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3 Tips to Get Out of Procrastination Mode

“Procrastination is the bad habit of putting off until the day after tomorrow what should have been done the day before yesterday.”

Napoleon Hill

Okay, I’ll be honest. Even though part of my job is helping my clients move out of procrastination mode and into action mode, I sometimes experience the same struggle. Particularly when I have a lot of writing to do, or when I need to develop content for an upcoming workshop.

When I’m in procrastination mode, I spend a lot of time and energy thinking about the projects, and really feel them hanging over my head! And I feel stuck and unmotivated to actually begin them, because, well, I secretly think I still have a lot of time and I always work better under pressure!

And while it may be true (sometimes) that I work better under pressure, I can really feel how having these things hang over my head, zap my energy and make me feel cranky, particularly with my family!

So this week, I talked to myself as if I were a client and applied these three strategies to get me unstuck…and they really worked!

1-Stop waiting for “the perfect time” to start.

One of the things I realized, is that I often feel like I need a huge chunk of time to start a writing project-like at least three or four hours. Well, like any of us, I rarely have three or four hours of open time on my calendar. So I took my own advice (from my free CD, 7 Productivity Secrets of Successful Entrepreneurs) and set aside two 90 minute time periods this week (on different days) to start my project.

2-Stop filling up your calendar with “busy work”

In analyzing my reasons for procrastinating on two big projects, I realized that I had successfully filled my calendar with so many “busy work” kinds of things on the calendar-they had totally sucked up any available time to work “on” my business. Blocking out times to strategize, plan, write, work on projects is absolutely crucial to get them underway.

3-Just do it!

While waiting for the “perfect time” to start, but realizing I hadn’t even left any available time in my calendar to start, I felt so overwhelmed and stressed until I challenged myself. I took the next 15 minutes to see how much I could get done. I turned off my phone, Facebook, the “ding” on my computer, signaling a new email and I set the timer on my phone and just dug in. For only fifteen minutes. The results were amazing-it got me started, in fact at the end of the time I didn’t even want to quit. I was on a roll. In fact, I couldn’t wait to get back to my writing-which was a total turnaround to how I was feeling before I spent the focused 15 minutes on it.

We all get stuck and we all have our stories to tell around why. Sometimes it just takes a few simple steps to unhook us, prop us up and get moving on the things that will significantly make an impact in our businesses.

I would love to hear from you in the comment section below, some of the tips you use, when you get stuck and procrastination sets in!

Mandy works with talented, high energy self employed professionals and very small businesses who struggle to market their business effectively, stretch their capacity and play a bigger game. Mandy’s client’s receive proven, specific information on what they need to do to get more clients and grow their business. As a result, those who coach with Mandy increase their business, get more clients and make more money, faster and easier than they ever would have on their own. Sign up for her free Cd “7 Productivity Secrets of Successful Entrepreneurs” right down below.

There’s No Shame in It…

by Mandy Schumaker Leave a Comment

“The difference between shame and guilt is the difference between ‘I am bad’ and ‘I did something bad.’”

Brene Brown

I recently had the opportunity to spend a weekend with the Mitchell Scholars, a group of fabulously, impressive college kids. During the weekend, there was time for getting to know each other, a couple of workshops and some community service work. One of our other activities was the chance to climb Mount Katahdin, the highest mountain in Maine. This climb has been on my bucket list for some time, and I decided to join a group where they were all nearly 30 years younger than me!

Our group was just going to the summit (a 10-11 hour hike). Other groups were not only going to the summit, they were doing a portion of the mountain called, Knife’s Edge-which is a thin strip of rock with drop offs on both sides of about 200 feet.

I will admit, it was a very challenging hike for me and I was, more often than not, bringing up the rear of our group of 11. Joining me was a young woman in her mid-twenties, in very good shape and an experienced hiker. In fact, she had climbed Katahdin earlier in the summer. However, she recently had had an appendectomy several weeks before, so felt a slower pace was in her best interest.

After three or four hours on our climb, this young woman started to feel pain in her abdomen and we fell significantly behind our group. She said to me, she thought she would tell our guide she would wait on the side of the trail, while we went ahead to the summit and she would wait until we came down and she would join us on the descent.

The guide said that was not possible. We all either go up together, or we call the hike and start our descent together. I could see the pain on her face, and having to make that decision, which impacted us all, was the worst for her.

