Overcoming Procrastination with Eric Twiggs
Eric M. Twiggs is a founding partner and president of The What Now Movement. His mission is to build high performing entrepreneurs, authors, and career professionals, who are prepared for life’s unexpected curveballs.
He is the author of The Discipline of Now: 12 Practical Principles to Overcome Procrastination. The Discipline of Now has been recognized as a Global Top Ten Finalist for the 2020 Author Elite Awards in the category of Best Self Help Book. This recognition was based on the combination of the following criteria: cover design, content, popularity, and social contribution.
Eric is also the host of a weekly inspirational podcast titled “The 30 Minute Hour.”
As a Certified Life & Business Coach, Eric has conducted over 28,000 coaching sessions, helping executive leaders and entrepreneurs who have moved from feeling frustrated to finding fulfillment.
He has also led organizations of 500 or more people in corporate America, and shared his message with corporations, associations, and congregations across the country.
By reading The Discipline of Now, you will receive a proven blueprint to beat procrastination, so that you make more money, get more done, and feel more confident.
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Full Transcript Below
Roy – The Business of Business Podcast (00:02):
Hello, and welcome to another episode of the business of business podcast. I’m Roy today, I’ve got a cohost, uh, Terry is going to be setting in with us. Hello? Hi, we’ve got an awesome guest.
Uh, Eric twigs is the founding partner and president of the what now movement. His mission is to build high performing entrepreneurs, authors, and career professionals who are prepared for life’s unexpected curveballs. He’s the author of the discipline of now 12 practical principles for overcome to overcome procrastination. The discipline of now has been recognized as a global top 10 finalist for the 2020 author elite awards in the category of best self-help book. Eric, thanks a lot for taking the time to be with us.
Wanted to show you got my copy right here. So as we said in the, uh, as we said in the lead, uh, as we said before, we started recording, I think this turned into a, it went from an interview to maybe a book review book club type situation. We’ve both got our notes. And, uh, like I said, I, I had ordered the book. It was sitting on my nightstand, Terry walked by and saw it and grabbed it up and started going through it. So I haven’t even had time to enjoy my own book. I should have got to, you need to recommend everybody get two copies, one for you and one for your better half.
Terry – The Business of Business Podcast (01:32):
Yeah, I hated it. That’s for sure. And it’s such an easy read. It is. It is just, it just goes, boom, boom, boom. Into the next thing. And you don’t even have time to think about it. Yeah.
Roy – The Business of Business Podcast (01:46):
I’m going to kick it off and let you get started. But it, you know, I, I don’t think it was a coincidence that this is a 12 step program. Is that correct?
Eric (01:59):
No. I just think that 12 just tends to be kind of a number that represents like a process, right? Because I think just open and procrastination is not like any event, right? It’s a process you go through in the end. The good news is that with discipline, anybody can overcome procrastination and move toward their goals.
Roy – The Business of Business Podcast (02:19):
Can you repeat that one more time? What you just said?
Eric (02:25):
Yeah. I mean, it’s a process and so there’s a thing, right? People always say to me, Oh, Eric, I am such a procrastinator. You don’t understand. I am always late, but that that’s not your identity. Right. That’s just habits that have been formed over time this right. So the 12 steps, you can take your disciplined, follow the path and be better.
Roy – The Business of Business Podcast (02:51):
Yeah. And I think, and I’ve facetiously asked you to repeat that for that reason, because so many people feel like, uh, like it’s a trait that you’re born with, but I’m a believer in that with discipline. If we can identify first off, it is actually making the identification that we are procrastinators that’s number one.
But then number two is, you know, putting together a plan and being dedicated to work that plan to kind of, uh, to overcome whatever our shortcomings are. I mean, I’ll say I, I hate, I’m not a good reader as a child. I didn’t like to read, I’d rather be outside riding my bike or doing whatever then reading. And so as an adult, I am not that good of a reader, but I, you know, I have to force myself to continue to read or I would just quit.
