If you’ve found yourself putting off important tasks over and over again, you’re not alone. In fact, many people procrastinate to some degree, but some are so chronically affected by procrastination that it stops them from fulfilling their potential.  Procrastination can be caused by anything from general loathing of a task, to disorganization, to fear.  With wholesalers, procrastination typically happens with those duties that support the sales process - tasks like entering meeting notes and activity in the CRM, scheduling, creating daily call lists, or preparing for meetings in advance.  There’s no doubt, the sales-support responsibilities aren’t as much fun as being in front of advisors, but these tasks are critical for the ongoing management and growth of your business.  The following technique helps break the cycle of procrastination relieves stress and will improve personal productivity!

The 30-minute imperative:

Have you heard of the women’s fitness chain CURVES?  This company specializes in a 30 minute total body circuit workout and taps into the psychology that EVERYONE has 30 minutes in their day and can do anything for that length of time, no matter how time-crunched you are or how loathed the task may be. The same philosophy can be applied to your practice as you tackle necessary sales-related tasks or your least favorite administrative responsibilities. The 30-minute imperative requires you to take any task, tackle it for 30 minutes and only 30 minutes each day.

Why this works:

•It’s doable and easy—it’s intimidating to be faced with three or four hours of unpleasant, potentially unrewarding work. Thirty minutes, is not nearly as daunting.

•It creates momentum—sometimes it’s not the doing of a given task that’s the issue, but rather the difficulty of getting started. Because 30 minutes is doable and easy, we feel more capable of starting in on the task.

•It keeps bad habits at bay—the trouble with tackling any undesirable task for too long a time is that doing so reminds us of just how unpleasant the task is. By putting a 30-minute cap on your effort, you eliminate the possibility of quitting and giving up.

•It builds tolerance and strength—acting in 30 minute spurts will help build tolerance to any unpleasant task. You will soon find that it’s a breeze to move from 30 minutes to 40 minutes and so on.

•It builds success - because you are doing something, results begin to occur.

Implementing the 30 minute imperative:

•Choose your task or activity—initially pick one and only one that you would like to tackle.

•Schedule it in your calendar—you need to schedule the 30 minutes into each and every day. You need to do this at the beginning of every week and record it in your calendar so you have a daily visual reminder of the allotted time. Usually your best bet is to schedule your 30 minutes first thing in the morning. Get the task over with—otherwise the tendency will be to put it off.

•Focus on the process and not the results—what you’re trying to do is train yourself to do the task and do it regularly. This is the good habit you want to achieve. Sales and other results will start to come as you continue the process.