The Time Trap

Helloo0O Ladies and Gentlemen!

Welcome back to Graceland Ontario where we discuss the success lessons of the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll and see how we can apply these lessons in your life. Today, we’ll be talking about something I call ‘The Time Trap”.

Sounds kinda like the name of some 60’s TV series (anyone else watch The Time Tunnel from 1966-1967, co-starring James Darren and Robert Colbert with Whit Bissell, John Zaremba and the beautiful Lee Meriwether? Man that was good… but anyways…). What we’re saying here is that people know something’s coming in the future. It’s big, it’s scary, and it might be career changing (for better if you do it right, for worse if you flub it). But because it’s so scary, people won’t start it. They won’t even touch it. They’ll procrastinate about it because they’re scared they’re going to mess up. But they don’t think this. Instead, they pretend they have more time than they do. “I’ve still got a month,” they’ll say.

“I’ve still got a week,” they’ll say.

“I’ve still got an hour.”

They put it off until they cannot possibly avoid it anymore. Either it never gets done or it gets done really badly and it blows the toes off their career (and relationship with their superiors). They trick themselves into thinking there’s more time than there is until they’re ‘trapped’ and have to do something disasterous (if they do anything at all) to make up for lost time. Yea, and that’s right − doing a bad job isn’t going to win you any medals. It’s not going to make you more successful or any money either. It might burn you, though.

Burn you bad.

So, this paradox of imagining extra time when you don’t have it is called “The Time Trap”.

“But what can I do about this?”

Well, let’s look at our pal Elvis Presley and see whether The Time Trap hurt him; possibly, but it’s hardly noticeable. Elvis was constantly producing new records, new songs, new movies − The Time Trap is a form of procrastination that prevents you from producing, or makes you produce badly. As Elvis didn’t do too much stuff that we hate, it seems The Time Trap didn’t hurt him too much.

Why is this? Perhaps Colonel Parker, his manager, was on his back about working, perhaps crazy record/ movie execs pushed Elvis to work in a wheelchair every morning to get him going. Or maybe one of the reasons Elvis was so incredibly successful was simply because he was good at overcoming The Time Trap. Perhaps he was one of those incredible individuals who loved their job and could have enough fun doing their job that they would get to work despite The Time Trap. He acted differently to 99% of the population and was therefore more successful than 99% of the population.

So, first you need to know if this applies to you. That’s answered simply: do you produce as much as you should or would like to? And if you don’t, is it because you keep putting it off, because of procrastination?

Then this’s for you.

Next, how do you deal with this?

One, you can get ‘a crazy record exec’ to help you − if you have somebody, a friend, your spouse, pushing you to do something, you’ll be less likely to procrastinate. That’s how my Mum got my brother to clean his room all that time ago − she kept pressuring him until he got sick of it and finished it. Another method I learnt from David DeAngelo (a dating coach who also works as a business coach under his real name, Eben Pagan) was to put something you didn’t want to lose on the line. You’d tell a friend about your goal and say that if you didn’t get it done you’d have to give them, say, $20 to pay for not doing it. This might work even better if the money goes to an enemy. You don't want to be paying your enemy with your money. That way it will further inspire you beat The Time Trap.

Two, get a job you like. It was the second article I wrote on Graceland Ontario and I stand by the message as much now as I did then. If you like writing, try journalism. If you like music, try to become a soundman (or a full out musician if you’re really brave). If you like being a salesman, be a corporate salesman. The truth is the more you want a certain job and enjoy the work, the less likely you are to procrastinate. Why? Because you want to do well with the work, not with your boss. If they didn’t pay you, you’d still do the work because you enjoy it so much. Then, The Time Trap and nobody else will stop you from working.

Three, if you can’t give up your current job, find the fun in it. If it’s fun wrapping up burgers in McDonald's, then you’ll like the job more. If it’s fun working on high pressure assignments because you feel like James Bond or something, then you’re more likely to try it than wait around for The Time Trap to get you. This is like step two, minus the job you like. If you have to do something you don’t like, at least making it fun will make it bearable. And, hopefully, you'll be more successful in business and life.

Thanks for reading this article! I hope it will help you become more successful and productive in your daily life. Now get to work!

