Ever hear the expression, Save the Best for Last? I have one better, Do the Worst First!
A common thread among top sales reps is a habit that everyone can benefit from. Human nature is responsible for the procrastination we have toward tasks we dread the most. Top performers do just the opposite; they get the hard tasks over with as quickly and efficiently as possible without any fear of the approaching event.
As a kid, I remember a meeting between my parents and my teacher because of some behavioral issues at school. 
Waiting for the outcome of the meeting was the worst part, not the meeting itself. Just waiting conjured up imaginary scenarios of dread and doom and permeated every activity until the meeting was over.
What I learned from this was to stop wasting time worrying about upcoming events or their outcomes, and concentrate on the positives experiences like these from the past. This over-worry leads to stress and stress is bad…for anyone. 
Stress can be sensed in a phone conversation and certainly can be seen in a face-to-face meeting. Moreover, stress is often misconstrued as fear, not something useful as a sales professional. Here are some suggestions for preparing for those undesirable tasks that have to be performed.
- Relax by what ever means helps you obtain the focus and allows you to remain sharp. Play the iPod or take a head-clearing walk.
- Exercise or do some physical exercise to raise the sweat level and drop the fret level.
- Lastly, I wrote an article about doing 5 daily tasks and one of those was to get out of your comfort zone. If you practice that, the next time becomes that much easier.
Strive to be the best you can be and strive to be on an even keel. I admire those that strive for the best, but don’t admonish them when they fail to achieve. None of use will be number #1 forever, and very few achieve #1 continuously.
If you find this article of value please comment. Have a Twitter account? I would be most appreciative if you would retweet this at the top of the article!
Happy Selling!
Ed Warner
2 replies on “Do the Worst First”
Hello Ed,
Yes, completing hard task first helps a lot to come out of the stress but i don’t think this is possible until you practice it.
Love the idea of ‘doing the worst first’ and some great tips there too. Also was very impressed with your tips on presentations especially where you say tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them and then tell them what you have told them – which is adapting the same approach as the Daily News Reading. Thanks Ed keep doing what you are doing.
Ana
http://www.needhelpwithinternetmarketing.com