PROCRASTINATION! IT’S AVOIDABLE (A SALESMAN EXPERIENCE)

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Procrastination as we all know and will agree with me is a thief of time, which can make someone to spend most of his life and time doing nothing. Since we all know that the more you procrastinate, the more you need to realize that time waits for no man. That is the reason why I said in the last post I did on this topic that, procrastination and time management work together. Meaning there is no way you will procrastinate that it will not affect your time as an individual.

For the first part of this post kindly click: Why procrastinates?(A Salesman point of view). Talks about the symptoms of procrastination.

Past experience as an insurance salesman has thought me that procrastination can be avoided only if you are ready to following some certain steps which I’m going to talk about in this post. Remember that the steps mentioned here are based on my own personal experience.

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STEPS TO AVOID PROCRASTINATION

1.INNER SEARCH meaning doing a one man meeting with yourself. Put in another word, giving yourself a self-talk. We found out that the reason why a lot of people procrastinate is actually due to lack of self-discipline and focus. Even if you are going to deceive everybody around you. You should be wise enough to know that you cannot deceive yourself (SELF-DECEIT). That is the reason why you now need to talk to yourself now and do the needful without giving excuses.

When you don’t make up your mind about a thing then procrastination is inevitable and that will lead to delay in the achievement of your set goals.

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You need to ask QUESTIONS and proffer honest solutions to them while talking to yourself. DO I REALLY WANT TO DO THIS WORK? ARE MINE REALLY PUTTING MY BEST INTO THIS JOB? Asking questions like this in the place of meditation and proffering honest answers to them is a step forward to overcome procrastination.
Someone said “Obstacles are those things you see when you take your eyes off your goal”. Therefore, search within yourself and find a reason to take that decision without any form of procrastination.

2.IDENTIFY YOUR VALUES. Value in this context means collection of guiding principle; what you deem to be correct and desirable in life, especially regarding personal conduct towards a particular thing or happenings. Your values help you to know; When? Why? What? How? Who?

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For example, if you are a talkative, you should be able to know when you should talk and when you should be quiet. It is not everywhere you get to that you need to talk.

Imagine an extrovert salesman who is now trying to sell a product to an introvert prospect. Something should tell you that you need to control your extrovert temperament. Let your value system regulates your conduct and behavior, like having zero tolerance for procrastination could a part of a man value system. Know it and stick to it.

3.ACCEPT THE PROBLEM AND SOLVE IT meaning if you notice you have a particular negative attitude or wrong value system, all you need to do is to first admit that you have it then look for ways to correct it. Without admit it first you can’t find solution to it.

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Don’t always assume that what you are passing through is general to everybody. Is only peculiar to you, and that is the main reason why you should work on it for your own good. Doing this gives you the opportunity to stand out among the crowd. Accepting that you have a weakness is not bad, but refusing it makes you foolish and stupid (sorry for my language).

4.DEVELOP A PLAN meaning you need to have a strategic plan on ground in order overcomes this negative trait. Develop a to-do list and stick to it very well. Such planning helps you to know what to do at every point in time. One of the best ways to overcome procrastination is to be a good planner. Remember the saying that “he that fail to plan is planning to fail”.

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Proper planning gives you the luxury of many things and options to pick from.
A professional salesperson should know that planning a sales outing starts from home and not in the office. When you have your program properly scheduled and mapped out on a paper, there won’t be room for idleness and weariness. You will find out that you will be doing something at every point in time. With a good plan and act of discipline, procrastination will be minimal.

5.SET PRIORITY FOR YOUR TASK ACCORDING TO THEIR IMPORTANCE meaning let there be a scale of preference. Know which one should come first and which one should be the last. Deal with the major (primary) task before moving to the minor (secondary) task. Make sure none of the tasks is neglected. With this method you will gradually eradicate procrastination.

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6.BREAKDOWN YOUR TASK INTO SEGMENTS meaning let there be a written and documented formation you intend to use in completing the tasks. Try not to do it off head rather let it be written down for reference purposes. Breaking it down into segments help to save cost and time. For example, moving from one location as a salesman to another without proper planning gives room for extra cost. Remember that the goal and target of any business person is to always minimize cost and maximize profit, but in a situation where reverse is the case, such transaction is deemed not profitable.

7.START IMMEDIATELY. Make hay while the sun is still shining. After you have patiently and gradually followed the earlier mentioned steps, the next thing is to START (act) without given any excuses again. The best time to start anything is now and not tomorrow or later. You will need a lot of discipline to stick to this decision of starting immediately.

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8.SET DEADLINES FOR YOURSELF meaning make sure you set a stoppage time for any task you want to embark upon. Doing this helps to achieve and execute more from whatever time you have at your disposal. Remember that time waits for nobody, the clock will keep ticking whether you use the time or not.

In conclusion, there is much assurance and certainty of success for anyone who can keep to all the above mentioned steps in order to overcome procrastination. Note that the place of DISCIPLINE cannot to be overemphasized if anyone wants to achieve result as far as following these steps is concern. You need to leverage on the fact that you have the strength to do it.

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Develop a mental positive picture of the end result in any task you want to embark upon because that’s where your strength for success lies.

“YOUR PICTURE WILL DETERMINE YOUR FUTURE”. Put pressure on yourself to achieve that goal or deadline then procrastination will be a thing of the past in a short time. Don’t forget to always release yourself for change because change is the only constant thing in life and not procrastination.

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Compliment of the season.
@optimistdehinde loves you all. Signing out for now