Elvis’s Lessons:

People often kid themselves they have more time than they do. Then, a deadline sneaks up on you and you mess up. This form of procrastination is something I call The Time Trap. To overcome this, you can get someone to force you to acknowledge your work, you can choose a job you like and enjoy it enough to work through procrastination or you can find the fun in your current job. Thanks for reading, now go get to work!

P.S. If you're interested seeing Elvis in one of his 60's movie songs (when he was fighting the time trap all the time with those crazy movie execs), here's a Youtube video of him singing "I'll Take Love" from Easy Come, Easy Go in 1967... I mean, what a great song!

P.P.S. Remember to leave a comment or story either underneath this post or send it to my email, alexghilson@gmail.com to continue the conversation.

It's Time to Decide...

Welcome back to Graceland Ontario after another week and thank you for joining us! Today, we’re going to continue our series on Elvis and the Superheroes that inspired him and how their lessons can impact your success for the better. We’re going to talk about a tough but learnable skill − making decisions.

D’you remember the old 60’s Batman series with Adam West and Burt Ward. Remember how Commissioner Gordon would call up Batman and say something like, “Batman, we’ve got a problem. The Joker’s taken a hostage and we don’t know what to do. Can you help us?”

And do you remember what Batman would say. “I’ll be right over Commissioner.” Not only did he quickly decide to help when a decision was necessary to apprehend the criminal, or save someone’s life, he did it in a way that suggested he was already making decisions about the future. About what he was going to do when he got there. About what Robin was going to do to help him if he got stuck. Batman was constantly being given hard decisions, but he always made them. And he made them fast. And he saved more innocent people (and locked up more crooks) that way than by procrastinating, trying to think up some perfect plan.

I once heard a story about a CEO who said that fast decision making was the key to his success. He’d have a bunch of marbles in one pocket. If he picked an odd number, the answer would be yes. If it was even it would be no (or vice versa). It’s the same as the coin flip. Perhaps it’s not the best way to make decisions, but if you know you’re going to procrastinate for an hour thinking whether you should say yes or no then flip the damned coin!

Like superhero, like Elvis. Elvis was in the army and he was discharged as a sergeant. Now, for those of you who don’t know much about ranks, a sergeant is in charge of a fire team of men, consisting of about four individuals, and leads them in drill and combat. You don’t get that job for being indecisive (and for those of you who aren’t impressed, if you can’t lead yourself, you can’t lead others, let alone four others). You can also see Elvis in the recorded rehearsals for Elvis: That’s the Way it Is, talking to his orchestra. And it was an orchestra. There were at least fifteen people in the room and he’s the one calling the shots and changing the arrangements and telling people to get into line. He knew how to make decisions. And when you make decisions, you take charge − of your life, of a group's future, of your success.

Even when you see Elvis performing, sometimes a fan will yell to him on stage and he’ll say “later”. No rudeness. No “f− you” (goddamn rappers). He’d decide that he was starting a song and the fan could wait three minutes for an autograph, or kiss, or whatever. But you know, people didn’t get mad at him for that. He made the best decision he could in the time, he did it quickly and he got things done. And generally people respected that. Sure he messed up once in a while, as we all do, but no one seems to remember and he’s in a better place anyways so no one cares. So if no one’s gonna care if you make a bad decision far off in the future and if you constantly make other good, logical decisions you get things done, why don’t you start making more quick decisions?! But remember: once you’ve made a decision, make sure it sticks. Like Elvis, he didn’t stop a song halfway and say, “I should have talked to that fan” and messed up both the fan and the song. Make a choice, stick to it until its fulfillment, then make another choice. And heck, maybe next time you’ll make a better choice than before, but you’ll certainly get things done.

Elvis’s Lessons:

Be like Batman, be like Elvis, be decisive. When others are procrastinating and wasting time, be the one to call the shots and take charge of the situation to its successful outcome. And if you have to flip a coin to make that quick decision, go for it. But do something and stick with it till its finished and you’ll get things done.

P.S. If you'd like to see a short video of The King singing 'Words' from Elvis: That's the Way it Is, here's a link to Youtube. Notice how a fan tries to steal Elvis's attention at the beginning of the song when the band's ready to play. Elvis makes a quick decision, says, "catch you later" and the band continues to play the song.

P.P.S. I'd love to hear your comments on what I write. Feel free to comment below this post or email me (Alex) at alexghilson@gmail.com to continue the conversation.