Simply Business Coaching

Procrastination - What's Causing Yours?

In order to get what you want in life, and in business, you need to find out is what's stopping you when you don't do, or put off doing, whatever it is you know you need to do.  Whenever you procrastinate, it's because you believe taking action is going to be more 'painful' than doing nothing, or not taking that particular action.

At the other extreme, if you procrastinate for too long, it can backfire on you!  For example, if you keep putting off, say your tax return, you get to a point the night before it's due when you realise that not doing it is going to be even more painful than doing it.  And then, all night long, you experience the pain of getting the job done.  If you're nodding your head, you've been there too!

The solution is to learn to control the motivating forces of 'pain and pleasure'.

This means understanding that whatever you focus your attention on is what is most real to you.  Therefore, if you want to change your behaviour you must focus your attention on

1.    How not changing your behaviour will be more painful than changing it
2.    How changing it will bring you measurable and immediate pleasure.

If you're avoiding anything in your life, or if you're sabotaging your success in any area, it could be because you have a mixed set of associations about pain and pleasure.  For example you think that by doing something (developing a new income stream) you will gain more pleasure, but you also think it might mean pain (you'll have to go out and sell the new products).  With this thinking, as soon as you start to make progress you'll sabotage yourself.

If you want to change this once and for all, you have to decide RIGHT NOW that you control the focus of your mind.  if you're not following through, what you have to do is focus on "What's the pain I'm going to have if I don't do this?" instead of focusing on the pain you MIGHT experience from taking the action.  It will also help to focus on what pleasure you will experience when you do follow through.  You need to change what you link pain and pleasure to in order to change your behaviour.

How do you deal with procrastination (if it affects you)?  I'd love you to comment below - and if you enjoyed reading this post, please retweet or share!

The Secret to Finishing - is getting started!

I've recently joined a Mastermind group. We meet weekly (by Skype conference) and each commit to an action we will take by the next call. No excuses are accepted for non-achievement of that action - just a bald 'Yes' or 'No' statement of fact.

So far I've been committing to actions I'd already been working on and which are at varying degrees of completion - it's great to get them finished at last!

But the whole point of belonging to this great group, for me, is to start and finish projects that will make a real difference to my business. The sort of projects that are a bit of a stretch and that I've been putting off starting for that very reason.

One of the reasons procrastination exists is to keep us safe from failure, but not even making a start simply keeps us in the rut of discontent.

I'm going to stick my neck out a little further each week and stretch beyond my comfort zone because that's the only way to achieve more. I'll let you know how I get on. Gosh, this is very public now, isn't it?

What would you like to finish that you haven't started yet?

Are you Avoiding Success?

As a business owner or manager, I’ll bet you’re really busy all the time and that there never seem to be enough hours in the day.

I expect some of what you do every day is routine, such as opening the post; reading emails and checking your diary.  You do these almost without thinking.

But what about those activities you absolutely must do to bring in more business?  Like prospecting for new clients; following up with existing contacts; planning and goal setting for growth?

If you’ve ever spent your day doing such tasks as responding to emails; helping other people; working on making your marketing materials absolutely ‘perfect’; doing paperwork or tidying your office – you already know deep down these are comfort activities which will keep you stuck and your business exactly where it is now. 

The hard truth is:  you’re avoiding doing the less comfortable activities which will really move your business forward and generate more sales.  The ‘busy’ work will create the illusion you’re working hard, simply because you feel busy.  Your avoidance tactics will enable you to do everything but the activities needed to dramatically speed up your business success.

Do you get to the end of the day and say to yourself “It’s OK, I was really busy today, I’ll do that tomorrow.” Or “I just couldn’t find the time today to make those follow-up calls.”?

You know what?  If you’re waiting to find time, it will never happen!  There will always be other avoidance tactics and ‘busy work’ to fill your available time.

What avoidance tactics are you using?  Once you uncover them and the reasons why you are using them, then you can decide if they are really the best use of your time.

(If you need a bit of help with this, get in touch)

Don't wait until it's too late

With the very sad news of Michael Jackson’s sudden death last week came the predictable, and understandable, outpourings of grief; testaments to his musical genius; sharing of personal memories and the lament of opportunities now lost forever.

MJ’s music has been playing almost non-stop, reminding us of the astonishing scale and diversity of his talent and musical output. 

His greatest hits album ’Number Ones’ rocketed from 121 to the top of the UK album chart after a surge in sales since Thursday.   The same album was his last number one when first released in 2003 and some of his other albums have raced up the charts too.   Read the full story here.

