No Such Thing As Procrastination

18. November 2008 James

Here I am on my band wagon again. I had a client ask me if I thought they were procrastinating. Why is it we have to have labels of who we are and what we do? What is my answer to the client? Well I said, No.

I mean, there is something stopping them from doing what they want to finish off. Most likely, when I run out of steam, Ive lost my inspiration or sense of flow in what I was doing. OR Im terrified of what will happen. Will I succeed or fail or worse, what if I dont WANT to succeed. Reasons, reasons, reasons.

Its what I do for a living. You know how you decide you want to move from Point A to Point B. There is a gap there. You fill it up with information, knowledge, skills tools, advice, and step by step procedure on how to fill that gap and walk over to the other side. I like to stir up that gap and let all those reasons float to the top.

If you have bought into or actually bought a product or service, you have if from the best authority that these steps of skills and tools are guaranteed to work. There are all sorts of testimonials saying it works. You are all excited because THIS is the moment. This is when you get to where you want to go. It doesnt matter what Point A or Point B is. It could be youre overweight and you want to be slim. It could be your relationship is on a downward spiral and you want to get it back to where it was. It could even be you want your business to make more money, get more clients. It doesnt really matter what it is. You have all this knowledge and youre procrastinating.

I am more interested in how it feels. Im more interested in how often you think about this. How committed are you to getting from point A to B. Because really, I have not clue what will work for you. I have nothing that follows a direct line from A to B with all the steps outlined for you.

I dont have a plan of attack because I dont know what works for you. I assume you are an intelligent human being that is dissatisfied with something in your life. What I do know is your whole life is a set of experiences and events that have shaped the way your mind thinks and operates around your behavior. Its how you perceive what is happening to your life.

So, if anything its not really procrastination that is stopping you. More likely its just your brain misfiring. It gets all excited about taking new action but the steps, skills and tools just dont click with how your mind thinks and works. Remember all those testimonials? Well that step by step process you just bought into worked for them because it fit in nicely with how their brain is hardwired. It works for them and because their brain likes the whole process it allows that person to stay inspired, keep up the excitement and maintain the flow to reach their goal.

Your brain, on the other hand, just doesnt work that way and it misfires. You come screaming to a halt. It immediately makes up all these reasons about why you cant proceed or just plain old: dont feel like it. Your brain doesnt have a connection with the whole process. It just doesnt ring true for you.

Where does the excitement come from? It comes back to that idea about perceptions. It could be a million things that get you excited. Your excitement is as unique to you as a fingerprint. But it isnt sustainable.

However, a more immediate issue is, What do I do now?. Youve got this process youre not excited about any more. If youve invested money, my best suggestion is to make the process your own. If you have a way of doing things that really gets your juices flowing then do it. Does art bring things alive for you? Then do some drawing of how you want to work it out. Do you need to make short term goals and work towards them? Then set it up that way.

Ive got tons of assessment tools that I try out myself before I suggest the use to a client. It is a rare occasion that I even suggest this. In every case I have changed how I use it. How do I know when Im going to have to change it? Well my first clue is that it feels like someone is telling me how to do something. Im a relatively intelligent person and I dont often need to be told HOW to do something. Its often reminds me of my parents telling me what I can and cannot do. In fact if there is a written comment that I can use the assessment IF I dont change it in any way when I use itI hear my dads voice in the back of my head.

When I hear that voice I will allow a client to try it out but tell them to change it in any way that feels more comfortable to them. That is IF I even use the assessment.

An example would be a tool I use to determine values. What an overused word with a myriad of meanings. This again is another topic for a future article. I often tell people it really is just a tool to play around with to find out what they are passionate about. It really tells them the elements of their personality. I go through the assessment and ask them how they think they would change that step of the process to reflect who they are and how they think and behave. By the time we are finished they have created a whole new tool and then they are excited about getting down to business.

The bottom line is to create your own process. It doesnt mean you have to start from scratch. There are many products and services that you can start with and many of them are free at your local library. Cut and paste away and create what works for YOUR mind.

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Motivation

17. November 2008 James

Owning Motivation

Motivation! The juice that keeps us jumping toward the life we want to live. There are two kinds of motivation ready for your immediate use: toward and away. Away-motivations are the reasons you give yourself for not moving forward. Toward-motivations are all the reasons you have to go ahead and achieve your goals.

A Motivating Story

Diane hated her job as a 911 dispatcher. She also hated her burned-out coworkers and was a stranger to her children and her husband. What she also noticed was that she fit right in with the cast of resentful, unhappy women who fielded the 911 calls. Wait a second! she screamed to herself, I will not live the life I see around me! A lieutenant came in asking for a volunteer to create a Public Service Announcement (PSA) about 911 calls. Diane volunteered. What could she lose?

