I wanted to blog about being a procrastinator. If you are like most people, you’ll just read this later. I believe one of the biggest enemies of a small business owner or salesperson is procrastination. It is so easy to become distracted during our day, that it becomes difficult to do the things we must get done. That is why procrastination is so easy in today’s world. The phone is not enough of a distraction, but now text messages, emails, social media updates, where will it all end?

The first thing I want to talk about is… excuse me got to take this call…

Eight minutes pass…

Sorry but that was a client I needed to set up a meeting with.  Where was I? Oh yeah, the first, I’m so sorry this is an email that I was waiting on and I have to reply..

Five minutes pass…

Back to being a procrastinator. Sometimes it’s not procrastinating from being lazy but… sorry my wife just texted me something, I have to respond right back.

Two minutes pass…

Sorry, where were we, oh yeah, it is the distractions that can make it so tough to get a task completed.

How I am going to overcome being a procrastinator? The first thing is obvious, it’s to… sorry I just got an alert from LinkedIn on an executive I have been trying to connect with for two weeks, I got to take this.

Ten minutes pass…

Where were we? Oh yeah, make a list and prioritize it. I like to write small simple tasks first and then the longer harder tasks as last. This allows me to see progress in marking off my… dang it; I have to take this call.

Nine minutes pass…

Sorry, that was underwriting on one of my cases I’m trying to get issued. Now, oh yeah, list.

The other useful activity I found to work really well is to… hang on this my response to that email, just a minute.

Another five minutes pass…

Is to start my day 30 minutes early. I mean come into the office 30 minutes early and work on a task. Do not listen to voicemail or read any emails or text messages. It is…oh my goodness, just a minute I have to take this call from my daughter’s school.

Six minutes pass…

Sorry, if you don’t start your day by messages you can actually start accomplishing your tasks. If you add 30 minutes per day for one year you will add approximately 5 days of uninterrupted time spent only on a… I am so sorry I have to take this one call.

Fifteen minutes pass…

Sorry one of my agents was with a client and needed my help. Yes, that adds 5 days per year of uninterrupted time.

Does this blog sound like your day? I just lost 60 minutes of my train of thought with “important distractions”.  Don’t live by never do today what you can put off until tomorrow. Stop procrastinating today. Remember you have the same 24 hours in a day that Bill Gates and Warren Buffet have. Make time behave for you.

“Procrastinate now, don’t put it off.”  ―    Ellen DeGeneres

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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Tim Wilhoit is owner/principal of Your Friend 4 Life Insurance Agency in Nashville, TN. He is a family man, father of 3, entrepreneur, insurance agent, life insurance broker, salesman, sales trainer, recruiter, public speaker, blogger and team leader with over 25 years of experience in sales and marketing in the insurance and beverage industries.