A USA Today poll found that the #1 reason people had not yet created a will was procrastination. Procrastination is prioritizing less urgent tasks in preference to more urgent ones, or doing more pleasurable things in place of less pleasurable things even though the latter may be more important.
I often tell clients, “It you are waiting for it to be fun to pay an attorney lots of money to create your estate plan, you’re going to be waiting a really long time.” It will always be more pleasurable to spend your time and money on a great beach vacation.
And believe me, I know how easy it is to get sidetracked by watching adorable dog videos on YouTube. But at the end of the day, those videos don’t protect my family.
This spring I ran into a woman who had attended one of my estate planning seminars a year earlier. I asked if she had completed her plan yet. Her response: “We’re still thinking about it!” Sound familiar? I also hear:
- I’ll do it later
- I won’t die
- I don’t like talking about death
- I’m too young
Unfortunately, none of these excuses will prevent a tragic car accident. Listen to any news station. Multiple people die in horrific crashes across the valley every week.
Here are a few tips to quit procrastinating and start protecting your family by planning for your incapacity or death (and I guarantee at least one of those will happen to you.)
- Promise yourself you will create your plan
- Break down your goal into small steps such as 1) call an attorney, 2) set an appointment, 3) think about who you would want to make healthcare decisions for you
- Set a completion date for each step
- Share your goal with your family and friends
- Ask someone to keep you accountable for each action step
- Don’t let a setback derail you
Most importantly? Stop thinking about it. … Just Do It!
