From Stuck to Unstoppable: Becoming Procrastination Proof
Are you ready to be unstuck and unstoppable?
In this episode, Lisa and Cindy expose the hidden illusion that’s quietly stealing your sales success. The one that keeps you “busy” but never bold enough to move forward.
They break down the psychology behind why we delay the very things that could change our careers and how fear often disguises itself as discipline. If you’ve ever avoided that hard call, delayed that big move, or doubted your next step, this one’s for you.
It’s time to see procrastination for what it really is and reclaim your power to act.
Episode Chapter Markers
00:00 Introduction
01:45 The Buzzword of the Year
02:29 Revealing the Topic: Procrastination
03:17 Personal Experiences with Procrastination
04:04 The Silent Sales Killer
04:30 The Pain of Procrastination
07:59 Understanding the Root Causes
19:42 The GRIT Framework
Must-Hear Insights and Key Moments
The Hidden Illusion of “Busy” – Why staying busy often masks deeper fears of failure and rejection.
Procrastination as Protection – How your brain uses avoidance as a survival mechanism.
Fear Disguised as Productivity – Recognizing when perfectionism and planning are really fear in disguise.
The Mindset Shift That Changes Everything – Simple reframes to turn hesitation into momentum.
Accountability That Builds Confidence – Why having the right circle matters when tackling fear-based behaviors.
Lisa’s Real-Life Reflection – How she caught herself “researching” instead of doing and what changed.
Cindy’s Practical Fix – The tool she uses daily to break down big goals into bold, doable steps.
From Avoidance to Action – How to rewrite your sales story by moving through discomfort with clarity and purpose.
Words of Wisdom: Standout Quotes from This Episode
“Sometimes the illusion of control is what keeps us stuck.” - Anneliese Rhodes
“We think we’re waiting for the perfect time, but really we’re just waiting to feel safe.” - Anneliese Rhodes
“You can’t lead with fear and expect your results to follow with confidence.” - Anneliese Rhodes
“The minute I stopped labeling myself as ‘behind,’ I started moving forward.” - Anneliese Rhodes
“If you don’t track it, you can’t fix it and if you don’t face it, you can’t change it.” - Cynthia Ficara
“The illusion isn't procrastination. It’s believing you’ll feel ready one day.” - Cynthia Ficara
“Fear wears a lot of disguises: perfectionism, busyness, even planning.” - Cynthia Ficara
“ Having grit isn't about being perfect, it's about being consistent, and you've got everything you need to go from stuck to unstoppable” - Cynthia Ficara
“When you stop judging your delays, you start understanding your patterns.” - Cynthia Ficara
Follow The Girls of Grit:
We'd Love to Hear Your Stories!
Ever caught yourself “too busy” to start the thing that really matters? Maybe it was sending that follow-up, making that bold call, or finally going after the role you’ve been eyeing—but something held you back. We’d love to hear your story.
DM us or tag us and share a time you broke through the illusion of procrastination and took action anyway. Your story might be the reminder another woman in sales needs to stop waiting for perfection and start moving with purpose featured on the next episode of The Girls of Grit.
A Team Dklutr production
Blog Transcript:
Note: We use AI transcription so there may be some inaccuracies
Anneliese Rhodes: Welcome everyone to another episode of Secrets and Medical Device Sales, brought to you by the Girls of Grit. Today we are bringing you guys a fantastic episode because of so many reasons, but the biggest reason of all you guys is that we just released an amazing. Course on this topic and you guys sydnee, yay.
You guys are gonna be so inspired that you, it's this topic is gonna blow your mind because I swear it's literally like something that everybody is talking about right now. It's like the buzzword of the year. It's the buzzword of the year, and it's something everybody
Cynthia Ficara: does, whether you're, whether it's like something you do all the time or something, you do a little or something, you just do bits and pieces of 100% of the population in any country you're listening does this now.
Yes, 100% of you can improve
Anneliese Rhodes: this. Yeah. And so why, I mean, why are we talking about it and why did we do a course on it? Because this directly relates. To your success as a high performer in any sales industry, especially the medical device industry, because this is such an important key thing that you must overcome in order to be ultimately successful.
