Powering Through Procrastination

procrastination - (n) the action of delaying or postponing something.

This is NOT a photo of me procrastinating. This is a photo of me enjoying one of my favorite things—waterfalls.

Delay, avoid, make excuses, dawdle, dally, drag your feet, postpone—whatever word you use, procrastination can mean big problems for accomplishing your goals.

While I hate to admit this in writing, I procrastinate cleaning. Clutter, dust, dog hair, I’ll think of 10,000 things to do before I get in there and clean. And I’m not kidding — I’ll mow the grass, weed the garden, write 12 emails, schedule lunch —all before I’m willing to take 5 minutes to clean the counter.

But to achieve my goals (like living in a nice environment), I have to buckle down and get the work done.

Work-wise, I never procrastinate client work. I put myself and my business LAST and over the years, I found this is a big mistake. Successful entrepreneurs focus on their business FIRST. When you see them on social media, in my in-box, you know they have more going on that just that post or email, but they are still getting it out the door.

So, what do you do? Regardless of how and why you procrastinate, here’s a few things I’ve found help me get things done (even when I don’t want to do them).

1. Schedule the work. I’m a stickler for this. YOU CAN’T ACCOMPLISH YOUR GOALS without making time for them. Dedicate time on your calendar to work on your stuff. I try to remind you of that on Thursdays at 10 a.m., but lately I’ve slipped. That time really needs to be sacred for me and for you!

2. Outsource the work. If it is super important to you, but you don’t have the time or inclination or are stuck even starting it, outsource. This can be a struggle for an entrepreneur who has limited resources, but there are lots of options. Maybe you can’t completely outsource your social media promotion, but you can get input on your content and help with an editorial calendar.

3. Get input. If you’ve set your goals, but you don’t know how to achieve them, get help. A Strategy Session with me is a great start. We’ll dive into your goals and come up with a plan for achieving them, so you’ll leave with steps in place to move forward. Whether you work with me or have a trusted advisor you can go to, getting input gets you unstuck.

4. Find an accountability partner. This has been key in my business and my life. By telling my accountability partner what I’m planning to do puts it out in the world. My pride won’t let me shirk on my own work if I’ve set the goal, scheduled it and shared it.

Now, get out there and get it done! Let me know how I can help.

What Derails You?

Photo by Jeff Wooten

Recently, I told a friend I felt very derailed. In my mind, the train (my life) was completely off the track, cars blown everywhere, grooves in the earth, the train tracks peeling up.

My friend waited a moment and said “you’re not derailed, just held up. The train will just be later than expected.”

Wow. Game changer.

Just reframing that negative thought made a HUGE difference. Instead of being completely stopped and unable to move forward with my goals, I was paused. Instead of needing a crane or another large and expensive piece of equipment to move me forward, I could just take a breath and know that when I was ready, I could begin again.

What “Derails” You?

Let’s take a minute and think about what derails you from working on your goals. (Or maybe we should just say, causes you to pause).

In my case, it is frequently family. My father was in the hospital and my parents needed some support. My kids also derail me—sickness, holidays, sports….I could make this whole blog about how kids derail us but I won’t.

We’ve all had it happen. Illness, exhaustion, shiny object syndrome can cause us to get off track.

Frequently, it is my own mindset that derails me. When I lack motivation, when fear rears its ugly head, when I start comparing myself to others, I can get off track, in the weeds and down in the dumps (to borrow a few metaphors).

Where are you Off Track ?

When thinking about what slows down your progress, notice what part of life you’re working on. Does your attitude about things change if we’re talking about a diet or a plan to meet a friend versus a sales opportunity?

It seems for much of my adult life, I’ve been on a diet. Somehow, eating a piece of cake (surely a derailing activity for any diet), doesn’t seem to impact me as much as much as when I’m thrown off from a business goal. When I have the cake, I’m able notice how I feel after eating it (yum, delicious but gave me a headache), and remind myself I can make a better choice for my next meal.

Get Back On Track

Really, it’s all about choosing the way you THINK. Your mindset, if you will. The human brain is conditioned to think in an all or nothing mentality. If I can’t throw my entire self into this endeavor, if I can’t do things perfectly, I won’t do it at all.

Whoa. If that is our attitude, how can we ever accomplish anything?

Life frequently throws obstacles in the way. Just like the diet/cake choice, we have to decide what’s important and know we’ll have the opportunity to make another choice soon. In my case, my family is important. While it isn’t always easy or comfortable to choose them first, I don’t regret it.

What I need to do is remember I have a choice. I can choose to think I did the right thing thing and everything will be okay, rather than feeling stuck or off track. I mean, really, things always work out.

I can also make the choice to move forward with my goals. Even if I’m paused at the station, I can plan my next steps and schedule when to take them. If I can’t take action today, I can make a plan that will move me forward on my "train trip,” while making choices where and when to stop along the way.

After all, it’s not about the destination, but about the journey.

Final Words

Make choices about how you think. Reframe your negative thoughts. Celebrate your own progress while working towards your goals.

Good luck and let me know if I can help.

Crafting Your Offering

In my last post, I wrote about the process of starting something new for your business. In this post, I want to tell you about crafting offerings.

My whole business arose from a Mastermind. I met 1:1 with the members and conducted business strategy sessions. Here, I discovered the value I provided. My Mastermind colleagues turned the strategy we created into action.

When it came time for me to create my offerings, I looked at the strategy sessions I had done over the years (even before I named them). I also took to heart the words of Jeanine Blackwell of The Expert Called You, and focused not on the work I was doing for clients, but on the TRANSFORMATION they experienced. In other words, the results.

My Process

I looked at the work I had been doing and asked myself:

• What were the themes for each strategy session?

• What were the clients’ results?

Then I took the answers to these questions and sorted them into categories to find the themes, the types of clients and the delivery mechanism.

Your Process

Your questions may differ from mine a bit, but start by answering a few questions:

• What do you love to do?

• Who is your audience?

• What are your audience’s biggest problems?

• What special knowledge do you have?

• And most importantly, what TRANSFORMATION do you provide your clients?

You may need to adjust your questions a bit, but this is a great place to start.

My Results

When I categorized the work I had done for folks, here’s how it boiled down:

1. Vision. My clients were either tweaking little parts of their business or completely revamping things as a result of our sessions.

2. Content. My clients had a ton of expertise that they needed help sharing it in a meaningful way to their audiences. These sessions resulted in ideas for books, courses, blogs, sales magnets AND the structure for those content pieces. In the case of Keisha Gallegos, a book!

3. Launch. Not only did we come up with a vision and structure, my clients were ready to launch! Working together, we refined their offerings and created materials to get them out in the world.

Once I knew the RESULTS I was helping my clients achieve, I was able to put together my packages and clearly articulate the value.

Your Results

As they say on tv, results will vary. You have to put the effort in. Do the work. Let me know if I can help.

Dedicated Work Time

Set a time to work on your business. Join me each Thursdays at 10 a.m. CT for Laser Focus Sessions on my Facebook page. I kick us off on Facebook Live for with a quick discussion and then ask you to post your goals and intentions in the comments. This is a dedicated time to focus on your business with accountability, support and motivation.