Overcome Your Procrastination

Hey, my friends, it's Brendon Burchard and welcome to a special episode of the Brendon Show. Hey, I'm Brendon Burchard and I'm honored to be your high performance coach today. With this episode, I've spent the last 20 years studying human behavior change and writing, coaching and training literally at the top levels on the topics of motivation, focus, productivity, confidence and more. My goal, inspired by my own personal journey, is to help you and my audience live love and matter. Which means to feel more vibrant, more connected and and more fulfilled in every area of your life. That's what we're doing today. If you like today's episode, grab a screenshot and share it on Instagram. Just tag me Enonbuchard so I can see you and give you a shout out or a hello. And if you want to go to another level of personal development in your life this month, be sure to join me live every month in my coaching program. Just visit HPXCoaching to get signed up. I teach a brand new personal development session every single month. Meaning it's like a personal development seminar for you. Live every single month on the first of the month and then after I teach that for about 75 minutes, then we do live breakouts where you get to meet new people, network with people, set your monthly goals and establish real accountability for your growth. Listen, you know that expert guidance and real consistency and an inspiring community is critical to your growth. So join me this month on the 1st. Just go to hpxcoaching.com that's hpxcoaching.com it's time to level up, my friend. It's time to take your year back. It's time to find that focus and that confidence and that vibrancy and that vibe. Again, go to hpxcoaching.com and and let me be your coach into fuller levels of high performance in every area of your life. Now, without further ado, let's jump in to today's episode.

Let's jump right into procrastination and I'm going to lead with some research and that is place. The power of place. You know, it's been found that where you're working really does matter to how much you procrastinate. For example, people who work in dark rooms tend to procrastinate more than who work in daylit rooms. People who work in places that they don't enjoy going to.

That means including the commute.

