Got my first check. Cannot focus on IM. How to handle?

Hi people,

A few months ago I started an Amazon website.
I started building it until I got really overloaded with my graduation theses and my full time job.
I am not able to do full time job + finish my graduation theses + Internet Marketing at the same time so - of course - I decided to pause IM for a while.
And it was working fine... I mean I really want to start projects for real and see them happen, but it is a logical decision. Graduate first and do it later.

Eventually my affiliate account in Amazon was terminated (due to lack of sales) and today I got the check of the earnings I had.
This is the first time I got money from online means.
It was not a lot, but the amount can buy a fancy dinner for two in my country.

This got me SO excited about IM again that I can barely think about my work with my theses... and I have to deliver it in 45 days. How do I deal with this situation?
I mean, you don't have to convince me that I should focus on my graduation now and do IM later... it is less than two months and when I graduate I will have a lot of free time to work on IM projects.
Not to mention that I automatically get a raise once I graduate... and I'm already pretty comfortable with my salary (so I could use my raise to invest more in IM)...

Of course I need to let IM on hold right now... I know that... but I don't know how to do it...
I have just completely shifted my motivation from my research work to Internet Marketing and the ideas I have for projects.
How do I handle this?

When you're passionate about something, it's very, very, very hard to let it go and put it on the back burner while waiting for the right time. You really have two options:

1. Serious time management - make a schedule for when to sleep, work on your thesis, sleep and do your full-time job. Usually if you organize your schedule like that, you'll notice you might have about 1-2 hrs free time that you usually waste. For example sleep (7 hrs max) + work (8 hrs) leaves about 9 hrs left. If you factor in time for eating and social obligations (2 hrs) you're left with 7 hrs to play with. 6 hrs per day working on your thesis should be fruitful...it depends on where you are I guess. Also I'm assuming you don't work 7 days a week. So you might be able to work on IM for 1 hr per day.

2. Let it go. Realize that it's just your mind causing tension and you can remove any obsessive thoughts that you have by meditation or involving yourself in work. If that doesn't work, you can also use another thought to get rid of it - that's using a small peg to get rid of a big peg. For example every time you think about IM and making money, find some other equally interesting thought and focus on it. It takes less than 5 minutes a day of active work to get rid of obsessiveness like that. Wait until the time is right and then work on IM in earnest.

Good luck.

you can do both with no issue. You dont have to spend all day on the computer. Take some time set up a game plan and stick to it. That is the game changer in this business. Set a plan and stay with it. A lot of times people get started spend tons of time and then leave after a month or so. That wont work. You dont have to spend a ton of time but you do have to stay at it every day.

Great job OP!

Try to use your energy for both as they are equally important. I am sure you can do it!

Thank you for your replies guys.

@pewep
I like your second suggestion.
I don't believe I can do the first one. I know everybody is, but I am REALLY driven by motivation and the results of my efforts are very affected by focus. I'm not very good at time management because of this. If I try to squeeze IM activities in my day, without going full effort on it, I wouldn't be successful on my IM projects and that will be waste of time. I tried that before... but by the time I was not doing my theses... So I decided IM was a priority and I dropped some other stuff (like learning French, for example). They were important stuff, but IM was my priority back then (in my free time).

My work is based on quality and not quantity (to be clear, I don't think any of those is better than the other). Sometimes I spend 3 hours focused on my theses, but I'm only writting or reading or activelly working for 1 hour. From the 8 hours I spend at work, I probably work only 5 hours... and I still have outstanding results.

What I am trying to say is: I can achieve great things in bursts of energy, focus and creativity, but squeezing things in small windows of time does not work for me and I envy those who can do it.

(This next part is not directed to you pewep) And as much as I appreciate all feedback and suggestions, I don't want to change this. As I said, I have an outstanding performance at work and I am satisfied with the way I am productive, even not being really time-effective.

Bottom line: If I squeeze 1 or 2 hours per day for IM, I know I would fail at any project because I would only work for 15 minutes each slot... or not even work at all. And having that in mind could make me waste more time on other activites, like keep thinking about IM in my studying time.

Oh, and regarding the weekends, my journey during the week is pretty long. I leave home around 07:45 and get home around 23:45. I don't have to, but I choose to work on my theses inside the University... I have a good infrastructure there and access to the library. So I reeealy like using my weekends to relax.

Besides that, my girlfriend studies Architecture and works 8hrs/day also, so her journey is only 30 minutes shorter than mine (because she goes to classes at night). This means she doesn't have time to do her assignments during the week and she does them all in the weekend. It is really demanding for her and because of that, I like to support her by cooking, doing house work and stuff like that, so she can focus on her studies / career also. (We don't live together, but she speds the weekends at my place).

@CenTex. Thank you for your reply... I don't think that would work for me for the reasons outlined above...

The best part is that you are driven by motivation. You have the motivation to do it, but you lack proper time management? Everyday when I wake up I take out a piece of paper and write down my "big rocks" or priorities for the day. Furthermore, I also write down my "small rocks" or not-so-important tasks that I'm curious to complete. Make a game plan for yourself regarding internet marketing and work and stick to it. Have set times that you are devoted to work and you should be good to go.