I sat down and ate it in 45 minutes and felt deeply satisfied as a result.

Confused?

Let me explain…

Now and again, a book alters your brain so much that you can never think how you used to think. For me, one of those books is Eat That Frog: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time by Brian Tracy. Do you know it?

If you’re like most the women I work with, one of the great challenges in self-employment is how to actually get stuff done. You’re setting your own hours, you’re the only person who can decide what matters most. There’s no job description to follow so you choose your own criteria for success.

The problem is – procrastination takes hold. You feel swamped by the multitude of possibilities, drowning in a never-ending To Do List. You’re chasing your tail, driving yourself crazy by never completing those projects which you desperately want to complete.

Procrastination can make the difference between staying in business and enjoying profit and success… and having to throw in the towel and get a job. I want you to enjoy the success and profit so here are four of Tracy’s key principles that can have the most impact for the self-employed:

#1 Have clear, written goals

You’re the only person who can decide the direction of your business. What do you want to achieve? Decide exactly what you want. Write it down. Set a deadline for your goal. Make a list of everything you have to do to achieve your goal. Organise the list into a plan. Take action on your plan immediately. Resolve to do something every single day that moves you towards your goal.

Tracy: “An average plan vigorously executed is far better than a brilliant plan on which nothing is done.”

Strangely enough for a coach, I used to avoid setting goals. I wasn’t confident I would achieve them so it felt safer not to commit to them. I now realise that goals felt random and uncertain because there was no clear, step-by-step plan to achieve them. Now that there’s a plan and a clear next action step, goals feel completely different – and I trust they can for you too.

#2 Plan the priority tasks for each day in advance

When I entered my office this morning, there was only one sheet of paper on my desk and on it was written the highest priority task. I didn’t check email, I didn’t browse the internet, I didn’t do filing. I plugged straight into that task and completed it. It wasn’t negotiable. I didn’t think, “Now, what would I like to do today?”

It’s a straightforward system. You identify the next action to take in your step-by-step plan towards your biggest goal and that has highest priority. Tracy calls this task your “biggest, ugliest frog”. This brilliant metaphor was inspired by the old saying, “If the first thing you do when you wake up each morning is eat a live frog, nothing worse can happen for the rest of the day”.

#3 Practise the ABCDE method continually

Tracey encourages you to divide tasks into categories:
A – Must do. Very important, big consequences.
B – Should do. Mild consequences.
C – Nice to do. No consequences.
D – Can delegate.
E – Can eliminate.

Many of us go self-employed because we crave freedom, the chance to do what we enjoy. But if we fill our day with lots of C tasks – for example, hanging out on social media, having lunch with our friends, reading blogs – we simply don’t have time for the A and B tasks that would actually move us closer to our business goals.

The short-term pleasure of Facebook is not as compelling as the long-term pleasure of achieving our self-employment dreams.

#4 Single-hand every task

Multi-tasking is not all it’s cracked up to be. When you’ve got your big frog in front of you, focus on that exclusively. Don’t answer the phone, don’t check email. Just work at that frog until it’s all eaten – and you’ll feel amazing.

So, I hereby declare 2012 the year to eat frogs. If you’ve set a resolution to “be more productive”, “get more stuff done” or “stop procrastinating”, then put these principles to work. Identify your biggest, ugliest frog and eat it before you do anything else. Your business will thank you and you can enjoy a highly productive, fulfilling 2012.

If you want more details, do buy or borrow a copy of the book. Also, here’s a cool little video.

What books on productivity do you recommend? What are your most effective strategies for getting stuff done? Leave a comment below, let us know.

Oh – and we tackle procrastination head-on in the Turn Your Passion To Profit group programme. Do you want to get your business moving in 2012? We start on Monday! See if any places are left > >

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© Corrina Gordon-Barnes, 2011

It’s over there but I’m not looking…

Yeah yeah, some day…

These are some of the ways people describe procrastination, along with the accompanying feelings of frustration, disappointment, dread and overwhelm. Procrastination doesn’t feel good inside and it means that we don’t get to contribute as deeply or impact as greatly as we want.

Here is a six-strategy approach for overcoming procrastination:

1) Eat It Like You Would An Elephant

“How do you eat an elephant?” “One bite at a time”. Often we aren’t moving forward with a project because it’s just too big and overwhelming; it can help to break it down into bite-sized tasks. “Sort workshop” means nothing – what is the next tangible step? And then the next? You may be surprised by how many itty bitty actions are involved.

2) Find The Missing Piece

As you create a plan of clear action steps, it becomes easier to identify where there’s a missing piece. One client was struggling to record her album and when we went through her action plan, we stumbled upon a piece of technical knowledge that she was lacking ten strides down the track. Often the missing link is a piece of technical, logistical or legal information; resistance can set in if you know you have to deal with that down the line and don’t yet know how.

3) Find The Fear

If you actually DID this, what might happen? Identify what you’re resisting, what you’re wanting to avoid. Perhaps it’s fear of failure – or fear of success. Fear of being wealthy, being visible, having expectations made upon you. Fear of being busy, fear of the unknown, fear of change. What potholes do you fear this journey will take you into?

4) Set A Deadline

If you’re a natural starter, this practical strategy can help channel your energy into completion mode. When you’ve got a messy house, does inviting people round catalyze you into action? A date in the diary commits you, it holds you accountable. The deadline anchors your good intentions in reality and provides external motivation.

5) Clear The Clutter

Declutter coach Sue Rasmussen maintains that 75% of the ‘stuff’ in our world is not moving us forward. Whether it’s appointments in your diary, files on your computer, paperwork on your desk or stress in your body, if you are living with a lot of clutter, you are blocked. Do you need to get a shredder? Have a car-boot sale? Or shelve less meaningful engagements to make space for what really matters?

6) If All Else Fails, Picture Your Deathbed

Firstly, what if nothing ever changed? What if you procrastinated on this forever? Connect with the horror story sense of huge regrets and dissatisfaction. What would you have missed out on? And who else would miss out? This is the stick approach. Secondly, imagine yourself having actually accomplished this. How does this feel? Really connect with the wish fulfilled. If your project currently exists as a bland, one-dimensional imperative e.g. “Write a book”, then it probably has no juice or fuel about it. However, if you can feel it in your hands, picture yourself at your book signing, imagine someone approaching you in the street and telling you the impact you had on them, then you’ll connect with why this is so important for you.

Which leads us to: If this project is NOT deathbed important, perhaps it’s not really worth doing. Perhaps all that procrastination is there for a very good reason – protecting you from wasting your time. In which case, practise that all-important skill of being able to say NO. You can then put these overcoming-procrastination strategies to better use, on a project that you care passionately about.

The World Needs Your Passion, So…

1) Identify an area of your life where you notice you procrastinate. Go through each of these six strategies with pen and paper to hand, or with the support of a coach. Be honest, be thorough, and make shifts.

2) As you work through, you may notice you crave support at various stages. See below for suggested pathways forward and take advantage of these opportunities.

3) Leave a comment on this blog, letting us know what helps you to overcome procrastination. Which of these strategies is new for you? How does it help? What have you missed out on because of procrastinating in the past?

Does accountability and structure appeal? Click here to find out more about group programme and 1-1 coaching options > >

Want me to give a talk/workshop on How To Overcome Procrastination for your group? Contact me here > >

© Corrina Gordon-Barnes, 2010

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