It’s time for you to go on the defensive and tackle this self-defeating habit. 

Tip1: Start on the most basic level by treating your body and mind to a system of reward and punishment.  When you complete a goal as stated reward yourself generously.  When you procrastinate, you get nothing.  Not only does this train your mind to work harder, it also provides motivation for when you work—to get to the finish line and claim your reward! 

Tip 2: Another tip that might prove helpful is to try and break down large projects.  Some people’s natural inclination is to avoid large projects; they seem very daunting at first glance.  However, once you break large projects into smaller pieces, it is easier to get started and manage.  Take one day’s worth of activity and break it apart into smaller goals. 

Tip 3: It will also help to prioritize your assignments.  Make a list of all your things-to-do and put them in order of importance. The activities that have the highest probability of helping you achieve your goals would be ranked as the most important.  Now as you finish each task you can cross off items as you complete them.  This will help you organize your workload. 

Tip 4: Don’t underestimate the advantages that enlisting a friend or acquaintance might bring.  When you get someone else involved, you are essentially tag teaming your way to success.  Two heads are always better than one, especially when you are accountable to that other person.  Fighting such a battle on your own can be difficult, but when you bring in someone else to help fend off the threat of procrastination, your odds are improved. 

Remember that procrastination never pays off for anyone, whereas when you take certain action—even if it’s unsuccessful—you can always learn from the outcome.  Procrastinators are simply everyday people with big dreams who need a little push in the right direction.  Work with someone that you can rely on to help you overcome procrastination and achieve all your goals and ultimately enjoy what is important to you.

For help with this concept, choose from the many high-value and high-content tele-seminars for only $27 USD that can be found by going to: http://www.accountabilitycoach.com/bw/resources_teleseminars.php  

Posted: February 8th, 2010 under High Pay-off Activities, Procrastination, Time Management.
Comments: none

One of my clients gave me a book, The War of Art, by Steven Pressfield. I found a great passage on page 22 of this book that I thought you would enjoy and get value from reading.

“The most pernicious aspect of procrastination is that it can become a habit.  We don’t just put off our lives today; we put them off till our deathbed.  Never forget: This very moment, we can change our lives. There never was a moment, and never will be, when we are without the power to alter our destiny. This second, we can turn the tables of Resistance.”

Procrastination has become and is a ‘habit’ for many of us. It is a habit that typically doesn’t serve us well. It is a habit that can and probably should be changed to something that positively helps us fulfill what is truly important to us in life. Think about you and if you procrastinate and if you want to change this habit for something better.

Posted: February 5th, 2010 under Choices, Procrastination.
Comments: none

Enjoy the interview with Rick Barrera about why he joined forces with Bachrach & Associates and the benefits to Advisors.

Rick is a marketing expert and author of “Non-Manipulative Selling,” “Collaborative Selling,” and “The Dollars and Sense of Service Delivery.”  Penguin has just released the second edition of his book, “Overpromise AND Overdeliver: How to Design and Deliver Extraordinary Customer Experiences” which has made both the Business Week and Wall Street Journal best sellers lists.  Each year he works with leading organizations such as Intel, Lexus, JD Edwards, Harley-Davidson, General Electric and Hewlett Packard helping them reach new levels of excellence. He is now working with Bachrach & Associates.

Find out for yourself the benefits of this joining of forces between Bill and Rick.

To listen to this interview with Rick Barerra, go to: http://www.baivbfp.com/assets/audio/mp3/barrera/index.php

Posted: January 13th, 2010 under High Pay-off Activities, Leverage Resources.
Comments: none

The choices you make every minute of every day influence the life you live and the person you are. Make them wisely.

“Hmmmm, will I have that bowl of almond mocha ice cream, or not?” Almond mocha ice cream is my all-time favorite, so the choice is harrowing.

I can choose to eat the bowl of ice cream, knowing I’ll have to spend an extra 30 minutes or more on the treadmill tomorrow, or I can choose to forego the ice cream and feel sorry for myself for at least the next hour or so.

Heck! I choose to eat the ice cream anyway, knowing that I may as well have rubbed the entire bowl straight on my belly, but also accepting the fact that the price I will pay for 2 minutes of glorious ice cream today is 30 minutes or more of hard push on the treadmill tomorrow.

Nevertheless, I made the choice and I take full responsibility for making a choice that may not have necessarily been the right one.

That’s what making choices is all about – taking full responsibility for our actions.

