Alec Mackenzie’s probably one of the smartest guys you’ve never heard of.
Mackenzie – a management consultant and best-selling author – spent decades helping managers and business owners stop the negative patterns that sabotaged their success. More than 50 years ago, he wrote about a self-destructive behavior that we still can’t seem to escape today – procrastination.
Mackenzie’s comments in his 1969 best-seller The Time Trap hold up today:
“Time is a unique resource. Each of us already has all the time there is. It cannot be accumulated like money or stockpiled like raw materials. We are forced to spend it, whether we choose to or not, and at a fixed rate of 60 seconds every minute.”
As two inextricably linked concepts, procrastination and time management can be a business owner’s mortal enemy or best friend. For HVAC business owners utilizing The EverRest Group’s methods, avoiding procrastination is essential to productivity.
Every day, HVAC business owners juggle multiple tasks – from balancing the books to ordering materials – to keep their companies profitable and their employees busy. At the same time, many of these same business owners put off doing the most tedious tasks – a habit that can sink their company.
Before we start talking about how to stop procrastinating, let’s look at why it happens in the first place. According to Bryan E. Robinson Ph.D., a noted psychologist, procrastination is the brain’s protection against stress and fears of failure. The problem of procrastination is circular – the more you stress about something, the more you procrastinate. And the more you procrastinate, the more you worry.
Robinson’s suggestions for nipping procrastination are easy to follow and mostly common sense:
- Break down a task into specific steps
- Commit short periods of time (as little as five minutes) to attack each step in the process
- Give yourself a break if you miss a day or two
- Stop labeling yourself as a procrastinator
- Reward yourself for a job well done.
HVAC owners and managers know that avoiding procrastination is essential because it represents missed deadlines, which can lead to lost business, customers and employee trust.
We want to share our own helpful tips for avoiding procrastination – you might know them better as The EverRest Group’s 5 Critical Components of Success:
- Maintain a sales mix of 80% replacement to 20% sales.
- Reinforce EverRest strategies to maximize replacement leads and sales, including Lead Generator Tasks, Mandatory Lead Conditions and Secondary Lead Conditions.
- Position technicians in 4 to 5 homes a day.
- Keep equipment cost under 27% for 14 SEER, 30% for 16 SEER and 32% for 18 SEER.
- Operate with purpose. Every. Single. Day.
While procrastination is an action, it is also a mindset. By focusing on The EverRest Group’s methods, HVAC entrepreneurs can change procrastination’s inaction into the thrill that comes from money in the bank.
