Is Your “Business Education” Helping You Procrastinate?
I saw an interesting discussion the other day. The question posed was, “How can you tell if you’re learning something from all the time you spend studying business, or whether you’re just procrastinating?”
Procrastination is a killer for entrepreneurs of all kinds. Yet it’s what 90% of wantrepreneurs spend their time doing.
I’ll address the issue with two simple rules.
One: For those who are looking to start a business.
Two: For those who are already running a business.
Let’s get to it.
For Those Who Want to Start A Business
I’ll lead with an example or two.
If you are learning social media so you can be an influencer, or SEO so that you can start an SEO agency… this isn’t good. This is a waste of time and you aren’t an entrepreneur yet.
You might be in the future. But you’re not yet.
I see loads of people whining about entrepreneurship when they’re not entrepreneurs.
“I want to quit my job to start learning Shopify but my wife thinks this is stupid and not a real business!”
The above line is greeted with all sorts of “there-there” and “me-too” stuff from other wantrepreneurs all the time.
“Yeah, those normal folks just don’t understand! They have slave mindset!”
“You’ve got to cut negative people out of your life man!”
Look, if you’ve got a business idea that’s any good, you’ll know pretty quickly that that’s the case.
Quitting your job to “learn something” isn’t the same as quitting your job to start a business.
If you don’t have an immediate skill that you can make money from, then you don’t have a business. Yet. You can study n your spare time, but until that skill is marketable… no dice.
Also, this is marketable at a professional level.
Plenty of people try and go into business making terrible WordPress sites for $100. They’re competing with some guy’s fifteen year-old nephew.
Same with social media. “How do I monetise my 800 followers and quit my job?”
You don’t. If a twelve year old girl can get more followers than you, then you don’t have a valuable skill.
Yet.
The only thing you should be doing before you start is developing a skill that you can later sell at a professional level.
Once You Start… Procrastination Takes Care Of Itself
When it comes to business stuff, there are always metrics to follow.
If you have a business selling photos online, and you wonder whether you’re spending too much time procrastinating or not, ask yourself this:
“Do I get any return from this activity?”
Watching motivational videos from the latest, greatest YouTube hustler probably nets you a grand total of £0 into your business.
A Google search for “How to add my premium photos to X site?” might take you on a journey that costs you a couple of hours, but then you could have a potential new income stream at the end.
These two activities – despite being the same sort of thing – are completely different.
Browsing an industry specific forum for technical information or watching a specific tutorial on YouTube might save you hiring a professional or give you a new skill and so those are valuable.
Browsing general entrepreneurial forums and watching motivational videos is almost always a waste of time.
“But I feel ready to go!”
Yeah, and that’s the trick. It’s a hook and a dopamine high. The job of a motivational guru is to get you to feel that emotional jolt of “Yeah, I’m going to get something done!”
Think about the Rocky movies.
Single-handedly, they have made more men think, “Yeah man I wanna work out and become a lean, mean, fighting machine!” than any other form of entertainment.
The amount of guys who’ve watched those movies and felt pumped up is probably in the millions.
The amount of guys who’ve ever gotten fitter or better at boxing from watching them is zero.
It’s an illusion and a chemical reaction in your brain. If there’s no quantifiable benefit, then you could be doing something better and chasing the high of success.
Final Thoughts
That sums up the twofold decision making process for deciding whether you’re procrastinating or not.
Do you have a marketable, professional skill?
If no, then get one. Everything else is procrastination.
If yes, then is your current activity adding to your bottom line?
When the answer to that is yes then you’re not procrastinating.
When the answer is no, then you should be instead doing something that’ll add to your bottom line.
Everyone is going to procrastinate or do less-than-useful activities at times, but you’ll never know what you’re doing unless you can tell which is which.
Hope this helps.