Photo courtesy of LFABRESM

Winston Churchill said, “I never worry about action, but only about inaction” and as a businessman or entrepreneur, you should feel the same way. After all, if action is the main ingredient of success, inaction is the main cause of failure.

Many people realize that they need to start something to become successful. However, I could spend the rest of my life counting the excuses as to why they haven’t.

• “I would, but I don’t have the time…”
• “I would start this month, but I’m extremely busy”
• “It isn’t under my job description…”

In short, people know that they need to start doing something, but they choose not to and create millions of reasons to explain themselves.

In reality, there are three reasons why people choose to do absolutely nothing and I will go over all three of them.

Diffusion of Responsibility

Do you remember the story of Kitty Genovese? The twenty-eight year old woman who was stabbed by a man less than 100 feet from her house while people watched and did nothing? The woman who barely escaped death and was left bleeding out in her front yard when the attacker fled as a result of a neighbors scream from a window? The woman who was then killed by the same man who stabbed her ten minutes prior because nobody called the cops?

This led to extensive research in what is now known as the “bystander effect.”

Quite simply, the bystander effect is a psychological phenomenon in which someone is less likely to intervene in an emergency situation when other people are present and able to help than when he or she is alone.

Researchers attributed this to diffusion of responsibility, or in other words, people are less likely to take ownership in large groups of people.

This happens in business as well.

In “10 Commandments of Business Failure,” Don Keough highlights a very interesting quote from Fred Allen. Fred said, “A committee is a group of men who individually can do nothing, but as a group decide that nothing can be done.”

How cynical, but true.

Fear of Failure

Have you ever heard someone brag about their failed marriage or failed business ventures? Probably not, because people fear failure. They fear the potential social ostracism. They fear losing self-confidence. They fear realizing they may not be good enough.

Can you guess the best way to never fail?

Never try of course. Or, well, that is how many people rationalize it. Unfortunately, they are just lying to themselves.

Just remember, a missed opportunity yields the same result as a failed opportunity – absolutely nothing.

Procrastination

Victor Kiam, of Remington Shaver fame, was one of America’s finest entrepreneurs. You may remember him from the Remington Shaver commercials where he would say, “I liked the Remington so much I bought the company.” Additionally, he wrote three books on entrepreneurship and operated several companies (watches, travel, and lighters).

Victor said, “Procrastination is opportunity’s natural born assassin” and he was absolutely right. The only thing worse than failing to accomplish a task is convincing yourself you’ll do it later and never do it.

I learned this the hard way.

I have wanted to start a website like Prevential.com for more than two years. I kept convincing myself that I would start it next week… or the week after. It took two years or 730 days or 17,520 hours.

I am glad I started now, but I wish I started earlier, which is usually the case with procrastination.

Just remember, procrastination helps you achieve the short-term goal of “nothing,” but it leads to the long-term goal of failure.

Your Thoughts?

Are there any other major causes of inaction? Let me know your thoughts in the comments.

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