By Jeff Beals
“The master of making copies.”
That’s how co-workers described a sales rep I recently met while visiting one of my client companies. I won’t say what industry the guy works in, because it doesn’t really matter. Suffice it to say that the sales rep in question is good with clients. He knows his company and his products. His only problem is a perpetual tendency to hesitate. He does not take quick action.
This interaction was timely, because I have been thinking a great deal lately about proactivity and avoiding procrastination espcially a certain kind of procrastination you could call, “over preparation.”
Think of it as “getting ready to get ready” or “preparing to prepare.”
In other words, some people can become practically paralyzed by over preparation.
Over preparation is a tricky form of procrastination, which in turn, is a form of perfectionism. A perfectionist procrastinator does not want to act until everything is perfect and every detail ironed out. The problem is that nothing is ever perfect. If taken to an extreme, a perfectionist procrastinator will never stop preparing to prepare or getting ready to get ready.
Perfectionism/procrastination isn’t the only challenge busy professionals face each day. As the demands on our time grow, we need be razor-focused and make time our ally instead of our enemy.
In order to achieve your goals, you must develop superior time management skills. Time is the world’s most precious resource.
If you need more investment capital, you can find it. If you need more talented people to work for you, you can find them. Unfortunately, you can never find more time. It is finite. It is fleeting in nature. Once it is gone, it can never be recovered. Time is also a great equalizer – rich or poor, stupid or brilliant, everyone has the same number of hours in the day.
Nobody actually perfects the art of time management. With dedication and practice, however, you can come close. The problem is that most people find time management to be quite difficult. There are so many tempting time wasters in our lives. What’s more, it tends to be more fun to waste time than conserve it.
Entire books have been written and semester-long courses have been taught about the intricacies of time management, but one of the best ways to manage time is to minimize the biggest time wasters:
- Worrying
- Television
- Excessive social media, internet and video games
- People interruptions when it’s time to focus
- Procrastination/perfectionism
- Inability to say “no”
- Lack of planning
- Failing to put first things first
- Disorganization
- Too much socializing
Now, none of this is to imply that you must extinguish all fun from your life. That would be a mistake, for fun-haters don’t live as long and don’t lead as meaningful of lives.
We just need to schedule our enjoyable activities carefully. We need recreation in life, but recreation becomes rather meaningless if we’re not working actively and diligently the rest of the time.
Ultimately, no one but you should be able to control your time and how you use it. If you allow people to abuse your time, they will do it happily. People can be rather obnoxious when it comes to time usurping.
Management theorist Peter Drucker once said, “Until we can manage time, we can manage nothing else.”
Jeff Beals shows you how to find better prospects, close more deals and capture greater market share. Jeff is an international award-winning author, sought-after keynote speaker, and accomplished sales consultant. A frequent media guest, Jeff has been featured in Investor’s Business Daily, USA Today, Men’s Health, Chicago Tribune and The New York Times.”
Here’s Why Should You Choose Jeff Beals as Your Next Speaker:
“Jeff Beals has presented four different topics at five of our internal events in 2016. At each event, the audience of commercial real estate principals and agents was completely engaged and motivated the entire time. Jeff facilitates his training sessions in such a way that each member of the audience was able to relate and understand how to apply it every day in the field. Jeff is brilliant, and we have hired him to continue speaking at our events in 2017!” – Lindsay Fierro, Senior Vice President, NAI Global, New York, NY
“Your workshop was a huge experience for our attendees by giving them the opportunity to improve their work in the critical environment in which we are living today. Your talent as a speaker and your qualities as a person made the difference during your time with us. I would certainly recommend you to anyone who asks.” – Ana Paula Costa, Educational Planner, Febracorp, Sao Paulo, Brazil
I’m in Phoenix and had breakfast earlier this morning with our semi-retired sales representative who is doing some continued work for us here. He attended your sales meeting last week and told me that in 43 years of selling, you were the best he had ever heard. Thanks for a great experience.” – Drew Vogel, President & CEO, Diamond Vogel Paints, Orange City, IA
“Our corporate partnership team had great takeaways regarding how to network smarter while also understanding the importance of our personal brand to current and prospective partners. Jeff does a great job weaving in real-world examples and how you can apply his teachings to growing your business and building long-term partnerships.” – Jason Booker, Senior Director of Corporate Sponsorships, The Kansas City Royals Major League Baseball Team
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