When I started my first business I invented 1 years worth of things to do before I could face the important – talking to customers.
Do you know what you need to do but invent new tasks to avoid it? If so then this video is for you:
SUMMARY:
We as humans constantly have voices inside our heads that guide us through decisions in life however when we try to do something important or something challenging those voices tell us to do something else.
When we sit down at our desks in the morning and know our business needs new sales our inner procrastinator tells us to work on our LinkedIn profile or get a haircut and when we need to get a direct mail campaign out the door it tells us to answer email instead.
The secret isn't to ignore these inner voices but harness their power and use them to guide you towards what matters.
Don't listen to what your inner procrastinator is pulling you towards but what it's pulling you away from.
So many entrepreneurs think that successful people don't have procrastinating thoughts and that all their inner voices are telling them to do important things but that's not true.
All of us humans are wired the same and we all have voices inside our heads that try to distract us from doing important or challenging things, the only difference between successful people and normal people is that they listen to their inner procrastinator and see what its trying to pull them away from – then they focus on that.
All of lifes greatest rewards are behind barriers of temporary discomfort and pain and when you hear your inner procrastinator telling you to do something unimportant you know your on the right track – just power through and enjoy the reward on the other side.
Here's The Full Transcript:
Hi, It’s Sam Ovens, and I wanted to shoot this quick video for you to talk about something I think all of us as entrepreneurs are guilty of. And that’s inventing things to do to avoid the important.
So the easiest way I can describe this to you is with the example of a young man and him wanting to ask his crush out on a date. The simple way to ask his crush out on a date would be to simply smile, walk over to her, introduce himself and then ask is she wants to go out on a date. That’s the simple way and what’s important in that situation.
However, what the young man does is that he joins the school football team, he gets really good at football in hope of getting noticed by the girl. He joins the gym and starts working out his body, and he saves up for a new car and always polishing his car — all of this in hopes in her noticing and her coming over to him saying, “I am so and so and would you go out on a date with me?.”
Now I’m sure we both know what method’s the easiest. It would just be simply smile, walk over to the girl, introduce yourself and ask to go out on a date. This would take hardly any time, would take a lot quicker and without focusing on all these other things.
That’s a classic example of inventing things to do to avoid the important. The same is true in business.
I want to tell you a story about the first company I ever started, going back a while now. The first company I ever started was an online job board website which was called promote yourself. You won’t find it online anymore that was ages ago. When I started that company I invented so many things to do in order to avoid the important.
I got the logo perfect, spend 8 months with a developer getting the website looking just amazing. We had tons of features, our graphic design was spot on, our website was mobile responsive, a logo, we had a Facebook page, business cards printed, we even got brochures printed and I even got mugs and shirts printed.
And I did all of this stuff just because I was avoiding what was important. I knew what was important was simply going out to the market and talking to prospective customers and seeing if they were interested in using my website. I knew in my head that’s what was I should be doing but I invented so many things to do in order to avoid that thing. In fact I invented a whole year’s worth to avoid what I could have done on the first day. Finally when I got to that end day the customers told me they didn’t really want it and it wasn’t very useful. I wasted about a whole year of time.
I don’t regret it because it was a huge learning experience but all of that could have been completely avoided If I had just focused on what was really important, which was going out and talking to the customers.
The same is true in business. We constantly invent things to do to avoid the important. I’ve got another example for you as well. This one’s a bit more recent. This is about two years ago when I did my first ever direct mail campaign. I made the letter, got all the envelopes and everything ready, it came time to address them and send them out. I had to put the senders address on the envelope. This time I was working from home.
I was like “I’ve got to put my home address on the senders’ address; what happens when the guy I send it to searches the address and finds that it is a house?”. The important thing would have just been to get the direct mail campaign out the door and just sent it. What I did is that I invented so many things to do to avoid what was important. I decided to go and sign up for a P.O. Box which took me about half a day.Finally got the P.O. Box and I put the P.O. Box right there and I sent them out and I was like, “What happens if they search me at LinkedIn?”. I was like “I’ve got to update my linkedin profile..”. I created another two weeks worth of things to do to avoid the important, which was sending out the direct mail campaign in the first place.
This is what I mean, I gave you the date example, the guy wanting a date. I gave you my Promote Yourself example, on obsessing about logos, brochures, business cards and mugs. And my direct mail campaign where I obsessed about the sender’s address. This is what I’m talking about, we as entrepreneurs are constantly inventing things to do to avoid the important.