It just takes me a long time to get through books. So anyway, uh, one interesting thing that caught my eye right off the bat was you may be a procrastinator if and so what do you have some of the fill in the blanks on that?
Eric (03:59):
Yeah. I think if I, if I think one of them was you think that, you know, timelines and just suggestions. Yeah. But yeah. So I tried to make a humorous attempt at just some of the things that, and it’s funny because people always mentioned that and say, you know what? Oh, that’s me. Yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah.
Roy – The Business of Business Podcast (04:27):
Well, it’s, uh, you know, driving down the road with my mother one day, we blew through the stop sign and that’s why she said, well, I thought that was just a suggestion. Like, no, it’s definitely something we need to adhere to. You have a quit, you have something. Okay, go ahead. Now I thought Terry might’ve had something, go ahead.
Eric (04:49):
What are the other ones that talk about, you know, people that love this concept of being fashionably late, you know, at a certain, yeah. If it’s a social gathering, you, that could be acceptable. But if it’s an interview, that could be a problem.
Roy – The Business of Business Podcast (05:04):
Exactly. Yeah. Or that, or walk into a meeting with 15 other people. And you know, if they’re already five minutes into it trying to catch you up the disruption that it causes, when that happens, it, you know, it can throw people, uh, speakers out of whack, especially if it’s your boss or your CEO. And you’re the one that’s walking in late. Not, not a good impression. That’s not the time to be fashionably late.
Terry – The Business of Business Podcast (05:29):
No, I, Oh man. I, I was a terrible, uh, I could not be on time to anything. It would at least at least 20 minutes late all the time for probably 15 years. And then I just got, I, somebody did that to me a couple of times and I was like, Hey, I don’t like having to wait on people. I am not put on this earth to wait on you. And then I’m like, wait, why did it take me 15 years
Eric (05:58):
To figure that one out?
Roy – The Business of Business Podcast (06:00):
Yeah, that’s definitely for sure. And speaking of that, you know, there is a cost of procrastination. So, uh, how do we put, how can we put that in terms of cost?
Eric (06:13):
So here’s the thing, right? So a lot of times you think you’re getting away with it because a lot of times there’s no ideas, immediate consequence. Let’s say if you’re, you know, let’s say you’re late and there may not be like the procrastination police coming to arrest you. Like, there’s no immediate consequences.
They gotten away with it. Or let’s say you procrastinated when you were putting together a presentation and you did the presentation. And everybody says, Oh, great job, Roy. That was excellent. He started telling us over, you know, I work better under pressure, but the truth is the presentation’s not going to be as good as it would have been if you had actually taken the time. And then look back to the, let’s say you’re late to a meeting with someone.
They may not say anything to you, but you, you may have impacted their relationship. They think, Oh, he doesn’t respect my time. So there was a hidden cost. And I th I just make procrastination, they’d be like a silent killer when it comes to the pursuit of Oh yeah.
Roy – The Business of Business Podcast (07:21):
Yeah. And in your, uh, professional life, it can definitely be not only being late to meetings, but also that, um, you know, that misspelled word in the presentation because you were finishing, typing it out at three o’clock this morning and he hit sin before he had to look over it. And I am just the opposite, you know, I’ve got to have, I’m not a writer, I’m an, I’m a non-writer writer too.
I love to write, but it’s just not my thing. And so that is something I have to get a heads away head start on because I have to do an outline, lead it, set, write it, and then let it set two or three times, you know, I need to really go back through this thing. I cannot just pump something out at the last minute and hit, send and hope that it’s even readable. So I definitely can identify with that for sure.
Eric (08:14):
Let me tell you when it comes to writing, that’s one of the things I’ve learned that, you know, the best thing to do is just start. And like a lot of times, if I have a write August, start, as soon as I hear about it, it can be five minutes. I can write a sentence, but what happened is, as I’m going through my day, if I’m in the shower, all of a sudden these ideas start coming to me about what I should add. And it’s amazing that I think when you start, it builds momentum and it makes it easier for the Benish and the end product is much better, right?
