Archive for the ‘Procrastination’ Category

Seinfeld and a FrenchTutor

girl_thinkingIn the age of social media, it becomes easier every day to find ways to procrastinate.  In an effort to somehow justify perusing the variety of forwarded emails, articles, YouTube clips, questionnaires, surveys, games, links, invitations…..I contemplate what message, learning or opportunity could be buried in the content, and how I might apply it to my business. Often, I come up short, scolding myself for deviating from the “block schedule”, a fail safe tool which is supposed to insure an efficient and productive blend of marketing, sales, meetings, administration, planning, preparing, delivering and following up. Oh, and a personal life.
Having been recently reacqainted with my high school french tutor, procrastination resources were enhanced yetFrench teacher again. In one such case, what appeared to be cause for scolding, turned out to be a terrific reminder that a “time-out” is not always a punishment. Pause for reflection, a quick chuckle, change of scenery, is often inspiring, invogorating and just plain fun. Funny how teachers know these things. Maybe recess had a purpose!!
The culpret of the assumed procrastination was a YouTube clip from a skit Jerry Seinfeld performed on Saturday Night Live back in the 90′s. In it, he played a history teacher in front of a high school class. I confess, I watched it more than once because it was hysterical. As usual, I struggled to determine the hidden message, which if conveyed to a business owner, could potentially provide insight that might catapult him or her to success never imagined. Nothing. I rattled off a quick note to my tutor, thanked her for the diversion and mentioned I would eventually figure out what to do with it.
A day or so later, her response read “You don’t need to do anything with it. Just enjoy it and remember you were once a student!” Wow, what a concept.
Power of Full Engagement BookWe struggle daily-attempting to maximize our productivity, do more with less, master a variety of roles, meet deadlines, obtain goals….meet everyone’s expectations. Sometimes a good old “time-out” works wonders. In their book, “The Power of Full Engagement”, Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz address the concept of “sprint and recover”, emphasizing that to fully engage, we must allow ourselves frequent, intermittant recovery time to recover from the “sprint” we engage in daily. A few minutes to break the cycle, chuckle at a ridiculously funny re-enactment of high school history and not do anything with it,  is OK. In fact, here it is.

ENJOY a “time-out” to recover so you can fully engage in whatever it is your schedule is telling you to focus onJerry Seinfeld history teacher next.

                                     click here for the Jerry Seinfeld SNL clip:

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Posted in Basics, Habits, Procrastination, Productivity | 1 Comment »

Perform at your best…no matter what!

Margaret MaclayBack in August I was all excited about writing a blog. I jumped right in and entered my first post!!!

Then I got distracted, things got “busy”, procrastination set in and suddenly hesitant about whether anyone would actually read or care about what I had to say, the posts ceased as rapidly as they had begun.

When posting my March workshops I realized that more than 195 days had passed since my first/last/only blog entry. My, how time flies! But isn’t this indicative of what happens to us in business and life every day? They say “time flies when you’re having fun”…but it flies whether or not you’re having fun. Months just seem to glide by.

I was reading something a more diligent author posted-don’t recall the source, so sorry to whomever I quoted in the title of this post-and was struck by the words “Perform at your best…no matter what”.  No matter what? Despite intentions to do our best, we all have overly full schedules, reasons for why things didn’t get done… much better than blaming the dog for eating it and distractions, good, bad or otherwise.

Most recently, The Olympics were the distraction. The snow was a distraction. The Yahoo blog post about winners and losers at the Olympics was a distraction. After all, despite 17 days of viewing, on 3 channels, with recaps at least twice an hour, something important could have been missed!! It was…the lesson we can be reminded of by some of these amazing athlete’s who truly do perform at their best no matter what. Time to take action!

Part of performing at your best no matter what as a business owner, is to take action every day. Take action that might not always be fun, but is important to moving your business forward. This is what distinguishes the winners.

Indeed time is flying. Today is March 1st. The first quarter of 2010 is almost over. Yikes! What a great time to make a commitment to “perform at your best no matter what”  and achieve everything you planned for 2010.  Even if it’s not always that fun. The results are bound to be fun and satisfying.

 So, my initial blogpost stated that I was going to share the 18 Disciplines of Selling put forth by our top FocalPoint Coach, Dan Creed, 2 time recipient of the Brian Tracy Award for Sales Excellence. The first 5 can be found in my post “Success Is Not An Accident!”. Here are the next 5,  which are sure to impact your business success if you give them your best shot no matter what:

6. Set written, clear, concise, smart GOALS. Commit 2 minutes a day to think about and write them down.

7. Have a daily, prioritized PLAN. Must have this little discipline. If you prepare it at night, your superconscious mind will go to work on it. Be focused and insure that what you are doing “right now” is the one thing that will move your business forward.

8. Have a clear idea of who your TARGET CUSTOMER is. Work hard to narrow it down so your prospecting time is effective. Be aware of opportunities right in front of you.

9. Selling is about RELATIONSHIPS and effective communication. Identify who you are speaking with and what their needs are. People buy from those who understand them, not those they understand. Leverage tools out there, like D.I.S.C., to sharpen your listening and communication skills.

10. Clearly understand your USP (unique selling proposition). What sets you and your business apart from others? Know and be able to articulate it. The time spent figuring this out is worth every minute (or hour!!)

The next 5 will be coming soon. No waiting another 195+ days.

What’s getting in the way of you performing at your best, no matter what?

Posted in Business performance, Goal Achievement, Procrastination, Productivity, Sales | 1 Comment »