So what are we talking about today, Cindy? What is this episode all on?
The Silent Sales Killer
Cynthia Ficara: Well, wait a minute. I'm not even gonna tell you. First I'm gonna ask you something that's, I want you to think if you can figure this out. Okay. So lemme give you a situation if you're ever. Get into your office, you're ready to go to work, and you're staring at your laptop.
Okay? And now you know what you should be doing. And now you're like cleaning out your inbox or doing something instead. And it's like you feel this secretly avoiding real work subconsciously. Mm-hmm. That's what we're talking about. And so overall, what is this big thing we're talking about? Drum roll together, Lisa.
Procrastination. Procrastination. Procrastination. We're talking about procrastination, and I swear right now if you're somebody going, oh, I'm not a procrastinator, I don't procrastinate. Well keep listening because I guarantee we can recognize some areas where you actually do procrastinate.
Anneliese Rhodes: I totally did it.
Like before you and I, when you and I were talking about this, I remember when you were talking about this, Cindy, and you're like, I think this is a great topic to talk about. I'm like, really? I don't really procrastinate. And then you and I started going through all the data and all the information and I'm like.
Oh, I do that. Oh, I do that too. Oh, that
Cynthia Ficara: would be me. So, and you know what? Me too. And I am not, I, I do not label myself as a procrastinator, but when we really research this and dug into this, like absolutely, there's different ways of looking at it. And that's what we wanna talk to you guys about, because ultimately it's really kind of exposing, and I think a good word, is a silent sales killer.
Because many, there's so many talented reps out there, but if, if you procrastinate, it's, it's like a paralyzer. Yes. And so we've got a little bit of mindset shifts. A little bit of tips because we want you to get moving and stop delaying everything you're doing.
Anneliese Rhodes: Well, so I'm gonna paint you a picture because this is literally gonna make all of you feel this pain of procrastination.
So, and I'm, and I don't even realize that's what it was until we started real digging into it and I'm like, oh, that is what it is. So I am so good at doing this. It's terrible. So, you know, all getting, you're so good at being that. I'm so good at being bad. I'll get moving and grooving, right? I'll get moving and grooving, and I'm doing my cases and I'm, I'm, I'm doing really well, and I'm working on my docs that I'm working with, and I'm, I know, I know that I need to be opening up a new accounts.
I know that I'm supposed to be like really trying to cultivate and develop new key targets, but, oh, Cindy, I'm so busy. I'm so busy with all my cases. I'm so busy with all my busy work that I neglect. Those things that I don't wanna do, right? I neglect the cold calling. I neglect the lunches, I neglect the people that I need to be developing until I realize that my number creeps up on me and, oh, I'm not gonna hit my number unless I actually get a new customer.
But I've forgotten to develop them. And now we're three months later into the year and I'm going. Oh my gosh. And now I'm scrambling. Now I'm like, oh, I gotta get this lunch and I gotta get this product approved and I need to do this, and I need to do that. And you guys, it's so painful because. The numbers on your head, time is not on your side.
You still have all those cases that you had before, right? But now it's the additional pressure of having to build a new part of your territory or sell a new part in your bag, right? A new product. And you've been, you've been neglecting it because you don't wanna do it. That's procrastination. And that's a real pain point that I feel like we all hit at some point in our career.
And I love how
Cynthia Ficara: you described actual procrastination in a feeling because it is a frustrating feeling. It is pressure. It's actually guilt sometimes too when you just don't actually achieve. What you knew you should have done, and then now you're exhausted and then you start doubting yourself. So there's self-doubt too, and it's crazy that seriously, procrastination is like this little poison that seeps into all of us, not, it's a feeling that sucks.
Nobody wants to feel that way. And then ultimately, what what can happen is. Really the things that we try to avoid as high performers, which is missing, missing a goal, right? You can, you can not, um, you can also lose trust. Yeah, because. If you are someone who was supposed to do things and you didn't, how does your customer see you?
