Don’t respond too quickly – the instructions and opportunities may change.
Granted, the majority of people seem to be procrastinators, waiting for that final deadline to push projects to completion. But there are those who have the opposite problem. Deadlines create anxiety and depression for them. So they always want to get a head start. As soon as they learn of a pending project or opportunity, they are up and running.
You may recognize yourself here. At college, these people were the ones who already had all the books checked out of the library when you wandered over to put together a bibliography for your end-of-term paper. They were the ones who had already purchased thee used textbooks and left to the latecomers the new, expensive texts without the answers.
In the business setting, they are the ones who have already suggested the meeting agenda and claimed credit for all the good ideas. They have already interviewed and received the job before most people know of the opening.
On the surface, these people have the right idea. They are first with the most. But consider the downside to this do-it-now compulsion.
You will often rush to check out all the library books on the subject, only to hear others complain about the ‘limited availability’ of resources and to hear the professor reduce the required sources from ten to two – after you have done the research.
You rush to buy the currently ‘hot’ toy your child wants for Christmas before it’s out of stock – only to find three weeks later than the item is still readily available and selling at a discount.
Your prepare a complete tailor-made proposal for a prospective client, who later phones to say that his boss ‘just wants the numbers’ before he goes into a meeting in ten minute. They make the buying decision without seeing the proposal, which took 12 ours to write.
This advice is not to despair about ‘jumping the gun’ and then backslide into a state of procrastination, but to find the optimum state of readiness: make sure the boss’s instructions, the client’s wishes, or your spouse’s birthday plans are firm before you go to work on a project. Probe with questions. Verify that you understand. Test the commitment and completed actions (no promises) of the others involved before you strike out towards a deadline.
You will have enough real paperwork without doing what, in the end, may become unnecessary.
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