#6 Practices That an Entrepreneur Must Not Adopt Setting shorter term deadlines creates a sense of urgency, an antidote to procrastination

Learning that 80 to 90 per cent of start-ups fail in the growth stage, it's clear that an entrepreneur's life is not easy. Chasing deadlines, crunching numbers and pushing innovation for business optimization- are just another day at work for any start-up owners.
Below are six important practices that an entrepreneur should not adopt.

1.Procrastination is Killer

If you are a new entrepreneur and are fighting the beast of procrastination, you are not alone. New business owners and entrepreneurs typically have a harder time completing multiple projects. They are prone to procrastinate more due to the uniqueness of running a new business. There is no boss telling you what to do and when to do it. That freedom, coupled with inexperience and a little bit of fear, can make anyone complacent.

Most of the start-up business owners may not understand much about deadlines. A few existing entrepreneurs set the wrong example by making the rest of the business world believe that setting deadlines is working under pressure.

However, successful entrepreneurs devise an effective way to ensure that those deadlines are met. Setting shorter term deadlines creates a sense of urgency. And urgency is antidote for procrastination.

Breaking down goals and projects into smaller parts allows entrepreneurs to work on different business aspects in a logical sequence until it is successfully accomplished.

2. Non-delegation of Work

When you build or lead a business, you'll be wearing many hats as you owe a sense of ownership. You'll have to play the role of a CEO, salesperson, an innovator, a financial manager and a leader while you still have to deal with routine micro-tasks throughout the day. It can be fun at first, but eventually, this will start eating away your time and diversion to pursue strategic goals.

One of the paths chosen by successful entrepreneur is to increase their competitiveness is by encouraging employees to adopt a more entrepreneurial attitude and take the delegated responsibility, finishing the task at hand with quality and timeline. An entrepreneur has to learn to delegate responsibility and trust their employees.

3.Notion That You're a Perfectionist

The attitude that you are a perfectionist is one of the worst ways you can sabotage yourself and your business. The stress of being perfect freezes up creativity and joy, making your task longer and more difficult.

Give yourself permission to be imperfect at time, learn to fail and adapt to new trends. Make drafts, simulations, etc. You can always edit what you've begun. Greatness comes from many failures and sustained learning.

4.Promising More Than you can Deliver

It's true that confidence is the key to success. But making promises basis on disproportionate amount of the resources should not be practiced at all. Entrepreneurs generally tend to assume that if they are truly passionate about their products or services. Once they start excelling in business and they start promising big too. However, too much passion can actually impact an entrepreneur's flexibility, inviting a one-track mind that can lead to failure. Never promise anything more than you can deliver to client in any business, it can be fatal at times. It's important that businesses always keep their focus on practical deliverables.

5. Bottlenecking Decision-making

Entrepreneurs like to have complete control over their business. However, forcing every decision pass through your office can cause your business to slow down. It is not only frustrating for your employees but to your customers as well. By hiring the right people and ensuring everyone is clear on the overall goals and responsibility, you'll allow your business to grow.

6. Fear is the Worst Enemy

An entrepreneur sometimes lives in a constant state of fear. Doubts about the health of the economy only add to the anxiety. Fear is toxic to every small business. It not only drains the entrepreneur's vital energy, but it can spread to their customers and employees. In fact, it can ultimately kill a business.

The worst habit that an entrepreneur could have standing in the way of productivity, is fear. Fear of failure, making a decision, and of upsetting others can quickly erode your productivity and business success. Notably, focusing on your fear takes time away from making important decisions that will propel your business toward achieving your goals.

So, if you recognize any of these above habits in your business, it's time to take action and set your habits right.