The Cost of Waiting

How much of your life have you spent waiting on others?

You wait for your boss or business partner to give the thumbs up on your work so you can move on to the next project. You wait for a lawyer to review an offer before you can sign on the dotted line and make a lucrative deal. You wait for the website designer to put the final touches on your new website, the printers to produce your new book, and a new employee to accept your salary offer.

All of this waiting is a waste of time, and an even bigger waste of money. You are ready to run with new ideas and are eager to accomplish big things. Rather than launching the new website, marketing the new book, or signing that lucrative deal, you find yourself in idle mode twiddling your thumbs.

When you are ready to stop paying the expense of waiting, there are some things you can do to eliminate much of the idle time in your life:

1. Expect others to keep their deadlines. When someone makes a promise to finish a project by a certain date, your own timeline and workflow is affected. Make sure to follow-up within a day or two of the deadline if you have not heard from them. If there is a valid reason for the delay you may understand, but they should understand how their delay your business as well.

2. Give clear, concise directions, and make your expectations clear. When someone else starts on a project, they should know exactly what you expect from the final product. Use time management software to set clear deadlines if necessary.

3. If something is important to you, let others know why it is important. Effective communication is key. They are more likely to keep their deadline and produce their best work if they know why you have placed the work in their hands. For instance, the printer is more likely to have your business card order ready on time if they know you need them for an important event on a certain date.

4. Remain accountable to yourself so you can expect the same of others. If you cannot stick to guidelines and follow procedure, how can you expect anyone else to do so?

5. Respond to others in a timely manner. Just as you lose money when waiting on others, they lose money when waiting on you. If you show respect to others by responding promptly to all communications initiated, they are far more likely to show you the same respect.

Notice the give-and-take nature of these methods to eliminate wait time. While these tips show you how to handle others in order to get work from them in a timely manner, they also show you how to discipline yourself. What you expect from others you should expect from yourself. You do not want to spend time waiting on yourself anymore than you spend time waiting on others.