As Ann Weber, a psychologist from North Carolina says, “Choice is uncomfortable, because it makes us feel responsible. The advantage of indecision is being blameless, but the disadvantage is a life out of control.”

The more choices you make, and the more you realize the world won’t fall apart either way, the more control you gain over your life.

Why Can’t I Make Choices?

A research team from Berkeley University in California identified 4 personality types who avoid decision making. Do you fall into one of these categories?

Perfectionists: are people who avoid making choices altogether rather than risk making a mistake.

Non-compromisers: are people who want it all and feel compromised if they have to give up anything.

Freedom lovers: are those who, confronted with several options, don’t want to commit to just one. They want their options to remain open.

Dependants: are people who trust other’s opinions more than they trust their own.

The common denominator amongst all these personality types is a lack of self-esteem.

Although lack of self-esteem can often be traced back to childhood behavioral conditioning; as an adult, you have the power to CHOOSE whether you want to live a life huddled at the back of the pack, not brave enough to stand up and be counted. Or you can CHOOSE to live with exuberance, joy and the supreme knowledge that you can make a difference in the world.

Making Choices That Matter

Whether we like it or not, we all make choices all the time; consciously and subconsciously, hard decisions and easy decisions, choices that not only affect us but those around us, life altering decisions and choices that, in hindsight, took us down the wrong path. But hey… that’s life!

As human beings, it’s often easier to choose the path of least resistance. After all, we are creatures of habit, so if it’s habitual for you to cocoon yourself inside your comfort zone, then it’s highly likely you’ll always choose the “soft option”.

But living a life of quiet desperation is a choice, and people who choose to live life in this way have to take on the responsibility for making that choice.

On the other hand, there are those of us who accept that making choices isn’t always easy and isn’t always comfortable, but want to live a life ripe with new opportunities, new visions, new adventures and new challenges.

Challenges allow us to grow and learn from the experiences we encounter.

Consider this: life doesn’t just happen. The life we choose to lead is dictated by the choices we’ve made in the past, those we make today and those we’ll make in the future.

To live an extraordinary life, we need to understand and focus on what we want to achieve, and then make choices that will ultimately lead us to the goals we want to attain.

Posted: January 11th, 2010 under Choices.
Comments: none

Leadership is not a popularity contest. In business as in life, it’s not always the good guy who wins, it’s the guy who makes the good decisions.

Business leaders are forced to make choices every day. Some of those decisions will prove to be highly successful and innovative; some will dissipate into thin air; some may cause dissention in the ranks, while others may have staff believing they have a chimpanzee in the CEO’s office.

In the current dynamic and rapidly evolving business world, decisions often have to be made rapidly and without the benefit of a strategic agenda for managing change.

Therefore, to enable every form of management to act with agility and clarity in the face of opportunities or risks to that business, a precise, rapid-fire and manageable decision-making action plan needs to be implemented. This applies to every form of business, from small and mid-size companies to large corporations.

In most cases, the decision makers don’t have the luxury of a “wait and see” policy. In that time, multi-million dollar opportunities have been and gone.

A recent survey of corporate executives by a faculty of the Harvard Business School found that an enormous shift has occurred in the policy making decisions of those responsible for signing off on the expansion and profit potential of corporate America.

The survey indicated that 59% of executives in strategic planning roles had adopted new decision making agendas to meet the economy’s need for rapid change and their company’s desire to remain at the cutting edge of advancement and acquisition policies.

The research findings suggested that 10 points are necessary to provide the required maneuverability and flexibility required to keep pace in a rapidly evolving marketplace.

The 10 skills required are:

1. Improvement in Information Technology

A disciplined and focused information gathering facility is fundamental to the decision making process.

Informed decisions can only be made when senior management has the necessary data available, and that data has to be structured in such a way that the key points are logical, visible and measureable.

The requirement for improved information flow has been met by the provision of new technologies like interactive Intranet facilities and CMS (Customer Management Systems).

These technologies provide metadata tagging and improved archive and retrieval systems, making the process of information retrieval efficient and timely for all employment tiers.

1. Streamlining the Decision Making Process

Gone are the days when management decisions had to be streamed through a chain of command.

The decision making process has been accelerated by developing a strategic planning committee made up of those who have a stake in the ultimate decision(s). The participants in these committees change according to the scope of the project and the desired outcome.

These cross functional strategic development committees meet on a regular basis to review and monitor all aspects of a decision-in-progress so that a timely outcome can be achieved.

