How To Slay The Dragon Of Procrastination And Do Work That Matters
“When you feel like you’re not productive, it’s not necessarily because you’re lazy or because you have bad habits, it’s because you’re not working on the right projects and you haven’t found the ones that are intrinsically motivating and meaningful to you.”
I don't want to paint a picture that life is awful or being an entrepreneur sucks. But when you don't have a clear sense of what's important to work on, getting lost in the day-to-day is damn right dangerous to the success of your business. It stands in the way of how effective you want to be and everyone needs you to be. It’s procrastination at its worst.
Starting your day without a plan can feel like a foaming-at-the-mouth junk-yard dog nipping at your heels. Each day is a scramble to put some distance between where you are and where you want to be.
Without a clear sense of what to focus on, you're never going to feel like you're moving forward.
You're quick to a state of mental exhaustion, without a direction to aim for. That's why the same depressing thought usually floods our thinking – there must be a better way.
You wonder, how is it possible that you're putting in the hours and yet it doesn't feel like you're getting any closer? You thought you'd be way further than you are now. Your projects are puttering along, not building momentum, so the days feel like a grind. It gives you that feeling of pushing a boulder up a mountain without being able to see how much farther you have to go.
You can't help but feel like you're gasping for air when your projects aren't getting any closer to being done. It comes from that painful realization that maybe you're not approaching them right.
No matter what you do, it's just... it's just never... enough.
Cue the light bulb moment. There's a grand-canyon-wide difference between getting things done and doing work that matters.
Successful entrepreneurs have a very deliberate approach in planning their days, projects, and tasks that need their attention.
People who are clear on what matters and what doesn't, are more productive. And also happier, less stressed, and more rewarded over the long term.
You're probably calling bullshit and wondering how could people do more and also maintain well-being and balance?
It's because when you have clear and challenging goals, you tend to be more focused and engaged – two things that give you a major sense of purpose and enjoyment in what you're doing.
Think of it like this: if you have a junkyard dog chasing you, what's the first thing you need to focus on? A direction to run so you can escape being torn up, spit out and left for dead.
Author, consultant and educator Peter Drucker is credited by BusinessWeek magazine as "the man who invented management." He hit on the first and most crucial rule for entrepreneurs to follow:
"Nothing is less productive than to make more efficient what should not be done at all."
If you want to be a successful entrepreneur you need to identify, focus on and contribute to the outputs that matter in your field.
Brendon Burchard is a New York Times bestselling author and "one of the most influential leaders in personal growth and achievement," according to Oprah. This didn't happen by chance.
Burchard is intentional in everything he does. He credits his success to mastering the art of prolific quality output (PQO). Burchard said that "figuring out what you are supposed to produce, and learning the priorities in the creation, quality and frequency of that output, is one of the greatest breakthroughs you can have in your career."
When Burchard describes why it has the power to be so impactful, he says it's because these people "aim their attention and consistent efforts toward PQO and minimize any distraction (including opportunities) that would steal away from their craft."
Which makes a lot of sense, as he explains, "Real work isn't replying to everyone's false emergencies, shuffling papers, deleting junk emails, posturing to look good, or attending meetings. Real work is producing quality output that matters."
In Burchard's book High Performance Habits, he dug into a simple motto for real work. You can use it as a compass to defining your own PQO:
"If you're honest with yourself, you want to create things that matter. You want to know that a good day's work produces something worthwhile, something that will be part of your important contributions to others and the world, something that shows you care about your craft."
Three prompts to help you identify the outputs that matter most in your business so you can slay the dragon of procrastination (from Brendon Burchard):
The outputs that matter most to my career are…
Some things I could stop doing so I can focus more on PQO are…
The percentage of my weekly time I will allocate to PQO is... and the ways I'll make that happen are...
When it came down to direction for my career, answering these questions gave me laser-focus for my energy. I now knew what should be consuming a majority of my day. There's unmistakable power that comes from intention because you're in the driver's seat. You're not a passenger along for the ride, you're the one choosing the destination.
If I want to be a writer and run a successful blog, the PQO that matters most to my career is writing. I want to create a career with writing as the foundation for the work I do. This includes the thousands of emails, guest blog posts, sales pages, and social media posts I've put together.
My other area is coaching and training. My PQO includes curriculum, training videos and courses – which all in large part come from what I pull together from blogs I’ve already written.
I followed Burchard's advice and wiped everything from my schedule. I had identified what would move the needle on my career and changed my work schedule to reflect that.
Burchard said in the past decade of doing this, dedicating 60 percent of your workweek to your PQO "seems to be the sweet spot where real results start happening for a person's career." And "for most people, the other 40 percent ends up in such buckets as strategy, team management, and the everyday tasks of work or running a business."
I get it, you might not be able to dedicate as much as 60 percent of your time to your PQO. The important part is to find what works for you and stick to it. In the same way that daily exercise is going to lead to better results than going hard once or twice a week. Small habits lead to remarkable results, the very basis of the blockbuster hit Atomic Habits by James Clear.
You're not turning your back on all your commitments, like being a loving partner, a parent, a friend, occasionally bathing or watering your chia pet. There's always going to be a percentage of your time that requires you give attention to these things. I'd argue these things matter more than anything else in the enjoyment of your life.
But, if you want a life beyond the status quo, it involves rearranging your life to focus on outputs that matter. Toss the busy work out with your chia pet.
The absolute best part of focusing on your PQO is that it lets you slay the dragon of procrastination. As Burchard puts it, "procrastination is really a motivation problem. It's an issue that arises because you're not working on things that intrinsically matter to you. If you love what you're creating or contributing to the world, you'll experience less procrastination."
Real work starts as soon as you identify and start working towards what’s important to you.
