Do you know what I like most about having a blog? It’s that I HAVE to write articles. If it’s to be worthwhile, and do what I want it to do for me and my businesses, I have to post on a regular basis. And by that I mean a couple of times per week at least. So if I delay and make excuses not to do it for more than a day or so, I’m in trouble. And it’s not just the frequency right? It’s the quality. OK, so get your minds out of the gutter (it might just be me), I admit I should have said content…! The eagle-eyed among you will have noticed that this blog section is new. Let’s see how I get on!
To put things off, to delay tasks, is to make a rod for your own back. Figuratively speaking. Not literally. That would be silly. At this point I should point out that I have been among the worst offenders. Possibly ever, and certainly among the people that I have known. When I met my long-suffering wife (her description, not mine) she couldn’t disguise the horror upon seeing my mound of mail, mostly unopened, and mostly from the bank. I should point out here that Joanna (before moving to the dark side 
) was the type of person who put every statement in a special numbered bank folder and all records were immaculately kept. I on the other hand knew that I was overdrawn and didn’t need to read a whole bunch of letters to tell me by how much. Although ironically I hadn’t thrown them away. That would’ve been irresponsible…. Reading them would only have made me feel momentarily guilty about having a great time and spending way more than I earned. There was no fun to be had in that, right?
Incidentally, this pales into insignificance when compared to having to produce payslips when applying for our first mortgage. That was just plain embarrassing. Another time maybe!
I digress (another great way to burn your day in ‘business conversation’ by the way!). My point is that I know from experience that if you procrastinate about enough things on a regular basis you’re going to create for yourself a whole world of discomfort. Possibly pain and anguish, but let’s start with discomfort. It took me a couple of weeks to call the friendly Tax Man recently. And they owed me money! You get the picture. Had it been the other way round I could have been fined, charged interest and generally made miserable in the knowledge I’d had to pay them a single shilling more than I had to.
To put off dealing with issues, no matter how large or small is what is technically called a wrong ‘un. Let’s look at a few examples. Problem staff. If you don’t deal with them early, not only do the problems get worse, but they can infect their colleagues and every person they come in to contact with, including customers and suppliers. In your name! Late payers. Delay on this and cash flow dries up. We’re moving beyond discomfort here… Lack of business pipeline. Your sales and marketing people might be nice guys but you pay them for what? I know you know this. Unless you’re set up to be a charitable organisation that provides people with somewhere to go during the day whilst paying them for keeping you company, you’re going to want something out of the deal. Here’s a hint. No pipeline today equals no revenues tomorrow. How do you spell liquidator?
All these things and many more need handling head-on and quickly. In a small business environment that may mean you, the owner. In larger organisations you may have a management structure. You need to ensure that everyone is on the same page.
So if you’re going to do it, just do it. When I went skiing for the first time, a friend gave me some sage advice regarding the inevitability of eating snow in high speed wipe-outs: Fall early, fall often. He meant in a controlled manner. So much cooler than leaving my organs on a tree. Which would have ruined my garish suit. I often think the same can apply in business. Whilst sometimes the best course of action is a wait and see approach, it can often be better to make A decision than to make none at all.
Many situations just shouldn’t be ignored. We can’t be slap-dash. We can’t charge in one direction and then the other which can destroy morale, but paralysis is rarely a good thing, especially in competitive, fast-moving environments. With the best information and intentions, we can still get it wrong occasionally! However, a decision which turns out to be wrong CAN be changed. But please don’t confuse this with it being OK to fail. It isn’t. Nor is it acceptable to take a head in the sand approach. You owe yourself and your staff more than that.
So please don’t procrastinate. Plan your work and work your plan. I can’t vouch for you, but it makes me sleep more easily.
Good night and as always, thanks for stopping by.
PS – I should have posted this yesterday. I know, I know…..
