KEY POINTS
- Timing matters. Just as there is great power in the discipline of acting, there is also great power in the patience of waiting.
- Waiting to do something when “we know it is something that we should do but we don’t really want to do it” is Procrastination. Waiting because “we are deciding that now is not the right time” is Patience.
- Inaction that results from indulgence is Procrastination. Inaction that results from intention is Patience. Procrastinate on Purpose is a synonym for Patience.
- Gun Slingers have no problem waiting until the last minute. They have to beware of waiting too long and causing “after last-minute costs.” Worry Warts need to practice patience so as not to incur unexpected change cost. You need both to have a great team.
- Worry Warts typically carry the weight of the world and they feel pressure to do everything and to do it now. They need to give themselves the permission of Incomplete and to learn to be okay with things just being okay. It is okay to slow down.
UNEXPECTED FINDINGS
- Waiting till the last minute is good because it reduces your vulnerability to unexpected change cost. Waiting until after the last minute is bad because it creates stress, anxiety and many negative actual costs to a business. So you don’t want to be late, but you also don’t want to be too early; Multipliers work to be precisely on time.
- Doing something early is not the same as creating more time. It is just taking time from tomorrow and moving it into today and adding the risk of unexpected change cost.
- Patience isn’t just waiting. It is also giving yourself time to breathe. It is creating margin in your life. And it is freeing yourself from the fear that you’re not good enough so you must do everything now in order to prove that you are.
STARTLING STATISTICS
- Ninety-one percent of people have a general belief that things will work out for the best.
ACTION QUESTIONS
- In what areas of your life do you need to learn to be okay with things being just okay and to trust that time will help sort things out?
* Source: Procrastinate on Purpose by Rory Vaden