Your Guide to Better Focus

Have you ever found yourself procrastinating even when you have a lot to do? Let’s start with a confession. Nobody’s immune to procrastination, not even me. Distractions are everywhere, our phones, video games and the constant buzz of notifications. One simple trick to boost productivity is to keep your phone in another room while you work. But procrastination isn’t just about distractions. Sometimes it’s about deeper issues like fear of failure, or unresolved personal conflicts. To tackle this, redefine success in terms of actions you can control, like sending one email a day, instead of focusing on outcomes. Breaking tasks into smaller steps can also help if writing a full email is daunting, start with a subject line. By making tasks more manageable, you can build momentum and get more done. In today’s episode, we’ll dive into practical strategies to overcome procrastination and boost your productivity. Let’s get started.

1:01  

I’m Igor Kheifets and this is the List Building Lifestyle, the podcast for anyone who wants to build a wildly profitable email list working from home. If you’d like to make six figures, travel the world and help people improve their lives in the process, this podcast is for you. I also invite you to claim a free copy of my best selling book, the List Building Lifestyle Confessions of an Email Millionaire at igorsbook.com. Get the free book plus $3,000 bonus package that includes my best capture page templates, email swipe files, and traffic blueprints, visit www.igorsbook.com for details. And now it’s time to claim your list building lifestyle.

1:47  

Let’s start with nobody’s immune, even if I procrastinate at any point in my life. Now I’d say that I procrastinate in a way where I still get a lot done. But it’s only because I have a big team and lots of resources now. Procrastination is real and it usually happens as a form of avoidance, a form of feeling, I guess, there could be a few reasons for it. Like, first off, you’re just distracted, you literally are paying attention to the news, to your phone. You know, some people in your life are calling you, you’re playing video games, like there’s things that are fighting for your attention. So the first thing you should do is, practically speaking, get rid of your phone. If you’re in your work mode, in your work zone, your phone stays in a different room, period. So you can’t look at it. If you’re addicted to some kind of app or game, delete it. 

2:02 

I’m seriously addicted to FIFA and First Person Shooters. If I’ve had it installed on my PlayStation, or the computer, I’m going to play it kind of like if I was addicted to donuts, and I walk into a bakery, guess what? I’m gonna get one. But like, what if I’m diabetic, so the best thing to do is, don’t walk near a bakery, don’t go into a bakery, avoid places with doughnuts and they will not steal your attention. So our phones by the way, are crazy addictive. If you want to look up a TED talk, look up on YouTube, look up some smartphone’s addictive TED Talk or something like that. This guy’s making a huge argument that if there was like a an addictive drug that stole your attention, made you less productive at work, made you less intelligent, because of all the different things that it’s making you do, ruined your ability to be present with your family, stole you from achieving your goals, etc. 

3:05

Would you keep taking that drug? Will we allow that drug on a federal level? And the answer is of course, no, because that’s what it does. So that would be practically speaking, a very easy way to boost your productivity and to help you stop procrastinating. Now, the other thing that’s going to be causing you to procrastinate is actually sometimes not related to the online business at all. It could be an issue you’re dealing with, on a personal level that isn’t solved yet some kind of personal conflict, and you are finding it hard to continue living your life until that’s been dealt with. It’s like a chapter you have to finish before you can continue. And if it is related to work, oftentimes it comes to fear of failure, fear of what if I attempt it, and it doesn’t work or I failed, then it means I’m a failure, then I’ll be exposed and everybody will know that I’m a failure. That’s, I’d say, a pretty common reason for procrastination. 

4:40  

What I find helps is redefining two things, redefining what success means. So it changes from something that I have less control over such as Make $10,000 this month because there’s a lot that goes into it and conditions have to be right, to something that I can control, write an email a day, buy one solo ad a week, apply for five affiliate programs per day, per week, whatever, etcetera, like actions that I control. So it is equal to let’s say we’re talking about exercising and losing weight, my goal would not be to lose five pounds this week, my goal would be to do 100 pushups, 100 sit-ups, 100 crunches, etc, it’s things that I can control that I know will lead to a better outcome, that’s one thing. 

5:00

The other thing that really helps is chunking it down into super simple action steps that you can accomplish and build momentum. So let’s say loading an email sequence is scary to you. But writing one email is not scary, not as scary. And if writing an email is scary, writing a subject line is not scary. Writing an opener to an email is not scary. Writing a call to action to an email is not scary, writing a P.S and an email is not scary. So chunk it down, really break it up. Imagine your task is a sandwich, slice that thing up into little pieces like you would for a kid that you’re trying to feed this sandwich to. So and then feed it to yourself with tiny little bites. This way you will build momentum, and you will be amazed at what you can accomplish knowing one tiny step at a time.

6:28  

Thank you for listening to the List Building Lifestyle, get access to the previous episodes transcript of today’s show, as well as other exclusive content at listbuildinglifestyleshow.com. Also remember to claim your free copy of my best selling book at www.igorsbook.com. It explains how I made millions with list building starting from scratch. Plus, I’ll give you $3,000 worth of free bonuses, including my best landing page templates, email swipe files and traffic blueprints. Go to www.igorsbook.com now to claim your free package.