Roy – The Business of Business Podcast (08:49):
Yeah. The blank piece of paper can taunt you, but if you’ll just get something down on it, it’s easier to build of that. And like you said, those ideas just seem to come to you. So, um, and that’s, that was another thing happened to be on the list here is, uh, you know, the lack of clarity. And so, um, I think clarity can go a couple of ways when we talk about procrastination, but so what about the lack of clarity?
How can we gain more clarity? And I know as a, well, that example as being a rider, I can gain more clarity. The more time I have to think about instead of being crunched, you know, at the very last minute. Um, but can you expound on what you meant? You know, what was, what were you talking about with clarity in, in the book itself?
Eric (09:36):
So I believe that clarity is the starting point of success. A lot of times we procrastinate because we’re really not clear on where it is that we’re trying to go and what it is that we ultimately want to be and what we want to accomplish. So what happens is when you’re not clear on the destination, now, every suggestion you get sounds like a good idea.
And you end up saying yes to things, Hey, I’m going to share this committee. Oh yes. Okay. Hey, you want to be the president of the PGA? Oh, sure. Yes. But when you’re clear on what you want, you can narrow, you can line your decisions up on against that North star. Right. And so it’s so important. It really begin with the end in mind, and it can be something as simple as let’s say, you’re doing a presentation, what’s the end result.
Like, what do you want the audience to be able to do as a result of hearing? What do you want them to know? What do you want them to feel? Just thinking along those lines, like if I’m doing a presentation and I get clear on that, it makes preparing it much easier. Cause that’s, that’s why clarity is a starting point.
Roy – The Business of Business Podcast (10:46):
Okay. Well, you know, the other danger for me with procrastination is, you know, there’s a lot of things in life that just come up that we can’t control or that, you know, we have to address, you know, in priority with other issues.
And so I tell you what I found luckily young in life, and it didn’t really kill me, but I think it really set me on a course. The rest of my life is that when you procrastinate and you work right up to the deadline before you get started, four other things can come up where it’s just physically impossible for you to complete that task. It’s not that you, which, you know, it’s not a better use of time or anything else.
It’s just that within, uh, you know, it could be, uh, something like a car breaking down. It could be a death in the family, but you know, those are the moments when things like that happen, you think about, wow, I just wasted two weeks of not working on this thing. Now here I am down to the deadline and I can’t do it. And now I’ve got to try to, to, uh, typically somebody is counting on you for whatever you’re doing for them. So now you have to explain to them why you haven’t got it done, which is the worst feeling in the entire world.
Eric (12:07):
So it’s funny, you mentioned that, right? I have, that happened to me in college. Um, I had a great relationship with his teacher was getting the high-grade throughout the whole semester. It was time for like the final paper. And I waited around to the last minute and had all these computer problems.
Couldn’t can get it in by the due date drop, like 50% he showed, he showed me no, this book anything. Right. I thought, I thought we had a great relationship and I blamed this breakdown, but it was really my fault. Right. But the violence started earlier. And the problem is, is we are terrible at predicting how long things really take exactly we’re bad because we think that nothing’s going to go wrong. We don’t anticipate, we don’t anticipate the computer could go down.
The wifi could go down. We don’t anticipate that there could be traffic on the way. So yeah, that’s one of the reasons not to procrastinate because Murphy’s Murphy’s law. Mr. Murphy, eventually going to visit you.
Roy – The Business of Business Podcast (13:16):
Yes. They will jump up and bite you it’s off track a little, but I have a similar story about, um, I was taken a, uh, I’m an adult learner, so I haven’t been to school like most of my adult life. One of my classes was like a, uh, a hybrid online in person. So I had waited to the last minute to do something. And as I’m working, my dog jumped up and hit the keyboard and messed this whole, uh, it was kind of like a mini quiz mess.
