The Anti-Doer (AKA Procrastinator)

I am a "doer." I like to do things, and I like to feel like I have done lots of things. Like most strong personality traits, this can be a great asset to my business, but it can also be a huge liability, depending on the situation.

In the next week, I'm focusing on my marketing plan for 2009. This is not an elaborate document, but rather a clean and clear definition of what I think I should do in 2009 to accomplish my goals. The doer in me is very motivated, and coming up with all kinds of great ideas to get started on.

The anti-doer (AKA procrastinator and scaredy-cat), however, keeps piping up, unbidden, with comments like: "oh, you should have done that last year!," and "it's too late to do that now - it's already been done by everyone else!" and even "you can't do that!" (Yikes!)

The truth is, in marketing, it's almost never too late to start something new, and, chances are, if done well, it will work. Thus, the real challenge in marketing is not always coming up with the right idea at the right time, but rather coming up with the idea, committing to it, and doing it.

What ideas are you sitting on right now that could be done? Why aren't you doing them? A lot of the time we look to comfortable explanations like "I'm too busy," or "I don't know how to do that," but look a little deeper, and you might find that you have an anti-doer: a voice in your head that is holding you back from your greatest potential.

Getting things done is more than just figuring out what you need to do and doing it. It also involves acknowledging your anti-doer and getting past her complaints and hesitation. Let me know if you have any techniques for accomplishing this!