How to Overcome Procrastination and Do the Deal

The time has finally come. You’re about to call that motivated seller and hash out a deal with him. Your all-important first deal! Everything is in place. You have your notepad in front of you. You have all your numbers in order and you’re ready to slug it out. Then you find something else at the last moment that just can’t wait….you’re procrastinating, and I’m going to share with you my method for getting out of this awful habit.

We’ve all been there, right? Of course we have. Calling sellers is the bread and butter of the real estate field. Did you know that over 90% of newbie investors will never pick up the phone and make that call? Why can some do it so consistently and others turn into jelly at the critical moment?

I can name that tune in one word – FEAR!

I know you’re thinking I’m some sort of lunatic now. You’re not fearful. You’re brave and courageous! You’re also reading an article on how to overcome procrastination….so perhaps this isn’t such a foreign concept to you afterall. Truly fear is one of the two great motivators in our lives, the other being pleasure. 90% of the time, it’s pain which motivates the procrastinator. Fear is simply the vehicle in which pain arrives to the party.

Since this pain is only in our minds, our fears are unfounded. The trouble with the human mind is that it cannot differentiate between perceived pain and real pain. If you associate enough pain to the thing you're procrastinating, your mind will do anything to avoid it. So, understanding why we procrastinate, what ever can we do about it? So glad you asked!

Here is a little NLP technique I learned a while back to help me overcome fear and take the action I need to take. It was originally marketed as a cure for phobias, but I find it works equally well for procrastination:

Find a comfortable place to sit or lie down. Close your eyes and let your imagination take over for a while. Now imagine the very worst case. You’re on the phone with a seller and he’s just not going for it. What’s more, this guy is tearing into you like crazy and making you feel about 2 inches tall. Imagine this as vividly as you can. Notice everything you can about this image in your mind. Now, while you’re still on the phone with this insane seller, drift out from your body. See yourself talking on the phone with that guy, but from a few feet away. Now stop the picture completely and drift further out.

Imagine now that you’re sitting in a movie theater alone, and the stopped picture of you talking to the awful seller is on the screen before you. Now play the movie backwards on the movie screen as fast as you can. ZIP!! Now play it forward again at normal speed, then backwards even faster than the last time . ZIP! Play it forward for a second time, then backwards as fast as you can, but this time, imagine circus music playing over the picture. Imagine the goofy circus music playing as you watch this scene play backwards very quickly.

Next, drift away from your movie theater seat, leaving yourself in it (make a "copy" of yourself for a moment). Drift up to the projection booth and watch yourself in the seat below, watching yourself on the screen participating in this ridiculous call and rewinding it, each time with goofy circus music. Now, when you play the movie forward, exaggerate the colors. Make them all very bright and surrealistic. Hey, it’s your movie, Mr. DeMille, you can do what you like with it! Now play the movie forward and backwards, very fast in both directions, and with the goofy circus music playing the entire time. After you’ve done this a few times, drift back into your body in the theater seat. Continue to watch the scene on the screen run backwards and forward, goofy music and exaggerated colors included.

When you think you’re ready, drift back up to the screen and put yourself back into the scene. Stand a few feet away from yourself and watch how you handle the call now. You’ll notice that you’re not sweating and you’re not swallowing hard. In fact, you’re not bothered at all. You’re cool under pressure and that’s what it’s all about. Now step back into your original body and hang up the phone.

If done right, this technique should change the way you feel about making the phone call (or whatever you’ve been putting off). If you have no reason to fear it, you’ll be in a better position to jump up and do it.

If you’d like to add a little extra oomph to your action, while you’re still sitting or lying down, imagine the pleasure you’ll gain from making the phone call (or whatever it is you’ve been putting off). Don’t just imagine it. FEEL it. Feel exactly what you would feel if you had already made the call and already done the deal. It feels good, doesn’t it? Soak up that moment several times a day until it becomes an involuntary reaction. Sooner or later the mere thought of picking up the phone will inspire those excellent feelings, and you’ll be really excited to talk to your prospective sellers, no matter how insulting they may be!

"You don’t have to be great to start, but you do have to start to be great." – Joe Sabah

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