I looked at her and said, “We have to call the hike.” She didn’t answer me. Then the guide said, “You know, there’s no shame in not finishing the hike. The mountain will always be here, it’s been a great hike, even though we won’t get to the summit. But there is no shame in not completing this hike.”

We called the hike.

I had the next five hours (yes, it took us five hours to get off the mountain) to think about this. I was disappointed in not being able to continue to the summit, but I thought a lot about what the guide said about “there’s no shame in not completing the hike.”

So many times I talk to entrepreneurs who will say, “Oh, I really screwed up that opportunity” or “Geez, I really dropped the ball during the summer in not following up with several people who wanted to work with me”.

Or, “I can’t believe how I really botched that sales call; it was my one opportunity to get the business.”

No. This isn’t true and there should be NO shame in not completing or finishing something. Because I just don’t believe an opportunity only comes around once, or there’s only one opportunity to follow up with a prospect, or one chance to make the sale. The opportunity is still there and it’s our job to regroup, reorganize, reprioritize and reposition ourselves to go after those opportunities again.

Where have you dropped the ball? Where are you feeling shame for not completing something, or taken advantage of an opportunity? It’s not too late.

Because as my guide said up there on the mountain: “The mountain will always be here.” Meaning-there’s always another chance. So get climbing.

Who’s on Your Low-Hanging Fruit List?

by Mandy Schumaker Leave a Comment

“Success comes from taking the initiative and following up… persisting… eloquently expressing the depth of your love. What simple action could you take today to produce a new momentum toward success in your life?” Tony Robbins

Do you have a low-hanging fruit list? You know the list that is filled with prospects who have indicated they’d like to work with you? I keep my list on a white board that hangs above my computer on the wall, so I can keep these prospects in the top of my mind at all times.

As entrepreneurs, so often we get focused on the chase that we sometimes forget to follow up with our prospects. And as I’ve said before, the money is in the follow-up. You must be following up in a persistent, appropriate way with people who’ve indicated they’d like to work with you.

I urge you to take a look at all the business cards you have on your desk, and think back to the networking events and places you’ve been in the last couple of months and create a list of names of people who have indicated they would like to work with you (or are interested in your product). And yes, you have to write these down.

Put the list where you can see it every day, and be sure it is your line of site at your desk. Then start systematically going down the list and calling each prospect to check in with them, just to see how they are doing. No other agenda. You have to create value for the prospect before you start selling.

When you communicate with them, it’s a good idea to remind them of the circumstances in which you met and what they might have shared with you, as it pertains to having you help them solve a problem or issue with your product or service. What might have been urgent in their life a couple of weeks ago might not still be so urgent.

Where else might you offer value? Sending them a relevant link to a blog, or a video, or perhaps an article you’ve written, or a case study that is pertinent to their issue, are all good ways to continue to build value with the prospect.

I urge you today, to build your low-hanging fruit list and get started reconnecting with those prospects…because the money’s in the follow-up!

Be sure and let me know how it goes, and if you have any questions, feel free to contact me at mandy@mandyschumaker.com

Are You Engaging With Your Customers?

by Mandy Schumaker Leave a Comment

“This may seem simple, but you need to give customers what they want, not what you think they want. And, if you do this, people will keep coming back.”

John Ilhan, Crazy John’s

One of my goals this year is to get to know my Higher Performing People community better and on a much deeper level. Sure, I get comments and email on a regular basis about my newsletter and blogs, but I really wanted to get to know YOU better!

A couple of months ago, there had been some conversation on the marketing blogs about the nine-word email. Apparently it was designed by Dean Jackson and Joe Polish, the guys who run the ILoveMarketing.com blog and website. If you haven’t subscribed to their podcast, you should they have a lot of good stuff. It’s free to subscribe and it’s totally worth it. I am not affiliated with them in anyway, I just enjoy their content.

The objective of the nine word email is to ask a provocative question (in nine words) that engages your audience (customers/readers/clients) to respond to the question.

My question last week, in case you missed it was: Subject line: Hey… Body of email: Are you still looking for more clients or customers?

And boy, did it work!

I’ve had the best conversations this week with over 125 of my followers about a variety of things including: what they like about my newsletter, what they’d like to see more of (and less of!). What kinds of programs and classes they are interested in, what a good referral is for some of them. And as a lovely by-product, I’ve picked up some business.