Now if this sounds like you, then you’re gonna love this video because there is a way around this and it’s really simple. We as humans, we have this inner voices inside our head that guides us through decisions and things we do in life. When it comes to doing anything actually important in your life, this inner voices pull you away and distract you.
So if you want to go on a run, all this inner voices distracting you from all these other things. Sometimes when I sit down and do something important the inner voices on my head tell me, I should get a haircut, or I should get a new shirt, or I should do things completely irrelevant to what’s important.
There’s a secret to this, there’s a secret to taking control of procrastination and actually getting things done. What you’ve got to do is you’ve got to learn to listen to your inner procrastinator. You’ve got to learn to listen to the voices inside your head and see what they’re distracting you from, instead of listening to the voices inside your head, and your inner procrastinator, and doing those things.
With the example with the boy wanting to invite his crush on a date. If he was to listen to his inner procrastinator, he would join the football team, join the gym, get a new car, and hope to be noticed. That’s listening to your inner procrastinator and actioning what it says. But the right thing to do is to go against it. Listen to the procrastinator, the inner voices, and see what activity or task it’s pulling you away from. Whatever those inner voices are pulling you away from, that’s the secret. That is the thing you should be working on.
When I wake up in the morning, when I had breakfast and everything and I sit down at my desk, I just kind of sit there and let my body and mind feel about what it’s pulling me to do. It might want me to do all these tasks that are irrelevant, and I let that happen, it happens in my mind. I’m still having thoughts of procrastination. But then I figure out what is it trying to pull me away from, and whatever it’s trying to pull me away from, those are the things that I do in the day.
Many entrepreneurs think that successful people don’t have procrastinating thoughts. They think that all of their thoughts just focus on the right thing. That’s not true at all. Successful people they still have those procrastinating thoughts, that’s human nature. That’s completely normal. I don’t think that completely ever changes. The only thing successful people do differently is that they listen to the voices inside their head, they listen to their procrastinator, and they let that guide them to what’s most important, and they work against their procrastinator to complete that task.
This week I want to challenge you, to listen to your inner procrastinator, and think about what's it pulling you away from. Start making a list. Think, what is my inner procrastinator telling me to do and what’s it distracting me from. Whatever that is, that is what you should be focusing on right now. I want to challenge you to do this this whole week and I’m sure you’re gonna have a breakthrough week.
If you’re watching this video anywhere else other than my blog, head over to samovens.com. That’s where lots of videos like this are, that’s where this free resource is, that’s where the comments section is and everyone’s giving feedback and what not. So head over there now, and if you liked this video, leave me some feedback, there’s a comments section below this post, give me a comment, leave me some feedback, tell me what you thought and tell me if this video was valuable.
So that’s it for this video, thanks for watching.
great stuff as always!
Thanks Landon!
I have been guilty of doing this for way too long. Anyway, it’s 5AM here, I’m off to the gym. Thanks for the video Sam.
No problem Henrik, glad you enjoyed it!
Spot on. This is my number one roadblock right now. Ten million things pulling me in different directions totally kills my productivity. Thanks for the kick in the pants.
No problem Andrew, glad this was helpful!
Nicely put Sam. I’ve been working on being more cognizant of what is actually important on my to-do list. Most of all the stuff on the list are just the things keeping me from doing the 1 most important thing in the day. I’ll keep this in mind when I start working in the morning now.
Grayson, that’s awesome! I recommend reading “Essentialism – The Disciplined Pursuit Of Less” It’s an awesome read
Thanks Sam,
Putting things in perspective. There is one that I need to do for sure and I have been fluffing around it. Putting back to the top of the list of things to do now!
Glad this was helpful Patrick!
Once again, great video & advice Sam. Thanks
Thanks Drew!
Wow, this really hit close to home. Great timing for this video. How much BS do we invent to do to not do the important stuff. Thanks for this.
Glad you liked it Matt
Gee, felt like you were talking to me. So true, as i have looked for BS to do after i really pushed myself to actually post lumpies.
Great timing
thanks Same
apologies for name spell Sam.
Glad you liked it Gaone, it’s still true for me too!
Great insight Sam. I don’t know if you are familiar with Brene Brown’s work but while listening to your video, I couldn’t help but hear the multiple similarities between your concept of inner procrastinator and her concept of inner critic. I agree with both, and think sometimes it helps myself to realize why exactly I am even hearing my inner “procrastinator”.
Hey Josh, no I’m not familiar with Brene Brown’s work but will definitely look into it!
Dope info Sam! Always on point!
Waiting for the consulting blueprint to come back around. 😉
Glad you liked it Chris!
This is spot on.
