How Can We Break This ?

How can we break this ?

There’s an old story told of a young man who went up to a London tailor and ordered a suit to be stitched for him. As luck would have it, the same night, the young man was asked to report for war duty and was away for four long years. One day, while cleaning out his old clothes, a decade after the war, he came across the receipt for his suit. The no longer young man went looking for the tailor and found him still intact in the old building. He showed the receipt to the tailor, who glanced it carefully and said, “Come back next week, your suit will be ready”!

Many of you know that I have been crazy about cars for almost all my adult life. Many of the imported cars were bought when spares were simply not available in the country. One mechanic whom I have now known for two decades has been my savior. Amrose has been very sincere at his job, is an absolute whizz with any car and in all these years, has not cheated me even once ! (I did test. Quite a few times !) Amrose’s only failing is that he has almost always delayed delivering the car after repairing it. Even when the spares were available, his assistants were on duty, none of his numerous relatives had died, there was no power cut, he has always manufactured some plausible excuse to delay execution.

One of my mentoring clients is a young man with great vision, an absolute professional, I would not be surprised if he becomes one of the most powerful men of India in the next decade. A fantastic friend, a caring employer and a visionary leader. His only failing ? He does not pay promptly !! He needs to be reminded a dozen times, every time a payment is due. Mind you, the money due to me is budgeted for, and the amount he pays me will not even cause a ripple in the vast ocean of his wealth. But he delays payment !!

Teachers submitting reports at the last minute, filing returns on the last day, booking tickets at the last minute, the list can go on. Like the wag said, "Thank God for 11:59. If it were not for the last minute, nothing would be done !"

My friends tell me I am not alone. This disease seems to affect almost every organisation big or small and almost every professional.

In a surging India, where high professional standards are expected and met for the most part, this delay factor seems to be our national failing. A crippling disease whose domino effect has prevented us, from attaining even more greatness.
Can you and I break this cycle ? How can we do it ?