I didn’t get a blog written and posted this morning, so I am writing now. That’s really unusual for me, but I have to admit, 7 days in a row of writing the blog is too enticing. It will be my 1st one-week streak. Sometimes motivation is shallow!
Why no post earlier you ask? I had a very large proposal with a hard deadline to complete today or the company would lose the opportunity. I invested my writing and creativity time in the proposal alone. I was tired and had limited energy to invest. It was the biggest thing to get done so I did it 1st, right after catching up on critical email business (yes, email can be a priority if it’s OUR choice.)
I had three other critical deadlines to get done as well that involved using my PE stamp to sign and seal documents. I didn’t expect I’d even get them done, but once the proposal was completed, thirty minutes earlier than I expected, those tasks fell right in line. No problem. I even checked financials, backlog, estimated work, worked in some follow-ups on four other pending proposals, and more. Bonus time. Some things are now scratched off my list for early Monday.
It supports the claim all the heavy thinking business coaches emphasize, “to work on the biggest, nastiest priority first and then the rest will get handled easily when that burden is done.”
But let’s face it, if you’re like me it can be unnerving most of the time to be working on the large, deep, intense, time sucking project or task, and putting all the secondary, smaller, and easier tasks aside. It is so much easier to do the latter first. If we focus on the former first, we feel the stress of the moment, and alleviate it when done. It’s a decreasing stress. If we focus on the latter first, we feel the growing stress of procrastinating on the big task. I prefer to make that trade – to do the big nasty first, then feel the relief later. I just have to ignore the impulse when I am in the moment, and desiring to escape.
So there we go. I even was able to get in a blog. The tables were flipped. The work was done. The blog is posted. All bonus time.
How was your day?
Be well and enjoy the weekend
JOHN L WHEATON BLOG 