My alarm goes off at 430am so I can workout. Wow, those inner procrastinators are VERY LOUD.
It’s too early. You went to bed late. You need more sleep. You can do it tomorrow. You need time to recover. It’s cold. You’re too comfortable to move. You should turn off the alarm.
What I do is, instead of making excuses NOT to do something – I make excuses TO DO something. Then I do it!
I’m definitely sharing this!
good stuff Sam
Michael, the same thing happens to me even when my alarm goes off at 7am hahaha.
You’re right about making excuses to do something, nobody ever regretted waking up early or going to the gym
Hands down one of the best pieces of advice for entrepreneurs! I constantly find myself focusing on the “unimportant”…this helped a great deal! Thanks, Sam! Your insight and ability to communicate these axioms is well appreciated!
Thanks Jason! Glad you liked it
i deal with this issue everyday, and most of it is make money opportunities and watching other successful millionaires speak on YouTube all day, so instead of me acting like a entrepreneur I feel more like a Wantrepreneur.
Barry, glad this video struck a nerve – it’s important to keep motivated and learn but its also important to implement.
Wow what a humbling video. Here I am, thinking I’m coming up with all these important things that need to be done before “launching” my product. But all I’m really doing is avoiding what’s important.
This one is going to take some practice but completely change my future!
Thanks Sam — on point as always!
Hey Steve, glad you liked the video!
It does take some practice but the trick is to just start and perfect over time
Great insights and I am so guilty of doing this on many occasions. One thing I didn’t hear you mention that helps me tremendously is writing down lists with pen and paper.
Milan, I hear you with writing downs lists, this always helps
Great stuff Sam, thanks, am sharing with my TF team!
No problem Steve
Thank you for the content, Sam. Really glad you touched on the fact that even successful people have this problem. I am going to try to be more cognizant of figuring out what these thoughts are pulling me away from… however, do you think there is a more actionable piece of advice that you could give? Maybe if there was an actual worksheet that you could attach to this video where on one side you write the list of things that are distracting you during the day, and the other side could be the ‘one thing’ that you need to do. Actually the perfect idea for a better to-do list… That way, each time you start doing something that is taking you away from that ‘one thing’ you write it down on the left of the paper, for example, as something NOT to do.
If you didn’t produce this video, I probably wouldn’t have had this idea just now haha… I think I would really find that valuable. Anyone else?
By the way, Essentialism is in my stack of books to read. Glad to know you like it!
Cari Moore
Hey Cari, glad you liked the video and thanks for the feedback
Well done, Sam. A practical and useful video that can benefit almost any entrepreneur or ambitious person.
Thanks Ken!
Great stuff, Sam!
It reinforced great insight that I had before, which is 80% of answer is in the question. It is great way to make that inner voice useful
To ask yourself direct questions – what i’m putting off, what is highest level activity now, am I procrastinating now, what should I be doing now? etc
Thanks for reminding, buddy!
I like it sam. My mentor once told me a phrase I keep in mind, “Distractions don’t find you, you find distractions.”
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Thanks for the post.
These are classic symptoms of procrastination in this post. I used to do it too but fortunately was able to break that bad cycle.
You are so right, it happens to me almost always. I do invent so many things to avoid doing the important ones. And I think the ability to accept your challenge to stick to the important task the inner voices try to distract us from differentiates the successful few from the unsuccessful many.
Procrastination kills. ANd sitting there doodling around doing a whole bunch of nothing is just another form of it. Great article on point!
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Avoiding talking with prospects is the kiss of death for a business owner. Somebody has to do the work of generating leads, especially in the early days of business.
Most of our inner procrastinator came from surroundings or from the societies in which we live if we see someone going to gym for exercise or for body building then a certainly a wave urges inside us and force us to join gym immediately. Similarly what we see in the society we adapt it and assume that it as our inner procrastinator regardless of its negative or positive impact. This article & video is very helpful for those kind of peoples who are confused and tips will works in realizing the actual inner procrastinator and increase the focus to adapt the important steps in doing any work task.
haha u must have wrote this post for me, I always invent stuff and do things to avoid things I really need to do . this is bad habit I need to break
This is good stuff and is more outside the box than one might think. Your perspective can definitely be molded into something personal-especially the part about procrastinating and how to listen to it. I consistently do this right before the gym.
Thanks!
Enjoyed the vid! I can really relate to this coz not only do I procrastinate a lot but I am also pretty shy, so it’s not easy for me to get rolling on things I need to do. But your post is helping me! thanks!
