There’s one major flaw in the ‘pursue your passion, the money will follow’ school of thought.

Sometimes the money doesn’t ‘follow’ quickly enough.

If you’re someone who works online quite a bit, here’s a concrete way to create more focus on earning money.

Step #1: Go to your email inbox and flag the emails that when acted upon, will lead you directly to money.

Step #2: Ignore the rest of your emails and do ONLY the flagged emails first.

Notes:

In step #1, by directly, I mean as directly as possible. You will have some emails that ultimately, following a longer path, may lead to money. Don’t flag those. Flag the ones that are the CLOSEST to money today. That’s what I mean by direct, and the types of emails you flag will change as your business evolves. But the principle of the exercise remains the same.

For example, in MS Outlook, which is what I use, you can highlight an email, right click and select ‘Flag for Followup’ and a little red flag shows up beside the email. I currently have 7 little red flags out of 139 emails. The red flags are the things you tend to first, with the most energy and intention. [Red flags = Big Rocks]

What this exercise can reveal:

How much time you habitually spend on non-money-generating activities. Or what I call ‘long shots’. Projects, ideas or conversations with people about exciting long-shots (possibilities) are great, but not if you are in ‘pay the bills’ mode. Once you have a few ’sure things’ under your belt from month to month, you can spend time on long shots. At least that’s my perspective.

It can be useful to remember that whether you realize it or not, you have a habit of intersecting with money - a sort of de facto ‘way of being’ regarding money.

In business, if you don’t already ‘know’ or ‘feel’ what it’s like to be earning plenty of money, you have an existing money habit to overcome, and a chance to form a new one.

Suggestion: If the above exercise seems like it would help you - you may want to go one step further.

Step #3: Go ahead and book yourself a daily appointment to do the flagging exercise above.

Book yourself this appointment every day for the next 20 work days. The goal is to make this a daily ingrained habit. As your mental attitude shifts, and you naturally reach for money-related tasks first, you will be rewarded with more income and the fulfillment of your business goals.

Lastly, it’s worth mentioning that no, doing the above doesn’t mean you are giving up on your passion; you’re just doing it through the lens of money. Email flagging is a pretty neat little method to creating a healthy money focus.

Let me know how it works okay?