1. Clear and Precise Responsibilities

In a company that requires high performance results, everyone from the janitor to the CEO has a clear mandate defining his or her primary responsibilities, role and function within the group.

Control mechanisms such as operating procedure manuals and individual job description documents ensure consistency and security in job performance, communication and feedback.

1. Results Oriented Environment

In a highly functional organization, work is about getting the job done to the best of your ability and achieving the required results.

The focus is on a team-oriented environment where every individual has a role in defining the end result. This requires that all employees have a clear vision about the company’s policies and values and they accept full responsibility for his or her value in the hierarchy.

1. Decentralized Decision Making

A top-heavy, centralized decision making company is slow to react to change in a rapidly evolving environment.  The efficient flow of information is halted by gridlocks and hurdles that prevent the timely receipt of relevant information by the primary decision makers.

A more autonomous hierarchy with the power to make decisions based on the employee’s level of expertise and experience and with the knowledge of the company’s strategic agenda creates a fertile and efficient flow of information.

1. The Political Factor

Company politics destabilizes and interrupts the overall efficiency of a business.

By adopting precise business procedures and processes and adapting a more creative base for measurement of decision making and conflict resolution, a company can minimize political interference.

1. Intuitive vs Logical Response

Making decisions that result in a positive outcome for the business relies on a healthy mix of logical analysis and well-informed intuitive skills.

Rather than basing intuition on simple “gut feel”, intuitive analysis is based on knowledge, experience, practice and the outcome of past decisions made in similar circumstances.

One of the qualities of a good leader is their ability to make decisive choices based on limited information.

1. Too Much Information

One of the major barriers to a company’s ability to make decisions in a limited time span is a desire for over analysis of too much information.

Effective decision making is hampered not only by information overload, it can also be paralyzed by over analysis of that information.  I’ve heard it said that, “A confused mind says no.”

If the correct processes and procedures are adopted as company policy, the provision of unnecessary information overload can be avoided.

1. Results, Rewards and Recognition

An effective decision making team requires acknowledgement when the results of their decisions prove to be advantageous to the organization.

Similarly, decisions that have adversely affected the company’s performance or outcome also need to be acknowledged. In this situation, it is important for the decision makers to analyze the factors that led to the decision and take preventative measures so the outcome isn’t repeated.

It is simply human nature to get it wrong from time to time; not even the strongest and most powerful leaders get it right 100% of the time. However, it takes a strong leader to admit he or she was wrong and that it is necessary to “go back to the drawing board” to analyze where and what went awry.

 10. Communication

A dynamic and focused company well equipped for the demands of the 21^st century will usually have a strategic agenda that includes open communication channels from the top down.

In this age of advanced technology and telecommunication, there is no reason why employees involved in decision making processes should not have access to all the information required.

Outdated hierarchical structures that limit the flow of information on a “need to know” basis find themselves crippled by decisions made without the provision of correct or up-to-date information, or through indecision caused by a weighted top-heavy structure.

Transparent and open communication across all platforms enables both the company and its employees to operate in an environment where comments, feedback and conflict resolution can be handled efficiently, rapidly and without upheaval. 

How will you apply, improve, or change your business tactics in order to put yourself in the highest probability position to achieve your goals?  Update your game plan and implement these new decisions for increased success.

Posted: January 6th, 2010 under Choices, Effective and Efficient Behavior.
Comments: none

Don Hutson wrote this great article in his newsletter and I thought it was perfectly on point so thought you would benefit from reading it also.

Identify and Obliterate the Six Obstacles to Success!

Don Hutson wrote: “I once heard legendary business guru W. Clement Stone say in a speech at a Positive Thinking Rally that “My personal mission is simple; I want to change the world and make it a better place in which to live.”  Now THAT is a vision!  As a philanthropist, he gave away millions of dollars and did just that.  There is a lot to be said for having a significant and noble vision.  What is your “magnetic compelling purpose”?  Have you ever had a dream that was so all-consuming that you wouldn’t give up until you made it happen?  That kind of resolve gets results. 

Let’s start with your New Year’s Resolutions… It is easy to get excited about resolutions and the promises they afford us on January 1st.  Here’s the question; “Are we excited enough to get really serious about the process and ultimately follow through to completion?”  Studies have proven that goals and resolutions barely exist until we get them in writing.  When we go to document it begins to be real and viable!

