The lethality of an unknown deadline

[RHL]

This is going to be very brief, but I just got back from a very frustrating meeting with a small car dealership in northeast PA. I realized that I now know tons of people are letting their dreams get absolutely slaughtered by the "unknown deadline."

What's that?

The unknown deadline is a condition which is at some indeterminate date in the future, and before which very important work which you should be doing right-the-hell-now cannot commence because it's "impossible," "impractical," or "inconvenient."

For example: A friend of mine got laid off six months ago. He said he was going to figure out a side hustle if "something didn't come up soon." He had some interviews he thought were promising, so he did nothing. They didn't pan out. Then another one. And that didn't pan out. And on and on, until he was rope-a-doped along for half a year and his family had devoured nearly $30,000 in savings. He could have staunched the bleeding by working at McDonald's, now any fastlane attempt he makes will be severely slowed because of a lack of funds.

Without going into too many details, this particular dealership is having some building repair work done and rationalize that they might not want more customers right now because they're afraid the disrepair of the work will turn people off and lead them to their competitors. So because of that, an avenue of customer acquisition is being put off that has shown to be amazingly helpful at several other dealers in the past, and costs basically nothing. Because better no sales than some sales, especially when the advertising medium that brings them in is basically free minus a few hours labor. Amirite?

Other examples I've seen:

"We're moving so I don't want to get set up for my business until we get settled in."

"I'm 7 months pregnant, the baby could be here soon."

"My kid will be starting s school in ten months. Then I'll have more time."

"My kid will be out of college next year, then I'll have more money."

"I want to finish my degree first, one thing at a time."

"Once my student loans are paid off."

"Once the mortgage is paid off."

There will always be something else. And the worst part about the unknown deadline-Is that it keeps you on the back foot-it takes control from you, because you think you've got no choice. You give up control because it keeps you guessing. You don't know when your dealership will be totally up to some arbitrary standard of decorum, especially with the rain the last few days. You don't know the exact day your baby will arrive. You don't know that your income will be consistent and that your student loans will be repaid on schedule. Worst of all, some of these things are total non-excuses. If you think working and having a family and a mortgage is going to be less demanding than college or high school, I've got news for you-This is by far and away the easiest and least-complicated part of your life.

It is easier to begin work immediately on whatever the next phase of your business might be and figure out how to work around the problem which is coming at the unknown deadline, whose exact time and form you can't yet predict, than to wait for a perfect dead calm in your life before you begin a new phase of your business, or begin your business all together. Whatever you can possibly do today, do today. Taking action breeds problems, problems you'll never see them coming ahead of time. They'll set your farther back, and unlike the unknown deadline, these are often problems that will really and truly stall your work until you solve them. Let these immediate, action-related problems be the things holding your progress back.

 

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