Less Procrastinating, More Focused Work
“Chalk it up as another unproductive day.” No point in dwelling on it though, right? “Tomorrow will be better!”
Find yourself having this conversation in your head quite frequently?
When you think of “procrastination,” you probably think of it as deliberately putting off a task or activity that we don’t want to do. I procrastinate when it comes to posting and engaging on social media – it drains my energy fast. So, I will keep myself busy with other work that “needs done.” Putting off social media leads to inconsistency, which then leads to a lack of results.
There is more to procrastination than just putting off certain tasks we don’t like – sometimes we procrastinate on our entire business!
What I mean is we stick with the normal – doing the same activities and the same work every day. We are not challenging ourselves, but rather stick with what we are comfortable with. When was the last time you did something different or extremely proactive in your business?
It doesn’t matter if the economy is good, bad or if we are in the middle of a pandemic. The businesses that I see having great success are the ones who make it a point to stay proactive instead of making each week “routine.” Here are a couple of suggestions to help you stop procrastinating your days away.
Plan time to work on proactive activities in your business.
If you’ve never planned out your days, I encourage you to give it a try. It doesn’t have to be minute-by-minute, but roughly blocking out which activities you are going to do during specific times dramatically increases efficiency and most importantly, your ability to focus. On your calendar, block out an hour or two at a time and list the activities you are going to complete or work on during that time.
An hour or two of focused work can be equivalent to six hours of unfocused work. This will dramatically begin to shift how much “extra” time you have – time that you can be using to do proactive activities in your business. Make it a point to utilize your extra time to do proactive activities – and plan them out on your calendar!
Get the hard things done first.
It’s often lack of excitement and energy that keeps us from consistently being proactive in our business. We get caught up in our problems and the daily grind, and anything that’s not ‘critical’ gets pushed to the side. One way to keep your energy and enthusiasm levels high throughout the day is by tackling your most difficult tasks (or the ones you dread) first thing each morning. If you knock them out quick, you will conserve your energy and also be able to focus better – and focused work is worth 3 to 5 times more.
Keep a list of ideas.
Creative brainstorming can revolutionize your business. When you have time to be proactive in your business, you don’t want to waste it trying to decide what your next step should be. I encourage all of my clients to practice creative brainstorming – taking 30 minutes to write down ideas to solve a specific problem you are having or to help you reach a goal you have. To help you with this, you can download my “Twenty Ideas” worksheet.
Get into the habit of creative brainstorming at least once a week – while you are having your morning coffee is always a good time. Anytime a good idea comes to mind, write it down immediately. Save these ideas as a list of proactive activities you can work on when you have time in your business.
Written by Andrew Heim of Andrew Heim, LLC