While I sincerely hope that MJ’s children benefit from the play royalties and proceeds of all those sales, isn’t it a shame that they come now it is too late to lift the worry of financial ruin from their father's shoulders?

I nearly didn’t write this blog post because I dislike the idea of jumping on such a distastefully morbid bandwagon. The reason I’m writing this now is because, with the sad story still prominent, my reflections will hopefully make more sense than if I wait until later.  Which is also the point of this post.

Sudden losses can mean guilt for those left behind if they didn’t tell a deeply loved relative or friend just how much they are loved and appreciated, while they still had the chance to do so. 
Who are you going tell how much you love & appreciate them, today?

We often believe we have all the time in the world to fulfil our ambitions and dreams, when the reality is very different.
What dreams are you going to start making real, today?

Waiting until the time is right before embarking on a new project usually means it doesn’t get started.
What’s the first step of your new project that you’re going to take, today?

It can take life-changing events to force us to evaluate what we’ve achieved so far, and how satisfied we are with the results.
What changes do you need to make, beginning right now?

Whatever you've been putting off, please do it now.  Don’t wait until it’s too late.

Beating the stalemate of procrastination

Do you have anything on your ‘to do’ list that you keep putting off?  Is it because the task (or tasks!) seems too big to tackle, you’re not sure how to do it, or perhaps it’s going to take ages to finish?  If so, you’re definitely not alone.  We all procrastinate at times, but in business it can be costly.

If you have any tasks languishing in your pending tray, you know they’re there.  You think about them often and worry that they’re not getting done.  Maybe a deadline is looming, so now you’re getting stressed.

There are many techniques to beat procrastination.  The best one I’ve found is to get the papers or file onto my desk.  At this point, I’m not even thinking about completing the task.  I’m just going to look through the papers.  Then I write down the first step that needs to be taken – making a phone call, research some information – I just write down that first step. 

By this point I’m ready to actually take that first step so I go ahead and do it.  Feeling really pleased with myself, I have a look at what the next step needs to be and write that down.   I may do it there and then, or I may schedule it for another time.  But I’m no longer putting it off, I’ve beaten the stalemate of procrastination!

What do you do?

7 Avoidance Tactics to Avoid

One of the problems with avoidance tactics is that they can be hard to recognise in ourselves – and we’ve probably been using them for years!

Let’s see if you can identify with any of the following Top Seven Avoidance Tactics used by business owners and managers.

1.    It’s got to be perfect – this tactic affects so many of us.  It often stops us from starting a project or activity and gets in the way of goal achievement.  Most tasks don’t have to be perfect, they just need to be good enough.  Give yourself permission to be human!

2.    Nobody else can do it – this is when you believe that only you can do a job because no-one else can match your standards or do it the way you want it done.  You really are setting yourself up to avoid the important business building that truly can only be done by you.  Let go of routine tasks by delegating or outsourcing.

3.    Last time I tried that, it didn’t work – so you don’t do it again.  I’ll agree that it’s a good idea to stop doing what doesn’t work but only after checking if it might have been your approach that didn’t work, not the activity itself.

4.    Not being accountable – when you conveniently ‘forget’ to do something you know you need to do but would rather not.  If it is an important activity, write it down so you will remember it.  Even better, ask someone to hold you accountable for doing it.  Remember, no excuses!

5.    Failing to plan – and allowing all the ‘busy’ work to fill your day.  Anything that is important to your business success needs to be planned into your diary so that it gets done before the less important stuff.  Do you recall the old saying ‘fail to plan, plan to fail’?

6.    Not setting a deadline – means you can put things off if you don’t feel like doing them.  This is often why ‘to-do’ lists don’t work.  Every time you write down a task you need to do, give it a realistic deadline and be accountable for meeting it.

7.    Easily distracted – by interruptions like the ‘phone, incoming emails, other people, or new ideas.  Using this avoidance tactic will mean you have lots of unfinished jobs on your ‘to-do’ list and feel you are overwhelmed.  Stay focused on the important task you are currently working on and only allow yourself to be diverted by real emergencies.

If you can hold your hand up to using any of these avoidance tactics – Congratulations! 

You now have a better understanding of how you might be holding your business back.  Whenever you notice yourself using any of these tactics in future, you can choose whether to carry on with it or switch to an activity that will move your business forward and generate more sales.

How Much Are Avoidance Tactics Costing Your Business?

As a business owner or manager, I’ll bet you’re really busy all the time and that there never seem to be enough hours in the day.

Some of your everyday activities are habits, like brushing your teeth;  taking a shower; and filling the car with petrol.  You wouldn’t dream of not doing them.