You can see it, show it to others, or display it on your refrigerator as a reminder.  When we don’t write resolutions down they are much like the wind – here for the moment then gone forever.  Here are six barriers that keep our resolutions from becoming a reality.  Let’s consider them along with some solutions, to help us all make 2010 a great year!
1.  Lack of Clarity … The more detail you attach to a goal or resolution, the more likely you are to follow through on it.  Describe it with whys (for the purpose of ..), whens (completion dates and interim progress dates), whats (including mention of your current reality, and what the end game will look like upon completion), and any other details that will help you vividly see the vision.  Don’t worry;  you can’t overdo the detail!  Lack of detail equals lack of clarity.

2.  Lack of Commitment … When you are serious enough to write resolutions down and share them with others, it is your way of making a commitment to the process.  We simultaneously put the universe on notice that this is our intent.  Goethe said “The moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too.”  Your discipline to follow through demonstrates your continued commitment.
3.  Lack of Belief … Human behavior is the result of the human belief system.  If you believe your resolution is doable, believe you have a strategy to make it happen, and believe in yourself, you can’t miss.  It is the person filled with doubt who fails to go to the next step.  This is no time to be timid.  BE BOLD!  Share your resolutions with others! This helps reinforce your belief that you can do it.
 
4.  Lack of Passion … Vision without action is hallucination!  Fire in the belly propels you toward action and results.  Step number one is having the courage to get started on your clarified resolutions. Get fired up about getting started and go for it!  Seeing even a marginal amount of progress is all it takes to inspire you to take the next step.
 
5.  Lack of Congruence … Your resolutions need to be in sync not only with your belief system, but also with your other goals, and your assessment of your capabilities.   If it is too outlandish or unrealistic, the incongruence of it will short-circuit your belief in your ability to get it done.  It will be a non-starter.  Make it as significant as you can and still believe you can do it.
 
6.  Lack of focus … Writing down clarified resolutions is the beginning of an exciting process, if we can keep our focus.  Cavett Robert defined character as “the ability to carry out a worthwhile resolution long after the mood in which it was made has left you”.   Can you vow to stay focused on the vision?  Schedule specific follow through actions for specific times to help keep you connected.  The difference between high performers and mediocre producers is a focused intensity accompanied by the determination that you will not be denied!

Few people realize the power and potential which are derived from crafting one’s “Magnetic Compelling Purpose”.  During times of challenge like these, people tend to gravitate either toward scarcity or abundance.  The majority who go toward scarcity are focused on problems and the negative aspects of their existence.  Those who go toward abundance are more focused on possibilities and progress, and that prosperity consciousness is what inspires many people to take the actions that propel them into the next realm of their life.  This is not about who your daddy is, or where you went to school, or how old you are.  Freedom to excel in America is your individual birthright.
 
If you can articulate what your “Magnetic Compelling Purpose” is, put it in writing, and fine-tune it, you are on your way.  Serious resolutions and statements of purpose tend to cause one to behave the way the person they hope to become behaves.
 
Take action today on your written plan for success in 2010 and beyond!”   

Okay, now it is time…. Get busy and make 2010 your best year ever!

Posted: January 5th, 2010 under Choices, Effective and Efficient Behavior, Tell the Truth.
Comments: none

You might have heard it said: “If nothing changes, nothing changes….”

If you really want and are committed to making 2010 a fantastic year, what do you have to do better, different, or change?  Do you have to increase your commitment and desire to achieve what you want this year?  How badly do you really want what you say you want?

For some, the odds are not in your favor. You lose focus, priorities change, it is too much work, life happens, and the resolutions become once again, not worth the paper they’re written on.

Effective time management will help you start out on the ‘right’ foot.  Decide how the ideal day, week, month would look in order to achieve your goals.  Put those activities on your calendar.

Consistently repeating high pay-off activities will help ensure you are on the path to goal achievement.

Don’t look at your New Years Resolutions as New Years Resolutions – look at them as changes that put you in the highest probability position to achieve your 2010 goals.  They are things that become part of the way you do things from here on out. 
Get an accountability coach. Having to talk to a coach, on a consistent basis, who will hold you accountable immediately improves the odds of you achieving your goals. An accountability coach will help keep you focused and on track so you have an even higher probability of goal achievement – professional and personal. It’s too easy to let the crisis of the day or little distractions and interruptions alter your ideal day activities you have on your calendar. Having an accountability coach provides the accountability you need to enable you to do the things you know need to be done, but just keep making excuse after excuse and therefore letting your goals and dreams slip away.

