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The Cost of Procrastinating

 

My wife and I just got finished doing our Christmas shopping online. Yeah, I know, it is a bit late, but we’ve been a little busy.

Last year we shopped early and often - watching for sales whenever we could, thoughtfully picking each gift for our kids and other loved ones. Of course I bought a number of gifts online last year. Most were here and wrapped weeks before Christmas. Basically, it was a relatively cost-effective, stress-free Christmas season.

Not this year, however. After two days of perusing the web and making endless phone calls to mail order companies, we’re finally done. Way too much stress. And way too much money spent on overnight shipping. Yet even though we’re ‘done’ shopping, the stress doesn’t end - we’ve still got to wait for all the gifts to arrive.

I can tell you, first hand, we’re really paying for procrastinating.

The same is true in business - when we procrastinate, we pay.

Think about it. How many times during the week do you put something off? Put it off til later? Or tomorrow? Or the end of the week? Or next week? Or…wait, maybe it gets put off forever.

And it can be worse if it doesn’t ’seem important.’ How many times have you said to yourself, “I should give so-and-so a call?” This happened to me just recently - and it cost me.

For weeks I’d been thinking about a past client of mine. In mid 2006, I had helped her reshape her business and she had seen great success. A few months later she referred me a friend who got similar results. Then early this year she brought me into a business contract as an advisor on web strategy. It was great working with her in this way. And we talked about doing it again.

But now months had passed and we’d not been in contact; both of us being busy with our business. So when the thought of calling her was gnawing at my mind, I knew I had a chance to reconnect with her. So I put it on my task list for a Tuesday morning. That led to Wednesday, then Thursday, then early next week. Eventually, two and a half months went by and I still hadn’t phoned her.

Enough was enough. I finally made time on a Tuesday afternoon. We immediately reconnected and started into a great conversation about our families and personal lives. As we shifted to business she told me about an opportunity I had missed with her. She was elbow deep in a job with a large law firm who hired her to completely rebrand their firm. They wanted her to work with their web guy, yet she still pitched me. They were game, but since they wanted to move quickly, the needed to meet with me in a very short timeline. She had tried to reach me by phone to setup a same-day meeting, but my voicemail was full (it holds 300 messages and I always check them through email, so my box can fill up sometimes for a few hours). She tried a few times but couldn’t get me. Her email didn’t hit my inbox until the meeting time had gone. So they went with their web guy and the project was moving full-steam-ahead.

Now she was negotiating this project for a few months. The few months that I had had this inclination to phone her. She didn’t initially phone me because she didn’t know they were open to looking a different web guy until they were deep in already.

If I had followed my feeling to call her I wouldn’t have missed a pretty sizable contract for redoing their website and creating their web marketing campaign. It cost me pretty - at bare minimum, $25K.  Boy that money would have made paying for all the overnight shipping for Christmas gifts easier to swallow.

Oh well. You win some, you lose some, I guess. But you don’t even have a chance if you procrastinate getting in the game.

So the next time you have that feeling, that need, that desire, or simply that necessity to get something done for your business. Don’t wait. Take a step toward getting it done. Especially if you can get paid from it.

endnote: We did work out a plan for staying in closer touch, both for the friendship and for the possible business opportunities together. So far, so good.

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  • Discussion

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    Comments

    1.
    On December 19th, 2007 at 8:56 pm, Dorothy Stahlnecker said:

    Wendy, my day job selling commercial real estate..large apartment complexes..I can’t tell you how many times, I’ve lost out of deal, (big commissions) because I didn’t make a simple call, knowing they held portfolios and could be interested in selling one. I just missed a small apartments complex a few weeks ago. It got listed by another broker. I was too busy to call clients, procrastination.. why when I know better? Thanks for the wake up call, it could be any field…
    we all need to remember to follow through with our stomach feelings, they’re usually right..
    Dorothy from grammology
    call your grandma

    http://grammology.com

    2.
    On December 19th, 2007 at 10:16 pm, Misti Sandefur said:

    I’m always putting things off to the last minute when I know I shouldn’t. In fact, I was supposed to do my Christmas shopping today but put it off until tomorrow. And to be really honest, my Christmas shopping tomorrow will be the beginning and I have to get it all done then. Yep, that’s what happens when you wait until the last minute. :(

    I don’t like shopping at all, and I was going to do my Christmas shopping online again this year (like you), but I put it off, and since I’m not willing to pay more for overnight shipping, I have to brave the cold and the crowds tomorrow. Last year I actually got my shopping done in November and everything arrived on time. Oh well, one of these days I might learn my lesson. ;)

    3.
    On December 19th, 2007 at 10:25 pm, Deb said:

    Dawud, you guys gave your family the gift of a new little person. Everything else is optional. Please put your feet up and enjoy each other. This Christmas with a new little cannot be replaced by stressing out about things.

    4.
    On December 19th, 2007 at 10:55 pm, Cory Huff said:

    LOL. My wife writes about this exact stuff on her blog. She such a Christmas nut that she has actually planned her year around Christmas. She finally decided to start writing about it.

    http://christmaswithliss.blogspot.com/

    I am amazed at how much of the stuff you write about here intersects with what my interests are.

    5.
    On December 20th, 2007 at 11:03 am, Stephanie said:

    Ouch. Never easy when you know what you’ve missed.

    This time of year I do allow myself some procrastination, just so that the season is more fun. On the other hand, it has lead to some stress too, especially since we only last night put our tree up. Not a business kind of procrastination, but still no fun.

    But yes, in business I’ve been procrastinating too. I know many of the places where I’ve been letting things slide right now.

    6.
    On December 20th, 2007 at 1:26 pm, Suzie Cheel said:

    Oh how True, I can think of so many instances this year where I have lost opportunities because of my procrastination. Same thing with Xmas cards letters etc Leaving it until almost the last minute. Still it is all done now and feels great
    Thank you for sharing



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