Yeah. And that never is good for any anybody, but I think something that is more important in just your story and people relating to that. Is understanding that it's not even just that happening, but it's the story you tell yourself about what that whole delay was or what it means.
Fear, Comfort, and the Hidden Triggers
Anneliese Rhodes: Oh, absolutely. I'm too busy.
I'm so busy. I don't have the time, I don't have the energy. I'm too tired. I'm whatever it is, right? But. That's the story is you're telling yourself when you know deep down inside, you really should be making that extra sales call. You really do need to spend that day at the opposite part of your territory, developing those new key customers or learning about the product more so that you can sell it better.
Right. So, you know, I think, I think it's kind of important we talk about why it happens, right? I think in, in our course, by the way, this amazing course that we just released, that every single one of you right now listening better go and check it out. Because it's amazing. It's on our website. You go to the resource tab, you will find it there.
But here's the deal, you guys, so there's a reason behind procrastination, and it's not always what you think it is. It's not about not having that enough time of the day, right? There is a big part of it that comes from fear, which is shocking to me because I would've never thought about that, Cindy. But when you and I, again, when you and I started digging into this.
I really realized that it is about fear and that that could be fear of rejection, fear of the unknown, fear of not knowing, um, you know, all sorts of things. Fear is massive and it can play a huge part in everybody's life. I mean, I'm learning more things about myself personally now than I'm like, oh, I guess that was me being fearful.
So fear is a big reason of why procrastination happens. Another reason, and I'll tell you this, is the one that I was explaining in my example a little bit earlier. Is comfort, right? It's comfortable to cruise. It's comfortable to call on the same docs who love you, call you by name, text you, Hey, how's it going?
I got a case for you. Yeah, baby. That's all great and comfortable. It is not comfortable. And this is fear that is not comfortable when you gotta go call on a brand new doctor and a brand new hospital system and a brand new vac committee and a brand new gatekeeper and nobody knows you and they may not even like you.
And now you gotta go into that discomfort and pretend that you're good with it because you have to do it in order to increase your sales. That can be procrastination by not doing that.
Cynthia Ficara: And you know, that is it. It, it's. It's crazy because when you and I really thought about this. It's so evident, but when you don't stop and think about it, you don't even see it.
Oh, absolutely. That it is easy to be comfortable, but then, but guess what? If you actually didn't procrastinate and got this next account, you have one more to be comfortable in. You know, there's another area, you mentioned fear, you mentioned comfort, and there's one other area that that's like the adrenaline rush, like so.
Oh my gosh. If, if I'm gonna do i'll, I'll do it. When all of a sudden I'm being pushed to do it, you know? Right. There's like this,
Anneliese Rhodes: yeah,
Cynthia Ficara: this, I haven't done it, so now I need to. Um, I'll wait till the pressure's really on and then I'm just gonna get it done. But, but wait a minute. What if you would've spent the two, three weeks before?
Think about how much more effective, how much better if you planned, you're fooling yourself when you tell yourself that little dopamine chase of, I gotta do what? I gotta do it real quick. Oh yeah, I'm gonna get it done. I'm gonna get it better. Doesn't give you quality outcomes, so it might push you to the end.
But you know, hey, to be a high performer, quality is one of the huge pillars that's part of that. So why would you chip away a pillar? You don't have to.
Anneliese Rhodes: And that so reminds me of cramming for tests, right? I was such a Cramer. I was such a Cramer. I would be like the midnight studier. And unfortunately, in my defense, it actually works because I have a photographic memory.
So I can like pho, I can, I can in my mind write things out and I have them like in my mind. But the, the downside of that is that it disappears like after 36 hours, if I don't call on that, oh, it's all out the window. So, but you're right, right. You know, and I was actually talking with a rep the other day and she was like, I'm such a great Cramer.
She goes, but I know it's procrastination, right? Like she's waiting till the last minute to learn something new before the next sales call the day. It's easy to do because we use that excuse of being too busy or you know, whatever it is. But the truth is, it's procrastination. And you're right, Cindy, wouldn't you rather have it be quality, uh, work, right?
