Resistance to certain tasks often hides beneath the surface. When we do not want to do something, excuses arise easily:
“I will do it later.”
“I will definitely do it at some point.”
“I am too busy right now.”
“Let me finish this first.”
“I am not available at the moment.”
We delay quitting smoking until the new year. We delay diet and exercise until the new year too. The distant date gives us psychological permission to continue as we are. When that date arrives, we find a new excuse and carry on with unhealthy patterns.
Some people move quickly. Others move slowly and need emotional time to “prepare” themselves for tasks that are technically simple. Many people are so focused on planning and organizing that they delay or miss important actions entirely.
There is nothing more powerful than doing what can be done now immediately. If someone needs to be called, you call them now, not add “call X” to your to-do list. If you need to ask a question, you ask it now. If you need a piece of research for a meeting, you pause the discussion, request the research, and reconvene when it is done.
Immediate action creates momentum. Otherwise, days pass before the next meeting, and both sides forget key details. When you later ask, “Did you call A, what happened?”, you may hear: “Last week was incredibly busy, we had the trade fair, magazine work, print jobs, I had no time.” Yet plenty of time was found for lunches, coffee breaks, family errands, or personal tasks. The real issue is not time but priority and resistance.
Turning meetings into action-oriented sessions with built-in pauses for doing, rather than endless talking, can transform productivity. The longer an issue waits, the colder it gets. Motivation fades. Energy drops. Important topics must be kept hot and followed daily until they are resolved.
Nelson Mandela said: “I never procrastinate. All my success is based on doing things earlier than required.”
That article came from the experiments we have conducted over the years.
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