The Death of or by Procrastination

You may not call it procrastination, maybe you are simply following tradition. A tradition that is cautious, measured, and s-l-o-w.

A few years ago a friend of mine was going to launch a magazine focused on local family and women. I saw the mock ups, a couple sample stories, and then 6 weeks later saw a very similar publication at the news stand. She was about 6 months from launch, and 8 months too late.

We need to either kill procrastination or by killed by it. Drew wrote about this:

The Marketing Minute

Do we have to over think everything?

Posted: 16 Jan 2009 11:25 AM CST

I spent several hours on a recent Saturday with a 25 year old entrepreneur. What struck me the most about him was how quickly and nimbly he moved from idea to action.

I'm not talking huge actions -- but test the water actions.

I think many companies suffer from "Overthinkitis." By the time they have vetted, committeed and white papered an idea...it's not new anymore. In fact, someone else launched it 6 months ago.

One of the biggest benefits of the digital world is that we can leap from idea to action quickly and often -- inexpensively. We don't have to vet it in a boardroom -- we can vet it in the market.

I'm challenging myself and you -- let 2009 be the year that you move from thought to action faster and with more of a "lab experiment" mentality. Don't wait until it's perfect. Stop thinking...start doing. And start doing -- faster.

John Moore at Brand Autopsy has an annual tradition. On New Year's eve, he posts Bruce Mau's Incomplete Manifesto for Change. Bruce is a remarkable design consultant who first crafted his manifesto in 1998. Bruce's manifesto captures the spirit of this idea far better than I could.

Please take time to read it. Better yet -- take time to do it.

What's one idea you want to quickly take to action? Could you do it in 10 days? Tomorrow?

Sphere: Related Content