Procrastination is the Silent Expense in our Business

What would you do if you found out that there was a leak somewhere in your house, unbeknownst to you, that was racking up hundreds of dollars to your bill? I can’t imagine that anyone would just let the link continue to run without any intervention to patch the leak. It's creating messes, draining our money and wasting our time as we continue to replace the buckets of water that it fills.

So, why don’t we think of procrastination the same way? 

Similar to the example above, procrastination:

• Can cost business owners tens of thousands of dollars every year
• Creates messes in our businesses 
• Takes a ton of time from our day

Unfortunately, many business owners leave the leak to build up until it’s created a much bigger problem than they can grasp of.

Worst case, we avoid moments of transformation because we are just too comfortable to move.

Is Procrastination Bad?

Procrastination is a very normal human act and experts tell us that up to 75% of us procrastinate. Not every time, but, we are all guilty.

In a lot of ways, procrastination is a luxury for humans. In the wild, action is a matter of survival and hesitation can quickly lead to death. Humans don’t have the pressure of day-to-day survival pressing down on them and as such we as a species have a procrastination problem. Unlike animal in the wild, there is no imminent risk of death or harm if we don’t decide to change. But what if it did? What if our lack of decisions resulted in some irreparable harm?

Does an unfulfilled life or an unrealized dream harm anyone but you?

Consider this… If innovators and inventors would have hesitated to act, we might not have discovered electricity, penicillin, the printing press or radioactivity. These life-altering discoveries have shaped our futures and it came from someone’s persistent and tenacity. Franklin, Edison, Fleming, Gutenberg, and Curie didn’t allow fear of failure, or the lack of information to hold them back. They plowed forward with and without support from their communities. Ridicule and skepticism for all these innovations and inventions plagued these pioneers, and yet they persisted.

Why Do I Procrastinate in My Business?

This doesn’t mean we are lazy and often we just can’t snap out of it and act. Our hesitation is rooted in something more complicated. “Believe it or not, the Internet did not give rise to procrastination. People have struggled with habitual hesitation going back to ancient civilizations” (Jaffe, 2013). While it is comforting that Socrates and Plato also suffered from the hesitation affliction, it doesn’t help explain why we do it.

Procrastination, hesitation, and putting off action is often due to one of the following or a combination of a few factors;

• Fear
• Low Self-Esteem or Self-Worth
• Too Comfortable
• Too Many Options
• Lack of Support or Too Many Detractors
• Feeling Overwhelmed
• Over Analysis
• Not Enough Information
• Never had to Make a Decision
• Stubbornness or Ego

Which of these do you struggle with?

Once you identify the root of your procrastination then you can create a plan to beat procrastination that tackles those specific issues.

How to Beat Procrastination?

The first thing you must do when creating a plan to combat procrastination is to decide how willing you are to change it.

There are some of us that say we want to change but are really too comfortable to make real strides toward change.

We have something we coach our clients on called the Formula for Change.

D x V + F> R

D (Dissatisfaction with current circumstances) x V (Vision for a Better Future) + F (First Steps) > R (Resistance to Change)

Essentially, if your dissatisfaction with the current circumstances of your business and commitment to the vision of your business is not greater than your comfort zone, you won’t see any lasting changes.

Once you determine that you’re willing to commit to change, then you can determine your first steps. Some suggestions we have are:

• Have an accountability partner
• Do a time study
• Invest in a business coach

You can’t do it alone. Get some help. That’s the essence of Business Coaching–developing a clear vision and being held accountable to that vision.

So what are you going to do now? Take action, or continue to let procrastination drain your business? Talk to one of our coaches today to get started on the right track.

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