Selective Procrastination

Kevin Graham

Procrastination gets a bad rap! Most people feel that procrastinating anything is a bad idea. The old saying “Never let go until tomorrow what you can do today” is not always good advice. You can actually make a friend out of procrastination and it will reward you handsomely.

You've probably heard of the Pareto Principle, also known as the 80/20 Rule. Eighty percent of your revenue come from 20% of your customers; 80%of the clothes you wear come from 20% of the clothes you own; and 80% of your customer service problems come from 20% of your customers. And on and on it goes.

How about 80% of your results come from 20% of your activities? It's true inmost cases, isn't it? If you document how you spend the minutes and hours of your work week or month, and which of those activities truly impacted your results, you should find that the majority (dare I say 80%) of your results and revenue come from very few of your activities (dare I say 20%).

If that's the case, start procrastinating the 80% and prioritizing the 20%. Sure, many of your 80%-type activities will need to be completed at some point. But they should NOT be your priority.

You'll be amazed at the results. Let a simple step like selective procrastination liberate you toward high achievement.

Kevin Graham is managing director of sales consulting and training company Hitting The Number