Procrastination is one of the biggest challenges that I see with the people I talk to. Now, a lot of people think that procrastination is about being late for meetings or rushing at the last minute to finish a project or putting your staff under pressure because you failed to follow your plan. But that is actually the small stuff.
The real problem about procrastination is that it is a visibility block. If we let it, procrastination keeps us from doing our one key thing.
All of us have a One Key Thing in the back of our mind or on a to do list. That one key thing that if we did it right now would create a significant shift in our lives or in our business.
Why We Don't Do The One Key Thing
You might site the following reasons:
- not enough money,
- not enough time,
- don't know how,
- lack of a solid support system,
- challenges believing that we can do the one key thing,
- disbelief that we are good enough for the one key thing.
Defining Your One Key Thing
So, get really quiet and ask yourself:
What is the one key thing that I'm avoiding doing right now, that if I did it would move my business forward?
What did you hear? Your key thing might be a
- phone call
- decision
- new product or service
- commitment to something
- difficult conversation
- change in personal/business habits
- change in mindset
It could be something that takes a long time or just a few minutes.
What is the one key thing that I'm avoiding doing right now, that if I did it would move my business forward?
There are thousands of decisions that we make in any given day, some conscious and some unconscious. This one key thing that you just identified is the activity, behavior or thought pattern that you know will shift and improve your business and life right now.
The boldest thing you can do right now is take action right away. Don't question it. Just go do it.
What is Truly Standing In Your Way of Doing It?
What true and big obstacles are in your way of taking action on your one key thing today? Get really specific. What has gotten in your way? Who has gotten in your way? Anyone discouraging you? How are they discouraging you? Are you discouraging you?
Identify Your Resources
Can you identify anyone that has made a similar shift in their business? Could you connect with them to get tips or a template for completing your one key thing? Who could be your accountability partner? What technology or other tools do you have in place to help you make it happen? What strengths and natural talents do you have that you can tap into? List out all of your resources so that you can tap into them!
Ask: What is the Next Action Necessary to Make it Happen?
Often, people get caught up in overwhelm over all of the steps necessary to complete a project or task. Instead, ask yourself,
“What is the next action I need to take to make this one key thing happen?”
Then, when it is done, look at the next action and so on.
If you're not quite sure how to do that, get help.
Please, don't let this get by you. You know you were meant for important things! Everything you're here to do and share with the rest of us depends on boldly knocking this one out. Then identify the next one key thing and do it again.
Until we talk again,
Live Fully — Love Openly — Laugh Often — Leverage Your Brilliance — Connect Authentically — Get Your Message Out — Serve with Impact — Prosper Everyday
Paula D says
My big question to my self yesterday was.. what needs to shift in me,
my business, my message. Love the synchronicity Stephanie 🙂
My answer? Think bigger, and “work on my business, not in it” as
Denise Strong of Desert Jet said at last week’s AMEX Open CEO BootCamp.
Staying strong, playing big! Thanks, Paula
Stephanie LH Calahan says
Awesome question for sure Paula. What steps are you taking to work on, not in, your biz?
Tai Goodwin says
I so need this TODAY. I have been doing everything I can to procrastinate on one thing that will shift my business today. I’ve been asking myself, what does it mean when procrastination shows up for me – or more specifically, what feeling am I trying to avoid by procrastinating?
My go to reason is “I don’t know how.” But that is usually very far from the truth.
Stephanie LH Calahan says
Tai – I’m glad that this message was timely for you. When I sit quietly and ask myself I receive wonderful clarity.
It is pretty common to have the “I don’t know how” resistance pop up. However, you are highly networked! I bet you could post in a few of your groups and the answer or resource would come to light quickly. Up for the challenge? 😉
Tandy Elisala says
Hi Stephanie, great post. This really resonates for me. I had a lot of reasons why I couldn’t move forward with my training program. Everything from the website isn’t ready to I need to have everything ‘perfect’ to not enough time to… I finally said enough is enough and wake up asking myself each day, “What is the ONE thing I must do today or nothing else matters?”
Stephanie LH Calahan says
Tandy – Exactly! It is so easy to get stuck in analysis. Moving forward daily gets us there faster. If you need help, my team and I help clients daily with the items you mentioned.
Kimberly Eldredge says
This was me last weekend. I had TWO potential clients I REALLY needed to follow up with. And it had been a long time since I’d been in contact. Maybe too long…
But the stress of not following through on my “I’ll get back to you” commitment was getting to me and even waking me up at weird times. So I finally sat down and did the emails. (Not sure what took me so long in the first place!) And my stress was INSTANTLY lowered.
Now, I’m wondering when (or if) I need to follow up again. I feel bad for letting so much time go without a word from me but I don’t want to be seen as “oh, I remembered you were interested so let me bug you now” either.
Stephanie LH Calahan says
Follow up is one of the #1 neglected activities that business owners do. Crazy huh? Consider creating a follow up sequence in your auto responder or create a template in your email that you could tweak to make the process less stressful for you.
Some people that have challenges following up also have fear of success stuff running the show in their subconscious. (That was TOTALY me at one point.) Try doing an exercise where you identify everything you’d lose out on (no matter how crazy it sounds) if you got a bunch of clients. (For me I was worried about losing time with my son.) Then build in systems and models to make sure that you can have your freedom AND lots of clients.