The Curse of Delay!

How many of you use the curse of delay to postpone taking action or doing the ‘things’ you know deep in your heart need to be done?

I suspect many of you use it all too frequently. As a matter of fact, it is the most common of human traits. It is also called “Procrastination.”

Maybe it was embedded into your personality as a youngster. Possibly, you learned to do it in your early adulthood. However, as an adult, one with massive responsibilities, it can lead to massive problems.

Understand me, I don’t believe that the ability to delay is something that you were born with. It is a believe system or habit that you allowed to take over your decision-making process.

I use the curse of delay to prolong or control my spending. Especially, with pricey and high-ticket items. I like to sit back and re-think it. It gives me a chance to properly evaluate its needs and to suppress that emotional urge to feel good by purchasing it. I also find that as I am getting older, I use it more often. Maybe I’ve learned a thing or two along the way?

Unfortunately, there are “things” that the curse of delay impacts dramatically in an problematic manner. In business, this can be where you feel its impact financially.

Some people are feeling the lack of sales. From the beginning, I’ve spoken that the one ‘thing’ you don’t want to do is stop your marketing. If sales are lacking, marketing is the business tool that is suppose to generate leads in order that sales can be produced. However, if you have a poor marketing strategy, nothing will help until you improve it.

So what do you do? Do you delay or find out how to improve your marketing? I recommend the later.

It is very much like the financial management of your business. Do you delay finding ways to cut back and survive, or do delay? I saw way too many contractors put the full weight of the curse of delay on this one. The result? Well, they’re gone now.

You see, there are some things you NEVER allow the curse of delay to affect. Improvement is one of them. Whenever you have the opportunity to improve yourself, your business, your future, your relationships, you do not allow curse of delay to stop you. You never allow the excuse of money to stop you. You never allow the alleged lack of time to keep you from improvement.

Remember, improvement come from work. Work comes first. Then reward. It’s not the other way around.

Struggles will always come first. But you must see the work as a way to overcome your struggles. By forcing yourself to implement the work in order to achieve the improvement, you are creating a habit of success.

Try it today. Pick an area or problem in your life or business. Commit to doing the work and making the investment of time and money to overcome it. Mastery takes time. Like anything of value in life, it is worth it, but only if you achieve it.

Why the Future Looks Uncertain

We are hearing a lot of proclamations of a revival in the housing market. The media and Washington seem fixated on trying to hypnotize us that a magical recovery is taking place.

I won’t argue against that, I like you, welcome the increase in sales and work. However, it is too little, too late.

In 2006, I told many that they needed to be careful because the market didn’t make sense. I advised them to keep a toe in it, but to be cautious not to submerge themselves fully in it. Some listened and some didn’t.

I believe we are possibly looking at the same scenario right now, but at a much smaller scale. Right now, investors and the big home builders are fueling the market. Investors alone are pushing pricing by over-paying as much as 30% Rental properties are showing strong positive cash flows. However, other factors need to be considered for the overall, long-term BIG picture.

A slowdown in demand for aluminum is viewed as a precursor for slowing economic activity, much like copper and lumber, and so weakness here confirms other indications of a slowing global economy.

For the week, economic news was mixed as the Case/Shiller Home Price Index showed a strong updraft in housing prices with a gain of 10.9 percent year-over-year. Three other closely watched economic reports also posted positive numbers with consumer confidence and sentiment rising in May and the Chicago PMI registering 58.7. Bad news came from pending home sales, which missed expectations, and consumer spending and income, which were both weak and below expectations and reflected a consumer pulling back on spending while incomes remain flat.

The unchanging numbers of unemployed Americans coupled with a downgrade in consumer headwinds will add significantly to the U.S. economy. Initial jobless claims spiked higher on Thursday to 354,000 on expectations of 341,000 and the revised GDP report showed the U.S. economy limping along at 2.4 percent, well below normal recoveries and below expectations for Q1.

One last Coup de Gras and the biggest news is the sharp rise in interest rates. A 30 year fix is posting at 4.10% as of Monday morning. So the temptation for higher interest rates is showing its hand. This will be the significant game changer for our economy. I believe the Feds printing of easy money which has already created previous bubbles or contributed to them, could easily deflate any resurgence in the real estate market. So we have a wait and see situation.

Here is the outlook I see. The economy is your marketplace. Go for sales that are going to make you money. Use that money to pay off debt and build cash reserves. Since normalcy is not the norm, any other thought would be the equivalent of committing Hari Kari.