Avoid the Rush
Avoid the Rush
If you are always rushing around and continuously late for appointments you may have “one last thing” syndrome.
Do you try to do just one more thing before leaving for an appointment? If so, you have it.
Avoid trying to fit one more task into your schedule and focus on what’s on your calendar already.
When you are ready to leave for that appointment, leave.
You can always use any extra time on the other end of your travels by making a phone call or checking email on your cell phone. Taking some notes or making a to-do list can be a good use of your time as well.
Of course, if you have a few free minutes you could always relax or take a short walk.
Do you struggle with getting and staying organized?
Are you afraid to start an organizing project just to be overwhelmed or lose motivation in the middle, to be left with even more chaos? You are not alone. That’s the fear of most people who don’t have time to allot to a big organizing project.
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Janet Schiesl
Janet has been organizing since 2005. She is a Certified Professional Organizer and the owner of Basic Organization.
She loves using her background as a space planner to challenge her clients to look at their space differently. She leads the team in large projects and works one-on-one with clients to help the process move quickly and comfortably. Call her crazy, but she loves to work with paper, to purge what is not needed and to create filing systems that work for each individual client.
Janet is a Past Board Member of the National Association of Productivity and Organizing Professionals and a Past President of the Washington DC Chapter of NAPO were she has been named Organizer of the Year and Volunteer of the Year.
Janet Schiesl
Janet has been organizing since 2005. She is a Certified Professional Organizer and the owner of Basic Organization.
She loves using her background as a space planner to challenge her clients to look at their space differently. She leads the team in large projects and works one-on-one with clients to help the process move quickly and comfortably. Call her crazy, but she loves to work with paper, to purge what is not needed and to create filing systems that work for each individual client.
Janet is a Past Board Member of the National Association of Productivity and Organizing Professionals and a Past President of the Washington DC Chapter of NAPO were she has been named Organizer of the Year and Volunteer of the Year.
Being late or under time pressure stresses me out. I would much prefer to be early, even if that means I sit in my car and delete photos or just look at the window.
It can be hard to break away from a task, or even scrolling the internet, to go, so leaving at a time I have previously chosen is critical. That time needs to be set in stone. Wonderful piece of advice!
I’m like you Seana. I hate being late. I set alarms in the morning to alert me when it’s time to leave for an appointment or jump on a Zoom call. If I didn’t set alarms I’d be late more often.
Ahhh. This is so familiar…doing “one last thing.” I regularly use my timer to avoid being late. The auditory sound of the ‘dinging,’ allows me to hyperfocus and have confidence the sound will alert me in time to transition to the next thing. It works well for me.
I also set alarms. It’s easy to forget about the time, but an alarm stops me in my tracks. Without the alarm, I’d probably be a one last thing person.
You’re so right. I have a rule. I always decide EXACTLY when I’m going to walk out the door, and no matter what, I do, so I’m never doing “one last thing.” I don’t do mornings, so once I get up, I know the only things I will be doing before heading to an appointing will involve eating, grooming, or dressing. I may check email while I eat, or scroll texts while I’m drying my hair, but all essential tasks for getting out the door are prepped the night before, and I don’t let myself do anything else, no matter how efficient it might seem, because I don’t want to risk getting distracted. Being late is the most stressful non-medical, non-financial thing I can think of, and I’d rather be inefficient than be late.
I think the one last thing people have ADHD tendencies and as a deadline approaches they are focused on getting as much as possible done.