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EP151 - Procrastination Is Costing Your Business More Than You Think · The 3Bz Podcast - Building Better Business

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  Hi there business owner, and welcome to the Three BS Podcast,
• 0:04
  the place where we go beyond the numbers and dive into the
• 0:07
  strategies to help you build a Better Business one step at a
• 0:10
  time. I'm your host Stephanie, a multi
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  awarding entrepreneur with over a decade of experience in the
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  bookkeeping and currency world. If you're a business owner
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  looking to streamline, grow and get back the time that you
• 0:20
  deserve, you're in the right place.
• 0:22
  We're tackling real world problems, answering tough
• 0:24
  questions and digging deep into business building secrets in
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  just 15 minutes each week. So Are you ready to build a
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  Better Business with confidence and clarity?
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  Then let's go. Hello and welcome back to
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  another episode of the Three BS Podcast, your go to place for 15
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  minutes of CPD certified education, motivation and
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  inspiration to help you build a Better Business.
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  If you're new here, hi, I'm Stephanie, an entrepreneur with
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  over a decade of experience in the bookkeeping and accountancy
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  world, running my own business and building my business
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  alongside you. So today we're talking about a
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  topic that is really calling myself out.
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  That is really something that I have struggled with throughout
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  my time as a business owner and that is procrastination.
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  Not laziness, not I can't be bothered, not someone sat
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  scoring on social media instead of doing their work by choice.
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  I'm talking about the kind of procrastination that looks like
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  being productive. And I think as business owners,
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  we are all so guilty of this, the avoiding the delay in that
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  I'll do it when it's not so busy for bookkeepers and accountants.
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  We have what we call a February list because January is so busy
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  with tax season and self assessments that we have this
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  list in February where things just keep getting added that
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  I'll, I'll do this in February. I'll do this in February once it
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  quitens down. And guess what?
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  We're over halfway through February, and I'm busier than I
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  was in January. So yeah, I do it too.
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  But procrastination is expensive, and you don't just
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  get an invoice for it. So what actually is
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  procrastination? So let's get clear on the
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  definition, because I think that really matters here.
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  One of the most commonly used definitions in research is that
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  procrastination is the voluntary delay of an intended course of
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  action despite expecting to be worse off for that delay.
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  That despite expecting to be worse off, but is important
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  because that's why procrastination does your head
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  in. It's not that you don't know you
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  do know, but you delay it anyway.
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  And research doesn't treat procrastination as a time
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  management problem either. It's more typically framed as a
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  self regulation problem, which is really common in those that
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  are neurodiverse or neuro spicy. Basically it's about managing
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  your emotions, impulses, and discomfort.
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  So if you've ever said I work best under pressure, you might
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  be right in the short term. But research suggests that any
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  short term relief can come with longer term costs.
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  I am the first person that will leave things to the last
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  possible minute and then work like flat out overnight to get
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  things done. My fiance knows that Wednesday
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  evenings are podcast editing nights, so we record usually on
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  a Monday. Sometimes we're recording batch.
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  I don't edit in BAT, which is something I must get better at
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  doing as we're episode 151 and counting.
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  Procrastination can feel good in the moment.
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  Now, there's a reason why procrastination is so common
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  even amongst those high performers in White Rose
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  Research by Cirrhos and Cycle. I apologize if I'm butchering
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  those names. They describe procrastination is
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  being driven by short term mood repair.
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  You avoid the task because the task triggers discomfort,
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  uncertainty, boredom, or fear of getting it wrong.
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  Now as business owners, I'm sure at least one of those is present
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  in most things that we do. With procrastination, you do
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  something else that makes you feel better right now.
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  You get that hit of dopamine so that you can feel good in the
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  short term. And that explains why
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  procrastination often shows up around business tasks that are
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  emotionally loaded. So those conversations you don't
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  want to have pricing conversations, chasing money
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  when invoices go overdue, looking at your numbers, seeing
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  where the business actually sits on the balance sheet and the
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  profit and loss, making that decision that you can't undo
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  easily, that's hiring, sometimes a firing decision.
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  Those sorts of disciplines are quite hard to do unemotionally.
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  That emotion is just part of that.
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  So it's not that you're incapable of having those
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  conversations. It's that your brain would like
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  to feel comfortable and they make you feel uncomfortable.
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  Now, the problem with that is that comfort now usually means
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  chaos and stress later down the road.
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  This is where I want to bring in a classic study because it
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  describes what a lot of business owners experience.