Have a game plan and execute it. Winging it and not having a game plan isn’t going to help you achieve your 2010 goals. You have a much better chance of achieving your professional and personal goals when you have a game plan that you can execute on a consistent basis.
Are you going to get to the end of this year and say to yourself, I wish I would have….. so I could have achieved my goals?  Change the way you have been doing things to get the outcome you desire.  What will you change today, this week, this month?  Make 2010 a fantastic year and live your life with no regrets from this day forward.  Let me know how I can help.

Posted: January 4th, 2010 under Accountability, Choices, Goal Setting, No Longer Acceptable, Time Management.
Comments: none

There are also two types of procrastinators to consider. 

1. The first can be called a relaxed procrastinator.  This person tends to view their responsibilities (or perhaps their opportunities) in a negative light.  They then try and avoid these responsibilities by redirecting their energy into other tasks—usually mundane tasks that offer nothing else but a quick distraction from the more important goal.  You could say that this type of procrastination is a form of denial.  The person may not even want help from others because they are only craving instant gratification.  This is the type of person that may dream of better things but decide in the end that it’s not worth pursuing because they don’t want to do the real work.  It is much easier to do less or just a little than all the work the goals require to achieve it.  It is easier to do the easy things first and put the harder, but more impactful things off until some other time.

2. The second type of procrastinating personality is known a “tense-afraid” type.  This person is not motivated by instant gratification or laziness; rather they seek to avoid anxiety.  They are easily overwhelmed by responsibility and pressure.  It doesn’t help that they tend to have no concept of time, can struggle with self-esteem, and are unsure about their long-term goals.  When a person is unsure about their long-term goals, then setting short ones and following through on them can be twice as difficult.  The goals they do come up with are often highly unrealistic and the result is just more stress—the normal anxieties associated with life, plus the anxiety that comes from putting off important issues.

If you have a problem with procrastination, then first try analyzing your present circumstances.  Determine first, if you are happy with the ways things are progressing. If not, then agree that it is time to make some changes.  Reevaluate the goals you have and start setting more goals. Then create a progressive plan that gets you to where you want to be (personally and professionally) and within a timeframe that is doable. 

For help with this concept, choose from the many high-value and high-content tele-seminars for only $27 USD that can be found by going to: http://www.accountabilitycoach.com/bw/resources_teleseminars.php  

Posted: December 29th, 2009 under Choices, Procrastination.
Comments: none

Have you ever wondered why you procrastinate on some things and not others? For those of you who are familiar with procrastination, the issue is how can you stop procrastinating and start taking action? Before you read over some common tips, first try and analyze your own circumstances. Remember that most cases of procrastination are caused by some primary motivations.

First, the person may be carrying self-limiting beliefs. When a person has a self-limiting belief he or she will make excuses on why the idea for change wouldn’t work and why it’s not even worth trying. You might say that procrastination is the last resort to avoid taking action. Stop procrastinating and start taking action so you can achieve your goals and experience the kind of life you truly want.

For help with this concept, choose from the many high-value and high-content tele-seminars for only $27 USD that can be found by going to: http://www.accountabilitycoach.com/bw/resources_teleseminars.php

Posted: December 22nd, 2009 under Choices, Procrastination.
Comments: none

If you are visual, visualize your high pay-off activities (HPA) as those things that are the most important or the biggest things among the things you have to do. So let’s say they are bricks compared to the other things which are marbles. If you have a jar, fill the jar with the most important things which are your HPAs and then fill in the marbles with the rest of the time you have. If you fill in the jar with the marbles or smaller and not as important things first, then you don’t have as much room for the bricks or the high pay-off activities.

Many times it is easier to do your lower pay-off activities first and it may even take less time. However, you only have a finite amount of time so in order to achieve your goals, you need to focus on doing your highest pay-off activities first. The jar is a specific amount of time so you have to get as many bricks in as possible before filling the rest of your time with the marbles.

Apply this concept to creating your ideal calendar and make effective time management a priority so you can be on the path to achieve your goals.

For help with this concept, obtain the tele-seminar on this topic for only $27 USD. You can find it and other high-content, high-value tele-seminars at: http://www.accountabilitycoach.com/bw/resources_teleseminars.php

Posted: December 16th, 2009 under Choices, Effective and Efficient Behavior, High Pay-off Activities.
Comments: none