Dianes PSA was a success. She decided to volunteer her way to a more satisfying life (including having an influence on the communication center and more time with her family). She organized a potluck picnic and then an awards banquet. In 1999, Diane was recognized by the board of supervisors as a sheriffs department champion. When the position opened up for a new supervisor of the communications division, she applied and got the job. Diane is now a lieutenant in charge of the communications division. She works 36 hours a week on a flexible schedule. She ferries her ten-year-old to soccer and her six-year-old to band. She also has a date alone with her husband once a week. Diane has never been happier. She realizes that if she hadnt hated her work so much in 1998, she probably would have ended up stuck and hating others and herself. If she hadnt visualized exactly what she wanted, she might have quit her job altogether.

Get Together to Get Motivated

Since motivation is a combination of psychological and social factors, talking about it with friends (on and off the job) can be a big help. Your energy will spark others, and theirs will spark yours. Ask enthusiastic subordinates their reasons for doing something. Compare theirs with your own. You might also create a mastermind alliance. Gather with your team and have everybody share his or her goals and plans. Meet weekly to compare progress and learnings. Always discuss the inner voices that helped you act.

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No Such Thing As Procrastination

17. November 2008 James

Here I am on my band wagon again. I had a client ask me if I thought they were procrastinating. Why is it we have to have labels of who we are and what we do? What is my answer to the client? Well I said, No.

I mean, there is something stopping them from doing what they want to finish off. Most likely, when I run out of steam, Ive lost my inspiration or sense of flow in what I was doing. OR Im terrified of what will happen. Will I succeed or fail or worse, what if I dont WANT to succeed. Reasons, reasons, reasons.

Its what I do for a living. You know how you decide you want to move from Point A to Point B. There is a gap there. You fill it up with information, knowledge, skills tools, advice, and step by step procedure on how to fill that gap and walk over to the other side. I like to stir up that gap and let all those reasons float to the top.

If you have bought into or actually bought a product or service, you have if from the best authority that these steps of skills and tools are guaranteed to work. There are all sorts of testimonials saying it works. You are all excited because THIS is the moment. This is when you get to where you want to go. It doesnt matter what Point A or Point B is. It could be youre overweight and you want to be slim. It could be your relationship is on a downward spiral and you want to get it back to where it was. It could even be you want your business to make more money, get more clients. It doesnt really matter what it is. You have all this knowledge and youre procrastinating.

I am more interested in how it feels. Im more interested in how often you think about this. How committed are you to getting from point A to B. Because really, I have not clue what will work for you. I have nothing that follows a direct line from A to B with all the steps outlined for you.

I dont have a plan of attack because I dont know what works for you. I assume you are an intelligent human being that is dissatisfied with something in your life. What I do know is your whole life is a set of experiences and events that have shaped the way your mind thinks and operates around your behavior. Its how you perceive what is happening to your life.

So, if anything its not really procrastination that is stopping you. More likely its just your brain misfiring. It gets all excited about taking new action but the steps, skills and tools just dont click with how your mind thinks and works. Remember all those testimonials? Well that step by step process you just bought into worked for them because it fit in nicely with how their brain is hardwired. It works for them and because their brain likes the whole process it allows that person to stay inspired, keep up the excitement and maintain the flow to reach their goal.

Your brain, on the other hand, just doesnt work that way and it misfires. You come screaming to a halt. It immediately makes up all these reasons about why you cant proceed or just plain old: dont feel like it. Your brain doesnt have a connection with the whole process. It just doesnt ring true for you.

Where does the excitement come from? It comes back to that idea about perceptions. It could be a million things that get you excited. Your excitement is as unique to you as a fingerprint. But it isnt sustainable.

However, a more immediate issue is, What do I do now?. Youve got this process youre not excited about any more. If youve invested money, my best suggestion is to make the process your own. If you have a way of doing things that really gets your juices flowing then do it. Does art bring things alive for you? Then do some drawing of how you want to work it out. Do you need to make short term goals and work towards them? Then set it up that way.

Ive got tons of assessment tools that I try out myself before I suggest the use to a client. It is a rare occasion that I even suggest this. In every case I have changed how I use it. How do I know when Im going to have to change it? Well my first clue is that it feels like someone is telling me how to do something. Im a relatively intelligent person and I dont often need to be told HOW to do something. Its often reminds me of my parents telling me what I can and cannot do. In fact if there is a written comment that I can use the assessment IF I dont change it in any way when I use itI hear my dads voice in the back of my head.

When I hear that voice I will allow a client to try it out but tell them to change it in any way that feels more comfortable to them. That is IF I even use the assessment.

An example would be a tool I use to determine values. What an overused word with a myriad of meanings. This again is another topic for a future article. I often tell people it really is just a tool to play around with to find out what they are passionate about. It really tells them the elements of their personality. I go through the assessment and ask them how they think they would change that step of the process to reflect who they are and how they think and behave. By the time we are finished they have created a whole new tool and then they are excited about getting down to business.

