“What have you got to lose?” is a well worn question that is often not asked except when someone is challenging someone to do something daring or radical. How often do we ask ourselves this question? Are we only thinking of the rewards as an excuse to act instead of the pitfalls? Regardless, this is something a  business person needs to think about more often.  When I saw Chris Brogan ask this question in his twitter feed it got my mental juices flowing. I realized I had a lot to gain by writing about the topic. I’m going to present my own list things I need to work on today and the next few days.  I will answer what I have to lose but also what I have to gain.

What do I have to lose and gain by doing the following today?

1. Reading at least two chapters in What Customers Want and The Levity Effect
2. Contacting potential speakers for a networking group I hold leadership in
3. Installing Adobe Lightroom 2.0 beta on my laptop
4. Going for a long walk on a nearby trail
5. Prepare announcement for a network meeting next week

Lose

1. It will take away valuable time I can be using on work projects
2. Nothing except a little time
3. Some hard drive space and maybe attention on other things
4. A good chunk of time
5. Nothing - I have already committed to getting this done - yesterday

Gain

1. Insight into ideas that may help propel my business to the next level
2. I will be more prepared with confirmed speakers or information that I need to seek alternatives
3. Knowledge and experience about an application that may greatly increase my photography productivity
4. Better fitness, exposure to sunshine and maybe I will meet other people
5. Information will be prepared and sent to people so they can become more organized

What did I learn from this exercise?

1. I need to devote my time to those things I already have a commitment to finish
2. I realized that although some things may take a little time they may save more time in the future
3. There is great benefits to some of the things I am putting off but I should reward myself with those things after I finish the prior commitments

What are some things that you have been thinking about doing today? Have you been putting things off because of fear or “lack of time?”  Consider doing this exercise to help organize your day, grow your business and add quality to your life. What have you got to lose?  What have you got to gain? What have you learned?

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 2nd, 2008 at 9:28 am and is filed under Innovation, Organization, Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.