I have spent a lot of evenings “working on my business”.

I watched training. I read about traffic. I tweaked things. I checked things. At the end of it I felt as though I had put the hours in.

But had I actually moved forward?

That question was at the heart of a call I attended this month, and it has stayed with me. It was about the illusion of progress, and I found it rather uncomfortable in a useful way.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you join or purchase through one of my links, I may receive a commission at no additional cost to you.

If you have read my earlier posts, Why So Many People Struggle With ClickBank – Even When They Work Hard and Do I Need a List Already to Make Affiliate Marketing Work?, you will know I joined The ClickBank Profit Club to give myself more structure. As well as the step-by-step training, the club runs a monthly mindset call called Mindset Monthly, hosted by John Thornhill, a 9x ClickBank Platinum vendor. Each one is recorded.

This month’s call was called The Illusion of Progress.

The Illusion of Progress: Busy Is Not the Same as Progress

This was the main point of the call, and it hit home.

It is very easy to fill your time with things that feel productive. Watching one more training video. Doing a bit more research. Getting everything “ready” before you start.

None of those things are bad on their own. The problem is when they become the work, rather than something that supports the work.

John called these the learning and preparation traps. I recognised myself in both.

The Habits That Keep You Busy

The call also looked at some habits that eat time without you noticing.

Checking your statistics over and over is one. Chasing the latest new opportunity is another. I wrote about that second one in my first post, and I am clearly not finished with it yet.

Each of these gives you a little feeling of doing something. Very few of them actually move your business forward.

The Progress Test

This was the part that made the biggest difference to me.

John shared what he calls the Progress Test. It is three simple questions you can ask about any task to see whether it genuinely moves your business forward.

I am not going to list them here. Partly because they belong to the club, and partly because they land much better when you hear them explained properly.

What I will say is this: it was a light bulb moment for me. It showed me where I have been spending time without getting anything back, and it gave me a simple way to check that “working on my business” actually means what it says.

He also went through a seven-day reality check. Four questions to look back at what you have done this week and how to improve next week, plus a bonus question that wasn’t on his slides. That bonus question made me stop and think more than I expected.

My Seven-Day Progress Challenge

The call finished with a challenge for the week ahead. It has three parts:

1. Choose one outcome.
2. Drop one bad habit.
3. Review your progress.

That is all. Simple enough that there is no excuse not to do it.

I am taking the challenge on myself. I won’t pretend I know how it will turn out, but I will share what I learn.

The Illusion Ends When the Action Begins

That was John’s closing line, and it has stuck with me.

He left us with a simple principle to follow:

Action → Review → Adjust → Repeat

It fits neatly with everything I have been trying to do in these posts. Build the system. Test it. Improve it. Stop starting again.

Want to Take a Look?

If you have ever finished a long session at your computer and wondered what you actually achieved, the Progress Test alone is worth hearing.

The mindset calls are part of the free membership, so you can hear it for yourself. You can join here:

[Join The ClickBank Profit Club Free Membership]

There’s no need to take my word for it. Have a look inside and decide whether the approach makes sense for you.

Disclosure: I am an affiliate for The ClickBank Profit Club. If you join or purchase something through my link, I may receive a commission at no additional cost to you.