The bottom line is to create your own process. It doesnt mean you have to start from scratch. There are many products and services that you can start with and many of them are free at your local library. Cut and paste away and create what works for YOUR mind.

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Move On!

17. November 2008 James

I woke up one morning with a sharp pain in my ear. The last time I had an earache was some eighteen years ago. Then it was my mothers lot to worry about it. But this morning, I am to worry because Im grown and hardly could hear with the left ears. I felt as if some insects crept into the ear while I slept. A friend once told me roaches and spiders could be that crazy. Whatever caused the pain all I wanted to do was see a doctor. I learnt that Ear specialists are at the General Hospitals, so I decided to visit the General Hospital on Broad Street.

I arrived early at this hospital but couldnt see a doctor until after four hours of going through some tiresome routine. Finally, I got an appointment with a specialist and left.

Back on Broad Street, sea fresh air embraced me, washing away the foul smell of the hospital from around me. The breeze was so welcoming that I decided to take a short walk down the street.

Its been almost a decade I last stepped foot on Broad Street. The last time was my graduation from high school. My absence from here was not because my experiences in high school were some kind of bored moments. No, I had the best days of my present life in my high school.

I attended Methodist Boys High School popularly known as the gentlemen of Broad Street. They call the boys gentlemen because the school was situated on that street that is not too different from Wall Street, a business district. I had wonderful moments, which some people will hesitate to throw into a waste Bin. I threw it away anyway.

But this morning, out there on that same street that I walked for six years, I revisited my past. I floated on the street like Im dressed in white shirt, white jacket, the school multi colored tie and a pair well pressed trousers sitting on brown shoes. I chose to wear my uniform that makes me one of the gentlemen of Broad Street again.

Though I knew the school had moved to Victoria Island (another part of the city) but the old fence and gate remain on the former site. I walked to the gate, greeted the security men and asked if I can take a look in. They did let me.

I passed through the gate and all that faced me was dilapidation. Stones covered with giant grasses and shrubs, which painted a picture of a wasteland. I could not make out where my favorite classroom used to be or the chemistry laboratory where I do choose to read instead of the library. I could not make out a thing that could link me with the past years spent. I shook my head pitying this desolation that once gave me my wonder years.

But afar off, I saw something that sparked up hope in me. It was the school hall. It did survive the massive destruction caused by some petroleum company who bought this estate. I stared at it for a long time thinking it a mirage. No, it was not. It was there still standing. Standing tall.

I went close, stepped into the cobweb-clothed hall. Thick dust, thick enough to spark an asthmatic crisis rose from the ground as I walk on it like it was some continental rug. Everything is in perfect shape. (The carved wooden school crest sitting at the upper part of the front wall, the polished platform, which has aged with dust from being abandoned. Every thing seemed perfect but with age.

In the abandoned hall, right in its center, I closed my eyes and it all came back. I smelled it like it was yesterday. It was fresh as the dew on grass before the morning sun. The memories flooded back as I heard the students chorused the hymns in unison from the songs of praise pocket book, I could hear the school chaplain: preaching a motivational sermon to the boys. I heard the school song as it rose like the crashing of the waves against a ship. I opened my eyes; felt some drops sank into my cotton blue shirt, chilling my body. I dried my tears and walked out.

I had to leave the past behind me. I wasnt going to stand there like that war veteran polishing a medal of honor he received some forty years ago. I would never stand one more minute there like that man who thinks, if he were not bankrupt fifteen years ago, he would be rich now. I wasnt going to let tears down my cheeks like that lady who lost her job as a secretary because she wasnt computer literate and all she could do was complain, I could type six million words in one minute. I have to let go of the past and move on.

Im not just talking about me, that war veteran or that secretary (that lady rather, she lost her job.) Im talking to you who sit there in self-pity because you just lost your coolest job. Dont sit there bemoaning your fate, explaining to your friends what went wrong. You dont have to tell your sisters or brothers how bad it is and expect someone to come to hug you and say, sorry, everything will be alright. Come on wake up. Whatever happened seconds ago is already history. The last minute before you start reading this is history.

Pick up yourself, dry your tears like I did, raise your head and shoulders and do what? MOVE ON!

There is more in the future. Plunge into it. And you will realise that all past glory and failures are nothing but a page in your history.

Coming soon, Haiku with love
An inspiring poetry collection by A.Z. Alfred.
To be published by Author House, USA.
for his works and free inspirational helps, goto:
http://writesight.com/blackzeal101
mailto: blackzeal101@yahoo.com

A.Z. Alfred is a writer and a motivational speaker whose greatest pleasure is observing the world through a window while listening to inspirational songs.

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10 Simple Steps To SelfMotivation And More Sales

17. November 2008 James

Every day of your life you are selling yourself, nothing happens until you’re successful at doing that.

