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Tuesday, September 25, 2018

The Unseen Pain of Procrastination

(From the book that we discussed last week on the Podcast)

I once had a Toyota car that ran great, but made horrendous noises when traveling on uneven roads. It ended up that it was the “sway bar bushings” and costs less than $100 to replace.

Here’s the problem, the car had been making that noise for two years and I hadn’t done anything about it. I had just “put up with it.”

In 9 Things a Leader MUST DO, Dr. Henry Cloud talks about allowing negative things to take up space in a person’s life.“Examples of negative energy in a leader's life can be physical (such as the junk that piles up on your desk or in your computer files), relational (such as people who are a bad influence on you),and emotional (such as anxiety or worry).”

That reminds me of the book Getting Naked by Patrick Lencioni. Lencioni suggests transparency and authenticity in communication or the negative things will pile up and weigh you down. In my opinion, it’s those problems that fester and ultimately cause a slow and painful death.

Friend, you must understand something:allowing negative issues to hang around too long has unseen consequences. Your brain stores up that information then brings it to your mind when you try to rest, or when new challenges arise or, worst of all, when you accomplish something great but you can’t fully celebrate because of that pain point in the back of your mind.

The absolute worst part is that you experience all of the negative emotions but you don’t get the relief that comes from dealing with the root cause! If you are going to pay the price anyway, then expend the energy needed to deal with the source of the hurt! Your avoidance only prolongs the pain!

Here is some solid advice: pay the price...today!

You see, if you pay the price now, a month from now the same thing won’t be bothering you. But, if you put it off... Make the hard call, stop hanging out with the wrong people, share the bad news, stop the product line, or halt the process that is not delivering the expected results. Painful? Absolutely! This is going to hurt! But you already know that it is so worth it!

THE BOTTOM LINE: Make a list of 3 Things that you, as a leader, MUST DO. Make the call and deal with the easiest of the three. Reward yourself. Then deal with number two. Reward yourself again... and now you are one more call away from the life you couldn’t wait to get back to.

This week's FREE download is the Executive Summary of the 5-second rule.

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