The Only Mistake Is To Do Nothing: Procrastination

Good article on Kiplinger's site via Slackermanager:

Career Advice: Just do it

I once asked a group of top executives how many of them consider themselves to be serious procrastinators. Just 25% raised a hand. But when I put that question to groups of unemployed job seekers, 80% of the hands went up. That's consistent with what I've found in my 18 years as a career coach: Too often, procrastination can kill a career.

Many people learn procrastination in school. They wait until the last minute to write a paper or to study for a test, but, thanks to grade inflation, they still end up with a decent grade. That gets them by until they land in higher-level jobs, where there's no such thing as grade inflation to bail them out of their bad habits.

Some people procrastinate to avoid failure.