The Money Value of Time

I've visited with a number of business owners over the last several months and I've noticed a pattern.  As the economic climate becomes more and more difficult it has become harder for them to step back and really analyze where they are taking their business or organization or even their personal life.  You've heard the phrase 'can't see the forest for the trees' well, as the trees become more dense it becomes even more difficult to see the entire forest as a whole.  I'd like to encourage you to take a few minutes to step back and do that very thing - see the big picture.
If you've taken any kind of money management course in your life whether personal or business related you were taught the time value of money.  Save early and often, put the money in an interest bearing account that can then compound that interest and it will grow exponentially over time - in fact there's even a rule of 7's - make 10% interest and your money doubles every 7 years (or 7% interest and it doubles every 10 yrs).  The converse is also true - spend more than you have and the interest you pay compounds to soon put you into a hole you can't crawl out of.
I'd like to propose there is also a principal called 'the money value of time' in that as you delay action on certain opportunities in life the monetary value of those opportunities decreases.  I'm just past mid-life and as I've evaluated my life over the last couple years I can see patterns in the way I've approached various decisions and their outcomes.  The decisions I've made quickly and without fear have ultimately rewarded me with either great learning experiences or financial rewards.  The decisions I've fretted about due to fear of failure or procrastination I now look back and see others taking advantage of an opportunity that I missed.
I've enjoyed a modocum of success in my life but I also rub shoulders with people who've been incredibly successful in a reletively short period of time - there is a pattern to the different ways those very successful people make decisions vs. the way the average person does.  There is a tendency in my personality (and many type A personalities) in that we tend to be perfectionists or think we are the only one who can do a certain procedure correctly / have the only right answer.  We tend to not want to ask for help or advice or think that we can learn from our competitor and their processes and procedures.  This causes us to spend too much time on a task or process before putting it into place when we would learn more from perfecting an existing procedure or just putting a plan into place and learning and perfecting as we go.
As I look at several ultra successful people I know there is a common theme - they make bold decisions and make them quickly - they are not afraid to ask for help either from paid experts or from their competitors.  Maybe you have a rift with someone or don't necessarily get along with a competitor but if you can mend fences for a bit and swallow your pride you may gather some information that will save you weeks and months of trial and error.  Don't allow decisions to linger and weigh over you for days and weeks at a time as it will cloud and distort everything in your life.  It's like dealing with a bad employee - fire quickly as a bad apple will ruin the attitude and productivity of an entire department or organization.
I read a blog post this week about making the '90 second decision'.  Take no longer than 90 seconds to make the small decisions in your life and this will trickle up to the larger decisions you make.  If you've ever been with a group of people going out to eat and someone asks where to go, then the group spends the next 45 minutes trying to decide you know how valuable this can be.  Trust your instincts and make your decisions quickly - if it's wrong you can fix it - you can never get back the time you've wasted with indecision.
The other thing very successful people do is to delegate freely.  Even though there may be a task you enjoy or may be able to do better, anything you can pass off to automation or an assistant will free you up to make big picture decisions that ultimately will make you more successful.
There are computer programs that can automate almost any task that you do on your computer.  Whether it's gathering information and compiling into a word processor document for presentation or logging onto a web site and compiling the latest financial information for a presentation almost any repetitive task can be automated.
If you can't automate it pass it off to an assistant - if you don't have one there are numerous ways to subcontract work to virtual assistants both here and overseas
By Dean L Martin