If they don't like the commute, if they don't like the office they're working in, if they don't find the space inspiring or something they like, they tend to procrastinate more because they're not externally inspired in some way. Now you've studied my work long enough. You know, I don't really believe in a lot of external, you know, inspiration. I think we can use it for sure. We have to find great engagement and joy wherever we're at. You know, I started this career and was blessed to really grow it to over a seven figure level working in a tiny apartment. So it's not about having to have those things, but as you do better go for it. Sometimes when you have a place to go to where work gets done, procrastination is an issue. If you're working out of your home, it can be very difficult. If you work out of your home, you need to find a space or a different place to work and you need to show up there on a regular basis to work. Otherwise you'll keep procrastinating. In other words, you along with your place, you need a schedule to go there. I mean our videos would have never ever gotten shot if it was just me at my home going, I guess it's time to shoot. I had a place, I had a videographer with Travis and I said, let's go have breakfast, let's shoot those videos. And the place became a part of us getting more done. Because I think Travis and I are both world class screw offs. I mean, I don't want to speak for you buddy, but he's a screw off. And so, you know, it just happens if you don't have somewhere to go to get things done done. You know, your phone is there, the TV's there. So it's nice to have a place that keeps you on pace. So if you're struggling with procrastination, first check your environment. Is it a place that's set up for you to win? Do you enjoy going there and do you have a schedule for going though? If not, obviously it's more likely you're not going to be on point. Next big idea though is what we call three way planning. So this is a concept in overcoming procrastination that's proven by a lot of different research studies separately. But when you combine them, it basically says this. We procrastinate in the moment because we're unfocused, we're unsure, we don't know what to do. It's not necessarily that we don't have things to do. Right. You know, it, that's what Procrastination is you have things to do, but you don't. The reason you're procrastinating is usually a lack of energy or a lack of focus on what you're supposed to do. You don't really know what to do, so you don't do anything or you are overwhelmed. Well, all the research shows that ways to overcome those are pretty basic. So as an example, did you know if the night before you begin a day where you really got to crush and get things done? If just the night before and not in the hour before you sleep, don't do that, but like the Evening before, say 6, 7, 8 o' clock at night, if you just wrote down your schedule for the next day, you have to physically write. This isn't typing it or putting it in your calendar. The research is physically writing down the agenda and the goals for the next day. If you'll do that mid evening, the night before, you will procrastinate less the next day. I think that's because the goals and the why and the agenda sort of marinates in your brain subconsciously overnight. And in the day you already know you're supposed to do it and just hit that flywheel effect. So when I say three way planning, one way of those three ways is mid, evening, the night before. Write down your schedule and your goals for the next day. Then the second part of three way planning is in that morning. You must always begin your morning with going over your schedule and your goals. Never, never, never just show up to work without that plan. You need to have that plan. You need to that morning be very clear about what the day is, what's important and why. And if you don't do that, yes, you can still hit high performance, yes, you can still be great, but you will not be as consistent as you could be. There's something magical. And you guys all know this. I spend 20 minutes every morning just looking at the day. Literally. It might just be. I might only have five things I have to do that day, But I'll sit 20 minutes thinking about each of those five things. That amount of thought and intention that goes into it allows me to show up and do a lot of things you see me do. People always say, jesus, Brendan, you just show up and talk. I'm like, yeah, but I probably gave it a good 20 minutes this morning of thought. Some people say, oh my gosh, you know, you get so much done, it's like, yeah, because you know what, when I was thinking that morning about the full day, I also usually axed a lot. Third part of three way planning is your weekly review. Every Sunday night, sit down and look at the week. And every Sunday night when you look at the week, go, what do I not want on here? What can I move? Shape Shift, quit? It's very important to do a weekly advance review. This is what we call three way planning. Sunday night you look at the whole week, move or add things the night before, look at things, consider what you have to do and why. The morning of do it again and what you'll find is you'll stop procrastinating. Remember, a lot of procrastination is either because of lack of focus or overwhelm. You are more focused when you've planned and you have less overwhelm by double digits in almost all scientific studies when you have a plan. Overwhelm is almost always caused by random esoteric thinking about the future. Once you have a plan, it's not so scary. You are not communicating enough with people. Procrastination comes when we don't have a high enough necessity to get something done because we have not told people in our lives about our goals, our desires, our dreams, our ambitions and and we got no people keeping us accountable. So if you're struggling with accountable, you need to get around accountability. You need to get around some people who are driven, who know what you want to do. You need to get a high performance coach if that's necessary for you. You need to get somebody who you are continually sharing your dreams with, a buddy from an event, somebody who you know, who knows what you're after and what you're trying to do. That's not just something. Often in my space, people only talk about that in the health space. You know, get a workout buddy. I'm like, no, you need life and work buddies, like people you talk your stuff through. Like I go to play racquetball with one of my friends and most of the time we just go play racquetball. But then usually about 20, 30 minutes in between or before or after. We also talk about life and career. If I didn't have that, I don't think I would. I think I'd more procrastinate because I know usually on a weekly basis I got to go have that report. If you got to give a report to somebody, you focus more. So who are you reporting to? And if you don't have anybody to report to, start reporting to your spouse, your partner, your lover, your friend, your teenager. Somebody needs to know what you are trying to do. If people don't Know what you are trying to do. Look, there is stagnation and suffering in silence. When we are not communicating what's important to us, of course we'll procrastinate because our identity and our name isn't on the line. When it's on the line, we gotta do it. You know, a lot of my team will tell you it freaks them out. I tell them what we're gonna do often a year in advance, and then they're like worried the whole year, like, when are we gonna do this? You know?

But they'll tell you, that's what I do.

I'm like, this is where we're going. And it might be months and months and months in advance, but we'll get there. I might not be on time, but we're gonna get there. And. And I think that's what's really important is if you're not sharing those things out, you'd procrastinate. If I didn't tell my team we're hiring this summer, I'd just procrastinate hiring forever. Because you know what? It's a pain in the butt who wants to do that. But that's what procrastination is. It's that sound in your head saying, what a pain in the butt. Who wants to do that? But if you shared that you will, then it's more likely that you will.

Hey, it's Brendan, and I want to jump in the middle of this episode here real quick and tell you about something I'm really excited about and something that answers a question that many of you have for me all the time, which is, Brendan, where do you get this crazy focus and energy in your life? And the truth is, I've developed a supplement line that really helps me do that. And frankly, I needed to. I don't know about you, but sometimes when you're trying to achieve big things, a lot of stress comes along. And as you're trying to achieve bigger things, you need to be on your A game more often. You need to be mentally sharp.

