There are a few phrases that productive entrepreneurs avoid in order to retain that coveted ”productive” title. Here’s a short list of my favorites:
“Someday” As in “I should save this magazine article – I may need it someday.” The next time you find yourself saying “someday”, either stop and put an actual, real, solid date to whatever you’re someday-ing, or take it out of your head/off your list/out of your space because in reality, someday is never going to come, so quit pretending!
“For Now” The biggest ‘F’ word of them all. Every time a piece of paper crosses your desk that you don’t know what to do with, you think, ”I’ll just stick this here, for now,” but do that enough times each week, and your desk is covered in piles, you waste time looking for things, and you are completely distracted in your day.
“Maybe” This word carries more power than we realize. Don’t tell the sales guy you may be interested when you’re not, because now you’ve just engaged in another weekly email and weekly phone call from him!
“What if…” Admit it, 90% of what we worry about, never actually happens. So don’t allow yourself to fret over something that’s minor in the big scheme of things. “What if I need this piece of paper again?…” If you’re having to think it over, chances are you won’t need it.
“Real quick” Mostly used when you’re about to start up a new task or project, or maybe make that dreaded phone call. But first, you say to yourself, “Real quick, I’m just going to check email,” or I’m just going to grab a snack.” That’s our own sneaky way of avoiding and delaying what really needs to be done.
“It has to be perfect” Nothing truly has to be perfect, and in fact, the amount of time and effort you’re going to put into making something your definition of perfect, is likely not worth the small increase in quality, that most people will never notice anyway. Remember Pareto’s 80-20 rule and move on to the next project.
“This will only take a second” Do you ever notice how nothing ever “only takes a second”? Once again, we trick ourselves when we know we’re about to get off track, and inevitably it causes us to run late. In the very wise words of Richard Feynman, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist, ” The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest perrson to fool.”
Did I miss any? Do you have your own “profane” phrase that costs you productivity?
