It's Never Too Late!

OK, I admit it. I’m a procrastinator.

There, I said it. (I’ve wanted to say it for months, but I keep putting it off.)

Yes, it’s true. Your beloved Tax Accountant has not yet filed his personal tax return for Year 2001. (Please don’t tell my wife! She deserves better.)

What’s my excuse for not filing my return yet? Well, two reasons. First, it is because I am a member of Procrastinator’s Anonymous. Second, it’s because I believe that filing my return as late as legally possible reduces the chance of an audit. (For more info on this unique strategy to audit-proof your return, just call me or email me and request a copy of my free report: “How To Procrastinate Your Way To An Audit-Proof Tax Return.”)

Anybody else out there ever do a little procrastinating? Hmmm??? C’mon, be honest now. Aren’t you and I members of the same club? I bet so. So what’s a procrastinator to do? I know, I know. Put off dealing with it.

Seriously, though – I’d like to offer you some input on how to effectively deal with procrastination. What I’m about to say is by no means the only way to deal with it, but I think you’ll find my approach both challenging and rewarding.

Here’s how I see it. You can put off any number of things – going to the dentist, paying a bill, waxing the car. As far as those tasks are concerned, I say, “So what?” Don’t worry about it.

The only time you should get concerned about procrastination is when you delay doing the truly important tasks of life. For myself, I’ve been putting off getting a will prepared. (Death is such a morbid topic, isn’t it?) But I have 3 minor children, and not having a will can be disastrous if my wife and I should die simultaneously. An unlikely event, perhaps, but one that I should plan for nonetheless.

So for the past 2 years I’ve been telling myself, “Get that will done . . . this month, this week, today!” And then another day goes by, another week, another month, another year, and, by golly, I still haven’t done it. What could be more important than making sure that my children are properly cared for? I can’t think of much else more important than that. Yet I’ve put it off for months.

Finally, this summer, I got it done. Gave the attorney all the proper information, and a couple weeks ago the wills arrived in the mail. Guess what? I haven’t even opened them yet to sign them and get them properly “witnessed”. Can you believe it.

For you, it may be something entirely different. So today I challenge you to get out your “To Do List” and modify it just a bit. You should actually have two To Do Lists. One for the Important Tasks and one for the Urgent Tasks.

Why two lists? Because I see an important connection between procrastination and prioritization.

And I also see a critical distinction between the (typically mundane) urgent tasks of daily life and the “things-that-really-matter” important tasks of life.

If you’re like me (and even though you are not a short, bald, stuttering Tax Accountant, I have a hunch that, on this point, we are a lot alike), you spend most of your time doing what is urgent rather than what is important.

What do I mean by “urgent”? You know, getting chores done around the house, paying bills, doing errands. All that stuff that when you really stop and think about it, it doesn’t really matter whether it gets done today, tomorrow, or a month from tomorrow. Or whether it gets done at all.

But how much time did you spend today (or yesterday, or this week, or last month) doing what is truly important. By important, I mean the tasks that will really make a difference in your life and business career. By important, I mean what 99% of the population never does because they are too busy doing the mundane “urgent” tasks of life. (In my case, preparing a will is an important task. Taking out the trash is merely an urgent task.)

And let me get up on my soapbox now and present to you what I believe to be the #1 task that is truly important rather than merely urgent, “the most important thing” you ought to be doing to improve your life and your business, but which I bet you spend virtually no time doing at all: Plannning.

Think about it. How much time have you spent lately Planning? Planning where you want your life and business to go. Planning how you are going to get where you want to go. Planning, planning, planning.

The old saying is true: “People don’t plan to fail, they just fail to plan.” Truer words were never spoken, eh?

When it comes to your business, what kind of planning do you do? Do you even have a Business Plan or a Marketing Plan? If not, then let’s be frank – you are failing to plan, aren’t you? And if you are failing to plan, then your business will probably fail. (Sorry to be so blunt, but that’s just the way it works on this planet. If you don’t know where you are going, then there’s very little chance you will get there.)

In last quarter’s newsletter, I challenged you to think about Marketing as the most important factor in determining the success or failure of your business. Specifically, a Marketing System that enables you to predictably and efficiently attract new customers like a porch light attracts bugs.

And I gave you an opportunity to learn more about a Marketing System that has literally changed my life and my business, specifically, “Magnetic Marketing”. My offer still stands to help you create and implement a truly Magnetic Marketing System – just give me a call or visit http://www.MagneticMarketing.biz and I’ll send you a free audio tape (and a free eBook) that will teach you more about marketing in an hour than most business people learn in a lifetime.

But creating (and implementing) a Marketing Plan is not the only truly important task that you should be doing (every day, every week, every month).

I have literally hundreds of tax clients from all walks of life. My clients who reduce their taxes the most have one thing in common: they seek my tax-planning advice all during the year, not just during Tax Season.

Why is that? Because they know that by the time you bring me your “tax stuff” in February, March or April, it is really too late to do much to reduce your taxes for the previous year. The best tax-reduction strategies must be implemented before the calendar year is over, you know, during the heat of the battle.

So if you already have an accountant, I encourage you to call him/her before the year is over. Do not wait until "tax time" to discuss tax-reduction strategies. It may be too late by then.

And if do not currently have an accountant, or just want a "second opinion", give me a call or send me an email. I'd be glad to offer input on your tax situation before the year is over.