It may sound like an oxymoron but entrepreneurs can be the best at two things – procrastination and motivation! Entrepreneurs are entrepreneurs – full stop. They are for the simple reason they are passionate about what they are doing. Some say they get a thrill or high from stepping out into the unknown. Some have a higher level of tolerance for risk, and they love to start projects. As an entrepreneur, you started your business because you were passionate about the product or service you were providing. You were motivated by the energy of potential change and sharing your passion.
Action = Success
In business you always have to be moving. You need to be in action to not only become successful. But to gain your initial foothold in the market place. It takes an even larger commitment to become an “influencer” in your business or industry and ultimately become an expert. So why it is there are only a few entrepreneurial businesses that truly ‘make’ it? Procrastination!
As an entrepreneur you are in charge of your own business. You hold the desire to make it in the market. You know there are few qualities you need to possess. But you need to have processes built into place to help keep you moving as you build your business. And, you will find thousands of articles, books, blogs, tweets, and posts to help you. The key quality I see missing in all of this is awareness. Awareness is going to keep you moving and in action when procrastination hits – and it will!
Procrastination hits everyone. It does not matter if you are a business owner, stay at home mom, Fortune 500 CEO or superstar athlete; we all deal with the devil we know as procrastination. It’s why I like to refer to us entrepreneurs as “Motivated Procrastinators” and yes I include myself in the description. As an entrepreneur, we do not believe we are procrastinating. We believe we are spinning so many plates in the air or burning the midnight oil. We think we are just working on a task that caught our attention instead of another and not actually procrastinating.
Delve in Entrepreneurs
Let’s take a look at this a little closer so you can more clearly understand my meaning. As entrepreneurs we are responsible for more than just coming up with an idea and putting it into action. We are responsible for developing new products and services to ensure we keep our edge fresh and desirable. We are marketing these great items, selling them, branding, advertising, public relations, budgeting, financing, human resources, customer service. And so many other elements that go into building and running a business. We can have the greatest organizational tools, wonderfully implemented policies and procedures. But we all face a time when procrastination hits and we will embrace it without even realizing it.
Today you are spending time reading and collecting valuable knowledge to help become a better leader, CEO, entrepreneur? Reading this article is a great example of you are doing just that. If you looked at your list of tasks. Those needing to get done today and possibly those left over from yesterday. Or admittedly, even the previous weeks. What about those needing to be done in the next few weeks. Or those tasks that have been rescheduled with a new ‘due date’.
Take a few moments and think about it. Think about all those ‘to-do’ items. Saying or thinking about them can be overwhelming and definitely would be understating it.
So which one of those caught your attention? Yep, that is the one you are redirecting your attention from. Or procrastinating on completing. Why? Well, unless I know the specifics. Guiding you is hard to predict your personal reason for why you are shying away from completing it. But in general terms, it might be due to a fear of what happens when you do complete it. Fear of success (yes you just read that right). It might be that it is a ‘job’ you are not really passionate about doing.
Motivated Procrastinators
This is the reason I refer to entrepreneurs as Motivated Procrastinators. You, we have so many responsibilities that we are highly motivated to complete the tasks that are fun. Those that provide an immediate feeling of success. Or, those considered a source of income. We procrastinate at tasks that take us outside of our comfort zone and challenge us. We can sometimes actually feel like pouring energy into those as a waste of time.
This is where your ‘awareness’ is important. For example, when you’ve rescheduled a task with a new due date more than twice without a seriously great reason. You are procrastinating and you need to take a few minutes and figure out the reason you are procrastinating. Once you can identify you reason, you are increasing your awareness. As a result decreasing the amount you are procrastinating. Once we gain the knowledge of the “why” we are doing an action. We then recognize it is not supportive of our business goals or success. The result? A repeat performance is less likely.
Today I challenge you. Increase your awareness. Decrease your procrastination. Increase you overall business wellness by going through your task list. Addressing the one that truly is needing to get done, like yesterday. Complete it and feel confident in your accomplishment.