"The world is full of human lobsters; men stranded on the rocks of indecision and procrastination, who, instead of putting forth their own energies, are waiting for some grand billow of good fortune to set them afloat."
Orison Swett Marden
1850-1924
Author
19th century language talking about the evils of procrastination.
Whether it be starting a diet, an exercise program, reading a book we know we should read, or cutting the grass, to most of us putting things off is as natural as breathing.
Doing so in our personal lives leaves us fat, less informed with unattractive yards, but the consequences in business of not doing today what should be done can be more severe as well as exponentially bad because our lack of action affects others.
One of the hallmarks of a good plan is due dates; a key performance metric along with detailed description of what will be done, by who at what cost. Without that we simply wait to be "set afloat" the only remaining question being, to what fate?
(I would have posted this sooner but I've been really, really busy.)
And I plan to comment . . . tomorrow Bill.
ReplyDelete(Forgive me; I couldn't resist.)
People procrastinate for many reasons but no matter what they are, do it too often and little gets done. I understand the need to analyze before acting but in the end completing tasks is what it's all about.
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