Quality work. So anyhow, you know? Yeah. With
Cynthia Ficara: that situation, ultimately you did the same thing. Either you were supposed to cram and study or just. Study along the way. But you know, we talk a lot about time management in, in as high performers. So the procrastination point that sets you back isn't about having the knowledge at the end.
It's about what could you have done to move the needle during that time. Yeah. So had you not sat there staring at your laptop for an hour or making excuses, that's an hour you could have done something. Yeah. Not to say. That. You know what? In all fairness, some people really do work better under pressure and if they're hyper-focused, but how much time did they spend delaying?
Yeah, so they actually did it. Yeah. All that time can be used elsewhere and it's, it's crazy. But like why we do this to ourselves is something that just is fun to kind of take a look in the mirror and say, what am I doing? Yeah.
Anneliese Rhodes: Well, and I think maybe before we tell you guys a little bit more about our course and what it provides to you.
Um, I think we really need to remind y'all exactly why this is so important. So some pain points. I think, like I painted a good picture for you guys. Mm-hmm. But I think, you know, honestly, Cindy, the mental weight of what we carry, right? Like, so. I know that I have somebody that I need to go call on. I know I need to go deal with a new part of my territory and really develop it, but it's the guilt, right?
It, it weighs on me, and at the same time, it pushes me away from wanting to do it because who wants to walk into guilt? Who wants to walk into discomfort? Nobody does. But you know, I think that that's really important to see that and recognize that. So, you know, it's so important. Which, which
How It Steals Your Confidence and Success
Cynthia Ficara: is why I think it's time to reveal our secret.
Oh,
Anneliese Rhodes: I always forget about our secret. That's right.
Cynthia Ficara: So it ties into the, I'm procrastinating our secret. Hey, she procrastinates our secret. Well, then I won't procrastinate and I will tell you that you know when, when Lisa and I really look to procrastination, we came up with wanting you to look at this at a different perspective and our secret to procrastination that we think is one simple word.
And that is illusion because the secret behind it is an illusion. It tricks you into feeling productive, but it's quietly stealing all of your results that you could have. It's, it's a really tricky thing, but magic, like think of, think of a magician, right? It's an illusion. They're gonna pull this rabbit out of a hat.
Okay, well, in sales. Might work once, twice, but it's not gonna be repeated behavior that's going to give you success that we really drive home here. We girls of grit want you all to be high performers and understanding that illusion is is our secret. You know, I love
Anneliese Rhodes: that. Yeah. I, and you're right, I think it does eat away.
It does absolutely eat away over time. And you, you tell yourself that it's not going to, and you tell yourself it's gonna work, and you tell yourself, I can push this off. I'll do it later. I'll do that next week. I'll get to them next month. But the truth is you don't. And the truth is you won't until you're pushed, like you were talking about with that dopamine chaser or the feeling of that rush sense.
But who wants to work under pressure all the time? Wouldn't you rather have it a little more balanced? So I love that secret because. You're right. Procrastination hides itself. It makes you think you're being super productive, right? Oh, I'm so busy. I'm doing 10 things at once. But the truth is, number one, are you really, and number two, like what are those tasks you're doing?
Are they like, are you getting on LinkedIn for two hours a day? Are you on Instagram? Or you know, emailing and sitting behind your desk when you should be out there doing your sales calls? Talking to the customers that you don't know yet, you know? So it's like how are you lying to yourself basically and following this, this procrastination trail?
Right? I mean, I think there's so many things, you know, God, another thing is like missed opportunities, which is missed sales. Like that to me, speaks so much. Volume, but truth to me, because I, I remember telling somebody one time, you know, like they were asking me, they're like, how do you, how do you, how do you repeat president's clubs?
Like, how do you repeat those wins over and over again? How do you repeat being a high performer Because the number always grows, right? And your territory. Never. I mean, it can shrink by getting cut, which has happened, but your number is always gonna grow. You're always gonna be expected to do more and more and more.