The whole thing up, I was at the end of the timeline. So I couldn’t retake it. Now, if you don’t think about an adult having to go in and tell a college professor that my new electronic story is, my dog ate my homework, you know, by jumping on my keyboard. Oh man. Anyway. All right, we get back. We get back on track, back on track. So, um, I guess some of the reasons, one of the big reasons that you talk about for, uh, the procrastination is that fear of failure. Uh, but uh, well let me take that back. It’s fear. And there’s a lot of things we could be the fear of failure and you even the highlight, we can be afraid of success.
Eric (14:33):
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Let, let’s start with, with the fear of failure. And it’s a lot of times, what if I get criticized? What if I now work with students and they’re afraid, what if I get a little grade on the test it’s out there? So the key, and one of the things I try to teach people is to focus more on the process than you do the outcome. It that’s really the best way to overcome it through your failure.
So what is the process at least to success, right? So if there’s a presentation, how much time do you need to practice? If it’s studying, you know, w how, how many hours a day do you need to be studying? If you meet the right process and maybe it involves getting a coach, getting a tutor, getting a mentor, but you can be comfortable when you know that you prepare.
Eric (15:25):
So that helps you to overcome that, that fear of failure. Here’s the thing. It is okay. To be scared. It is okay to have fear, but it’s not okay to stop. Right? That’s the key. You have to leverage it and have to understand that fear is actually a part of the process, especially here’s what they do when you’re doing something that’s like aspirational, you’re doing something that’s moving you towards your goal.
You start hearing the voices inside your own head. Like, you know, what if this happened? Are you sure? You just aren’t good at it though. So that’s why you really have to press past that and focus on the process. So that’s the fear of failure. Um, I can get into the fear of success as well. Yeah.
Roy – The Business of Business Podcast (16:12):
Yeah. The one thing I was going to add to that is that, uh, you know, that little nagging question that we have in the back of our mind, it’s actually a good thing because what I’ve found is presentations projects. There’s that little fear makes you, uh, go the extra mile to check double check, make sure sometimes if you don’t have that little voice of fear, you think you’ve got this handled and then that’s when things go totally wrong.
So I, sometimes I kind of embrace that to make sure it’s a good feeling to have a little bit of apprehension, because it makes me double check myself even more, just one more double check, make sure all the numbers line up.
Eric (16:55):
No, that, and that’s, that’s the way to put you in the right perspective. But a lot of people do they just stop.
Roy – The Business of Business Podcast (17:00):
Right. Right. That’s me. Yeah. That’s me. I just stop or I don’t start. Cause then I start getting into my head. Oh, I do that all the time. Yeah. Yeah. Um, yeah. That’s something else we want to talk about. Yeah. Let’s before we jump way far ahead, let’s talk about that fear of success, because while that sounds so counterintuitive and so crazy, it it’s actually a thing and it’s a thing more than what anybody I think normal people really realize.
Eric (17:33):
Yeah. So, so my experience with the fear of success is the fear that I won’t be able to measure up to the new standard, right. So let’s say if I do this presentation and it goes really well, they may expect me to do more presentations. And what about, I’m going to have, I just have that one good one fear of success that there’ll be, I won’t be able to live up to the new expectation.
Right. And, and for that, I have a formula B do path. Right. So just focus on if I can become more, then I can do more. And if I can do more, I can ultimately have more. So yeah. Really think about, you know, always getting better, always, you know, focusing on becoming more and in developing yourself and you won’t have any reason to fear success.
Roy – The Business of Business Podcast (18:30):
That’s awesome. Yeah. The other thing, just one quick, last quick thing on fear is that, uh, well, it can be the unknown as well, but you also mentioned that fear is the future. So fear is not, usually, it’s not what we see right in front of us or what we’re, where we’re at right this minute. But it’s usually a fear of something that may or may not happen. And you know, a good I’ve heard in the past, you know, uh, that’s borrowing trouble if we don’t, even if it’s not even happening, you know, we’re wasting our time thinking about something that may or may not happen.
