Procrastination is just the time between actions. So the obvious answer is to shorten the time between actions. But the question is, WHY do we take so long between actions? If your answer is OVERWHELM then I can help you right now.
I remember going to my first direct response marketing conference in Houston, Texas. This was a ‘super-conference’ event run by a guy named Dan Kennedy. There must have been 700 people attending so I assumed he would be good. In short, the event was fantastic but there were a LOT of ideas. The problem was that every concept was basic to everyone else; as a first timer, I was having to learn everything from A to Z while the rest of the room already had A to M down, making the top up from N to Z manageable.
That’s how it seemed anyway.
By day two, I had received so much paper and information, and my mind was chasing so many of these new ideas that it just shut down. I was sitting in my chair like a water barrel, completely full and unable to take another drop.
So there I still sat for two hours on day three and then had to walk outside. There was no point staying anymore because now I could not even take notes. I could not complain about the value, only my ability to absorb any more.
If you ever feel overwhelmed like that when going through my modules, then I sympathize with you. I was there once, too. We have SO many ideas about what we can do that the brain freezes with all the subconscious processing.
The secret is PRIORITIZATION of ideas and CHUNKING DOWN. As soon as you see an action that makes you feel, ‘Oh, I don’t know how to get started,’ then you need to break it down.
For example, the action ‘complete a Monkey’s Fist’ might be an overwhelming chunk because it has too many unstipulated actions. So break it down:
EXAMPLE: Complete Monkey’s Fist
- Identify the ‘hottest’ topic or question that my niche wants answered (for example, Rachel Burton of Swallowtail Architecture identified a question about cost);
- Come up with a title (‘How to work out the cost of your X project’);
- Provide the answer to the question (you might create an Excel spreadsheet people can plug basic numbers into that calculates a rough price range).
All of a sudden, we are unstuck. Notice how all of these actions are fairly simple and DO-able? That is the secret … break it down. If you cannot do a breakdown on any chunk and you are a member of any of our academies or training programs, then email us and ask us to break down the steps for you.
Is there anything else that can ensure consistent and highly productive marketing activity each and every month? My goodness, YES. This so SO simple even I can do this.
Rather than constantly expecting yourself to start new random marketing initiatives all the time, identify the two or three things you are going to do every month and create a standard operating procedure (SOP) for them.
Let’s say you understand the value of referrals, and you decide you want to at least send a newsletter every month to these potential influencers and power referrers.
Next, you decide you will also meet two of these people for coffee or lunch each month. While that may be only two marketing chunks, there are a lot of little activities you need to remember to do so that these events happen. CHUNK it down.