Procrastination kills entrepreneurs. The reasons why can be summed up in the procrastination triangle.

Draw an equal sided triangle. Label the top “no goals,” the bottom left “no plan,” and the bottom right “no discipline.”

Score yourself 1-10 on each; in this case a lower score is better.

For example, a 1 for “no goals” means, “I have goals written down for my business and personal life,” while a 10 means, “I don’t know where I’m going.”

A 1 for “no plan” means, “I have a clear plan written down to achieve each of my goals” and a 10 means, “I rely on hope and good luck to reach my goals.”

A 1 for “no discipline” means, “I do what’s on my plan every week,” while a 10 means, “meh, I’ll get to it eventually.”

After you score yourself, total up your scores and check the key below to find out how likely you are to procrastinate your way out of business.

  • 3-9 means you’ll occasionally fall victim to task avoidance, but generally you stick to your plan and hit your goals;
  • 10-21 means you probably have a problem with discipline, which is being compounded by a lack of goals or a plan. Talk to your mentor about how this is affecting your business and commit to a plan for lowering your score;
  • 2230 means that unless you set goals, create a plan and get some discipline, you’ll be out of business soon.

Without clear goals (business and personal), a specific plan to achieve each of your goals (broken down to weekly tasks), and the discipline to complete your plan every week, you and your business won’t be a success.

Hamish Knox, Sandler Training, Calgary, AB, CYBF young entrepreneur

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