Oooops, I’m running late!
OMG, is that due TODAY?
There’s no way I can get that done so quickly. I haven’t even started!
Many of us, at one time or another, said these very words because we waited until the last minute!
The last-minute situation is fraught with lots of stress and commotion and even though planning ahead sounds like the much better way, many people cannot seem to plan, at least with any regularity.
For them it’s almost always the last-minute.
Admittedly I am pretty good at planning to get things done in advance what with 2 young girls and a busy business to run.
But I’d be a liar if I didn’t fall into the last-minute trap from time to time.
Maybe I thought that I could do something faster than I could, or I forgot, or simply ran out of time.
In any case, when it happens, it feels downright awful.
And so, here are the things I’ve put into place so that I can minimize my personal last-minute blues:
· I plan rigorously and make it a point to check my calendar multiple times each day and look ahead to the next day, week, and month.
· I leave time for some screw-ups. There are always traffic jams, and the client that urgently needs your attention, or a text message from the school, and all of these must be attended do. I leave time in my calendar and if nothing “unexpected comes my way,” I am lucky enough to find myself with “extra” time.
· Delegation has started to play a more important part in my life. With the recognition that I can’t do everything, I find that I can win back time because I delegate and things are executed by other people, often more skilled than me at the specific task.
· I don’t make excuses for myself. I know that I always try to do my best but sometimes my best falls short. I try to learn from the experience so I can keep it from happening again at some later time.
I think it has become a mark of pride about how much we can handle, but I think we are doing ourselves a disservice.
Let’s ditch the last-minute way of life, and instead leave time to get things done right, and have pleasure of doing them, as well.