I placed The Procrastination Formula in Coffee with Kevin Hogan so loyal readers would have it but people who simply visited the website would not. Loyalty is always rewarded. There was a lot of appreciation expressed.
Today we look at the one factor that was missing from the formula.
Procrastinate or Not?
Here are a few scenarios where people will almost certainly procrastinate and a few where they won’t. See if you can guess which is which.
You’ve asked me to help you build up the courage to ask someone out/to dance, whatever. You and I walk into the club/bar and I sit down, have a glass of wine and tell you to go for it, motioning my hand at the vast array of fish in the sea here for the sole purpose of being asked out. “Go for it, check in with me before you leave.”
Procrastinate or not?
You’ve asked me to help you get a job. I have asked you numerous questions and you have responded as to what your talents, likes, dislikes are. I tell you to that based on the information you’ve given me, “I want you to go apply at X, Y and Z companies for job Q and I want you to go, in that order, reporting back at 5 PM.”
Will you procrastinate or not?
You’ve asked me to help you launch your small coffee table business so you can actually start to build a nest egg. I speak in an upbeat motivational fashion to you and tell you that you have the courage, the power, the strength and that you can do it. I show you how crucial it is for you to have a small little “You INC.” I lay it out that you will literally build wealth if you will just do this one thing. “Now find something that you love and do it.”
Procrastinate or not?
Two years ago at Influence: Boot Camp I revealed an effective formula to actually get people to do what you tell them to do. (Not ask, but tell.)
The basis for that formula has a connection here as you will see.
The New Research Revealed
First study: (All performed by Dr. Sean McCrea at the University of Konstanz in Germany)
Half of the students in a study are asked to write about why someone might want to open a bank account or keep a diary. The other half were asked to write a couple of sentences about how they would open a bank account or keep a diary.
Next, half the students in a new study were asked to provide examples of members of a group, for example, naming types of birds. The other half of the students were instructed to name the type of category to which birds belonged.
Third and final study: All the students in this study were given money and a time limit to examine a copy of “La Parade” by the 19th century artist Georges Seurat. 1/2 were then given information about “pointillism.” (Technique Seurat used to make colors that appeared solid from small dots like pixels). The other 1/2 were given told that the painting was an example of neo-impressionism in which the author had used color to evoke harmony and emotion. Both groups were then asked to rate the importance of color in 13 other works of art.
Psychological Science reported the findings.
The results were striking.
What did the researchers find out?
Almost ALL students given tasks in CONCRETE TERMS completed their assignments in each study.
About HALF of the students asked to think in abstract terms didn’t even RESPOND to the questions/tasks which they were PAID to do.
Legend Point: How you frame a project or task in your mind is going to in large part determine whether you will even BEGIN the task. Concrete terms? You’ll almost certainly do it. Abstract? It’s a coin flip.
And back to the scenarios I presented at the beginning.
A person asked to go find someone and ask them out is daunting. Walking up to a singular one person with the instruction to ask THAT person out is not as freezing.
Telling someone to go apply for a job at X, Y and Z for position Q is much more effective than telling someone the economy is terrible and they better get moving before they fall through the ceiling too.
And the Coffee Table business? Yes, you need it to build wealth, but if I don’t tell you what to do (if I let you be “free” and a thinking human) you probably won’t do it. If I tell you to sell collectibles that you can buy from ABC store and drop ship to customers on Ebay, you’ll almost certainly begin.
If this is the kind of valuable information you need to know, something you’ve wondered about, and been bugged about…wondering why you don’t do things you know you should…or wondering why THEY don’t do what you “tell them,” perhaps you were telling them in the abstract.
Make sense? This is HOW you learn what to do at Boot Camp. And the results?
Whether people say “yes” or “no” (or don’t ever think about it again).
Ah, the instructions for changing a behavior I mentioned earlier in the article?
Identify the person’s negative behavior and give a SPECIFIC instruction as to what to do instead.
Where can you get more of the most innovative and cutting-edge influence and persuasion strategies and tactics?
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