Eric (19:06):
Yeah. So, you know, there’s money. There’s a, I talk about this in my presentations, there’s a study, um, the legacy project where they went to these different, um, senior citizen homes and assisted living communities and they asked them, you know, these senior citizens, you look back at your life, what is your biggest regret?
It’s called the lazy Friday. And they said, another number one answer was the amount of time that was wasted on worrying on worst case scenario that never became reality. Wow. Again, your fears in the future, we all have examples. We dreaded something that was in the future. We said, what if this, what if that would have this? And then it was fine. Right, right. There’s a lot of time that was wasted.
Roy – The Business of Business Podcast (19:58):
Yeah. And there’s a lot of times that fear may keep you from doing something. And that was another great life lesson that, uh, an older gentleman told me when I was young, is that once you get old, um, you don’t regret the F you don’t regret as much the things that you did, you regret the things that you didn’t do, you know? So we can’t let fear stand in the way of doing things because that’s what we look back and think, wow, if
I’d have only tried this, it would have been okay. You know? And, and then I think that’s where we get, uh, too hung up on failure. That failure is not necessarily bad. You know, we kind of laugh about that a lot around here is that, you know, we’re willing to try anything if we fail. And, um, we’ve been cooked during the pandemic.
Roy – The Business of Business Podcast (20:46):
We’ve been cooking a lot together and I am no cook by any means, but it’s like, you know what? We get in there and we just throw stuff in. And I say, you know what? The worst thing that happens, if it, if it blows up and it’s no good is, you know, we drive up to the McDonald’s and get a hamburger. We’re not going to starve to death. So we can’t be hamstrung by, um, worrying about, is this dish gonna fail?
And it’s the same in life. We have to, you have to take calculated risks. I mean, you don’t want to run across a highway thinking there’s no way the car’s going to hit me because you probably going to be wrong on that one. But, you know, we take the calculated risks that, uh, if we can’t get ourselves hurt that, just take the chance and learn the lesson from our failure.
Eric (21:31):
Oh, for sure. Yeah. And like, I have something in the book, I like a character it’s going to sound a little morbid, but I call him deathbed Eric. Right. So sometimes if I have a major, if I’m taking a chance, I would ask myself, you know, what would deathbed Eric think so fine? You know, later in life death, it, what would I say that I should, what I regret that I did it or what I, what I say, Oh man, no, that’s definitely worth it. So you really have to think, like, it goes back to what you said, really regret the chances that you didn’t take more than you do. Chances you took that didn’t work out.
Roy – The Business of Business Podcast (22:07):
Exactly. Yeah. And, and, uh, again, it’s like that fear of failure, right. This minute may be a little stronger, but once you get years past it, you know, you look back on life’s times and think, well, at least I tried it. I know it doesn’t work now, so I’m not going to do it again.
But anyway, and, and that kind of leads into the next thing is, um, perfectionism. And you say, perfectionism is the enemy of progress, but also it can be, um, the analysis paralysis that we are so scared to get out of the starting gate, because we’re going to research it one more time. We’re going to look this up. We’re going to look that up until we’ve just wasted all of our time research. And then we haven’t actually done.
Eric (22:57):
Absolutely. And perfectionism is something that I can struggle with. That’s really kind of one of my big vices and I can be a perfectionist, but you know, you just hit on it. We can’t allow perfect to become the enemy of progress. Right. You just have to, sometimes you just have to focus. Sometimes you get in a situation where you’re not going to have 100% of the answers. Right. You know, you’re not going to know everything. You’re not going to have the clear picture.
Right. You just have to, what’s the next step I can take. And it could be calling a mentor, call, hearing what I like calling someone who has the result that you’re working towards. So if you’re writing a book for the first time who is a successful author that, you know, it could be just calling that person. Right. And so we need taking steps. That’s the key. Yeah.
Roy – The Business of Business Podcast (23:46):
Yeah. And, um, taking that a step further too, like hiring people, you know, that’s something that I look for when I hire workers managers. I know if, if somebody tells me they have all the answers, not the person that I want to work for me because we don’t know.
