Back in college 30 years ago my friend Stuart suggested we join a gym.

“If we get in shape, we'll be able to drink more” he said. That's student logic for you.

Needless to say, we didn't last more than a session or two at the gym.

That's the thing with hard work like working out. If you don't enjoy it and you're only doing it for the results it's really difficult to keep it going long term.

It's why, when you're trying to figure out what marketing to do, you need to make sure that the approaches you select are ones you enjoy doing.

Not necessarily initially. When things are new and difficult they can always be rather painful. The first few blog posts I wrote and videos I made took me an age and were a real struggle.

But after a while I came to really enjoy writing and making videos. Still do.

That's why years later I'm still writing blog posts and emails and doing videos. I don't just want the end result, I enjoy the process.

There are some bits of marketing we can outsource, of course. But most of us need to do a lot of our own marketing. And if we try to do things we really don't enjoy doing then no matter how effective they are in theory, we'll just give up on them before we get results.

Far better to pick the second best method you'll actually do than the very best one you won't.

Stuart lives in Australia now, swims a lot, and is way healthier than when we were in college. I'm walking 5 miles a day and I'm exercising 3 times a week in our converted loft. 

Don't give up at the first hurdle. But if you've worked hard at a particular marketing method and you still hate it, it might be time to find a different one you'll stick too.