In this post, I will explain expose the best way to lose money. It is often said that time is money. Losing time means losing money. We often speak about how to gain more wealth, without necessarily shedding some light on how to lose money.
Without realizing, we sometimes act in ways that lead us to losing money. Procrastinating is one of those ways.
Definition of Procrastination
Procrastination is the tendency to delay, to postpone a decision or the execution of something. By definition, procrastination is a waste of time – therefore money.
The word “procrastination” appeared in the 15th century. This word appeared when translators were translating Latin texts. It is derived from “procrastinato” which means “delay“, and from “crastinus” meaning next day.
My personal experience
I have been putting off creating my business – and my blog – for three years. In three years, all I did was:
- absorb information – without putting my knowledge into practice.
- thinking about how to do it – in fact, my thoughts lasted about 10 minutes (I hardly exaggerate).
- Convincing myself it was better to wait until I get in better conditions – no condition was ever better enough.
- Blame lack of time – of course, I was working to make my boss wealthier and getting poorer in the process.
- Self-pitying myself – I was complaining about my duties at work, I couldn’t find the time for myself (let alone for my business), the conditions to start were not good enough, there was no one around me to exchange idea with, etc.
As you can see, all I did was finding any excuse not to start RIGHT AWAY.
Guess what! In three years, I did NOT DO ANYTHING. Absolutely NOTHING to get closer to achieve my goals. So much time (and money) lost! After those three years, I started thinking:
“Had I taken action immediately, I would have more experience today. And probably more assets.”
“Had I taken action three years ago, I might have been financially free today.”
“Had I taken action back then, my personal goals might have been achieved.”
I started realizing the consequences of my INACTIONS. However, I did not want to live in regrets and self-pity, so I decided to do everything in my power not to be at the same stage again three years later.
No matter what, I to ensure that the story in the following three years would not be the same. I had to start somewhere and find a way to getting closer to achieving my goals.
Yeah, but what if … ?
Will I have achieved my goals in three years? I do not know as I can’t read the future. What if I achieve my objectives? That will be great: I will find more objectives to achieve.
Now, let’s say I do NOT manage to achieve them. What would happen then? Several amazing things. Here-below are some of them:
- I would have dared – the more you dare, the better you know yourself.
- I will have gained experience – nowadays it is extremely useful!
- My mindset will have improved – this is important because success depends on the mindset.
- I will have learned and sought to work smarter – and not necessarily harder.
- I will have learned to know myself more – when you know yourself, you can know your weaknesses and your strengths. These are assets for your business.
- I will be more customer-oriented – understand their need and provide them with the right solution.
- I will have a better understanding of what entrepreneurship is.
- I would start all over again, but not start from scratch: with more experience and maturity – the strength to start again will depend on your personality and the values you have.
- Etc…
All these amazing points would save me lots of time (and therefore money) for my next experience. Therefore, I would consider my unachieved objectives as an investment for the next project.
In any case, doing nothing (especially because of procrastination) is the best way to lose money. In another post I will give solutions to counter procrastination.
Do you know any other way to lose money? We’d love to read your thoughts in the comment section.
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