One of the best ways to combat it is with Mark Joyners Simpleology course. The daily repetition of affirmations will cause changes in your life.

If the tape that plays in your head is always fearful and negative, you will be negatively affected. The good news is that the opposite is also true.

I follow a very similar set of guidelines myself!

David Allen’s GTD is really an awesome system. It does enable clarity or *mind like water*.

In his book, he recounts how many executives have a tremendous creativity release once their “psychic RAM” is freed up. GTD is a great action management system. It enables contextualized prioritation and it is a disciplined system. Follow it and you won’t have many problems in the way of procrastination.

Rather try purposeful procrastination—put off those things that you know don’t provide any value. Think that is a Brian Tracy line. Heh!

I do have to agree that one of the biggest problems most of us business owners have is not putting together a system for our businesses. And you are right that having a system in place - with documented formats for explaining how to do every single different task really does revolutionize your business.

One of the things I that struck me was what was said about “is this something I really need to do?” Because as entrepreneurs and business owners a lot of the time we get stuck in a rut of being used to handling most of the work in our businesses ourselves.

And listening to what you were saying when you started listing job descriptions - I suddenly had one of those “light bulb” moments - and as soon as I’ve finished posting this comment, I’m going to go back to doing something that’s going to make me money…I’m going to create job descriptions for all those tasks that are really not a part of what makes me money. And then I’m going to create a process for doing those tasks. And then I’m going to start outsourcing them.

I was curious though about outsourcing in the Philippines - how do you find a trustworthy person and how do you get started?

One last comment that I wanted to make is that Albert Einstein said that the definition of insanity is “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” And the quickest way to succeed in any endeavor is to follow the footsteps of someone who is already successful.

Your comments about immersion were also interesting. Immersion has been proven to be the fastest way to learn a new language. (My kids learned French and began speaking like natives after about 6 months in a French school.)

And when you were talking about getting stuck (feeling bottlenecked) it made me think about a friend of mine who was up against several important deadlines. She knew what she needed to do, but she wasn’t doing any of them, because she felt overwhelmed by how much needed to be done.

So I asked her which one was “the” most important - and when she told me, we started brainstorming the step she needed to take first. And then the next one. And the one after that.

What was so great is that the longer we talked, the more excited she got. She actually started working on it while we were still on the phone - and by the time we hung up, she was almost a third of the way through.

She emailed me today - it’s done, she feels great and she’s completely out of overwhelm. In fact, she’s already starting on the next project on her list.

So that would be my suggestion for anyone who’s feeling like they’re bottlenecked. Step back for a bit. Get on the phone with a colleague, a friend or a mentor. Get yourself a coach. Whatever it takes.

Then start with whatever project is the most important to you. Break it down into easy-to-do steps. If you don’t have everything that you need, figure out what that is and what you have to do to get it. And then take the first step.

I think that’s one of those “secret sauces” you were talking about.

Oh - and your “following the formula” idea? That one’s so simple that a lot of people probably missed it - and yet I think it’s one of the most important! Great audio file - thanks for sharing it with us!

Whether their rolodex, their mind, or their bank accounts, seminars have so many expansion opportunities they are almost unparalleled.

Sadly, probably 95% of seminar attendees experience overwhelm and wallet drain at these events because they are:

a) filled with so much valuable information; or
b) hype-filled pitch-fests; or
c) both!

Here is my advice to anyone going to a seminar, so that you get the most out of it.

1. Have a strategic objective going in. Know what you want to accomplish in terms of information you KNOW you need, number of new contacts you want to make, etc.

2. Drink lots of water before, during and after the event. This helps with dehydration as well as fighting off the bugs that always get passed around at these events.

3. Know your spending budget so that you can weigh the buying opportunities as they come up against your budget. That way you won’t end up with $20,000 of products and courses you can’t afford. Also, consider NOT buying at the event. Most of the speakers will still give you a great deal after the fact, even if it is a few hundred dollars more than the seminar price.

4. Have an “Action Book” separate from your notebook. That way, you can take all the notes you want during each speaker’s presentation, but when you get a really great bit of info, you can write it down in your action book to follow up on immediately after the event is over.

5. Plan to leave the day AFTER the event is over. You never know what networking events, spontaneous dinners, etc, will occur on the last night of the event.

I use these tips as a guide at every event I go to. Put them into practice at your next event and you should see your post-event productivity soar.

Paul

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Learn marketing strategy before you ever apply the tactics at http://www.MakeMyMarketingWork.com