A Procrastinator’s Guide to Avoid the

Annoying Parts of Goals

The Briarcliff Manor Ossining NY

January 13th 2016

Goals, Goals, Goals January is a traditional goal setting time

…In training organizations and professionals for success we focus on on 10 primary indicators:

1.  Belief

2.  Purpose

3.  Prospecting

4.  Behavior Plan

5.  Measurement

6.  Time Management

7.  Marketing/Social Media

8.  Professional Development

9.  KPI’s

10.  Self Honesty

The Ugly Reality The greatest obstacles to achievement are internal

�  Lying, or Truth Avoidance, encircles us �  60% of people can’t go 10 minutes in conversation without a lie �  Men lie 3x more often than women �  On average we all tell 2-3 lies every day �  “All prospects like all the time”

Considering how we lie easily to others what does that suggest about self lies?

�  Procrastination is the most common obstacle to action �  95% of people claim it is a regular occurance �  More than 20% of people identify themselves as “chronic procrastinators” �  57% of people admit to liking it as a coping mechanism �  40% of people claim they procrastinate out of habit

Self-Lying is Endemic Everyone lies sometimes but a significant majority of business people suffer from Illusory Superiority that causes one to overestimate their positive qualities

Study after study reveals we are shockingly lying`, overstating and generally believing our own BS

�  90% of people identify themselves as having above average intelligence (“cognitive bias”)

�  94% of workers/professionals say they are above average compared to their peers

Is It All Bad? Considering the prolific state of lies and procrastination we should ask if it’s even bad…

�  Lying (Self-Deception) �  Believing we are more intelligent or talented than we

are can give confidence to influence others �  Sales training teaches us “Fake it ‘til you make it” �  Belief that we are exceptional can maintain

motivation and emotional health �  If belief is a pillar of action, does it matter if it’s

actually true? �  Isn’t it better for success to be confident and dim

than bright but insecure?

Is It All Bad? (cont.) Procrastinate: to delay or postpone action; to put off doing

�  Benefits to procrastination: �  Avoiding doing stuff you don’t like can help you feel

happier more of the time �  Avoiding action can prevent over-reaction, emotionally

charged responses or jumping after a bad idea

�  If you don’t want to do it for long enough you can learn to delegate and manage someone else doing it

�  “Active Procrastination” sounds like something you would pay a consultant to teach you how to do

�  There’s plenty of time to figure it all out…tomorrow

Let’s Acknowledge Reality Where would we be without rationalizations?!

You could be presented goals best practices, efficiency improvements and a real plan for success…but...

Since we are all liars and procrastinators you’d likely put it off and convince yourself that’s best!

So go ahead and make your Goals, but what if you embrace the Dark Side of the Force?

With…

…a slightly tongue-in-cheek

look at Goals in the real world

Procrastinators Idea #1 If BELIEF is paramount to linking actions to goals…

�  Become Pretentiously Pious �  If your excuse is everything bad happens for a reason

or is part of a higher plan or “God’s will” you’ll have the perfect out—you wanna argue with God?

�  You can rationalize anything with faith of convenience

Procrastinators Idea #2 Ignore Higher Purposes (other than idea #1)

�  Keep flip and simple life purposes handy like: �  My purpose is to be happy

�  I just want to make money

�  Being a good person is enough

�  It’s Obama’s fault

�  I would have but it’s something or someone else’s fault

Procrastinators Idea #3 Use “Bo-Peep” Prospecting

�  Asking for referrals, networking,

customer contacts, lead generation are all really hard so…

�  “Leave them alone and they will come home”

�  Since “showing up is half the battle” use your half effort to show up and congratulate your odds

�  Think how many clients and referrals you got by accident, surely that will just keep happenning

Procrastinators Idea #4 If You Fail to Plan…Plan to Plan

�  If you haven’t made a prospecting or business plan then be sure to plan to make a plan. Knowing you are going to make a plan is in itself a plan so you don’t have to feel you didn’t plan if you plan to plan

Procrastinators Idea #5 You Don’t Need To Count the Raindrops To Know When It’s Raining

�  Measurement is cumbersome, time-consuming and could tell you depressing truths so: �  Affirm you don’t need to measure what you are sure

you already know �  If you find out things you need to do differently you’ll

end up with more new things to avoid doing

Procrastinators Idea #6 Make and Do To-Dos You Like To Do

�  You know what to do so make a To Do list every day �  Do what’s easy first so you can cross things and feel

good that you did something �  If you don’t get to important stuff you don’t really

want to do, put it on your list again tomorrow

�  If you never seem to get to it stop putting it on your To Do list and you won’t feel bad you didn’t do it

Procrastinators Idea #7 You Can’t Teach An Old Dog New Tricks

�  Self Improvement, Mentoring, Coaching, Strategy and Behavior Consultants take time and cost money �  You’ve already gotten this far �  You can watch a YouTube video instead

�  Why pay a lot of money for advice that you aren’t going to follow anyway? Keep the money and consider it “cost savings”

Procrastinators Idea #8 It’s Called “Social” Media, Not “Productivity” Media

�  Beware measuring the time you spend on Social Media v. Results … �  Cute kitten videos, obnoxious political observations,

congratulatory birthday and anniversary messages are surely more important than monetized business

�  Obsess over your profiles and web sites every day because it will eventually possibly lead to something

Procrastinators Idea #9 KPIs Should Be Killer Procrastination Ideas

�  Instead of worrying about finding and tracking Key Performance Indicators take time to ponder new and creative ways to Procrastinate and congratulate yourself on the creativity!

Procrastinators Idea #10 It’s Not A Lie If You Believe It’s True”

--George Costanza

�  Lying to yourself keeps you in practice for when you will lie to others, hey, anything worth doing is worth doing well

Summary �  Reinforcing your inner liar and outward

procrastinator can help keep you exactly where you are…maybe that’s where you want to be?

�  Goals, Purpose, Behavior Planning, Measurement and Accountability are a lot of work and might make you feel bad so do it tomorrow or...

Don’t worry, Be happy! …

Unless you want something else, like increased success, wealth and self-esteem?

Success Worksheet Complete the following thoughts…

About my future success I believe:

I create and manifest success because:

I will find new clients/customers/opportunities with a written prospecting plan that will have me: 

My action plans identify specific things I have to do in quantity and/or frequency including:

I will track and learn and modify my actions by measuring:

I will improve my time management by:

I have a plan to market my services by:

I know I can learn and improve, I will engage that opportunity by: 

Having identified my Key Performance Indicators I know they are: 

I will recognize my strengths and challenges and take steps to maximize the former and mitigate the later, examples:

Contact Info

Tom Fox President MyEureka Solutions LLC

1315 Park Ave. Mamaroneck, NY 10543 P: 917 539-6617

tom@myeurekasolutions.com www.myeurekasolutions.com @TomFoxTrainer

What is RTA? Based in Westchester County, NY, Rising Tides Alliance (RTA) is a networking organization that believes networking should be more than handing out a business card or coaxing referrals. The true giver knows that the tide raises all ships and allows you to be a person of value to others while doing very well for yourself.

�  Monthly member business to business networking

�  Meet 2nd Wednesday of each month at The Briarcliff Manor, Ossining, NY

�  Additional once-monthly small group or one-on-one Deep Dive networking

�  Business Programs in Sales and Key Operating Issues

�  Regular Member Expert Panels and Presentations

Membership Info Contact:

Perry DiNapoli: 914 804-6234

perry@thebriarcliffmanor.com