I mean, I can tell you from experience, we just don’t. But that person that knows how to go out, do the research, get the answers, you know, the resources they have. Exactly. Those are the people that tend to be, uh, the best. And they’re not scared. They don’t, you know, again, kind of tying this in with procrastination instead of starting a project, they will get out there and do some research and bring some ideas back, you know, kind of have that nucleus to get started.
And then you can either say yes, no, or let’s tweak it a little bit. And then you have a, at least a path versus, uh, you know, not no starting point at all. So very, very important. Yeah. So, um, the other thing that you mentioned is impulsivity. And, uh, I guess I would, to me that almost sounded counterintuitive that if you were impulsive, you’re probably like starting not procrastinate, but starting, you know, maybe without thinking, putting too much thought into it. So, uh, how does the impulsivity play into our procrastination?
Eric (25:15):
Well, it’s not, it can’t be, you know, it’s hard to focus because the next shiny penny, right. And that’s why college students, for example, tend to be impulsive. Right. They’ll put things off, you know, they start standing and then, Hey, you get a phone call about a party. Oh, Hey. Yeah. You know, but, but I mean, a lot, there’ve been a lot of people that I work with and literally, you know, they get distracted very easily, very impulsive, or sometimes it’s as simple as taking a sticky note, put it on your main computer and writing that thing that you have to do right there.
And believe it or not, that’s helped a lot of people that are highly impulsive, um, to deal with that. Hmm. Interesting. In, in, in the bullet, if you can, I think it’s around chapter five. I, there’s a quiz that I put together to help you to see if that’s something that you struggle with and that can cause you to procrastinate. The whole theme of the book is it’s all about awareness. And when you’re aware of some of these triggers, like, Hey, you know what, I can be impulsive. I can be a perfectionist. You now can put the steps in place to overcome.
Roy – The Business of Business Podcast (26:27):
Right. Yeah. And that was the other thing, uh, that you have at the back is the, um, I think it’s called the procrastination prevention pyramid. Yeah. And it looked like that, you know, you take the, uh, she’s going to me, the book here, it looks like we’re on video.
You know, it’s like we take, uh, you know, activity at the top activity, automation, animation awareness, and attitude. But the nice thing is it looks like as you go through this, you, you start and you break these down one at a time and kind of look at each one of those, I guess, in order to evaluate it and then decide what kind of action you can take to put yourself back on the right track.
Eric (27:13):
Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. So it’s basically, yeah. And I can go through it quickly here. Sure. You an idea. So at the base of the pyramid is your attitude. That’s at the foundation because really your attitude and your mindset is the foundation of your success. And studies show that if you just sit back and listen to your own mental chatter, 80% of it is negative.
Oh wow. Let you think about it. Just sit back, be quiet, listen to the things that are going on. Most of the time it’s an 80% of it is negative. So we have this bad habit of just thinking negative thoughts and talking badly about ourselves. Ultimately. So the best way to break a bad habit is to replace it with a better one. And that better habit is really gratitude, being intentional about being grateful.
And if you need to do a gratitude journal, you know, if you, I have people start off with what I call a win-loss right? So they have to tell me what their wins are. If I’m doing a coaching session, the first thing you’re going to tell me what your wins were since the last session. Because again, I want to break that cycle. Then what happened is if you are a pessimist, you’re more likely to procrastinate.
Eric (28:28):
That’s at the foundation of the pyramid. And then really quick, then you’ve got awareness. You know, really being aware of like your power times, are you a morning person? Are you a night owl? And the key is to schedule your high priority activities around the times of day when you have the most energy. So then you get the animation. Animation is really about your energy levels.
And it’s like, it’s not really time management. It’s more about entity men and people that are highly successful, have a habit of getting a lot of cardio and that stimulates your brain and you start feeling better. You have more energy, you procrastinate less than to kill better. Right? Then you have automation and automation is, and I wish I would have told me this back in the day, automation is all about the fact that just because something has to be done, it doesn’t mean that you have to do it right.
