Mistake #24: Procrastinate!

If you are a procrastinator, raise your hand. Ah ha! I thought so! I bet you went out to buy a lottery ticket before even sitting down to do your taxes (which are due next Tuesday, by the way). I was married to a procrastinator. (“Was” is the operative word, here.) I am the opposite. In fact, I was one of these people in college who would finish my paper a week before it was due. Go ahead. Berate me for that. But, I was able to sleep at night (while I worked three jobs putting myself through and taking more hours than required just so that I could get through it sooner.) Actually, I take that back, I did procrastinate once. I moved into a state where you actually had to take a driving test before getting the license. I refused to do that and, after more than a year, was told, “they changed that – all you do is go in and turn in your current state license and they’ll give you a new one!” It took all of five minutes. That, my friends, was worth procrastinating! But, there are some things (like doing taxes) that really are not worth procrastinating.

One of my direct-reports procrastinates. He did not turn in his monthly report. Well, I take that back. He did turn it in, but it was 8 hours late. So late that I had to turn mine in without his information and sales data in there. I was livid. I don’t get it? Why would you do that to your boss? To piss them off? (Mind you, this is the day after he requested that he get a raise! I think not!)

So, if you procrastinate, do it for a good reason. Are there good reasons to procrastinate? Yes, there are. Lifehack.org blog produced six good reasons to work less and get more accomplished. I see these as procrastinating.