What are you putting off for tomorrow?

tomorrow

Even extremely successful business owners have issues they don’t want to deal with – they think  “I’ll do it tomorrow”, and tomorrow is the day that never comes.  Some things just fall into that category of ‘I need to put this off’.

Do you ever find yourself sliding important issues you really don’t want to deal with further down your priority list?  You’d rather work on something less painful, less stressful, and less exhausting than dealing with the “that issue” right now.

For business owners this can be a dangerous trap to get caught in. Yes, it can be easy to justify doing other tasks you’re accomplishing in lieu of “that issue”. There are always plenty of other things to do and if you’re even halfway creative, you can put something you don’t want to do off indefinitely.  This trap can happen even if you’ve got a team working for you – maybe it’s the kind of thing you can’t delegate or maybe you just recognize that if you don’t want to do it, then it’s not really fair to pass the buck.

At one point in my career, the inevitable employee termination was “that issue” for me. When all other options were exhausted and additional training and coaching was not going to change the unavoidable outcome…I knew I had to fire someone. But even after all of that, I found reasons to delay, to make other tasks more important.  Of course bad news doesn’t get better with time, so eventually experience taught me that pulling the trigger was not something I could put off until tomorrow.  It wasn’t helping anyone to delay (including the employee) by finding excuses not to address it.

What are you putting off until ‘tomorrow’?

Businesses are different, businesses are the same.

Think about this…

Have you ever noticed most business books and business articles resonate with the majority of business owner regardless of the industry? You read the book and it’s like the author must have secretly visited your business! The reason is that, although every business may have challenges that are unique, there are a number of cross industry issues that nearly every for-profit business deals with, yours included.

Many of the best sellers are simply a rehash of the same topics in a different wrapper. The reason the books continue to sell is because the issues are real and if you don’t pay attention to them your business may not survive. The authors know it and their audience knows it. Despite the importance and understanding…ironically, businesses continue to find ways to keep these kinds of topics in limbo; Just put it off until tomorrow!

If this scenario sounds familiar, maybe it is time to identify what’s been getting put off your plate and act on it. Move it to the top of your priority list. You owe it to your business, your customers, and your employees. You and your business will be healthier for it.

Easier said than done right?

Looking for help?

One of the best ways to step up and address the hard issues is to get some support.  If you would like to do this with other business owners – business peers who share common issues, then you should check out the Aspire Business Growth Program.  Get into an environment with other successful business owners and lead your company through those recurring topics you keep reading about. But this time, instead of just learning, you will also write your own chapter of successfully implementing a solution! Move “that issue” from tomorrow to today. You can do it! We guarantee you’ll be glad you did.

What are the things in your business you find yourself putting off until tomorrow?  Share  your thoughts in the comments below.

Chris Steinlage Kansas City Business Coach