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[Neil Johnson Contribution Level: 2]

Please to all the professionals on this forum.. I would like to hear how you manage your time.

Time management has always interested me. It's amazing to me breaking business down quantitatively with time. Sales numbers, marketing plans, financial statements and reports, Customer Management, Follow ups, etc... it seems to all rely on the same sort of method. It's like creating a machine with time, and space. Definitly a trip. I must admit that I am not good at a lot of the below list... but I wrote it all out just to reinforce it into my head.

Anyways.. I have no point with the above paragraph... I just find the whole thing very cool...

Anyways here is my list of ways to avoid procrastination.. and if anyone else can add to it.. It will be highly valued...

1. Finish the project now: I have been working on getting my projects done as soon as I can do them.. reasonably within my schedule of time... instead of finishing 90% and then putting off the finish work.. it's been a bad habit of mine.

2. Make The Unpleasant Phone Call First: This is another bad habit of mine... I try to avoid confrontation as often as I can.. and I end up putting it off, untill I totally ruin a relationship, project, or etc.. Although, there are a few exceptions to this rule... early in the day start off with something warm and fuzzy to get the positive attitude warmed up and strong for adversity. Another exception... when you are in a meeting.. don't do the dreaded thing first, start off friendly, and positive... and then tackle the tough issue.

3. Avoid Time Waisting Activities: Don't be a slave to your inbox, just because something is there, doesn't mean it has to be checked right away.. assess your priorities.

4. Don't Finish Every Book That You Start: Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested: that is, some books are to be read only in parts, others to be read, but not curiously, and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention. -Francis Bacon

5. Become Decisive: Knowing how to decide if, how, and when to cut losses or leave well enough alone are all a part of the larger process of knowing how to make decisions. Not being able to make decisions can be a huge time-waster. Some people go into a tailspin whenever they are confronted with a choice.

6. Master The Art of Interrupting: Your parents told you not to interrupt. But they gave you bad advice. You may never be heard if you wait for some nonstop talkers to invite you to make a comment. These types of individuals pose a problem. A certain amount of assertive behavior is required or they will run over you.

7. A. B. C. Your Priorities: A tasks need to be done first, B tasks are important but can wait, and C tasks are long term tasks... Work with a calender, or a daily planner in order to get your A tasks done first in the day... and if you have time work up to the B and C... and then the next day.. the B and C tasks will usually turn into A and B tasks... but get creative I am sure you can get all the way up to M tasks if you are a small business owner.. it just gets a little complicated at that point... Have A B C tasks for hours, days, weeks, months, and years... and you will go far my friend.

8. Train Yourself to Plan Your Days: Either at breakfast or after Dinner... plan your day out, to the point so that you know the objectives and you can work your way through them with little thought. Plan by the hour, day, week, month, year, decade. All your objectives should be working towards you big dreams and goals within your business. It sounds overwhelming.. but start with the decade and work your way down to a 5 year plan, down to a 3 year plan, down to a monthly plan, down to a weekly plan, and then daily.
Of course, be flexible.. because plans always change.. that goes without saying.

9. Learn To Recognize and Avoid Time Thieves: Time vampires are everywhere... hopefully you don't think I'm one by trying to get you to read all of this.. haha..

and so yea.. here is a few books that I took from...

Time Power By Brian Tracy

Execution. The Discipline of Getting Things Done By Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan

Time Tactics of Very Successful People By B. Eugene Griessman


Again please fill out your methods.. It would be highly valued.. especially for small business plans. Thanks!

[Joey McDermott Contribution Level: 2]

Before I tell you this I just want to let you know I get paid nothing for this, or anything from his site. When you start telling others how to be successful, you get close into promoting something, and people think you are making something off of it. I do this because truly want to see people free, and to enjoy life here on earth.

But if you haven't heard of Tim Sales, Google him, believe me you will be impress by him. I have been in this industry for a long time and have use this tool, to help my business every time. I don't care what kind of company you are in; it works. It's only $9.95. I have spent more putting gas in my car.

Go to this link and read what he has to say and others say about it too. http://www.firstclassmlmtools.com/Pocket-Tracker-Booklet-and-CD-P24C37.aspx

Also I would advise you to learn and master this yourself, and give it to your downline when they join with you. If you learn the strategy, you will see how your people need to improve what they might need training in. I hope this help you take your business to the next level.

