Procrastination can be hazardous to your business! (Why Your Business Needs a Virtual Assistant)

Guest author Nadia Chiang Geary, founder of The Hong Kong Virtual Assistant, shares her insights on habits of successful entrepreneurs and why your business needs a virtual assistant.

Being an entrepreneur takes a lot of courage and motivation. While most people can start a business, a few will be successful. During research on content for my new virtual assistant business, I came upon an interesting article on Forbes, on reasons why people procrastinate. I found this intriguing.

If you Google procrastination or procrastinate, you find that the majority of studies are about its effects on students in college or university. The more I researched the topic, there were a few similarities in several reports on why people succumb to the behavior of procrastination:

Fear of failure…

Fear becomes a protective mechanism, which ensured our survival in the past and may have a tendency of getting in the way of our happiness. Staying in this ‘mode’ can also lead to missed opportunities. Another variation on this theme is that you may often fill your schedule with busy-work so that you have a “legitimate” reason for not getting around to more important tasks.

Perfectionism

The standards perfectionists set for themselves are often impossible to meet. Perfectionists tend to judge themselves based on whether they can meet those impossible standards. Sometimes this comes from family expectations set when you were young. Consider that the problem is actually the unrealistic standards that have been set and not that you failed.

Fear of Success

Fear of success can be the other side of “fear of failure”. Fearful of the consequences of your achievements and that if you do well, next time, even more will be expected of you. Or perhaps you prefer being in the limelight instead of being in the spotlight.

The vision of my virtual assistance business has the intention to provide high quality & flexible virtual business support at a competitive costing, in Hong Kong. Of course virtual assistance by no means will help you overcome your inner fears, but I do hope to be a part of your journey in making personal, career and any life advancements – and not procrastinate any longer!

Guest writer Nadia Chiang Geary is founder of The Hong Kong Virtual Assistant, a Hong Kong based virtual business service for SMEs and entrepreneurs in Asia. Nadia has lived in Hong Kong for over 15 years and worked in Asia as an executive assistant and lead administrator for C-level management in a couple of tech start ups, recruitment services, an airline and in financial services. Contact Nadia to learn more about why your business needs a virtual assistant.

Resources:
1. Oregon State University; adapted from Burns, D. (1989) The Feeling Good Handbook.
2. http://www.anitacrawley.net/Articles/Onwuegbuziestatisticsanxiety.pdf
3. http://www.charlotte-anxiety-and-depression-treatment.com/