Procrastination

What is procrastination and what impact does it have? My focus here is on business productivity and the impact of procrastination. In most cases today, it relates to buying software, since software is the primary tool that we use to improve business performance.

We procrastinate because we are uncomfortable. We are unsure about whether we will achieve the goal that we have.

If we are trying to improve sales, for example, we hear from others (especially salespeople) that CRM (Customer Relationship Management) is a good tool to help us increase sales. But we don't know how it will help us increase sales. So we mull it over. Should we do it? We ask others who have been successful. They say it did the job for them. They are typically sold on a particular software product as being the reason they were successful. So we look into the software product. The more we look into it, the more we get comfortable with it. The more we get comfortable with it, the readier we are to buy.

The problem is: We still don't know how it will help us increase sales! We are just more comfortable with it.

I pick on CRM because it has a high failure rate and is one of the more difficult processes to manage effectively.

It is good to feel uncomfortable before buying a new software product. Our problem is, we don't know how to effectively become more comfortable. If we focus on the software product, we have a reason to still be uncomfortable with it, but we become more comfortable, because it becomes familiar.

The area that we should focus on is the business process that is being automated. If CRM will help us increase sales, then HOW will it do it. If we start to create a vision of the new process, we can identify exactly how it will help, we will not only become more comfortable with what we need to do, we can even become excited. The detail allows this vision to become real. When we now go out and look at the software products, we can see exactly whether and how a software product can help us.

At this stage, we will no longer be suffering from procrastination, we will want to take action.

Being able to see what this will look like can be difficult if you have never done it before. You can get help from a coach or consultant, but it is important that you do it yourself. Nobody knowss your business like you do and nobody else can say whether the change is the right one for you.

To eliminate the procrastination, take action. Don't run out and buy, start creation a new vision for your business!