Why do people leave everything to the last minute?

Myranda

Well... me too...

Third year (this year) of my degree is an Industrial Placement year - now I'm partially to blame because I um'd and er'd because the plagiarism nonsense early in the year (requirements for all the roles are "predicted a first" and I had a zero until it was sorted out) - but the companies that I'm applying to are still at the pre-interview stage (except one). So I occasionally get an email asking for further information.

The only one place that is post-interview is the lab I've been working part time for - they interviewed me last week, then gave me the job (The lab post is my back-up so I'd have a Placement rather than not, as it's ostensibly general IT work, the other vacancies are security or forensics posts), and they left things late enough that the start date is next week.

So, while I have a job for a year I'm also a bit fudged - I start with my old boss as my new boss in a few days - a boss that I want to be my part-time boss again for the final year so I'm not totally poverty stricken like my first year... and there might come a time in the next few weeks where a position that is specific to my degree becomes available... 

If these companies got back to me weeks ago I could have made a decision before starting somewhere that leaving might risk the burning of a bridge

Actually I'm double fudged - I'd budgeted for travel and food based on being at work 6 days between now and pay day now it's 10 days at work... and I don't have the funds left for two weekly season tickets... again with a month or two's notice I'd have been able to set aside money better. But a week and a half was all the notice I had and I only really thought about budget issues last night

Erg!

Gassage

I'll reply later.

Myranda

Gassage said:

I'll reply later.

Have a lol

Drew_TNBD

I don't care about your life.

Funkfingers

There are, in the words of the late Douglas Adams, three reasons.

1. Ignorance.
2. Stupidity.
3. Nothing else.

CarpeDiem

Sorry that you've been messed around; it's possibly due to poor planning, slow budget approval process, laziness, incompetence....none of which help you. I suspect the company management pride themselves on their agile ability

Myranda

Drew_TNBD said:

I don't care about your life.

My feelings! They bleed!

Ow!

Psst... wanna fund me? https://www.gofundme.com/send-myranda-to-work ;

LOL

ICBM

Putting off something until the last possible minute is worthwhile, on the offchance that the Earth will be destroyed by a giant asteroid/alien invasion in the mean time and you won't have to do it at all.

That's typical human logic, anyway.

Kind of like the idea that if you voluntarily give some money to a government lottery agency, there's about the same chance of winning enough to never have to do anything you don't want to again.

Dominic

You seem like a very nice person from your posts but I think the go and fund me thing is quite awful.You are letting yourself down .Don't resort to this horrible medium.
There are many very deserving causes in the world and some truly sad stories involving illness etc but this cheeky faceless digital begging bowl is just a chancer's charter.
We are all beset by financial realities and need to think out of the box to overcome them .......this is not the way.
Having said that it isn't easy but this medium is truly horrible.......even a homeless vagrant has to rough it out on the streets to get a bit of charity ...........this really is the lazy man's / woman's begging option.
You are better than that ...........don't let the fact that many have seized upon it make it feel ok - I THINK IT WAS CONCEIVED FOR SEED CAPITAL FOR INNOVATIVE IDEAS BUT HAS BEEN PERVERTED.

Drew_TNBD

Myranda said:

Drew_TNBD said:

I don't care about your life.

My feelings! They bleed!

Ow!

Psst... wanna fund me? https://www.gofundme.com/send-myranda-to-work ;

LOL

Post a pic of your face holding today's newspaper next to it and I'll throw you some pennies.

Bridgehouse

Am I too late to post to this?

Funkfingers

Zarquon!

RandallFlagg

I started reading your post and got confused. But here's my general advice for life logistics: get organised, plan ahead, prioritise and then get it done, never leave anything to the last minute unless there's a good reason to. The challenge is when others don't operate the same way and cause conflict with your priorities, then you need to harry them and negotiate.

chillidoggy

Where's Emp when you need him?

Emp_Fab

Sorry... I was contemplating a suitable response to Mr Community Spirit earlier.

octatonic

I used to procrastinate a lot, especially when I was a teenager.
Something happened to me In my 20's, not exactly sure why or how but I just decided that I wanted to be more organised, so I became more organised.

So now I set reminders for things, anything from appointments to things I know I need to do in the future, to how I practice music,  to family/friends birthdays- I had a palm pilot until smartphones were a thing, now I just use my phone.
Things get done early or on time, never late.
It becomes a habit and you get good at it.

Emp_Fab

Come on peeps....  We raised a load for Alnico in his hour of need, Myranda's only after £250 to make the difference to her career.  If everyone chucked in the price of a sandwich, she'd be sorted in no time.   Or covered in sandwiches.

axisus

I have always been the king of last minute. I need a desperate deadline to get my ass in gear. Almost failed my honours degree - started my dissertation the day they wanted them handed in! This is no joke!!!

boogieman

My stepson is known by everyone as Last Minute Dan. Totally disorganised, hardly ever plans anything, lives fairly chaotically and drives his wife demented at times. He's always been the same according to my wife. Thing is, he gets away with it, I've never known such a lucky guy for things turning out ok every time, no matter how late he leaves things. 

Dominic

My sister is the same.......but I have noticed that her life is fashioned around flexibility .......it's actually a methodology in it's own right permitting last minute swerves very often for the better .It appears dis-organised to the outsider but is actually a strategy .......a case of Method in the Madness .
 Your stepson @boogieman isn't lucky .....he's probably very sharp .Imagine the winnings if you never played your poker hand until you had seen every other person's cards ! ............aha !

professorben

octatonic said:

I used to procrastinate a lot, especially when I was a teenager.
Something happened to me In my 20's, not exactly sure why or how but I just decided that I wanted to be more organised, so I became more organised.

So now I set reminders for things, anything from appointments to things I know I need to do in the future, to how I practice music,  to family/friends birthdays- I had a palm pilot until smartphones were a thing, now I just use my phone.
Things get done early or on time, never late.
It becomes a habit and you get good at it.

I used to procrastinate too, these days I can't be bothered.