I went through this phase a couple years back, but fortunately I realized that it was getting me nowhere and I was just holding myself back. It takes courage to face the things we know we need to do in order to achieve the results we want.
I make it a habit of mapping out my entire week every Sunday night. This helps me stay on track with everything I have to do.
Great video, Im new to your site but wow your content is inspiring! Keep up the good work bro!
Now onto the next vid.
Cheers,
T
Great analogy about the young guy wanting to ask his crush out. I can totally relate to this, sounds like me when I was younger lol…
This is a cycle that many people go though. It’s an easy way to make yourself FEEL productive, but in all actually you’re just shooting yourself in the foot.
I have been a long time lurker of your blog and I want to let you know that I really like your content! It’s always a great read and stimulates my thought process with new ideas. Keep up the amazing work!!
ok ok you got me. I swear you must have written this post for me:) This describes me exactly. I now know what I need to do to snap out of it thanks to you!
You invested 1 years worth of things to do before I could face the important? That’s a lot of time wasting lol…glad you snapped out of it!
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Great video! You hit the nail right on the head with this one.
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Very interesting and motivating story. You really inspire me!
Now I have a clear idea to what is going on mentally. I know now that I should just be direct in the decisions I make and that everything is not necessary to complete goals. Very insightful Sam.
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I used to avoid avid the important I must admit. But now after reading this post I will get on with the business I need to take care of and no longer stand in my own way!
This sure sounds like it was writter just for me. I invented everything in the world, every excuse, every reason, every lie I could think of just to avoid sales calls. Until one day I looked up and it was an entire year and still I was in the same place. I realized then & there that things had to change and I had to force myself to take action whether I liked it or not.
“Don’t listen to what your inner procrastinator is pulling you towards but what it’s pulling you away from”. Wow! what a very profound statement. It let’s us know that we’re basically all the same, it’s just that successful people have awareness, strategies an techniques that they use to overcome their procrastination and difficulties.
Yeah it’s called stalling. People tend to do this all the time whether it be doing something to benefit their business – or even mustering up the courage to talk to that special someone. Doing this stalling stuff can really cost you so much more than if you were to “Just Do It!” like Nike says. Sometime OVERthinking things is the biggest handicap we can have as humans
I viewed your video the whole way through and I really enjoyed it a lot and learned a lot from it. Great goin!
Haha I did that myself with the logo thing but I wasted about 9 & 1/2 months playing around with that just to avoid the important. Learned my leasson the hard way. Thanks for a great post!
You write some very thought-proving blog posts! Keep delivering the goods. This particular post is one of my favs, bookmarked & saved.
I have a habit of listening to my inner procrastinator. SOmetimes it does get the best of me but I am learning to tune it out and press on to do what I have to do.
This is more common than we think. Many people fear doing things, the important things that really make a difference, so they fiddle around forever just stalling and getting nowhere. Not good.
Wow you invented 1 years worth of things to do to avoid doing the important. That’s a lot of doodling around. Oh well, guess it shows that it can happen to the best of us.
I used to always go hang out at bars whenever I felt too stressed and wanted to run away from the important. But now I justface the important head on because things just won’t get done otherwise at this time.
I know myself well enough now that I know when I am wasting time trying to avoid the important. And at that moment I give myself a swift kick in the butt and press ahead!
Yes, successful people have procrastinating thoughts and negative thoughts too. They just know how to overcome them.
The old you sounds like a mirror image of myself. Seems like I was meant to read this post…as if it was written directly for me!
I enjoy your videos I can tell you put a lot of time, work and passion into them. It’s rare that I see this online for free! Thanks Sam.
Sometimes those “great rewards” behind barriers of temporary comfort seems like an eternity to reach. But I hear you tho.
I think most people do this. Many people are just lazy procrastinating talkers! Don’t mean to be cynical but there are very few people who just grow up and take action. Kudos for you!
I’m guilty of this too lol. It’s kinda funny when I really think about it but I know it is no laughing matter. I will giddy up!
By inventing things to avoid the important, you are just shooting your own self in the foot.
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Yes, This was a very valuable video. I’ve been doing this for years. I just never could figure out how to overcome it. I’m definitely going to give this a try. Even if it doesn’t work, I haven’t lost anything, but it really makes enough sense that I think it will. Thanks, Sam!
I have never listened to my inner procrastinator and truthfully it has really put me in a bad position. So I’m gonna do my dang near best to do this.
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Sam- great video as always. I really enjoy how you constantly make us examine ourselves and point out how simple life and achievement can be. Only when we decide to focus on what matters most.
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