Eric (29:27):
That’s automation. So you need to have systems set up so that these things that need to be done, but you don’t have to do it. They can be delegated. You can set up my idea, you know, use technology and have it taken care of, but that’s really what automation is all about. And that keeps you from procrastinating because you’re freed up to focus on the thing you really shouldn’t be doing.
And then lastly is activity not have that as a top of the pyramid because you can’t get to the top without taking action. Right. And you have to know, make sure you’re doing the right things and setting priorities and all that good stuff. That in a nutshell, that’s the pyramid.
Roy – The Business of Business Podcast (30:07):
Okay. Yeah. Awesome. I like that. And get into the cart. Well, a couple of things that you’ve said is gratitude and that’s one thing I’ve noticed more, uh, through the pandemic is, uh, you know, guests, especially talking more about the gratitude and not for the big things, you know, not for the givens, our health, uh, you know, our families, but take, uh, take pride and take a little bit of a feel good for those little victories that we have every day.
Just like, you know, I got the trash out before the trash truck was driving down the street doesn’t sound like much, but if you’ve got two weeks worth of trash piling up, it’s a big deal. So, you know, it’s like, uh, take, uh, take stock of those little victories.
Cause they mean a lot. And the other thing that, uh, we were talking about the other day, we went for a walk or she has to start to go, she has to start walking with me because if I go by myself, my, I have so much time to think in my head is so clear. I come back with a hundred page list of ideas and things that we need to do and implement. So she’s like, I’m going to have to go and talk to you where you can’t think. So
Eric (31:17):
She has so many things and I’m just so overwhelmed. I’m like, Oh, okay, I’ll get right on that.
Roy – The Business of Business Podcast (31:23):
But it is the, you know, for me, it’s surprising, uh, get out, especially in this really nice weather and just take a brisk 15 or 20 minute walk and just how the creativity just seems to start flowing and yeah. Yeah. And then, and, and that’s, uh, I guess kind of one more thing on that is that, you know, we are so scheduled, uh, so heavy today.
That’s another thing I think we have to really watch is, um, not being over-scheduled because myself, since I picked up the book, I’ve been trying to, um, you know, I’d take stock more stock in my, my personal journey of when do I seem to procrastinate. And it’s usually after a full day, you know, and I have some things I need to do in the evening.
And then it’s easier just to set over and watch the evening news or, you know, have a bowl of popcorn or whatever, sit and talk with Terry thinking about, yeah, I need to really get up and do that. So, uh, you know, I have to reevaluate not being so full. I can take that time to where, you know, I guess it ties back into the energy too. I have the energy to get up and, you know, get these tasks completed. Yeah, no, I’m glad.
Eric (32:40):
I mean, you sounded like your awareness is heightened now and you’re starting to see the thing that triggers you.
Roy – The Business of Business Podcast (32:45):
Yeah. Because I think, uh, and Terry May agree or disagree, but you know, I feel like on the whole, I’m not that bad of a procrastinator, but I know that I have times that during the day or during the week when I’m worse than others and, uh, you know, I felt that the last couple of days has been, they’ve been very heavy. And so, you know, just, uh, having to try to, if I ever get away from the desk and sat down on the couch for a minute hard to get up and get back in the swing of things. So definitely, yeah.
Terry – The Business of Business Podcast (33:15):
Now you’re not, you are really not a procrastinator. I don’t think you are an idea, man. You’d have so many of them though. It makes me tired. Yeah.
Roy – The Business of Business Podcast (33:28):
Well, um, Eric, we appreciate you being here. An awesome book. Let me show that one more time. I’m going to put it up and I will put a picture of the, uh, put a picture of the book up on the website, as well as in the show, uh, in one of the show notes, I can get the cover in there. So we’ll be sure to put that up. I think everybody needs to rush out and get a copy because even if you’re not a total procrastinator, I think we all have a little bit of that procrastination in us. And, uh, I’ll just recommend, just go ahead and pick yourself up to save yourself some heartache.
