Stop Procrastinating - Just Do It!

Mary's Story
Mary runs her own publishing company employing 5 people. She is married with two teenagers.

When I first met Mary a year ago, she told me how stressed out she was trying to juggle work and home effectively.

Her business although surviving (just) could have achieved major growth except for one major factor– Mary. She was very disorganised and ran her business that way.

Mary was always complaining about the pressures of running her business and having a life. I suggested to her that by having personal coaching she would dramatically improve her situation–guaranteed, providing she actioned the ideas, insights and solutions she would gain through the coaching process.

She's A "Gunna"
Mary was a "gunna". She was "gunna" do this and "gunna" do that. Unfortunately all she can and still does do is talk about it. She won't make a decision. Money wasn't the issue. After all, she had invested thousands of dollars attending an American guru's week long "life changing" boot camp. She thought that would be her "magic life changing pill". Unfortunately Mary did not action what she had learned. She got caught up in her chaotic life immediately on her return.

The Latest Crisis
I have spoken with her a few times and suggested the best course of action to take and she always responds with "not right now, I have this to do and that to do (and everything else to do)". Mary always procrastinates and says to call her back in a few weeks’ time when the current major crisis should be over.

One month her database was completely wiped out. It had mistakenly been deleted by a temporary assistant she had hired. Of course there was no back up. It took many hours to reproduce the database. Mary had to hire an extra person for the next month to establish a new database. In real terms, this latest crisis cost her business thousands of dollars in lost productivity, not to mention the effect it had on her stress levels.

People often only think of having a back up when something goes wrong. They don't worry about their own business and systems. As long as they are "busy", who needs to "waste time" on systems?

Specialist skills are required and they are not just acquired by experience. Mary needs to equip herself with some basic life skills so she can live and work effectively. She has to be able to put those skills into action!

At the rate she's going, she won't be living long enough to enjoy the years of hard work she has contributed to her business.

It's been a year since we first spoke and nothing has changed with Mary's situation. One day, something will happen–she'll have a nervous breakdown, her key team members will leave, causing her extreme stress which, in turn, will affect her health and possibly her business will fold.

Any of these scenarios are highly likely as the signs are there, the cause of the problems can clearly be seen, yet the solutions haven't been actioned.

When Is The Right Time?
When is the right time to take action? Is it at Christmas, the new year, the beginning of the financial year, when you’ve got nothing else to do, when your spouse leaves you, when your business is on its last legs, when the kids finally go to school, when the boss leaves or when you become so sick from the stress of your life that you cannot get out of bed?

The Final Word
Henry Ford said, "The hardest work known to man is thinking". I say, "the second hardest work known to man is taking action".

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