How we lose when we procrastinate

I was once told that more good things are lost by indecision than by bad decisions. After reflection on this statement, I concluded that there was perhaps some sense in it, as so often in life certain opportunities pass us by when we fail to seize the moment. By the same token, if one is too hasty one can make decisions that are difficult to reverse, particularly concerning one's credit card - if you've ever tried to reverse a credit card purchase you'll know that it's quite a mission, especially if you've signed for it!

But for the most part, procrastination does not refer to off-the-cuff decisions, it refers rather to putting off something in the long term that could have resulted in enormous benefits. Let me cite a few typical examples to illustrate my point.

1. The chap who puts off proposing to his long term girlfriend until she finally leaves him out of despair.

2. Delaying starting a family because you're too busy "enjoying life", only to find that you may have left it a bit late.

3. The book that lies unwritten in most of us.

4. Not getting around to planning your holiday, and when you eventually do all the flights and accommodation are booked up.

I like to think that I'm not a procrastinator, as I'm generally decisive and like to get on with things. However, this may tickle you. My good friend Stef du Plessis (a brilliant speaker on leadership) let on that the world's most acclaimed speaker's coach, Professor Ronald Arden spends the first six months of every year living in Johannesburg, and the second half in San Diego, California. In March this year, Prof Arden spent a Saturday morning at a NSASA training session in Johannesburg reviewing videos of some of our local speakers - including mine. It was a humbling experience. He addressed us again last week, specifically on the use of silences and pauses in speaking, invaluable stuff if speaking is your profession or you want it to be.

So for the last six months, the world's top speaker coach has been living 15 minutes away from my house. To score a morning coaching session with him costs more than most South Africans earn in a month. But when put in context, he commands five times more in the States for the same, not to mention what I would pay to get there and back. So relatively speakeing, it's a real bargain for South African professional speakers.

And since speaking is what I do for a living, and my fee for a talk more than covers a morning of Prof Arden's time here in RSA I started seriously considering taking the plunge, not knowing whether it was the cost, the morning out of the office or the threat to my ego that was holding me back. I must have finally woken up to the fact that if I carried on procrastinating about booking a private session with Ron, he'd be on a flight to San Diego, and I'd have to fly myself there if I wanted to be trained by the world's best, or wait until next year.

On a crisp winters morning early in June 2005 I conquered procrastination and spent the morning with Prof. Arden. His comment to me after the session was "I felt you made a giant leap forward in your speaking skills - far further than I had a right to expect." That same afternoon I paid his fee in full, with the conviction, like many top international speakers before me, that it was the best investment of my time and money I'd made in a long time.

I learned in a morning what may have taken me another three years to find out - simply because I stopped procrastinating and just did what I should have done some time ago regardless of the cost. And I felt the difference immediately. I had only to wait until I delivered my very next talk.

Paul du Toit