I’ve been inspired by Martin Luther King Jr. again. I’ve followed him and his work my entire life. And lately, I’ve been reading his autobiography and letters from jail again. One thing he mentions is the “righteous cost to fight the unfair treatment of human beings”. Oftentimes, he would come across people who would say to him, “Martin, I agree with you. This isn’t fair. We need to take action, but now is not the right time.” Or, “Yes, I believe that boycotting would help. I believe that active civil disobedience would help. I believe protesting would help. But you know what? Right now it’s just not the right time.”
What a harmful mentality! I hate thinking about all these excuses for why it’s not the “Right time”. The same goes for when business owners and leaders do this. Of course, this isn’t quite like the civil rights movement. In business, there is a small chance that it really isn’t the right time to take action on something. But, 90% of the time, that’s not the case. So here are four excuses that I always hear people make about how “it’s not the right time”:
1. “It’s not the right time to have that tough conversation with a team member.”
I’ve been coaching for 13 years, and I’ve heard this excuse over and over again. Even though a team member is breaking a core value or not doing their job, the business owner just doesn’t want to have that tough conversation with them. Listen, if you’re in that situation and reading this blog post, go have that conversation now! Because it’s not just going to get better over time. In fact, it’ll get worse.
2. “It’s not the right time to market my business.”
You currently have plenty of business, and you feel like you don’t need to do any marketing. Well, I’ve heard that a lot. What happens is if you don’t market today, then your business dries up later. Perhaps 3, 6, or 9 months from now. I’ve seen this exact scenario play out many times from people that get busy.
3. “It’s not the right time to plan.”
It is the right time to plan and schedule a getaway so you can get a strategic plan in place. If you don’t, you’re going to be moving in the wrong direction. In 1, 2, 3, or 5 years from now, you’ll end up in a place you do not want to be. So yes, take action now.
4. “It’s not the right time to bring in outside help.”
Maybe you need to hire a new CPA, but think it’s not the right time to do it. Occasionally, we hear this about our own services as well. Our prospect tells us that they need our team, our coaching, our help. But they say now is not the proper time. What happens is then you end up not taking action with getting the outside help you need, and you’re slower to progress as a result. So yes, it is time to bring on that attorney or CPA. And yes, it’s selfish for me to say this, but it is the right time to hire a business coach!
So stop making excuses and start taking action with these four tips. Do you have other excuses to not act now? Hit send an email and let us know what’s in your mind?
Appreciate you, and have a better than amazing day.