Also add me as a friend I would love to answer any questions for you.

God Bless,

Joseph McDermott

[Warren Veach Company: State Continuing Education Contribution Level: 4]

Neil,

We all have to train ourselves daily to avoid the pitfalls you speak of in your post.

Regarding #'s:

7. A. B. C. Your Priorities---I once had a mentor that was fond of saying, "Always be doing the most important thing at any given moment".

8. Train Yourself to Plan Your Days---Whether it be on a yellow legal pad, a day planner or an online calendar/CRM, as you go through your day, notate the things as they come up that you will need to attack the next day.

At the end of each day, take 15 minutes to decide which of those action items are your priorities. By limiting this exercise to 15 minutes, you don't have time to dwell on each item. You make a "gut" decision as their importance and therefore get them slotted on instinct.

Also, take into account what time of the day your day actually starts. If you have a phone call to make to a team member as your top priority for the day, but you start your day at 5AM, then you probably don't want to make that the first thing on your list. Unless, of course, your team member is 3-4 hours ahead of you.

This is why I use a legal pad to make notes throughout the day, then during my planning session for the next day, I prioritize them and place them in my Day Planner.

One side benefit of doing it this way, is that as I go through my prioritized "To-do" list during the day, I usually find myself ahead of schedule and having "free" time during which I can devote time to those things I "want" to do as opposed to those things I "need" to do.

Start your day focused and keep it going!

I love this little story: "Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed...every morning a lion wakes up. It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death. It doesn't matter whether you're a lion or a gazelle...when the sun comes up, you'd better be running."

And lastly:

"Something in human nature causes us to start slacking off at our moment of greatest accomplishment. As you become successful, you will need a great deal of self-discipline not to lose your sense of balance, humility and commitment." — H. Ross Perot

[Neil Johnson Contribution Level: 2]

Hey thanks guys... this is some great feedback...

Dean- An accountability partner would be good... except I have very few incentives to offer at this point.. so I am trying to take some innitiative. But never the less it is a valid point.. somewhere down the line I will outsource a little bit, and make things easier.

Joey- Great vid... I will look into the system more... honestly.. I have been trying to use microsoft access, and google calender... it has been working ok... but I want to really step up my game with some good methods.

Warren- Great post, I also dig the story about the lion and the gazelle... I really needed the simplicity from that.. great inspiration...

Big time thanks!.. I am going to keep some of this stuff in my notes..

-Neil

[tessa jetson Contribution Level: 1]

I find the key to breaking Procrastination is finding the passion in your life, thats when you are unstoppable. I train on the topic of breaking Procrastination I can email you a free e book by Brian Tracy that is brilliant. When you are focused on the end result and you set goals about your dreams and you want that so bad there is nothing that can stop you from getting the result.

What i do every evening is open my diary and write down the most important things that will help me reach my goals (even though i am a mum its not cleaning the sock draws or shopping) and I commit to not doing anything else till i high light everything on that list.
Its such a great feeling and you find everything else is so easy, if you just Eat That Frog (do the hard and important tasks before you do anything else) you feel elated proud of yourself and are on a roll the rest of the day.

Do you know what, even though I have a huge list I fly through it, but when you procrastinate, like do one thing on the list then your fears come up so you tidy your desk polish the phone, JUST make the calls.
I have been there avoiding doing the calls and any productive task as I had fears.

Now I have trained myself to do the task no matter what the out come.

I love when people say NO i say to myself thank you so much for not wasting my time that rocks.
I think I admire them so much and I tell them I appreciate you being honest that is fantastic have a great day and I wish you all the best!!!!
Some people cal me back as I was so happy and hung up so fast as I never Chase!!!!

Have a great day!!!!!

Hope this helps.

[Warren Veach Company: State Continuing Education Contribution Level: 4]

Hey thanks guys... this is some great feedback...

Dean- An accountability partner would be good

You may want to check out this post about Rotating Accountability Partners. Dean and I both signed up.

Here's the link to the post: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=19206#p65044

[Neil Johnson Contribution Level: 2]

I find the key to breaking Procrastination is finding the passion in your life, thats when you are unstoppable. I train on the topic of breaking Procrastination I can email you a free e book by Brian Tracy that is brilliant. When you are focused on the end result and you set goals about your dreams and you want that so bad there is nothing that can stop you from getting the result.