You.

You need to be mentally prepared. You need to be mentally energized and productive. And not once in a while, but like every day, you have to be on. And sometimes guzzling more coffee isn't going to do it. You have to use what we call Nootropics, which are, you know, basically supplements that help optimize your brain. And yes, we have a product for exactly that. It's called HPX Optimize, and it is our most popular product. And you can get it. It's back in stock@HPX wellness.com that's HPX wellness.com you'll find HPX optimized for your mental focus and energy there. You'll also find my favorite powdered energy drink that we created that's 100% organic and vegan. And you'll find my essentials, which is my daily multi that I take that covers my energy, that covers my longevity, that covers my immunity, that covers my brain and body health that I absolutely love. And you will feel the difference. Go to HPX Wellness.com right now. HPX Wellness.com.

What we do is we give our agenda over to people who have what I call false emergencies and that false emergency, Brenda, I need this right now. You need to develop a response system that automatically you send to people who say, I need this now. Can you help me now? Can you do this now? Because look, and I know I get blowback every time I talk about this, but I mean it genuinely, and it sounds horrible, but you are not responsible for the train wrecks in other people's lives. Even if they're your clients. Even if they're your clients. If your client has some sudden big, you know, catastrophe of timing, it's not your job to fix that for them. We think it is, but it's not. It's not. We're not their doctor and their emergency is probably not real. Usually their emergency is, I need to talk to you. I need to talk to you. And it's like, you really didn't. You could have sent me an email. So when people tell me when they text me, can I get five minutes on the phone? I got this emergency, can you answer this? I have this stock response that I send to them that basically says something to the effect of, hey, I see this is really important to you suddenly right now. As you know, I plan my day and week in advance, just like you probably do. And there's a lot already previously scheduled to your current need. So could you please hit reply and let me know when the drop dead deadline is for you getting input, feedback or having this call and this is not when you would like to do it. That's your preference. And I can't honestly reply to your preferences today because we have so many people in front of you. What I'd like to know is when is the day when something doesn't happen, that somebody dies, they are dead. A building will blow up, a project will end catastrophe in front of people.

Tell me the dead deadline.

The drop dead deadline. Not your preference? Not I'd like to talk today?

No.

When will people bleed out their eyes and buildings explode? That's when I might talk to you. Let me know that day and I'll try to shuffle everybody else around you as you're having this need. I'll do my best to prioritize and serve with excellence as always. Thanks, Brendan. Guess what? I found a tremendous amount of freedom in that way. Now, obviously I'm being a little facetious and I don't say it exactly it that way. Maybe if I had coffee I would.

Say it that way, but I don't.

