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by Leigh Ashton
How To Kick The Procrastination Habit: It’s certainly not as dramatic as some of the other problems you can have in your business … but procrastination can really sabotage your work if you let it. If you find that your to-do list never seems to budge, try these tips:
Understand where it’s coming from
A lot of people think that procrastination is just another word for laziness, but this isn’t really true. It happens for all kinds of reasons, from perfectionism to anxiety to analysis paralysis to unconscious thoughts that leave you sabotaging yourself without even realising what’s happening. So if there’s something that you keep putting off, ask yourself, “Where is this really coming from?” When you know what’s underlying the problem, then you can fix it and kick the procrastination habit.
Fix any negative associations
Having negative associations with actions is one of the subtlest, but most common reasons for procrastination. For instance, if you have a negative association with making sales calls, then guess what? When it comes time to make a sales call, you’re suddenly going to find loads of other things that you “need” to do before you make the call.
The good news is, you can absolutely change your associations, even the really entrenched ones. You just need to create a new association with the action. Let’s take the example of putting off your sales calls. Maybe you’ve been rejected on sales calls before, so you’ve formed the association that making sales calls equals rejection. And then, working on that assumption, you’ve been timid and anxious on other sales calls, which has led to more rejection … which just reinforces the belief that making sales calls leads to rejection. See how it works?
But what would happen if you thought about it a different way? Maybe instead of sales calls leading to rejection, they could be opportunities to help people. If you think about it like that, suddenly the calls become much more appealing, don’t they? So think about what positive associations you can make with the things you’ve been putting off, and use them to break the cycle of negativity. (More on this in Sasudi’s Learning Zone)
Do something … anything!
Finally, choose one thing and just do it! A lot of times we get stuck in the stasis of procrastination, but doing just one thing — even if it’s the smallest possible thing on your to-do list — can totally shake up your energy. It’s actually better to start with something small, because then you can rack up a win pretty easily, which will give you more energy to do the next thing, and so on and so on. You’ll end up building momentum without even realising it!
OK, time to come clean. What’s one thing that you’ve been procrastinating on … and what are you going to do about it? Tell us in the comments below so we can cheer you on!
Until next time,
Leigh
About the author
Hi I’m Leigh Ashton of The Sales Consultancy
Whether you’re a small business or a leading brand, an area manager or a Chief Executive, whether you’re new to sales or an experienced sales professional. Even if you’re not in sales at all but want to understand it, you’ve come to the right place.
The World of Sales is changing.
Today’s conventional sales training doesn’t address the psychological barriers that get in their way.
My approach takes your sales team through a process that:
* Helps them identify their psychological barriers and gives them the tools to overcome them * Teaches them how the mind works so they can keep motivated and stay focused * Gives them the ability to identify the psychological patterns of their clients and prospects so they connect with them at a deeper level and close more sales
And at a higher level…
* It creates more success in other areas of their lives so they are happier generally…and happier sales people generate more sales
Wherever you are on your personal sales journey what’s the best course of action for YOU.
– Sales Training – that actually gets results – Leadership and Management – Personal Coaching and Mentoring – Sales Mentoring Programme – NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) and how it can help you accelerate your success – Keynote Speaking