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  Tice and Baumeister, Again, apologies for any guttering of
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  names. They did some longitudinal
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  research and found that procrastinators can feel better
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  early on. Less stress at the beginning,
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  but later they report even more stress, more illness, and
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  overall worse outcomes. They also performed worse on
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  assignments and exams, so their actual results were less if they
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  procrastinated. Yes, in the short term,
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  procrastination can feel like relief, but research is
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  suggesting that it tends to catch up with you, and I feel
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  really called out Now. Obviously that study was with
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  students, not business owners, but the pattern is still the
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  same. Something I experienced myself
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  in business. The early term is I'll do the
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  VAT return later. I'll review my prices and I'll
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  do them next month, or I'll chase that invoice that's owed
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  tomorrow. I'll sort the bookkeeping when
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  things calm down. Now the late term is deadline
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  pressure, things like that return and most financial things
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  in your business have very strict deadlines that you can't
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  stretch, extend or go over. Firefighting, panicking
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  decisions, and usually paying more in time, energy and money
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  because you're doing it under pressure.
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  A great example of this is self-assessment season.
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  If you wait until January to do yourself assessment you've had
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  since the April, it's going to be more expensive for you, it's
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  going to be more stressful for you and you're going to be under
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  a lot more of a time constraint hoping your accounting get it
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  done for you in that. So like I said, there's a
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  financial cost to this too. And I'm not going to throw a
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  random number at you like procrastination cost UK
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  businesses X billion a year because those stats so heavily
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  depend on how they're calculated.
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  And as we know, each business is unique, but we can say something
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  evidence based and still useful. Procrastination is associated
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  with poor performance outcomes in research and in business
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  terms, poorer performance outcomes can often show up as
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  missed opportunities, rush deadlines, late filing, poor
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  record keeping, avoidable penalties, and wasted time doing
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  tasks twice because you rushed the first attempt.
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  It's also worth knowing that the research links procrastination
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  to higher stress over time as well.
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  That's not just a well-being issue because stress effects
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  decision making, focus and follow through.
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  So the cost isn't just money, it's how you run your business
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  day today. Research also shows a consistent
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  link between procrastination and poorer health outcomes.
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  So for a business owner, it's not just a financial and a
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  business cost. Your health and physical energy
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  is also affected. For example, research has found
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  procrastination is associated with poorer health behaviours
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  and delaying seeking treatment, with stress paying a role in the
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  relationship. How many times have we gone got
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  this aching pain? I'll get it seen through.
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  If it's still hurting in a week's time or I've got a
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  headache that just won't go away.
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  Like if it's still there in a week, then I'll go and see the
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  doctor again. You're not a student in the lab,
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  but this still effects you as a business owner.
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  If you delay the difficult thing long enough, you carry it around
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  mentally and physically. It sits in the background like
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  an open tab on your browser. And if you're thinking, well
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  that may have got 47 tabs open all the time, I mean, same.
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  That ongoing load drains energy and makes everything feel harder
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  than it should. And for those that are parents
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  or carers as well as business owners, we've got 47 business
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  tabs open and 100 personal tabs too.
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  Home life, gym, managing a house, cooking dinners, whatever
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  it may be, that load really does drain you and can make you
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  physically sick. Also, business procrastination
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  is quite sneaky and is pretty dangerous because you can
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  procrastinate while still looking productive.
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  And I think this is where the business owners is really
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  relevant. So you can update your website,
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  tidy your Canva folders, sort your storage on your OneDrive or
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  your Google, create a new spreadsheet, research endlessly,
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  all while avoiding the thing that actually changes your
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  business. Again, so guilty.
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  If you're avoiding one of these six things, then you're probably
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  procrastinating 1 Pricing either upping your price, changing your
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  price, raising your prices. 2 Cash collection.
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  Small businesses are plagued by late payments.
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  It really does affect not only the economy but the business
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  owner himself or herself. As they go and build something.
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  They are still having to pay a mortgage, put food on the table
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  and chasing those overdue invoices is one of the things
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  that many business owners procrastinate on reviewing
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  costs. So again, having to let go of
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  some subscriptions or having to make difficult decisions on
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  removing a service or changing a supplier, those sorts of things
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  #4 letting go of bad fit clients.
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  We've talked about this on the podcast before.
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  It's one of the biggest lessons I learned in business is saying
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  no and disengage in if it's service based or no longer
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  selling products. If you're a product based to a
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  bad fit client or customer 5 having one uncomfortable
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  conversation, now that could be AHR conversation.
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  It could be a supplier letting go of, it could be any
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  conversation in your business that's uncomfortable for you.
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  And number six, looking at the numbers properly.
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  Now, I wouldn't be a good bookkeeper and accountant
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  without mentioning that because so many business owners bury
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  their head in the sand that they don't want to look at the
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  numbers because they actually make them feel uncomfortable.
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  So they just carry on with the day-to-day without actually
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  looking at how their business is growing, if it's growing, and
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  how profitable they are. And you know what the common
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  thread is between all six of those things?
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  Emotion. It's not skill, it's not
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  intelligence, it's emotion. The task itself carries a level
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  of discomfort for you, so you delay it.
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  This is the bit I want you to take seriously.
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  If you take anything from this episode, it's that small delays
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  compound a month of avoidance of that particular task you can
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  recover from. But a whole year of avoidance?
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  You've built a pattern. Research supports that
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  procrastination is strongly tied to task aversiveness and delay.
