back to normal? Your motivation wanes, and you fall back to your previous state? So you watch another video and try and pick yourself up!
But motivation is finite. It’s a hard thing to maintain. Since motivation is finite, it’s a much better idea to use your motivation to create habits. Habits are what matter, because they are the things you do, even when you don’t feel like it. Motivation is fleeting. One day you’re up and the next day you’re down. If your actions are always based on your motivation levels, you’re in trouble when you’re not having a good day!
Instead of trying to be perpetually motivated, which is impossible, use your motivation to create mini habits which support your longer term goals.
Affiliate Marketing Motivation – Mini Habits
As an affiliate marketer, you often need to maintain consistent actions for a long period of time; even without reward. This can be very difficult, especially if you never know when or if your actions will even pay off! Blogging is a good example of this. You need to have a belief in what you’re doing which is strong enough to maintain long term activity.
Picking a strategy you enjoy, and believe in is a good way to maintain this kind of focus. If you absolutely hate what you’re doing, it’s very difficult to maintain it for any length of time! The time needed to make affiliate marketing work for you will vary from person to person, and depend on your strategy. (See how long does affiliate marketing take).
Your affiliate marketing motivation will depend on your outlook, which will change from day to day. One day you might be very motivated and the next you’re in a pit of despair. Using your motivation to create mini habits, which you can maintain over the longer term is a good strategy to employ. On a bad day, your mini habits carry you through. Mini habits are a great way to align your daily actions with your longer term goals.
In Stephen Guise’s book Mini Habits, he suggests using tiny micro habits which can grow over time. This is a great strategy. Rather than heaping a tonne of actions steps on your “to-do” list, and overwhelming yourself, (which often leads to inaction), Guise suggests forming micro habits which you can do even on a bad day.
On a bad day, your mini habit is so easy you can still do it. It should be ridiculously easy.
Why Mini Habits?
Mini habits work because you start by creating action steps towards your goals which are super small. Most people create a mountain (in their minds) and give up before they even get started. For example, you decide you’re going to get in shape, so you join a gym. All goes well and for the first month you’re turning up regularly, maybe even going 5 times a week.
You then hit a psychological wall, or get injured. A week goes by, and you’ve not been to the gym. I’ll go next week, you tell yourself. Before you know it, you’re paying your gym membership but your motivation somehow got lost! Months pass and eventually you cancel your membership. But it all could have been avoided if you only knew about mini habits.
With a mini habit, all you need to do is turn up to the gym and swipe your membership card. Once you’ve done it, you’re off the hook! But since the hardest thing to do is often getting in the car, and driving over there, you’ve already overcome that resistance; even if you only swipe your gym card. (Putting aside the irony of driving your car to run on the spot)!
Affiliate Motivation & Blogging
Another example for affiliate marketing motivation is blogging. When you start, you think you need thousands of visitors to your website in order to make any sales. Before you start, you’ve already overwhelmed yourself for having such a long journey to make!
But if you only gave yourself the simple task of writing 500 words, or even 50 words, or reading a blog, you’ve started the wheels turning. Once those wheels are spinning, it’s easier to maintain movement. A rolling stone gathers no moss!
If you only wrote a single blog post each day for a year, you’ll have 365 blog posts within that year. Once you have started, it’s easier to maintain a habit than to constantly need help with your motivation. The habit supports you and keeps you on track.
Mini Habits Grow
Mini habits grow into bigger and stronger actions over time. A single press up doesn’t seem worth bothering with. But once you’re in the press up position, you’ll probably do more than one. Once you’ve done a single press up every day for 10 days straight, it’s much more difficult not to do it!
This is the genius of mini habits because they become part of who you are. You start identifying yourself with your habits and this is really powerful. A good book on self image is Maxwell Maltz’s psycho cybernetics. Maltz was a plastic surgeon who realised many of his patients still had mental issues after facial surgery. By altering the way they saw themselves (identity), they no longer wanted or needed facial surgery.
Accountability
Finding other people who will hold you accountable is another massive key to maintaining focus in any given direction. Finding affiliate marketing motivation can be tough because so many affiliates are going it alone. Add to the mix some well meaning friends and relatives who are set against you and you’re in for a tough ride!
When your motivation wanes, and people around you are desperate for you to quit, it’s all the more difficult to keep going. But if you have others holding you accountable and helping and encouraging you, it’s far easier to keep going. Most successful people don’t go it alone. They have others who help them.
You can join an online community of affiliate marketers through this link. Learn more about The SFM community and starting your own online business from scratch here.
Your “why” List
Having a list of “why’s” is important for affiliates too. Your “why?” has to be bigger than the problems you’ll encounter on the affiliate journey. If your reason to become successful as an affiliate is just a little extra money, it may not be strong enough to overcome the difficulties you’ll encounter. Particularly if your life is generally ok otherwise.
But if you’re desperate to escape a corporate career, or free yourself from a very difficult circumstance in life, you’ll work incredibly hard to make it happen.
Write down your main “why’s” and remember them when things get tough. Being financially independent and not needing an employer, a job or having to commute were just a few of my reasons to become an affiliate. If you’re successful as an affiliate it can give you huge freedom and choice.
Affiliate Marketing Motivation – Summary
I hope this affiliate marketing motivation article has been helpful? Affiliate marketing is tough but it’s worth the effort for the outcome you want. Keep your “why’s” in your mind, use mini habits to maintain momentum and surround yourself with like minded people who can hold you accountable and encourage you to keep going.
Always keep a focus on the outcome you want to achieve and keep your belief alive by connecting with other people on the same journey. If you’ve enjoyed this article please share it!
If you’re looking for a few affiliate marketing strategies, check out my article on ways to promote affiliate products.