Procrastination: Marketing's Most Dangerous Enemy #1

Procrastination is marketing’s most dangerous enemy

- Jay Conrad Levinson

A common characteristic of a procrastinator is the ability to rationalize why he or she procrastinates. Certain personality types could possibly tend to procrastinate more than others but even the most driven finishers will put things off because of fear, pain or over commitment.

Otherwise, people procrastinate for many reasons:

• Lack of competencies
• Task is too complex
• Can’t get everything done
• Want it to be “perfect”
• Lack of motivation
• Fear of failure
• Fear of success
• Distractions
• Can’t prioritize

What do you say when you talk to yourself? Here are some common conversations procrastinators have with themselves and others –

• There’s always tomorrow
• Should I really do that?
• I’ve got plenty of time
• I do much better in a time-crunch
• I always eventually get it done
• I’m not ready to get started
• It’s just too hard
• I’m not energized
• I do better first thing in the morning
• I’m a night owl
• I’ve got writer’s block (hmmm....do plumbers have plumbers block?)
• It’s just unfair that I should have to be doing this
• I have to wait until I get everything lined up just right
• If I wait long enough, maybe I won’t have to do it
• I’ve been talking about doing this, but can’t seem to get started.

To that end.... (see more posts on Procrastination)