What are you doing to engage in a conversation with your customers? Do you know what they like, don’t like? What they’d like more of or less of? Are they engaged in what you’re doing? One of my fears in doing this experiment was that no one would respond! Because as a solopreneur, it can often feel lonely sitting in your office all day and wondering to yourself, “is anyone reading this stuff?” Sure, I do quite a bit of networking and talking to clients, but that’s not the same as really actually having a conversation to better understand what your clients or customers may be looking for, what’s on their minds.

We spend such an inordinate amount of time trying to get new customers, or people to follow us or like us on social media, but then so often, we tend not to continue engaging with them.

What are the three things you can do this week to engage with your customers or clients to deepen your relationship with them?

Please be sure and let me know what the three activities are, I’m sure we can all learn from each other!

In Sales, Your Mindset is EVERYTHING!

by Mandy Schumaker Leave a Comment

“You can teach all the other stuff, you know. You can teach shooting the ball, you can teach having a good touch… passing and what not, but when you get out there on the field, it’s just a mindset you need to go into the game with.”

Freddy Adu

I teach a lot of people how to overcome their fear of sales, so they can get more clients and make more money. I wasn’t always good at sales, believe me. I hated it. I’d find ANYTHING else to do, but make a sales call.

What I’ve learned most about sales over the past six years in working with entrepreneurs is that the most fundamental thing you MUST have is the right mindset.

First and foremost.

This video, by Allen Cymberg was taped quite a few years ago, is absolutely timeless in its message. (Click here to see the video) Be sure and leave a comment below and let me know what you think!

Taking One Action…just one!

by Mandy Schumaker Leave a Comment

“Don’t wait until everything is just right. It will never be perfect. There will always be challenges, obstacles and less than perfect conditions. So what. Get started now. With each step you take, you will grow stronger and stronger, more and more skilled, more and more self-confident and more and more successful.”

– Mark Victor Hansen, was co-author of “Chicken Soup for the Soul”.

I spend a lot of time with a lot of people that have a litany of things they say they want to do, accomplish, get to, learn, start doing, stop doing etc. It’s the environment of the coaching business. I’m no exception to this and have my own lists I keep. This list often includes products I want to create, classes I want to teach, and workshops I have ideas about.

Recently on my list was to become physically more fit. Not only losing a few pounds, but becoming more physically fit. I’ve been thinking about this for a while, and for a variety of reasons have been putting it off and putting it off. Intellectually, I knew for me, it was about smaller portions, more exercise and less wine and cheese, but I wasn’t able to start making the changes I knew I needed.

I realize this is a pretty common goal for people, but for me, as a coach and motivator for people to get to where they want to be-I was frustrated with myself, for not being able to get myself unstuck! I spent endless amounts of energy thinking about it, planning for just the right time to start, and figuring out how I was going to do it.

Then duh! The business coach finally realized what she needed to do.

Take one action-just one action. Take that first step. So I hired a health coach to help get me on the right track. This included reading a book and using an app called Lose It! (Note: I have absolutely nothing to gain from promoting this book and app). This app requires listing all of the food you eat and the exercise you do each and every day. This felt like a lot of work to me and I had a hundred excuses in my head about why this wouldn’t work for me. But then I said to myself, “Take one action, just start it and do it for one day”. One day turned into two days, which turned into three days!

Then for my birthday, my husband gave me a Fitbit. I was even surer I wasn’t going to be into this new gadget and was ready to return it, when I said to myself, “Take one action, and just start using it for today.” Now, I must admit, I love seeing how many miles I walk a day, how many steps I take, the quality of my sleep, etc. (Note: I have absolutely nothing to gain by promoting this product) I realized that by turning off the “can’t learn this, can’t do this, it’s too hard,” tapes in my head and just taking the first step in trying it-makes ALL the difference. I’m now totally into it!

Here’s the learnings.

-Taking one action towards your goal, no matter how small the step is the ONLY place to start in moving forward.
-Don’t expect to be good at it or an expert in the first day, or even in the first week or month.
-Shut off the negative tapes in your head and just keep taking one step a day and moving forward on whatever it you are wanting to achieve.

Assignment: What’s the one thing you really want to accomplish between now and the end of 2013? What’s the first step you can take towards that goal TODAY? What’s the second step you’ll take tomorrow?

I guarantee, if you take 15-20 minutes to do this assignment, you will be well on your way to accomplishing great things in 2013! And for extra credit, list in the comment section below, the step you will be taking today to move you forward. Because putting your intention out there for others to see, gives you a 50% increase in the likelihood that you will actually do it!

What’s yours?

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