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  In other words, the more unpleasant and the more future
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  the task feels, the more likely you are to procrastinate on it.
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  Which explains why year end tasks like tax planning,
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  pricing, reviews, and sorting your finances get pushed until
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  they're urgent. But urgency is expensive.
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  Urgency will make you choose the first option and not necessarily
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  the best option. Urgency will make you rush and
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  make mistakes. Urgency will also make you pay
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  late fees and penalties, overpay because you didn't shop around
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  and saying yes to quick cash work doesn't fit.
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  Go back for episode about bad fit clients a couple of episodes
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  ago. Urgency increases stress, which
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  then increases avoidance and suddenly you're stuck in that
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  loop over and over again. So what's the fix to this?
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  Well, this is not an episode telling you to learn discipline
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  and wake up at 5:00 AM like we're in the real world here at
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  the Three BS Podcast. The fix is much simpler than
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  that. You shorten the gap between.
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  I should deal with that and I've dealt with it because that gap
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  is often where your profit is disappearing and you're calm is
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  disappearing too, too. Here's a simple way to do it
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  this week. Number one, name the avoided
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  task, whatever it is, not a vague one like sort your
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  finances or make a call to so and so.
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  It needs to be specific. Download the bank transactions,
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  raise the invoice. Chase the overdue invoice.
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  Check what your VAT bill will roughly be.
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  Review your top three costs and expenses.
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  Decide your price increase and the date it's going to start.
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  e-mail that client who drains you.
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  Whatever that first step is, get it written down.
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  Get it noted down. Acceptance and acknowledging it
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  is the first step to getting that period shorter between I'm
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  getting a deal of it and I've done it.
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  Step 2, lower the standard. Now this is so important.
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  When I was researching for this episode at the science Behind
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  procrastination, this is the bit that sort of lit the light bulb
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  in my own mind. The goal is not to be perfect.
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  The goal is to get it done. Procrastination thrives when you
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  think the task has to be big, tiny, and final.
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  It doesn't. You don't need to be perfect,
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  that it does not have to be the best piece of work, the best
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  attempt at that task you've ever done.
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  It just needs to be done. Step 3, because the hardest part
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  is starting. Just do the 1st 10 minutes.
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  Research points to procrastination being linked to
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  self regulation and emotion management, not a lack of
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  ability. So starting here is the win.
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  And once you've started, the discomfort usually drops,
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  momentum starts to build and before you know it, that big
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  scary task is done. And I want you to think of a
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  time where you were procrastinating on something
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  that caused you a lot of anxiety or a lot of stress.
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  Maybe it was making up phone calls to the HMRC or picking up
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  the phone to a bookkeeper, an accountant to say I need some
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  help. Remember that time, Remember
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  that feeling now remember the feeling when you made that phone
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  call? It was done.
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  Things will start to be put in place.
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  You had a plan to sort HMRC. You finally had a bookkeeper, an
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  accountant on your side, helping you with the finances in your
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  business. That relief, that's what we're
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  going for, but without all the stress and anxiety and the build
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  up, just a relief. If this episode made you think
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  of something you've been avoiding, good.
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  That's the whole point. Procrastination isn't a
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  personality flaw, it's usually just a signal that something
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  feels uncomfortable, uncertain, or has high stakes.
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  But now we know that avoiding it doesn't make it smaller, it
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  actually makes it heavier. If you want support with the
• 14:22
  bits you keep putting off, whether that's your numbers,
• 14:24
  your pricing, your systems and processes, or just getting
• 14:28
  clarity on what's actually happening in your business,
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  you'll find all the links to work with AB CS UK in the show
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  notes. We do have a 15 minute free
• 14:35
  discovery call, so sometimes you just need that first 15 minutes
• 14:38
  to get you off on the right track.
• 14:41
  If this episode helped, please do like rate review wherever
• 14:44
  you're watching or listening to it, Subscribe if you're on
• 14:46
  YouTube and hit that notification bell so you know
• 14:49
  when the next episode goes live. It genuinely helps this podcast
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  reach more business owners who need to hear it.
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  If you do take some action on something you've been
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  procrastinating from the back of this episode, please do find us
• 15:02
  on social media. Drop me an e-mail.
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  All the links are in the show notes.
• 15:06
  Come find me and let me know that this has actually made an
• 15:09
  impact on you because that really, really lights me up and
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  makes me happy. This has been episode 151 of the
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  Three BS Podcast. I've been Stephanie, and I'll
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  see you next week for the next one.
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  Bye. And that brings us to the end of
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  another episode of The Three BS Podcast.
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  I hope you found it useful and that you're walking away with
• 15:26
  some motivation, inspiration or education to help you build a
• 15:30
  Better Business. Don't forget to subscribe, leave
• 15:33
  a review and of course, connect with us on social media for more
• 15:35
  insights, tips and behind the scenes content.
• 15:38
  Your next step in building a Better Business is just a click
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  away. I can't wait to connect with you
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  and I'll see you on the next episode.
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  Bye.