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Are You A Procrastinator?

Are You A Procrastinator?

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.

20 Responses to Are You A Procrastinator?

  • As for me, procrastination was a very hard problem to break, I felt like I was constantly putting out fires and at times feeling overwhelmed. I started with writing down everything I needed to accomplish that day, as phone calls came in, new things were added making the list longer, but thru the day I got done as much as possible. What was left undone from that day went to the top of the list for the next day. Now I’m known as the “go to guy”, the guy who’s focused, the guy who’ll get it done, when the truth is I’m the same guy, I just Have the details better organized, which gives me a feeling of accomplishment and that alone makes me want to get things done now rather than later

  • Scott, you just proved the old theory, if you want to get something done, give it to the busiest person you know. I really don’t understand people that don’t work by a list or a calendar. You absolutely nailed it! Thank you for sharing in our conversation. Much continued success

  • Scott, what you say is so true. The bottom line is that most of our days are so busy that we can’t possibly get everything done. The key is to keep all the important things on the radar. Lists, calendars, and schedules are critical. It must evolve, however, into prioritization, and better yet, delegation and empowerment to develop others professionally and to release ourselves for higher end activities, all of which will increase effectiveness exponentially.

  • We all are procrastinators sometimes. In my opinion, the main reason is that people aren’t challenged to start their day with the most important and essential task and concentrate on it until it’s done. It’s much more easier to “do it later”(which actually means not to do it at all) or delegate to someone else (not in the meaning of their professional development). I think the answer to the question “to procrastinate or not to procrastinate” lays in personal traits of people. If one is willing to succeed and manage his time and life, he will indeed find ways to do it. I agree that lists and calendars are therefore essential, but if a person doesn’t want anything to change and challenge himself or isn’t willing to risk the unusual., even the best lists and calendars won’t help him. He will have to remain it his comfort zone and settle for the ordinary. As it is said, if you want to remain at the same place nowadays, you have to run, if you want to move forward-you’ll have to run as fast as you can.

  • Thank you David and Srbuhi for sharing. Srbuhi, you are absolutely correct with your comments about people and their attitudes. The lists and calendars are simply tools, if the person doesn’t heed to their own tools, not much will help them. Ultimately they and their business will fail. I like your comment on running, if you are moving forward or you are moving backwards. In today’s world it is impossible to stay in the same place if they are in neutral.

  • My doctor prescribed me a pill to take care of my procrastination about a month ago, I’ve heard others say its been a great help for friends of theirs…

  • What? A procrastination pill? Are you serious? Did you ever get around to taking it? 🙂

  • Umm . . . I’ll tell you tomorrow.

  • “Stop procrastinating today. Remember you have the same 24 hours in a day that Bill Gates and Warren Buffet have.”

  • In my offices some people have turned procrastination into an art form! I’ve been meaning to speak with them about it, but I put the confrontation off!

  • To quote: 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.

    Truer than you know, I am scheduling what I want to accomplish in the morning in writing and have started to use a timer to try to keep myself from Procrastinating!

    Great info as usual!

  • “Killing time is not murder, it is suicide” – Elmer Leterman

  • My favorite expression Duke. Thank you for sharing it!

  • Tim, Thank you for all your articles. They are so informative and helpful. You are truly a very knowledgeable person in this industry and I value your insight. Thank you for your hard work here.

  • Thank you Tim so much for all your time spent on these articles. They are so informing and excellent information.

  • Thank you for your kind words Kathy. Always glad to help!

  • Funny thing is Tim-I read the titlte got a call from a lead I had worked and had to read the article the nest day. 🙂

  • I recently found a great book by Steven Pressfield called “The War of Art”. Fast read and he seems to give a personality to ‘Resistence’. He writes on how to take control and not let resistence or procrastination get the upper hand. It was a real eye-opener for me and definitely a book I’ll read again.

  • Andy, thank you so much for sharing. I will have to find that book.

  • Wowwwwwww Tim…….u shot me in the eyes……,,,

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