Have coffee that much unless Travis feeds it to me. But I'm just saying, I think it's very important for you to have a stock immediate reply that says, sorry, I hear you have this going on. I have these things going on. Please let me know the drop dead deadline because I've got to shuffle everybody else around your sudden need. And I'll tell you what, lots of people. Oh, you know what, don't worry, Brendan. I'll figure out somewhere else. Oh, you know what, could we do it next Thursday? Even though their text said, need to talk to you today. And most of the time I get on people who say I need five minutes, I get on the phone with them and for 10 minutes they talk themselves in circles before they realize it was a complete waste of their time and my time. You set the standard for that. Go for a walk. This is so basic. I know it sounds like kitchen table wisdom, but it actually is a tremendous amount of creativity research. The highest level achievements of all. Artists, musicians, contributors, vloggers across every realm possible. The highest achievers tend to go for a walk when they're stumped and they do it proactively. Let me give you an example. Probably one person who I consider maybe the most successfully creative person in the world is Paulo Coelho. Paulo Coelho wrote the Alchemist, which many of you guys know, it's the sixth most read book in the history of the world. Now the Alchemist, the sixth most read book in the history of the world. What does Paolo do? Follow him on Instagram. Every day he goes for a walk. Every day he has his daily walk. You know, every single day, every day I walk outside a minimum of 20 minutes every day. The only times I ever miss that rule is if I'm at my live events. Because I'm basically walking and putting on miles and miles and miles. But walk outside, yes, every day. Treadmill does not count. I don't care if it's raining. I don't care if it's snowing, go outside and walk. If you want to be a more creative person, you need to be out in the sun's rays, in the earth, walking, moving light, you need to have real air on you. You need to get outside, especially when you're stuck. If you're stuck immediately, the moment you feel like you're stuck, get up, leave, go for a walk. Release tension, increase intention. Here's what I want you to do. The next time you're stuck, go for your walk. When you come back, sit down at your desk, close your eyes and do a release meditation. It could be short, maybe two minutes, five minutes, where you just close your eyes and repeat the mantra release to yourself. And as you say, release, try to release all the tension in your neck, in your shoulders, in your chest, in your legs, in your feet. Just sink into the chair, release all of the tension. As soon as you've gotten that point where you feel like you released most of the tension in your body that you can now set an intention, say, okay, I'm about to create a PowerPoint for a new webinar. My intention is to make that webinar move swiftly throughout, have a lot of interest points, overcome a lot of objections, and get to a point before I even announce the price they're going to buy. I want the webinar to feel fun. Okay, open your eyes and create. That's what I mean by release tension, set intention. Next time, try this just next time you sit down at your desk, you want to be more creative, close your eyes, release the tension in your body. Soon you feel like you've achieved as much of that you can. Set intention for the very next activity. It's incredibly important. Close eyes, do mantra, set intention, go. If you'll learn to do that every time your butt hits the chair or you're gonna change projects, you'll find an extraordinary level of energy and focus and creativity will come back into your life. You'll be stunned. I promise you. It's really, really powerful.

Alright.

Hey, my friend.

I hope you enjoyed today's episode. If you're ready to go to another level, don't forget hpxcoaching.com Let me be your coach. Let me spend the first of each month with you, giving you a personal development seminar. Let me help you get unstuck, break through your emotional blocks, find your real.

Clarity, your real passion, your real purpose.

And implement the habits that you know you need to implement. Change your life by getting a coach, getting some expert guidance. Listen, you got as far as you could get. You're here. You've achieved so much in your life. But to go to another level requires another level of mindset, another level of discipline, another level of direction and community and consistency. And that is what my coaching program is all about. So go to hpxcoaching.com and listen, if.

You'Re ready to go to a whole.

Other level, I'm hiring. Please go to brendon.com hiring for our open roles. I got a big secret project that we are rolling out and you'll only find information that@Brendan.com hiring we've got, I don't know, 10 or 12 open positions there. If you ever wanted to work with me, if you wanted me to be your leader, you wanted me to literally employ you and help you grow in your career and do what we do, serving this mission of helping people around the world achieve their dreams faster, helping them improve their lives. We live every day as a team to do that. And we are currently hiring. We're building out a new product and we need some people to help us do that. Brendan.com hiring if you don't know how to spell my name, don't even think about it. We're looking for people who are pros. If you're interested in internship with me, don't go there. We're not hiring interns. If you're interested in starting your career with me, don't go there. We are an A team here. We've got people who are really experienced. So if you're new to personal development or you're new to marketing, you're probably not going to be the person we're looking for. We're looking for people with at least three years of professional experience in a lot of different roles because we take.

This role very seriously.

We get to change lives and millions of them every single day.

That's the work.

So we're looking for real pros. Top of your game, ready to come on to an organization that reaches just as many people in the world as any other personal development influencer or trainer on the planet. And we'd be excited to have you join us in a big new initiative we're rolling out for the beginning of the year. I can't even tell you any more about that. Go to Brennan.com hiring if you'd like to work with us. And if you just want to go to another level and have me as your coach, not your Boss, go to hpxcoaching.com so I can give you a brand new personal development session this month. To help you set your goals, get on track, get unstuck and achieve your ultimate difference. Go to hpxcoaching.com for that. Thanks again for listening to the Brendon Show. You all mean so much to me. I have so much coming out in the next couple months for you here that's going to be unique and special and I know you're going to love it. So keep your head up. I know it's been a hard year. Please remember, as always, you are stronger than you think and the future holds good things for you.