What i do every evening is open my diary and write down the most important things that will help me reach my goals (even though i am a mum its not cleaning the sock draws or shopping) and I commit to not doing anything else till i high light everything on that list.
Its such a great feeling and you find everything else is so easy, if you just Eat That Frog (do the hard and important tasks before you do anything else) you feel elated proud of yourself and are on a roll the rest of the day.

Do you know what, even though I have a huge list I fly through it, but when you procrastinate, like do one thing on the list then your fears come up so you tidy your desk polish the phone, JUST make the calls.
I have been there avoiding doing the calls and any productive task as I had fears.

Now I have trained myself to do the task no matter what the out come.

I love when people say NO i say to myself thank you so much for not wasting my time that rocks.
I think I admire them so much and I tell them I appreciate you being honest that is fantastic have a great day and I wish you all the best!!!!
Some people cal me back as I was so happy and hung up so fast as I never Chase!!!!

Have a great day!!!!!

Hope this helps.

Hey thanks Tessa your positive attitude is infectious... and you have great advice.. the last part about being happy for the prospects being honest with you really hits home...

By the way I don't want to waste your time, but do you have a dog named Astro?
(as if you have never heard that before.) haha..

[Lawrence Bergfeld Contribution Level: 4]

Just put an hour into the activity you do not want to do and focus during that one hour on it whether you want to or not. If you can do it like that with one hour then you can attempt to do it with two hours.

Lawrence Bergfeld

Learn How To Think Critically
Lawrence Bergfeld
lpbergfeld@gmail.com
http://lpb30.successin10steps.com/?mad=40249

[Richard Bravo Company: Life Force International Contribution Level: 9]

.
How to avoid procrastination...

Quit your job and stop paying your bills, your car payment and your mortgage.
You'll have roughly 90 days to build your business and replace your income.
Good luck!..... "que jeopardy music"

Point is, most people have no motivation to succeed. They don't have their backs against the wall.
So it's real easy to make excuses and procrastinate.

Take that comfort level away and you'll see people overcome all sorts of objections, find the money to get started, start making phone calls from the time they wake up till they fall asleep at the desk. They'll become Wordpress wizards overnight and have a fully functional social media based sales funnel, blog and all, up and running before you can cash next month's welfare check.

That kind of urgency and reality changes everything. But most people are too comfortable in their jobs to really do anything other than whine about how much they hate their lame ass jobs.

It's a brutal cycle, and the same reason 95%+ never make it as entrepreneurs.

~rb

[John Smith Contribution Level: 1]

I was happy to see this thread. Time Management is something I'm very passionate about! Probably because it used to be a weakness for me. Now it is a strength. (…but like anything in life there is always room for improvement)

I've spent years studying time management techniques. Purchased dozens of books, attended tons of training. The system that I like the best is David Allen's Getting Things Done methodology.

I've made a few tweaks to it to suit my needs, but overall it's the best out of the box methodology I've found for overcoming procrastination. Breaking tasks into the next physical do-able action just has a way of breaking through all the "reasons" I usually procrastinate.

Here is the biggest thing that works for me for breaking through my procrastination. If I look at a task and I find that I am procrastinating on that task. It usually means that the task listed is NOT the next physical action. It's more of an outcome, its not something I can actually physically do. If I then take a few seconds to THINK about the task and re-write the task in the form of an action that I can actually really do, I find I will get back on track and do the action. Often this leads to doing the next action, and the next, pretty soon the project is done. (Note - David Allen describes a project as any desired outcome that takes more than 1 action to complete)

I' m probably overly passionate about the tools I use to keep on track. Currently I use a web site called http://www.Toodledo.com to keep track of all my goals, projects and next actions. There is a free version that works pretty well, but I recommend you pony up the extra $15 a year to get the ability to have sub tasks.

If you want to overcome procrastination I recommend a good methodology like GTD and a good tool to implement it with like http://www.Toodledo.com

One of these days I'll write up some more specifics about how I use Toodledo for network marketing. I like to post videos like this over at my blog at http://www.JamesTitus.me

Stay Thirsty My Friends!
James