30 GEARS September 2006

SSucceeding at business is never easy and never guaranteed. In fact, the things you can truly count on in your business adventure are certainties that most of us wished we couldn't:1. The price you pay to reach success

will always exceed what youre prepared for.

2. The end of the road will always stretch just a little farther just as soon as you arrive.

3. Youll find yourself outside your comfort zone so often that its boundaries will become endless.

4. The toughest job delegated is one which requires change in the per-son assigned to the task

5. The hardest jobs to finish are those that allow time to procrastinate.Theres no easy part in growing a

business; we just like some parts bet-ter than others. Nonetheless, it's all difficult, and to fail jeopardizes your intentions for your future: Ultimately, to succeed means conquering the dif-ficult.

Eventual real success is achieved one day at a time throughout your life, and gaining what you want is a 3-step process: 1. Planning goals carefully2. Acting on their tasks passionately3. Pursuing them relentlessly

Procrastination is the enemy, empowered to control your forward motion.

Procrastination is the natural assas-sin of opportunity. Too often, tasks on your current to-do list evolve into a never-ending cycle, transferring onto every next day's list, day after day after day.

Your better bet is to face the real-ity that something just isnt right with

those tasks. Either they need to be broken down into smaller, more achiev-able tasks, or they're simply a task dreaded. If so, transfer them to their own list, entitled Dreaded Tasks to Do. Separating them will allow you to break these down even further, into less feared and more manageable tasks. Truth is, for most of these tasks, the energy you burn up in their dread is far more exhausting than what youd burn up if youd just get started doing them!

The challenge to get started isnt usually in finding time for the tasks but in believing that their completion will reward you will the sacrifice be worthwhile? A good example is putting off scrutinizing the formulas you use for profit. This task is key to comparing what you are profiting versus what you should be profiting.

Procrastinating gives you more time to hope you arent as far from the positive margin as the formulas may reveal. The difficulty is in learning too late that youve been too far from real profit for so long that the road to recov-ery is too burdensome for the business to handle. The fact is, its always easier talking about your intentions to succeed than enduring the hardship it will take to make it happen.

Giving your business the attention it needs in areas so crucial to its suc-cess means conquering procrastination every day, and that starts with self-motivation. To understanding why you procrastinate, you must address 6 key fears that fuel your reluctance to act:

1. Fear of Success ItselfDifficult as it might be to believe,

to actually achieve success could be the reason you procrastinate. Those closest to you (parents, siblings and friends)

can fear the responsibility of being successful and plant seeds of doubt in your mind. Because you dont want to disappoint them, you put off the things that would help you succeed, and instead, begin to live out self-fulfilling prophecies. The fear that you might not deserve the success and all the good that it brings ultimately justifies your lack of follow-through.

2. Fear of Failure (Most Popular):

All of your actions expose you to judgment. When you arent being judged by someone else, youre busy judging yourself. Self-criticism can be the most brutal kind. As your human nature measures your value by how well you perform, avoiding tasks, especially the difficult, can be easier to justify than trying to perform them.

3. Fear of Losing ControlProcrastination helps keep you in

control. As you control the system, you control the process and can move along at a pace that suits you. The problem is the negative results this can have on production. An example might be the owner dragging his feet on a strong change in procedures that would substantially increase productiv-ity. Frustrated employees may finally give up waiting for the change and seek employment elsewhere, some-where where the productivity is greater because a better system is in place.

4. Lack of Perfection Fear

The old clich tells us, Anything worth doing is worth doing well. But some translate that to mean, If it isnt going to be perfect, why bother at all?

by Maylan Newton,Educational Seminars Institute

SPEAKER

M o v i n gBeyondBeyond

Procrastination

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GEARS September 2006 31

Theres no doubt that this mindset fuels procrastination. Repeat to yourself, There are no perfect days, and today probably won't be the exception. Very little in this life is perfect. No need for you to believe it should start with you today.

Don't let attempting to prove your worth equal striving to do the impossi-ble. Perfectionism is overrated anyway. Your to-do list will never get shorter if this is your goal. In fact, youll need to expect its never-ending growth.

5. Fear of AttachmentIf I accomplish this task and it

turns out right, others may depend on me from now on, too. The cry here is: I want no one to depend on me. I want to be invisible, an unattached part of the business. Ill postpone as needed and make excuses to prevent the business from having a grip on me.

This fear usually belongs to an employee, not an owner; one who doesnt want to be indispensable.

Procrastination equals putting forth just enough effort to keep from being fired, that if they postpone a task long enough, no one will ask them to take on another one later.

6. Fear of SeparationIts common to need help from

others or to be co-dependent, want-ing support to feel good about what youre doing. The problem can be in using this dependency as an excuse to procrastinate, because you don't have the help of someone else to get the task done right. You can even start laying the groundwork for the outcome early in

the process with this one.The message in all of this is that

you desire the success that awaits you, so stop putting things off and move along. Despite all the fears that can cause failure by procrastinating, the biggest failure is when you fail to act at all. Will Rogers said, Even if youre on the right track, youll get run over if you just sit there. When you try but fail, learn from your mistake, and understanding that its an education, not a failure.

The fact is, its always easier talking about

your intentions to succeed than enduring the

hardship it will take to make it happen.

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