STOP These Behaviors Before You Can Begin New Ones

So many times we examine what we don’t have and come up with a list of things that we should do instead of cutting back on behaviors that have a negative behavior on our personal and professional life.

I speak from experience because I have added these to my STOP DO list and it is magically improving my life. The mastery of STOP DO is just as important if not more important than the To Do. It is like your living room closet. Before you can buy more jackets, shirts, coats, and suits you have to make room for the new ones by getting rid of the old ones.

Here are some of the behaviors that I would recommend STOP DOING before you can begin adding new ones to the list:

1. STOP waking up late. Hitting the snooze on the alarm clock is the biggest waste of time. When you wake up you are up. That ten minutes is not going to help your entire day. If this is a problem then move the time up and don’t hit the button.
2. STOP doing your To Do list on the same day. Plan to set your to do list the night before you go to sleep. This will allow you to think about these items and unconsciously solve problems while you are sleeping. When you wake up you are ready to act whereas if you think about your ideas on what to do that day you waste time thinking through all of the possible outcomes. Try this for a week straight and you will see immediate results.
3. STOP checking email every 5 minutes. The most destructive behavior of them all. Remove the instant notifications on your Microsoft Outlook, remove the ringer on incoming messages, and remove the reminders on your Outlook Today. Every time you get distracted by one of these annoying items it takes an additional 10 seconds to get refocused on the project that you are working on. This could realistically eat up 10 – 20 minutes depending on the amount of email you receive. Set a time on your calendar to at the most check your email 2 per day at selected times. Do not check your email until you have completed the most important task of the day.
4. STOP committing to everything. When you are good at something and can provide value to others, people will want to suck your resources and time to promote their own agenda. There is a time to say yes and a time to say no. If this group does not share the same purpose as you then say NO. If they cannot add a direct value to your life purpose say NO. If they ask for more than you can deliver say NO.
5. STOP waiting for the phone to ring. Proactivity breeds sales activity. The more quality people that you can impact in the shortest period of time the faster your business will grow. Blog, send an email, hand deliver a note, or meet someone for coffee. This doesn’t mean you have to make prospecting calls. Do something that will make people want to contact you.
6. STOP selling your services. Sell the service of the service. You can sell your services all day but if you are not offering some sort of value then people will say no. What is it about your service that has a direct impact on their personal or professional life. Ask people questions, find out what people need, find the pain, and deliver the solution to that pain and people will contact you.