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by Stevenson Q. Yu
Proverbs 6:10-11
A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man.
The first half of Proverbs 6 are Solomon’s warnings against folly (mistakes). Verses 1-2 warn against being a guarantor for others’ debts while verses 3-5 give advice on what to do if you are already a guarantor. Verses 6-8 admonishes the lazy man to be as industrious as the ant, while verses 9-11 warns him on the consequences of laziness. Finally, verses 12-15 describe of the fate of a wicked man, and what God considers wicked is described in verses 16-19.
It is a very human thing to procrastinate. In fact, this is a habit for Filipinos. Perhaps we learned this mañana habit from the Spanish. After all, mañana is a Spanish word for “tomorrow,” clearly describing a habit of putting off things today that can be done tomorrow.
Because of this habit, even the most urgent of projects and tasks is put off for some other time. Of course, that other time never comes. Something always comes up to take up all our time. It is only when the last deadline approaches that we start working like mad. It is a habit I am guilty of. In fact, I procrastinated by not writing this article until after the May 31 deadline set by the Gospel Light editor!
Procrastination is never a good thing when thinking about starting a business. As the Chinese saying goes, 「種一棵樹最好的時間是十年前，其次是現在。」In English, it means, “The best time to plant a tree is ten years ago; the next best time is today.” If you’re thinking about starting your business, you should not wait for all the stars to line up. We only have 24 hours in a day, and never enough time unless we really force ourselves to make time for it.
If you are already in business, then procrastination is also a very bad thing. Procrastinating on a project either leads to missed deadlines (and angry customers), or rushed, shoddy work (and angry employees – and even then, the customer may not be happy with the result.)
If an entire company procrastinates, it is called “inertia” – a term borrowed from physics. This is a situation where a company does nothing to change with the times. By continuing to do what it has always done, it figuratively takes a nap while more agile competitors come in and rob it blind.
Look at Kodak. The company was the undisputed king of cameras. and was even the first to invent a digital camera. But it focused on its more-profitable film cameras, and so Kodak fell behind Nikon and Canon in digital cameras. Once people stopped using film because the cameras in their cellphones were good enough, Kodak was done for.
Speaking of cellphones, do you remember Nokia? Its cellphones were indestructible, with battery life measured in days. Nokia was the king of cellphones in the 1990s. The company was even among the first to introduce a smartphone with a touchscreen.
But Nokia neglected the customer’s experience – its phones were not very easy to use and didn’t have “Wow!” features. And so, Nokia died a slow and painful death to Apple and Samsung.
Don’t be Kodak, Nokia, IBM, Friendster, or even the hare in the race with the turtle. Business today is ever-changing. If you stand still during the race, then don’t be surprised when you are left with nothing.
(Links to Lesson 3 and Lesson 5)
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