We’re all in the selling business whether we like it or not. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a lawyer or an accountant, a manager or a politician, an engineer or a doctor.

We all spend a great deal of our time trying to persuade people to buy our product or service, accept our proposals or merely accept what we say.

Before you get better at persuading or influencing other people - you need to get better at self-motivation and selling yourself.

Here are 10 simple steps to self-motivation:

#1 - You must believe in the product

Selling yourself is pretty much like selling anything. Firstly, you need to believe in what you’re selling. That means believing in you. It’s about lots of positive self-talk and the right attitude.

The first thing people notice about you is your attitude. If you’re like most people then you’ll suffer from lack of confidence from time to time.

It really all comes down to how you talk to yourself. The majority of people are more likely to talk to themselves negatively than positively - this is what holds them back in life.

It isn’t just about a positive attitude; it’s about the right attitude - the quality of your thinking.

Successful people have a constructive and optimistic way of looking at themselves and their work. They have an attitude of calm, confident, positive self-expectation. They feel good about themselves and believe that everything they do will lead to their inevitable success.

If you’re in a sales job or a business owner or a manager then you need to continually work on your attitude. You need to listen to that little voice inside your head. Is it saying you’re on top, going for it and confident, or is it holding you back.

If you’re hearing - I can’t do this or that or They won’t want to buy at the moment or We’re too expensive then you’d better change your self-talk or change your job.

Start to believe in yourself and don’t let things that are out with your control effect your attitude.

Avoid criticising, condemning and complaining and start spreading a little happiness.

Remember the saying of Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company - If you believe you can do a thing, or if you believe you can’t, in either case you’re probably right.

#2 - The packaging must grab attention

Like any other product we buy, the way the product is packaged and presented will influence the customer’s decision to buy.

Everything about you needs to look good and you must dress appropriately for the occasion. And don’t think that just because your customer dresses casually, that they expect you to dress the same way.

The style and colour of the clothes you wear, your spectacles, shoes, briefcase, watch, the pen you use, all make a statement about you.

#3 - Smile

No need to get carried away, you don’t need a big cheesy grin, just a pleasant open face that doesn’t frighten people away.

#4 - Use names

Use the customers name as soon as you can but don’t over do it. Business is less formal nowadays however be careful of using first names initially. Make sure your customer knows yours and remembers it. You can do the old repeat trick - My name is Bond, James Bond or My name is James, James Bond

#5 - Watch the other person

What does their body language tell you? Are they comfortable with you or are they a bit nervous? Are they listening to you or are their eyes darting around the room. If they’re not comfortable and not listening then there’s no point telling them something important about your business.

Far better to make some small talk and more importantly - get then to talk about themselves.

It’s best to go on the assumption that in the first few minutes of meeting someone new, they won’t take in much of what you say. They’re too busy analysing all the visual data they’re taking in.

#6 - Listen and look like you’re listening.

Many people, particularly men, listen but don’t show that they’re listening. The other person can only go on what they see, not what’s going on inside your head. If they see a blank expression then they’ll assume you’re out to lunch.

The trick is to do all the active listening things such as nodding your head, the occasional UH-HUH and the occasional question.

#7 - Be interested.

If you want to be INTERESTING then be INTERESTED. This really is the most important thing you can do to be successful at selling yourself.

The majority of people are very concerned about their self- image. If they sense that you value them, that you feel that they’re important and worth listening to, then you effectively raise their self-image. If you can help people to like themselves then they’ll LOVE you.

Don’t fall into the trap of flattering the other person, because most people will see right through you and they won’t fall for it. Just show some genuine interest in the customer and their business and they’ll be much more receptive to what you say.

#8 - Talk positively.

Don’t say - Isn’t it a horrible day or Business is pretty tough at present or any thing else that pulls the conversation down. Say things like (and only the truth) - I like the design of this office or I’ve heard some good reports about your new product.

#9 - Mirror the other person

This doesn’t mean mimicking the other person, it just means you speaking and behaving in a manner that is similar to the customer.

For example, if your customer speaks slowly or quietly, then you speak slowly or quietly. Remember people like people who are like themselves.

#10 - Warm and friendly

If you look or sound stressed or aggressive then don’t be surprised if the other person gets defensive and less than willing to co-operate.

If you look and sound warm and friendly, then you’re more likely to get a positive response.

This isn’t about being all nicey-nicey. It’s about a pleasant open face or a warm tone over the telephone.

Before we can get down to the process of selling our product, our service or our ideas then we need to be as sure as we can be - that the customer has bought us and that we have their full attention.

Discover how you can generate more business without having to cold call! Alan Fairweather -The Motivation Doctor - is the author of How to get More Sales Without Selling To receive your free newsletter and free e-books, visit the Motivation Doctor

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