In your business, you have habitual activities too, such as opening the post; reading emails and checking your diary.  You do these without thinking.

But what about those activities you need to do to bring in more business?  Like prospecting for new clients; following up with existing contacts; planning and goal setting for growth.

“I’m just too busy” or “I can’t find the time” are common excuses – oh yes, they are excuses, not reasons for not doing what you need to.

If you have ever spent your day doing tasks like responding to emails, helping other people, working on making your marketing materials absolutely ‘perfect’; doing paperwork or tidying your office – these are comfort activities that will keep you stuck just maintaining your business.  By filling your days with these tasks, you are avoiding doing the less comfortable activities that will really move your business forward and generate more sales.

Your ‘busy’ work will create the illusion that you’re working hard, simply because you feel busy.  Your avoidance tactics will enable you to do everything but the activities that would dramatically accelerate your business success.

Do you get to the end of the day and say to yourself “It’s OK, I was really busy today, I’ll do that tomorrow.” Or “I just couldn’t find the time today to make those follow-up calls.”?

You know what, if you’re waiting to find time, it will never happen!  You will always find other avoidance tactics to fill your available time.

Your business building activities need to become habitual – they are not negotiable if your business is to thrive and profits are to increase. 

What avoidance tactics are you using?  Once you can uncover them and the reasons why you are using them, you can decide if they are really the best use of your time.

Ready, Fire, Aim!

When I first heard this expression a few years ago, the perfectionist in me said “No way!  I need to be totally prepared and have everything in place before launching a new product or service.  Otherwise it might not be perfect and that would be terrible!”

Unfortunately there were some serious flaws with that way of thinking, and here’s what I found out:

No matter how hard you try, it will never be 100% perfect.  You can expect at least one person to take great pleasure in pointing out any typos or mistakes to you.  All you’ll get by aiming for perfection is stress.  Learn to let it go when it’s good enough is the advice from Dan Kennedy.

By delaying your launch until it’s completed to your satisfaction, you run the risk of someone else beating you to it!  Although their product may not be exactly the same, your sense of disappointment when you see this happen will spoil the excitement and mean you won’t get the impact (and sales) you were hoping for.

If you take too long to finish a product or service, you’ll probably be bored with it before you even start selling it!  That’s because, in your mind, you’re already getting excited about your next idea.  I find that setting a tight deadline for launching helps to keep me focused on one job at a time and gets the product finished!

Procrastination (again!)

Sorry to return to this subject again, but it does keep cropping up (probably because I’ve been putting it off!). 

In these uncertain times, it can be difficult to know what to do for best.  Do you spend money on that bit of marketing you want to do, or should you put the cash away for a rainy day?  In the meantime you do nothing.

Should you drop your prices – in the hope that someone will buy, or be brave and raise them – because you’re worth it?  While you’re thinking about it, you do nothing.

The business owners who are going to thrive in this (or any) economic climate are those who DON’T procrastinate!  They have their plan of action and are following it.  They’re being brave and continuing to invest in their business. 

What should you be taking action on in this economic climate?

• You need to know what part of your marketing have worked before – and do it again.
• Get out your past client list and contact them.  Perhaps you’re doing something new that they don’t know about.
• Can you repackage your offering in some way?  How about adding value or some bonuses?
• Are you making the most of your website?  Do you have a blog?

You see, there’s no reason to be procrastinating!  Let me know when you’ve taken these actions won’t you?

The Entrepreneur's Lament

This is a bit of a double-edged sword.  While it’s great to have the sort of mind that keeps coming up with new ideas, that same entrepreneurial trait can also mean leaving a trail of unfinished projects.

The excitement of a new idea can carry you off track and away from what you need to be doing to actually make money!  And you probably find that by the time you’re ready to make that new idea a reality – you’re bored with it, because in your mind you’ve already finished it – and you want to move on to the next exciting thought!

If this scenario is ringing bells for you, then it’s time to unpack all the focus tools in your toolbox and do whatever it takes to complete your brilliant ideas.

Prioritising should be easy – whatever is going to make you money fastest needs to be number 1 on your list!

Planning out each idea from inception to completion will help keep you on track and stop you from feeling overwhelmed.

Taking the first step is vital.  If you wait until you’ve worked out all the fine details, it will be too late!  Too late because someone else may beat you to it if you wait too long, and too late because your enthusiasm will have gone off the boil.

Today’s tip – allocate 1 hour each day just to work on just one of your brilliant ideas.  You’ll soon get through that list of unfinished projects!