3. Don’t be a slave to a ringing telephone; have your calls screened.
Prepare an agenda for every business call;
4. When you work, work all the time you work. Don’t get bogged down with idle socializing that contributes nothing to your results.
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5. Make decisions quickly, whenever possible. Be prepared to accept feedback and self-correct. Any decision is usually better than no decision.
6. Deal with problems and crises as they occur; get the facts, analyze the information and take action.
7. Pick up the pace. Move fast. Develop a sense of urgency. Keep your mind focused on results, and on doing the most important things for which you have been hired.
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Chapter Eight
Overcoming Procrastination
“Above all be of single aim; have a legitimate and useful purpose and devote yourself unreservedly to it.” (James Allen) Procrastination is the thief of time. We have all heard that many times before. The tendency to procrastinate is the primary reason that many people lead lives of quiet desperation and retire poor. It is not that people do not know what to do to be more successful. Most people are quite clear about the steps they could take to improve their lives or their work. The problem is that they continually find reasons not to do it today until it is too late. They procrastinate until there are no more tomorrows left.
One of the most valuable habits you can develop in life is a sense of urgency, an inner drive to get on with it, to get the job done now. A sense of urgency is the opposite of procrastination and its most powerful overriding factor. A sense of urgency can help you as much as any other habit you can develop.
Move On To the Fast Track
In a recent survey, 104 chief executive officers were asked what specific qualities would most mark a young person in their companies for rapid 212
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promotion. They were given a list of 50 qualities and behaviors to choose from.
Surprisingly enough, 84% of them agreed that two of the 50 qualities were more important than any of the others.
The first of the two qualities was defined as “the ability to separate the relevant from the irrelevant.” It was the ability to set priorities on the use of time. Every manager has had the frustrating experience of coming upon one of his staff working away at something that is of low priority when something of higher priority is being left undone. Many organizations are over-staffed and under-efficient simply because so many people in the organization spend so much time on items of low priority.
The second quality identified by the 104 CEO’s was “the ability to get the job done fast.” It was the ability to take the ball and run with it without hesitation or delay. Everyone intends to do good work, but the road to failure is paved with good intentions. It is only actions that count, and only those actions aimed at accomplishing the most important tasks.
When You Get Around To It
I was a speaker at the annual convention of a successful national sales organization recently. As each person came into the room, they were handed a small wooden disk with the words “To It” printed on either side. They called these disks “Round To-It’s.” They are handed out generously to people who are going to do something as soon as they get a “Round To-It.”
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Once they have been given one of these round disks, they no longer have any excuses for procrastination or delay.
The ability to select your most important task and then to get it done quickly will do more to move you on to the fast track in your career than any other habit you can develop, rather than waiting until you get around to it.
Develop a Reputation for Speed and Dependability
If you work for an organization, or if you run your own business, or if you are in sales, and you develop a reputation for speed and dependability, you will never have to worry about being successful, promoted or rich. With a reputation for speed and dependability, you will be able to write your own ticket. When you can separate the relevant from the irrelevant and get the job done fast, you move to the front of the line in terms of success and opportunity.
Alleviate Time Poverty
The biggest single shortage among employed people today is “time poverty.” They may have the money they need, but they don’t have the time to enjoy it. Because of this lack or shortage, free time is becoming more important than higher cost for many people.
Today, we will pay more for people who will save us time, and for people who will do things for us quickly. When we ask something to do something 214
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for us, or we call a company to supply us with a product or service, we value and respect them far more when they move fast.
Today, we consider speed of response to our needs to be indicative of higher quality products and services. People who move quickly are thought to be more intelligent than those who move slowly. We will buy from them faster and pay a higher price, with less resistance.
On the other hand, when we deal with an individual or organization that moves or responds slowly to our requests, we automatically assume that organization to be poorly run. We assume that a slow company is managed by inefficient and ineffective people. We assume that their products are worth less than the products and services of companies that do things more quickly.
Time Is of the Essence
One of the final clauses in almost every contract written in business today is a clause that says, “Time shall be of the essence of this agreement.” Today, time is of the essence of virtually everything we do.
Learning to overcome procrastination is a vital step upward on the ladder of success. Without this ability, you simply cannot succeed at anything worthwhile. Fortunately procrastination is a habit that can be overcome.
Developing a sense of urgency is a habit as well, which can be learned.
Developing a Sense of Urgency
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There are seven steps you can take to program your mind with a sense of urgency. This will motivate you to overcome procrastination, get started on your most important job, and stay at it single-mindedly until it is complete.
1. Set Worthwhile Goals
Set worthwhile goals for yourself, goals that you intensely desire to achieve.
All motivation requires “motive.” A major reason for procrastination is that there is no specific goal that the person wants badly enough to get started and then to persist until the job is complete.
Many people procrastinate and delay because they don’t really want to do what they are doing. As a result, they find every excuse to delay and put off getting started. To counter this, you can use goals as a motivator. The more goals you have, the less likely you will be to procrastinate on the tasks necessary to achieve them. When you set a large number of goals for yourself, you trigger the Law of Forced Efficiency. You find yourself moving faster and working more efficiently simply because you have so many things that you have to get done in a limited period.
2. Visualize Your Tasks as Completed
Program your mind to overcome procrastination by continually visualizing your tasks as completed. Visualize your goals as already achieved. Imagine how you will feel with the job behind you. Imagine and create the feeling of satisfaction that you will have when the task is accomplished. The more 216
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pleasurable the feeling of completion that you can create in your mind, the more focused you will be. The greater clarity you have of your finished task, the more energized you will be. Clear mental pictures of a desired future reality sharpen your mind and enable you to concentrate better.
For example, if you set an income goal that you want to achieve in a certain time period, and you vividly imagine how you are going to enjoy the extra money, what you will buy, where you will go, and what you will do, you will find yourself internally motivated to do the things necessary to achieve this goal. Every time you visualize your goal as complete, you increase the intensity of your desire and strengthen your resolve. You will then develop the willpower to do whatever is necessary to transform your mental image into reality.
3. Practice Positive Affirmations
Use the power of positive affirmations to program a sense of urgency into your subconscious mind. At the beginning of each major task, repeat and affirm over and over, the words “Do it now! Do it now! Do it now!”
Starting as a fatherless boy selling newspapers on the streets of Chicago, W.