Complete work on time, and, ideally, 

before it’s due. 

It’s happened to all of us.

Someone at work or in an organization we belong to fails to complete their assigned part of a joint project on time. Now it belatedly comes to us with a message that it’s up to us to get things back on schedule for the next deadline. Which is in six days. Including the weekend.

And so we work all day and into the night for the next several days, neglect our other jobs, frantically re-schedule prior commitments, and become frazzled. And extremely testy. Co-workers avoid us, and family members silently place our dinner on our desk then tiptoe out of the room.

Having gone through this ourselves, let’s not inflict it on others. This isn’t about better time management and not procrastinating, although they’re important.

It’s about respect—respect for those whose work follows ours. Respect for their time, their family, and all those we will inconvenience by failing to meet our responsibilities.

Reduce sensory craving 

by realizing “less is more.”  

A dozen or so years ago, I happened to see a TV program as the credits scrolled down the screen. I commented to the person I was working with online that the image on the screen moved. He hesitated, then cautiously explained, “It’s TV; things move.”

I assured him I remembered his salient bit of information, and, not to worry, I was talking about the swirling background. Apparently, mere words were no longer enough to hold our attention. We now required sensory stimulation every moment of our lives. And not just on TV and not just visually, but everywhere and of all our senses.

Worse, unable to calm our mind, we agitate it even more with increased amounts of stimulation.

What can we do? Stop devouring phenomena and, instead, view them gratefully. Allow your mind to settle, and find joy in simplicity. And begin to let go of attachments by realizing that, in many ways, by appreciating what we have, less truly is more. 

If you can’t understand, fix, or accept it

—let it go. 

“I don’t see how the project will work. I don’t get why they’re doing it. I just don’t understand.”

We’ve all been there. We hear about what an individual or group is doing and just can’t see how the proposed project will work, or even why it’s needed. Perhaps we were asked to participate, and that’s why we looked into the proposal. After checking things out, we were left bewildered and shaking our head.

At this point, we have two options.

We can keep retracing our steps trying to figure things out.

Or we can politely decline the invitation to participate and get back to meeting our responsibilities, responsibilities we understand, accept, and were happy to take on.

The first option will result in further frustration and wasted energy. The second option—letting go—enables us to reduce our frustrated thoughts, wish those undertaking that new project success, and re-dedicate ourselves to the work we are qualified and committed to doing.