And if you don't put yourself in a position where you're constantly thinking ahead, moving ahead, going into the unknown, being uncomfortable. Being productive in the right ways and not procrastinating. You will fall short and you will have years, and I've had this happen to me, Cindy. It has happened to me multiple times where I have been running and gunning and I know I'm forgetting and I know I'm putting on the back burner certain accounts and it catches up.
It may take a couple years, but it sure catches up. You can't outrun that. No, it won't catch up with you.
Cynthia Ficara: You know, we also talk about another pain point that it, it's, it's not something that automatically jumps out to you with procrastination. And we went into this in our course, so definitely download the course on procrastination.
And I, and I don't know if you've ever thought about this, but where else can procrastination eat away? Is your confidence. And why is that? Because maybe you used to take a lot of action or think about, people talk about the honeymoon period, right? Mm-hmm. When you first join a job and you're all gung ho, I'm gonna go out there, I'm gonna do this, and you have confidence and you're ready to build in.
And then maybe, I dunno, life gets in the way and you're tired, or it's been a year or maybe even told no. So you kind of have this little beat down well. Now you second guess everything. All you're doing is, is eating into that devil of A. You don't have any confidence in your voice. You don't need that.
But procrastination is actually behind that because every delay that you have will chip away at self-trust and credibility. When you have that credibility, it increases your confidence, so the longer you wait, it becomes. Bigger and bigger and heavier. So like, you know, if you just walked up the freaking mountain, instead of looking at every little rock you have to step on and making the little pebble become bigger and bigger and bigger into a huge rock.
We all do that. We all make things so much bigger than they have to be. Yeah. If we wait. Yeah. You know, like on our planner. You know, that's another thing you can download. We've got a list of things to do, but we always prioritize the first three things. First on focus first, why they're the most painful or they're the most important, and once they're done.
Boom. That keeps your credibility, that keeps your trust, that keeps your momentum. So I think a confidence dream is something that is not spoken about, but is absolutely tied to procrastination.
Anneliese Rhodes: No, that's a good point. And if you think about it, when you do do those hard things first, then like your whole day gets easier.
You're like, oh, I just knocked that out of the park. Even if it didn't go exactly the way that you wanted it to go with like a cold call or whatever. You did it right. You took that step. You got outta your comfort zone. You made yourself feel uncomfortable in the discomfort. You did it. Man, it's like a great feeling, you know?
And it, and it helps promote you. Or not promote you, but push you towards your next goal, whatever that goal is. Yeah. So I agree with you.
From Stuck to Unstoppable
So I wanna talk about the fun stuff now, which Yay. Giving it all away, by the way, guys, because you gotta go into the course and download it to get it all. But I will tell you that we have.
An algorithm, which is our grit framework that is going to get you guys from un from stuck to unstoppable. And I am telling you this thing, Cindy and I put in a lot of long hours with this sucker. We really thought about this for you guys. We are so excited about it. I love it. You love it, Cindy. It's easy because it's simple.
It's simple. It's easy, it's simple, reframes everything. It gets you into that high performer's mind every day because again, we all fall into the trap of procrastination. I do it all the time, and I'm telling you, once we started working on this, y'all, Cindy and I put in the hours and we put in the time.
She and I both were like, yes, this is awesome. Yes, we need to put this out there. Yes, people will see results with this, so I'm just gonna tell y'all. You need to go get this course right now and use our grit framework to help you get unstuck.
Cynthia Ficara: Go to unstuck. And what's so
Anneliese Rhodes: fun
Cynthia Ficara: is even Lisa and I applied this ourselves and realize just from making this course, it's making us better.
Yes. If any of you are loyal listeners, you know that. Why did we start this podcast? Right? We really wanted to impact those out there, especially women that. Are in the same boat that we are, but really anybody out there in medical device, we've done this for so long, we've put in decades together, and there are little things that we've learned along the way, and this procrastination course is actually just accumulation of an example of exactly doing that.
Here's where we see. There is a window to improve, and so this time we took it a step further. We love to bring you our information on a podcast, which we're giving you a little shortcut today, but for those of you that maybe this is an area that A, you know you have a problem with, or B, after listening today, you're like.
