Confronting Postponements

Copyright © 2004 by Don Blohowiak
Don@LeadWell.com www.LeadWell.com

Many challenges don't scream for attention. They just fester. Like a boiler that invisibly builds up pressure until it suddenly bursts with explosive fury.

Sometimes we try to ignore a deteriorating situation. Or tell ourselves that we'll get around to dealing with a quietly nagging problem "someday."

Sometimes we plainly delude ourselves. Like the guy who jumps off a skyscraper and is heard to say, as he passes the 50th floor, "So far so gooooooooood!"

ACTION to Take

• Identify -- admit -- your "swept under the rug" situations. They could be stalled projects, long-pending decisions, unresolved interpersonal issues....
  
  
• Decide what you'll do about each of these matters. You can:
  o Handle it now.
  o Schedule a time to deal with it.
  o Delegate the item to someone else.
  o Hope you get lucky and the boiler holds.
  
  
• Forgive yourself for procrastinating. You're not going to be any more effective chafing under that hair shirt all day.
  
  
• Learn from the experience. Have a good talk with yourself. Probe to understand why you let these matters idle for so long. What were you hoping to avoid? Going forward, how can you avoid the stress that inevitably results from postponing important work?

Most things don't improve through neglect. Face the things you'd rather avoid. And deal with them promptly and directly.

Lead Well® helps organizations to improve measurable results by developing their current and future leaders. For more information, please contact us. By phone, toll-free in the USA: 1-888-LeadWell (532-3935), or 1-609-716-9490. By email, Info@LeadWell.com.

REPUBLICATION: Permission is granted for publishing this article in periodicals provided that you:

1) Notify us (Info@LeadWell.com) and

2) Include the following attribution statement:

Don Blohowiak, a management consultant and popular conference speaker, is the author of several business books. The executive director of the Lead Well® Institute in Princeton, NJ, he may be reached at http://www.LeadWell.com/.

SELLING this material requires our written permission.

TRADEMARKS: "Lead Well" and "Natural Selection" are registered trademarks, and "Lead by Design" is a trademark, owned by Don Blohowiak, Lead Well Institute.

Copyright © 2005, Don Blohowiak, Lead Well Institute

~ All Rights Reserved ~