Terry – The Business of Business Podcast (34:03):
So thanks. He’s getting this back. So you’re a boarder, your second one. Well, yeah,
Roy – The Business of Business Podcast (34:09):
I would want, can I have a copy too? And you’ll get to read one, but so before we, uh, before we let you go, so what is one tool or a habit or something that you do every day in your either business or personal life to not necessarily help keep you from procrastinate, but it could be, but what’s something that you do every day that you just couldn’t make it without doing.
Eric (34:34):
So I have a three by five card that I keep with me at all times. And I call this little habit, the twigs top five. So what I do is at the end of the day, I think about what are the, what are the five critical things that I need to do for the following day that these five things are things that are going to move me forward as it relates to my purpose.
So I write them down and then when it’s, when I start, my goal is to, I don’t care what happens if there’s a power outage, if there’s some tsunami I’m going to get things done. And I tell you what, that is such a critical habit for me. What it does is it builds confidence because I know I’m doing what I said that I would do. Yeah. You know? And so that if I could recommend one habit for your followers, it would be that they could listen to your five critical priorities and every day. Yeah.
Roy – The Business of Business Podcast (35:38):
Yeah. There’s mine. I had to reach over on my desk and pull mine. Cause that’s, I usually keep my to-do lists, but three by five card. It’s excellent because it’s easy to put in your shirt pocket. I have it with me all the time. So that’s great. I love that. Yeah. I’ve tried to move to a, um, you know, more of an online to do list, but I keep coming back to the three by five because you just can’t, can’t beat that. So
Eric (36:05):
Yeah. I like writing better VLA. Like you, I remember I went through a time where I was doing the automated ones, but I really liked the handwritten. Yeah.
Roy – The Business of Business Podcast (36:13):
That’s great, Eric. We certainly appreciate it. So, uh, tell people how they can reach out. Uh, not only for, uh, book information, I guess they can get that on. Uh, I think I got it on Amazon, but, uh, how they can get ahold of you to talk about the book. Talk about coaching, speaking. Uh, anything else that you have going on there?
Eric (36:34):
So you can reach me directly within the what now movement Facebook group, as I’m the president of the wet now movement. At this time we got over 1400 entrepreneurs, career professionals and authors in this group in every day, we’re providing content to help you to keep moving forward. But now you can contact me directly and interact with, I would recommend it.
It’s a free group, but there’s so much networking that happens in the group. We’re sharing 15 minute videos every day. Somebody in the group is a 15 minute video, Mondays, no motivation. Tuesdays time management, Wednesdays wellness, Thursdays on being thankful and then Fridays on fitness. So if so, so someone was to interact with me. You meet me right there in the what now, movement Facebook group.
Roy – The Business of Business Podcast (37:26):
Um, I was going to say, as soon as we get off here, I’m heading over there and join up too.
Eric (37:32):
I’m so glad you said that. Cause I was about to say, you are officially invited the group.
Roy – The Business of Business Podcast (37:38):
We’re going to crash the party. We’re not, we’re not procrastinate and we’re going to get on that one right now. Eric, you’ve been an awesome guest. We appreciate it very much. Taking time out of your day. Like I said, good book, uh, appreciate you writing it because I know that there are a lot of people that can, uh, gain a lot of insight in that and, uh, be more productive throughout your not only your professional life, but your personal life.
We didn’t really get into that, but it can hurt your personal relationships. Uh, just as much as it can, your professional ones too. So pick up a copy and see what you can do to help yourself. Uh, again, I’m Roy, this is the business of business podcast. You can find us on iTunes, Stitcher, Google play, Spotify, Instagram, Facebook, and now YouTube.
We will be, uh, uh, starting last week. We started putting up these episodes, uh, video, uh, tape recordings of these calls as well. So go over and check us out until next time. Thanks a lot. I’m Roy I’m Terry. Thanks Eric. Thanks for having me.
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