Don"t Let Your Procrastination Problem Interfere with Your MLM Business
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary the definition of the word procrastinate is "to put off intentionally the doing of something that should be done." The synonym procrastinate is "delay." We can all probably think of a lot more words that resonate with procrastinate, like denial, distraction, and avoidance. Or here's another list that might work: sleeping, eating, watching TV, chatting on the phone with friends, listening to the mp3 players, and taking out the trash. If any of the items on these lists distract you from doing tasks that will make you profitable in your MLM business, then it's quite possible that you have a procrastination problem.
But rest assured that you are not alone in having a procrastination problem. According to University of Calgary professor Piers Steel, more people than ever feel they chronically procrastinate. His study, published by the American Psychological Association, showed that in 1978 only about five percent of Americans felt they were "chronic procrastinators." Now that figure has risen to 26% (and that's only the people willing to admit that they have a problem!). The question then becomes, "Why do you have a procrastination problem?" Here's a short list of reasons why you might be avoiding tasks you should be doing in your MLM business. You:
- are overwhelmed
- don't know what to do
- feel someone else should do it
- feel the task is unnecessary even if required
- are already too behind on many other tasks
- would rather be doing something else
- don't like doing the task
- can't do the task perfectly so you don't do it at all
And to this list you can, of course, add the fact that you didn't have a happy childhood (or substitute your own personal favorite excuse). But what can you do if you have a procrastination problem but you want to succeed in your MLM business? The answer is simple. Get a buddy who has a procrastination problem, too, and break your day into little bite-sized chunks. Look at your horrible list of tasks for your MLM business, which you've been avoiding like the plague, and pick a couple of tasks that can be done in one hour. Call your buddy and tell him, "Hey, I'm going to be doing two things in the next hour: responding to prospect queries and making my scheduled cold calls. What will you work on?" Once you and your buddy have a plan for the hour, synchronize your watches and get going.
Your goal is to complete your chosen tasks in an hour. If you finish early, then you get to take a break. At the end of the hour, call your buddy and compare notes. If you finished your tasks then pick two more for the following hour. If you didn't finish your tasks, break your list down into smaller chunks and choose two smaller tasks for the coming hour, such as responding to just three prospect queries instead of all of them. Keep picking and completing items on your to-do list in this way for several hours. If you don't have a whole hour to spend, then choose smaller tasks and work for shorter periods of time. You will be amazed at how this little technique can dissolve your procrastination problem in short order.
This approach of "chunking down" your MLM to-do list and working with a buddy helps you get beyond your procrastination problem several ways. First of all, working with a buddy makes the occasion seem social and fun rather than tedious and boring. Second, by not looking at your whole list all the time, you avoid feeling overwhelmed. Third, by finishing two tasks every hour you have a wonderful sense of completion, which definitely trumps the lousy guilt that comes from procrastination. Finally, with this method you can't fall back on the excuse that you don't know what you do. You just pick two tasks and do them. It's not rocket science and you may not always pick the two best tasks, but it sure beats sitting on your rear and procrastinating until the sun sets! Following the adage that "something is better than nothing," this method means that you will have accomplished at least something productive in your MLM business by the end of the day.
But rest assured that you are not alone in having a procrastination problem. According to University of Calgary professor Piers Steel, more people than ever feel they chronically procrastinate. His study, published by the American Psychological Association, showed that in 1978 only about five percent of Americans felt they were "chronic procrastinators." Now that figure has risen to 26% (and that's only the people willing to admit that they have a problem!). The question then becomes, "Why do you have a procrastination problem?" Here's a short list of reasons why you might be avoiding tasks you should be doing in your MLM business. You:
- are overwhelmed
- don't know what to do
- feel someone else should do it
- feel the task is unnecessary even if required
- are already too behind on many other tasks
- would rather be doing something else
- don't like doing the task
- can't do the task perfectly so you don't do it at all
And to this list you can, of course, add the fact that you didn't have a happy childhood (or substitute your own personal favorite excuse). But what can you do if you have a procrastination problem but you want to succeed in your MLM business? The answer is simple. Get a buddy who has a procrastination problem, too, and break your day into little bite-sized chunks. Look at your horrible list of tasks for your MLM business, which you've been avoiding like the plague, and pick a couple of tasks that can be done in one hour. Call your buddy and tell him, "Hey, I'm going to be doing two things in the next hour: responding to prospect queries and making my scheduled cold calls. What will you work on?" Once you and your buddy have a plan for the hour, synchronize your watches and get going.
Your goal is to complete your chosen tasks in an hour. If you finish early, then you get to take a break. At the end of the hour, call your buddy and compare notes. If you finished your tasks then pick two more for the following hour. If you didn't finish your tasks, break your list down into smaller chunks and choose two smaller tasks for the coming hour, such as responding to just three prospect queries instead of all of them. Keep picking and completing items on your to-do list in this way for several hours. If you don't have a whole hour to spend, then choose smaller tasks and work for shorter periods of time. You will be amazed at how this little technique can dissolve your procrastination problem in short order.
This approach of "chunking down" your MLM to-do list and working with a buddy helps you get beyond your procrastination problem several ways. First of all, working with a buddy makes the occasion seem social and fun rather than tedious and boring. Second, by not looking at your whole list all the time, you avoid feeling overwhelmed. Third, by finishing two tasks every hour you have a wonderful sense of completion, which definitely trumps the lousy guilt that comes from procrastination. Finally, with this method you can't fall back on the excuse that you don't know what you do. You just pick two tasks and do them. It's not rocket science and you may not always pick the two best tasks, but it sure beats sitting on your rear and procrastinating until the sun sets! Following the adage that "something is better than nothing," this method means that you will have accomplished at least something productive in your MLM business by the end of the day.
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