In business, the worst thing you can do is to procrastinate. It is a silent enemy that kills your success without you even realizing it. Sadly we all fall prey to this silent killer.

Napoleon Hill said in his book Think and Grow Rich: “Procrastination is the bad habit of putting off until the day after tomorrow what should have been done the day before yesterday.”

When I look at procrastination, it’s not even the things that you’re putting off until the day after tomorrow; it’s those things that you have on your list for weeks and weeks and months and even years…. the things you know you should do, but for one or other reason you  never get to do it!

For me, one of the biggest reasons why people procrastinate (and here I’m also talking about myself too) is because of fear.

We are often afraid of what other people will say or we fear that we will not be good enough or look good enough or talk good enough and then we just don’t take action on it.

For example we fear to pick up the phone and call that potential client or strategic partner because we fear the outcome. Perhaps they will reject us and say no to what we offer. Or we fear they will say yes and then we have to deal with the change that brings. We fear that we might not have what it takes or might look like a fool when we do it. So we procrastinate on getting the things done that we fear – or worst, we never even take action on it.

The problem is: there are a lot of silly fears keeping us stuck. They keep us playing small and prevent us from stepping up and building the business and the life that we know we deserve.

Other culprits and common subconscious thoughts that make us procrastinate are:

• I don’t know where to start
• I don’t have the necessary skills or the right tools
• I’m not in the right mood right now
• I don’t like this task. I don’t want to do it.
• This stuff is just plain boring
• No one really cares whether I do this or not
• I’m just waiting for the best time to do it
• I need time to think this through

The scary part though is what procrastination is costing your business!

Every minute. Every hour. Every day you procrastinate you lose time, opportunities and even money.

Just think about it in your own life and business: How many opportunities did you miss out last year because you procrastinated on taking action? How many hours were lost? How much money did you lose out on? How many goals just never realized?

When you start to think about the cost of procrastination, you’ll realize that it is a silent enemy that kills your success.

So, I’ve made a conscious decision in my business that from now on I will be conscious about procrastination and take note of the times it surfaces. Then I’ll take action in spite of the fear or in spite of the difficulties standing in my way. Because with every action I take, I’ll make progress and move forward.

Are you with me?

To Your Success

Image by James Barker