Hmm. Maybe I do need that course because I didn't realize there's areas I procrastinate. That's why we did this. We built this to help you. Our signature course with our algorithm unique to us is because we made it simple for you.
Anneliese Rhodes: Well, and we've been doing this for so long, right? I mean, this algorithm really comes from you and I putting our heads together.
And really thinking about all the things that we've had to overcome over the years. I mean, I was just talking with, I don't know, one of these sweetheart newer reps to the industry the other day, and I had to tell her how long I've been doing it. I was like, oh my gosh, it's been 26 years, right? I'm 48, it's been 26 years.
And I'm like, geez, I've been, I've been doing this a long time. I'm old, but like, I wish I had this. When I was 26, 27 years old, 30 years old, getting into shoot 45 street. Seriously. Exactly. I wish I had it at 35. I wish I'd had it any point in my career. Because the truth is nobody talks about this. 'cause it's kind of like the ugly thing, right?
It's the ugly stepchild. Nobody wants to talk about this guy. It's a redheaded stepchild. But it it, it's everywhere, right? And everybody faces it all the way up to CEOs. Everybody faces procrastination and the the true leaders. The true high, um, performers, the true people that can overcome this are the people that put attention on it and solve it, right?
And so that's what Cindy and I have tried to do. I love this algorithm. GRIT. You know, you guys are gonna love it. You gotta go in there and check it out. It's amazing. And I mean, I'm telling you, it is going to bring you guys. Such great results. I mean, you are gonna recognize patterns and triggers, things that you as a person, this is a personal journey that you will take and you will recognize your own patterns and your own triggers, not mine, not Cindy's, but your own.
And you're gonna be able to use the framework to get you guys to a point where you are just, you're gonna be able to do it without even having to think about it anymore. You're not gonna be procrastinating anymore. You're literally just gonna move forward.
Cynthia Ficara: I am just so excited and, you know, celebrating the little tiny things you do well, you know, like tiny wins.
Tiny micro wins are all the things that build upon to become bigger and bigger and create unstoppable reps. When you throw away the secret or the se, when you understand the secret of illusion. Yeah. And see behind the mask of illusion to procrastination, you will be unstoppable. Action beats hesitation every single time, and I, I, I am really hoping that this episode has hit home for some of you.
And again, this GRIT algorithm from what? Oh. Nobody other than the girls of Grit. The girls of grit. Woo-hoo. We're excited for you. And, and it's just really, really something that we feel very passionate about. Yep. So, to end on the podcast note, I, I wanna give a mini challenge to any of you listeners. And that is if you have been putting something off, everybody has either an iPhone or a Google.
There is an alarm on everybody's phone. And don't tell me you don't have a phone. Set a timer. Two minutes. I just want you to start. That's it. That's your grit Homework for today. Set a timer. Two minutes. What have you been? Been putting off? Do it. But now. For all of you, if this episode hit home, we have this new course procrastination proof, and it really, really will dive deeper into why the how, and the system to finally break free procrastination.
It is designed for sales professionals becoming high performers who really are ready to stop waiting and start winning even if you didn't know you were waiting. And I'll end on this note. Woo-hoo. Remember. Having grit isn't about being perfect, it's about being consistent, and you've got everything you need to go from stuck to unstoppable and a lot.
Anneliese Rhodes: So go now to our website and download procrastination Proof course that we the Girls of Grit have put out there. Our website is www.thegirlsofgrit.com. Go to the resource tab and click on our procrastination proof course. Check it out. Download it, buy it today, and start seeing results today. Your energy.
Hey declutter. This is our snippet. Do you ever find yourself doing everything possible except the one thing that actually moves the needle? Or have you ever told yourself, I'll get to that later, but later never came? What if the one thing holding you back isn't actually what you think it is?
Cynthia Ficara: Today we are cracking open a secret that has been quietly stealing your time, your confidence, and your momentum, and once you see it, you won't be able to unsee it.
