Time Bandit

Time Bandit
Has anyone ever had to turn in a project, or a paper and been struggling, at the last minute to get it done. That very thing happened to me last week. I have a yearly report to turn into my boss every year. Each year it is due by Sept. 15th. It seems like every year I am always struggling to make the deadline. Each year when it is done, I spear I will never let that happen again. Yet every year when Sept 10th rolls around I am in a crunch again.

This year, I looked back to analyze what happened. Am I that poor at managing my time? Am I really that inefficient? I don’t think that is the problem at all. I think what happens is that in general I don’t plan for the unexpected. When I planned, I know how much time it will take, I actually gave myself two more weeks to do it than it should take. Then, the unexpected happened. I didn’t plan to miss a week of work when I got sick. (Seriously, I have not been out a full week in fifteen years.) Right after that, I had to go to San Antonio to take care of a robbery at a house we have there. There went all my extra time. It was just stolen from me. I don’t think I am unique or jinxed either. I think it happens to most of us when we have something important due. Life just gets in the way. So how do we handle that? We have to plan for the unexpected? Mentally move up the deadline. We have to ask ourselves what if this happens. Next year, my solution will be to plan to be done one month early. Now at times we won’t have the luxury of one month, but try to plan for the unexpected.