You aren’t lazy - you are disoriented.

Back when I didn’t understand procrastination, I used to think of myself as lazy. Which amplified the negative emotions I had for my work, leading to more procrastination. Ironic. But then I understood - procrastination is not laziness. Lazy people don’t beat themselves up over not working enough. Procrastination is you being aware of what you should be doing - and somehow not doing it. It’s being aware that you should call back that potential client - and somehow you end up tweaking your company logo instead. You got lost on the way.

Why?

Because most people pick their tasks wrong.

We avoid stressful tasks because they fill us with anxiety.
We avoid boring tasks because, duh, they are boring.
We waste all our energy finding tasks that are neither dull nor dreadful.

What we should be doing Instead:
Focus on tasks that move us in the right direction.
It feels a bit like building a mountain out of pebbles.

Most people never make it.

Because their brain went into Autopilot mode.

Your Brain on Autopilot

When we think about taking action, we imagine the process to be something like this:

• We make a decision
• We take action

But that’s not how it works.

Taking deliberate action costs us a lot of brain power.
That’s why most human behavior is unconscious and automatic.

You are running on autopilot most of the time.

So is everyone else.
That’s how we end up on the couch instead of the treadmill.
This happens all the time, but we usually don’t notice it.
It’s only when there is a stark contrast between intention and action, that we think:

“Hold up - I shouldn't be doing this right now.”

This is the Intention-Action-Gap.

Deliberate Action is Exhausting

Taking deliberate action looks like this:

• Assess all the things you could/should do
• Pick the one that makes the most sense
• Block out everything else for the time being
• Control your negative emotions related to the task
• Do the task
• Block out distractions
• Finish the task.

All this needs a ton of energy and self-regulation.

If you fail at any one of the steps, your autopilot takes over.

Studies have shown that most people have about 2-4 hours of deliberate, focused work in them.

And that number only goes down:

• If there are lots of distractions
• If people wear many different hats
• If there is emotional stress that sucks up their self-regulation
• If they work in a disorganized environment

Yes, I know you are not “most people”. Neither am I.
But wouldn’t it be easier if your brain's autopilot worked in your favor?

Building Momentum - Stop Starting, Start Finishing

Your autopilot does not have GPS or long-term planning.
He navigates by one thing alone: Dopamine.
How do we get dopamine? By finishing stuff.
Have you ever sat on the couch after deep-cleaning your apartment and had that “Aaaah…”-Feeling?
That’s dopamine. It’s called the “reward chemical” for a reason.
The cool thing about dopamine is that it helps us self-regulate.
The more dopamine we have, the easier we can start a task and block out distractions.
The next time you need to take action it will feel a little bit easier.

This is momentum.

Your autopilot is now working in the same direction as you.

The Downside of Dopamine

There is one catch. Sorry.

The autopilot does not care where the dopamine came from.

Reward chemicals make you crave more of the activity that created them.
That’s why the autopilot often creates momentum in the wrong direction.
Watching an hour of TikTok to charge yourself up for cold calls won’t work.
It will only make you crave (and watch) more TikTok.
Instead, you should find a way to get reward chemicals from doing things that benefit your work.
Convince yourself to do 5 minutes of work instead of 5 minutes of TikTok - you will build momentum in the right direction.

On that note:

If you have ADHD, you find yourself pacing around, smoking a cigarette, eating sweets, or drinking ungodly amounts of caffeine...

... that’s your brain trying to get a hit of dopamine so you can get to work.

Managing Time = Managing Emotions

Let’s face it. Doing sales can be hard on your emotions.
Even the best salespeople get rejected every day.

Negative emotions make you more likely to procrastinate.

So the natural response is blocking them out.
But the more negative emotions you block out, the less energy you will have to block out other distractions. And the less energy you will have to do your work.

(Don't you find it hard to be productive when you're this close to choking someone? 🤏)

The solution here is two-fold:

• free up emotional capacities by removing avoidable stressors from your life. (that includes toxic people)
• learn emotional skills (drawing boundaries, de-stressing, self-soothing, reflection)

Apps and Productivity Tools

I have tried a ton of (sales-)productivity tools and most of them don’t live up to the hype.
I always come back to the basics.

Get a good CRM that is fun and quick to work with.

• (I like Close or Folk)
• This is where I track contact data and client-related tasks and notes

Get a good email client

• (I use Gmail with Superhuman)
• Synch it to your CRM.

Use a To-Do-List

• (I use Notion, but I can also recommend Todoist)
• Synch it to your CRM

Get a good calendar tool

• (I use Google Calendar with Notion Calendar on top)
• Synch it to your CRM

Get a good note taker.

• (I use Notion)
• Copy your relevant notes into the CRM

Get a good scheduling tool

• (I use reclaim.ai, it synchs with Todoist)
• Use this to book calls

Record your calls

• (I use TLDV)

If it helps your autopilot do the right thing - use it!

Bonus:

Use an AI of your choice + a voice dictation tool to create CRM entries and follow-up Emails. It saves a ton of typing.

Solution(s) - How to Beat Sales Procrastination

Write down your tasks as soon as they come up

• Whenever you think “I should do X” - write it down
• Be as specific as possible
• Immediately give it a do-date and an urgency ranking
• Never leave a lead or client without a “Next Task”
• Write down some context so you can start the task right away next time
• If it’s not worth the time to write it down, it’s not worth doing.

Identify a 5-minute sub-task to start with. And be specific!

• Don’t think “Create a presentation for Steve”
• Think: “Create an outline for a presentation for Steve”
• If you can’t be specific about the first 5 minutes, you don’t know enough about the task. Get more context!
• Prioritize finalizing projects. Get things off your table as fast as possible.
• A great way to start any task is by asking an AI to give you an outline

Prioritize and schedule

• Block time in your calendar. Have at least 2 hours of uninterrupted deep-work time per day.
• Schedule tasks in your calendar. Otherwise will find yourself working around your meetings.
• Rest assured: Your other tasks will be waiting for you on your to-do list.
• Most task managers and email apps allow snoozing tasks for a set time - snooze them
• Delegate as much as possible

Control your negative emotions

• Shift your focus away from “How much does this suck?”
• Shift your focus towards “How good will I feel once I am done?”
• If something annoys you, write it down and fix it - or cut it from your life.
• Yes, this goes for toxic people, including clients, “friends” and (romantic) partners.

Block out distractions

• The less you need to switch between apps, places, and people, the less you get distracted
• Try to keep all your work in one place - like a CRM
• Have shortcuts in your browser to save clicks
• Put your phone out of your arm’s reach. (Forward important calls to your computer)
• Turn off all notifications.
• If your work relies on being reactive to instant notifications, change your system.

Start Finishing

• Make sure you finish your tasks
• Your last action is either handing over your work or setting a new task
• If your work ends without you writing down a new task, be suspicious. This is where a lot of work gets lost.
• If you are sending something away, check if the other party received it. (Write it down as a task.)
• If you are waiting for feedback, remind yourself to check in. (Write it down as a task.)
• If something is up for review in the future, write it down as a task.
• If there is a next task (there always is) - you guessed it, write it down.

What‘s next?

My consulting covers everything you need to know about High Ticket Sales.

I teach you:

• How to build a High Ticket Offer
• How to put sales on autopilot
• How to close 10k retainers without flinching

I will also personally kick your ass if you procrastinate. ;)

Book a call with me!

Thank you for reading! :)

Paul