It is easy to focus on what remains outstanding
It is easy to focus on what remains outstanding and not seewhat you have accomplished or how you have grown over thepast year. Even marketing experts have difficulty nailingdown time to market. I too fritter away time at trivialtasks like organizing paper clips, shuffling paper from onestack to another, updating my computer and watering plants.On worse days, I prefer doing laundry and making my kitcheneven cleaner.Is that you? Procrastination does directly affect how muchrevenue you make and the bank account doesn't lie.Throughout the years, I've found ways to Non-woven scouring pad kindle excitementfor tackling my marketing and funneling the procrastinationbug. Let me share seven steps to help kick start yourmarketing for the new year.1. Acknowledge with TruthYou can't change what you don't acknowledge and you can'tacknowledge what isn't the truth. Find the truth bydetermining whether you're dragging your feet or simply needan incubating period. As an avid writer and marketingconsultant, I receive many ideas. At first, I lied tomyself thinking I will remember them.For years, I recordedthem in idea journals. Attached to that, I always feltguilty because I didn't do much after documenting them.Later, I began allowing myself free write whatever thoughtswere connected to those ideas as well. The guilt stillcame. When I gave myself permission to allow myself to failall heck broke loose and I allowed myself to go in anydirection it took me. Sometimes I began in the East andfinished in the West. I gave myself permission to not haveall the answers.Unexpectedly, I started to create 101 and top 10 lists onvarious ideas. Sometimes, the idea emerged and I only gotto five, sometimes 30. When the flow slowed, I taped thelist to the wall. Every morning I reviewed the wall andadded more. Throughout the day, answers came from tons ofdifferent sources and the lists kept building.The lists circulated. The guilt for not following throughdisappeared, the process became easier, creativity andproductivity skyrocketed.Do you need all the answers before you start? Do you needan incubation period or wall system? Try new things andexplore your way to success.2. Identify What You LoatheWhat do you hate to do in the marketing process? Make coldcalls? Follow up? Write web site content? Create flyers?I didn't like cold calling and editing. And creating newweb content and planning ranked very low on my list.Identify what you procrastinate. Pinpoint the why. I putoff cold calling because I felt I lacked the "right"language. When I asked myself "why," I remembered amarketing seminar and how I bought into presenters beliefsabout cold calling.My fear seemed powerful. To dance around it, I beganwriting mini-parts of a phone script, created a list ofquestions I wanted to know about them, and then a list ofpoints I wanted to leave them with about me. I made a listof possible call to actions -- what action I wanted from thecall. One action was to get them to my web site andsubscribe to an ecourse or ebook. When I finished, I had astrategy that made sense. It was easy to initiate the callsafterwards. If they weren't interested, they didn't visitmy web site and I didn't feel rejected. I refined thescript and calls after the first ten calls to reflect mynatural language.What whys do you have for each reason on your list? Whatsolution possibilities are there? Ask others to brainstormwith you if you are stuck. Are there some solutions thatare only a one-time action? If yes, consider outsourcing.Find one "mini" step to start and leave the next stepunknown until you are ready. Keep mini-stepping until youare dancing.3. Find Something GoodMaybe your incubation period deepened your knowledge orpassion on the subject. Look for the good in the why. Itcould be that while you procrastinated your vision becameclearer. Be honest with yourself otherwise you aren'tacknowledging it (#1).I found my marketing planning similar to my disability tosort clean socks -- no patience. Then I looked for planningmethods that don't require much patience -- I began MindMapping. I fell in love with the topic and later became acertified trainer.As I traveled through all this, I learned to let go of anyfeelings of "not knowing it all before I started".It was afantastic freeing experience. I no longer felt I needed tofollow through on every idea and just the ones that "hadmore" to them. Then I saw that they all meshed eventuallyand my trust in the universe and me seemed to flow. Imeshed my gift for ideas with my writing and marketingconsulting and I had a winning strategy that continues topay off.Just like in construction, first need to "de"structionbefore you can "con"struction. Creativity is messy. Rollup your sleeves and laugh along the way.Give yourself credit for your gifts, ask the why for the allthe others, take one mini-step and watch a new self-confidence emerge.4. Visualize Your Successful SelfEnvision your marketing project or goal done. Really seeit, feel it, and connect to the emotions. Don't look forthe dots to connect. They will come. Trust the universeand in yourself. Pull from a personal experience where itdid work that way. Give it the visionary power it needs topromulgate. Start small or start big, just start. If itscleaning off your desk, see it clear, feel it clear, feelthe emotion of working on it cleared.If its writing, see the acceptance notices. If itsmarketing, envision the "we want to hire you" responses. Infact, write script them out and create a stronger pull withthe Universe.5. Determine What You Need to Move ForwardWho wouldn't stall, needing the tools, how tos, strategy,system or different approach?With marketing, I felt overwhelmed easily. I created a listof things I could do when I felt it coming on. Now when Ifeel panicky "my overwhelm signal" I reach for my list.Deep breathing is the one I practice until I find my list.6. Make the Dreaded Task Fun, Easy and SimpleAre you a people person? Perhaps you'd benefit from asocial approach to procrastination. Find people or asupport group that listens well, allows you to BMW (bitch,moan and wine) and doesn't allow you to get away withoutmeeting the BMW rule. RULE: You have permission to BMW forthree minutes if, and only if, you provide a solution/actionstep to move past it at the end.Are you an alone person? Schedule more alone time to helpyou process your thoughts. Arrive at work early, sit in thecar or somewhere quiet (not your office chair) and closeyour eyes.Arrive at the restaurant early, sit and writethrough your thoughts. Alternatively, you can stayafterwards and write over a long cup of coffee or dessert.7. Stop Stalling and Get GoingCreate a check-in trigger that reminds you to take a review.You can use anything that chimes or rings and set it up tocreate noise on the hour. Keep trying different thingsuntil you find something that works for you. If it stopsworking, find something new. It took me five tries before Ifound a clock that chimes every hour to work. When I begananchoring the clock to an automatic check-in, I made a listof questions to ask myself. Am I on target? What is myattraction/energy level? Can I do any of this faster oreasier? If so, how?When I'm out of the office, I use an old beeper (no serviceneeded) to vibrate on the hour. Works well in the library.Go ahead take your ideas as far as you can, let it germinateand watch it create a new growth, success, and self-confidence. Its fun to experience. Moreover, since italways works, you will keep doing it and doing it until itbecomes a new habit. The rest is history.
