If tomorrow never comes

I borrowed the title of a country song for this discussion. However, I am not planning on using it the same way the writer used it. Nor am I wishing you the traditional happy New Year – though I hope with all my heart you had/have one!

This post is about those famous words: “I will get to that tomorrow.” Admit it, we have all done it. We have procrastinated on something in life and maybe regretted the decision.

Here are a few thoughts to share — some you have heard before, others may be new — but hopefully one connects to action for you:

• A colleague tells a story of his parents. They worked all their life and rarely took time off. They planned to take a big trip once they retired. Both parents died within a year of retirement. They never had a chance to take the trip.
• Another colleague talks about how she takes care of her future self by doing small things right now, instead of putting them off.
• That choice between breaking down a project that has a deadline a month away into week-by-week processes versus rushing at the last minute to complete it.
• Washing, drying, folding/hanging clothes now, versus wearing them out of the basket.
• It will be faster if I just do it myself versus taking the time to teach someone else how to do it.
• This process is so antiquated, we have always done it that way, it would be more efficient if we took the time to review it, identified the process waste, and change it. We can do that next time.
• Paper is easier. It is familiar. Software takes time to learn. It might be more efficient, but since we are in the office together, why move it to the cloud…

You get the drift. We all do it. We procrastinate. We put things off. We avoid doing them for whatever reason.

Last year more clients connected with us about upgrading their technology than ever. Why? Because they had put it off and were at the panic point.

What are your non-procrastinate plans for 2021? How will you not procrastinate? Share your magic with us.