Do you tend to leave things to the very last moment?

Are you the kind of person who leaves things to the very last moment? Many people tend to do this. Why’s that? Here are some possible reasons:

• I’m not worried as I still have a lot of time to complete the task
• I’ll start after lunch
• I’ll start tomorrow
• I’ll start next week
• I’ll start when I’m in the mood
• I don’t feel well at the moment
• I’ll re-check the task to see if it really needs to be done
• I don’t need to complete this task as it might not be required later on
• I don’t need to complete this task as someone else will probably take it on for me
• I’ll ask someone to help at the last minute as I’m running out of time
• Perhaps no one will know that I didn’t complete it
• Perhaps the person who asked me to do it has forgotten about this task
• I’ll ask someone who’s done it before to help me
• I’ll tell the person who asked me to do this that I didn’t have time or somehow it went to “spam”

How often does it happen that a given task or job is suddenly not required anymore? Not very often. So what can we do about making sure the task gets done? Some tips:

• When you get a task or job take a look at it immediately
• Check and understand what is required
• Check to see if you need more info, help, explanation or someone’s support
• Estimate the time required
• Start to complete the task as soon as you can while you understand and remember what needs to be done (2 weeks later it won’t be so fresh in your mind, and you’ll need extra time to catch up)
• Try to avoid completing tasks at the last minute as unforeseen things could happen – for instance, you could get sick or you might have another high priority task to perform at the same time, causing you to become very stressed as your deadline approaches
• Start as soon as possible; you have to do it anyway, so try to avoid frustration later on

We all know that unmanaged tasks/jobs cause a lot of frustration and are always at the back of our mind. If you’re hoping that someone else will do the work or that somehow you don’t need to do the given task or the task will be cancelled, then you’re on the wrong path. It might happen very occasionally, but don’t expect it to happen as you will most likely be disappointed. What happens if you leave things to the last moment? You try to do them in a rush; this can cause you to make mistakes and produce work of poor quality, which might even need to be re-done.   You will probably become stressed and might even have to work overtime.

When you know in advance that you will be going on holiday, then you usually try to complete all your unfinished work, tasks, etc. before you go.  If you’ve allowed a lot of tasks to accumulate then this will end up being a very stressful time.  Try to avoid this situation by not leaving things until the last moment or stretching deadlines, and your preparation time before your holiday will be much more peaceful.