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FOUR HOUR ENTREPRENEUR #6
April 28, 2009
Inside this issue:
How To Overcome Procrastination,
Part 1
Plus:
Your First Online Sale?
FREE Download – “The 6-Figure List”
Tully Traffic Tip #193
Follow me on Twitter:
http://TwitterKyle.com
“Anyone can do any amount of work,
provided it isn’t the work he is supposed
to be doing at that moment.”
- Robert Benchley
First up I want to say I’m a terrible procrastinator.
(You know you’re in trouble when you’re procrastinating on
writing an article about overcoming procrastination!)
Without the tactics I’m about to reveal to you my work hours
are quickly consumed with reading books, browsing forums,
playing Mario Kart, and watching the NHL.
Which is all good fun, but it sure doesn’t bring in any money.
Fact is, procrastination effects all of us.
Some people more than others.
Some days worse than others.
But no one is 100% focused on their most high-value activities
100% of the time. It’s impossible.
And frankly I’m not entirely sure you can completely eliminate
procrastination.
I know I haven’t.
But the good news is procrastination is largely habitual — you
either have good habits or bad habits which CAN be changed.
And by using a combination of big picture ideas and practical
day-to-day processes I have learned to dramatically reduce my
procrastination habits and become rather productive despite
myself.
This week I’m going to talk about the big picture stuff, because
if you don’t get it right then nothing else matters, and next
week I’ll share my practical day-to-day tips.
HOW TO OVERCOME PROCRASTINATION – THE BIG PICTURE
1. HAVE A CLEAR VISION
What’s the “big idea” that drives your business?
Why do you get up in the morning?
What are you going to achieve?
The clearer your vision of what you are doing and why you are
doing it, the easier you’ll find it to stay focused for extended
periods of time.
(The overriding vision for my business is to help entrepreneurs
and small business owners realize their full potential, make more
money in less time, and live the “Internet lifestyle”. THAT gets
me excited!)
If you’re just chasing some vague dream of “making money” then
it’s easy to put a task off for an hour… then a day…
before you know it weeks have passed and you still haven’t
gotten any real work done.
Why? Because if you’re not excited about what you do and where
you’re heading then you can easily rationalize an excuse to
put tasks off until tomorrow… and tomorrow never comes.
In my Consulting Tycoon coaching program one of the first things
I get people to do is complete a 1-page business plan. And the
first step in the plan is to create the vision for your business.
Who will you serve? What will you offer? Why do you exist?
(This simple exercise is powerful — one student credits it as
one of the key drivers in him making $45,000 in the first 3
months of this year… right in the middle of the recession.)
Right now, create a vision for your own business that inspires
you. It will be one of the most valuable exercises you ever do.
2. BUILD YOUR CONFIDENCE
Do you know what you’re doing?
What if you mess up and get it wrong?
How confident are you?
According to Wikipedia, “procrastination is a mechanism for
coping with the anxiety associated with starting or completing
any task or decision.”
This anxiety has many sources, but from my experience a lack
of confidence is one of the main ones — you rarely feel
anxious about something you’re confident with, do you?
And considering how big the learning curve is in IM there is
ALWAYS something we’re not confident with.
It could be a new skill you’ve just learned, not knowing if
you’re “doing it right”, or just the thought of putting your
stuff “out there” and facing the possibility of criticism.
Whatever it is, if you don’t build your confidence and learn
to manage this anxiety you will always resort to procrastination
instead of getting productive work done.
The tricky part is you have to build your confidence in things
you don’t have experience with… your confidence must come
from a place deep inside you, not just from experience.
(If you relied solely on gaining confidence from experience
it would take a lifetime to become confident in everything
there is to learn about Internet marketing.)
If you think your confidence levels may be causing you to
procrastinate then I highly recommend Kent Sayre’s book
“Unstoppable Confidence”.
3. FOCUS ON YOUR CORE STRENGTHS
What are the highest value activities you do in your business
that you enjoy doing?
It could be seeking out joint ventures… creating top-notch
websites and autoresponders… getting first-page search engine
rankings for your clients… striking up conversations (and
deals) with business owners… writing copy… or just about
anything else.
(Mine are strategic planning, copywriting, curriculum design,
and presentation delivery.)
Whatever yours are, focus at least 80% of your time on them!
Not only will this help you avoid procrastinating (you don’t
put off tasks you actually enjoy doing) but it’s a much more
valuable use of your time.
e.g. I think it’s crazy that people will agonize for weeks
trying to learn graphic design, just to create a simple header
graphic for their website, when you can outsource that task
for less than $100 and focus on high value activities (such as
creating joint ventures) that actually make you money.
Besides, this is your business and it should be fun! There’s not
enough time in the world to be wasting it on activities you
don’t enjoy.
Work on implementing these three ideas into your business and
you should start to notice procrastination becoming less of an
issue for you.
Next week I’ll share with you some of the practical things I do
every single day to make me about as productive as I think I can
be.
Got a question or want to add something? Hit me up with a comment:
About The Author
Kyle Tully is an Internet Marketing Consultant, direct response copywriter and information marketer from Sydney, Australia. He helps entrepreneurs and small business owners get more new customers, increase cash flow and make more money using his proven marketing systems.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi Kyle,
Thanks so much for the info. I have manged to procrastinate my keyword research by reading this post. I think it is a fear of the unknown or an anxiety of not getting it right the first time. I should know better – there is no such thing as failure only feedback.
As an aside, my teenage daughter procrastinates her homework by coming and chatting to me. This is both good and bad. She should be doing her homework but as you know sometimes communication with teenagers leaves a lot to be desired so i want to take whatever I can get. This is a true dilemma!
Hi Anne
Thanks for stopping by
I procrastinate every single day. I don’t think it’s necessarily bad, and as you’ve shown there are good sides to it, just as long as you can be productive despite it.
Working from home there are so many distractions and excuses to procrastinate (and no boss to keep you in line) that I’ve found sometimes it’s best just to give in and procrastinate… then come back a short while later with better focus.
Stay tuned for next week’s issue ’cause the day-to-day strategies should be really helpful.
Cheers
Kyle
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