Why do people leave everything to the last minute?

Myranda

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 can't blame a corporation for leaving things to the last minute when I'm also powerfully last minute myself.

As for reminders and things... I tried that once...

I'd turn off notifications, ignore post-its, or just generally not follow the reminders. After spending hours coming up with schedules that were flexible enough that even if I did procrastinate a bit I'd still be able to follow it.

If I'm honest the experience made me quite depressed... Emp_Fab said:

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.

I'd not worry about it Emp, I have a back-up plan. it's noodles and a 45 minute walk, but it should be all good. 

mudslide73

You're in completely the wrong industry if you can't stand lastminute.com people. It's IT ffs!

Emp_Fab

Myranda said:

I'd not worry about it Emp, I have a back-up plan. it's noodles and a 45 minute walk, but it should be all good. 

You've taken the gofundme page down.  I wouldn't write off the generosity of folk here just yet.

Winny_Pooh

45 min walk??? Get on yer bike

octatonic

Myranda said:

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 can't blame a corporation for leaving things to the last minute when I'm also powerfully last minute myself.

As for reminders and things... I tried that once...

I'd turn off notifications, ignore post-its, or just generally not follow the reminders. After spending hours coming up with schedules that were flexible enough that even if I did procrastinate a bit I'd still be able to follow it.

If I'm honest the experience made me quite depressed...

Trying things once means you haven't really tried, imho.
I mean this as generously as possible- this stuff is partly a choice and partly a habit.
Keep doing it consciously until it becomes automatic- or continue to revel in the chaos- it really is a choice.

I plan ahead and assume that the other party will be crap at this stuff, because most are.
If I am going to suffer because of my own lack of organisation then I do something about it.

My day today will be a series of reminders and alerts fed to me through the day.
Instead of that I could not plan anything and just bounce from task to task in an unstructured way.
I've done this in the past and it is more stressful than doing what I currently do.
Sometimes things do get bounced- that is only natural but as long as the general day's trend is to get things on the list done.
Good luck.

CabbageCat

Emp_Fab said:

Myranda said:

I'd not worry about it Emp, I have a back-up plan. it's noodles and a 45 minute walk, but it should be all good. 

You've taken the gofundme page down.  I wouldn't write off the generosity of folk here just yet.

I think that people are often happy to give to save someone from getting evicted or having a family member put down but might dig a little less deeply to make someone's trip to work a little quicker for a couple of weeks.

I do sympathise with M's situation, it's a pain, but if my money were that tight then I wouldn't even be considering getting the train (or any unnecessary expense) until I had built up a buffer.

Drew_TNBD

Even Devi Ever actually showed her ugly mug in order to extort cash from hundreds of people!!

Myranda

CabbageCat said:

Emp_Fab said:

Myranda said:

I'd not worry about it Emp, I have a back-up plan. it's noodles and a 45 minute walk, but it should be all good. 

You've taken the gofundme page down.  I wouldn't write off the generosity of folk here just yet.

I think that people are often happy to give to save someone from getting evicted or having a family member put down but might dig a little less deeply to make someone's trip to work a little quicker for a couple of weeks.

I do sympathise with M's situation, it's a pain, but if my money were that tight then I wouldn't even be considering getting the train (or any unnecessary expense) until I had built up a buffer.

Its an hour and eight minutes by train before the 45 minute walk - no train means no work so not an unnecessary expense... which means there's no possible buffer to build (not going to work would be no money)...

The GoFundME was less than completely serious but might have made life for the next two weeks less crappy 13-14 hour days with no real funds for decent food. But it is only two weeks

Myranda

octatonic said:

Myranda said:

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 can't blame a corporation for leaving things to the last minute when I'm also powerfully last minute myself.

As for reminders and things... I tried that once...

I'd turn off notifications, ignore post-its, or just generally not follow the reminders. After spending hours coming up with schedules that were flexible enough that even if I did procrastinate a bit I'd still be able to follow it.

If I'm honest the experience made me quite depressed...

Trying things once means you haven't really tried, imho.
I mean this as generously as possible- this stuff is partly a choice and partly a habit.
Keep doing it consciously until it becomes automatic- or continue to revel in the chaos- it really is a choice.

I plan ahead and assume that the other party will be crap at this stuff, because most are.
If I am going to suffer because of my own lack of organisation then I do something about it.

My day today will be a series of reminders and alerts fed to me through the day.
Instead of that I could not plan anything and just bounce from task to task in an unstructured way.
I've done this in the past and it is more stressful than doing what I currently do.
Sometimes things do get bounced- that is only natural but as long as the general day's trend is to get things on the list done.
Good luck.

Perhaps poor choice of words for the sake of brevity - I did try more than once... I just couldn't seem to make it habit 

Ravenous

Myranda said:

...and I don't have the funds left for two weekly season tickets...

Decent companies will help their employees out with an advance/small loan - yes I have seen this happen.  Even though you're "just" a placement, they already know you so might be willing to help (if you can ask nicely in a way that doesn't look like whining).

So I'd suggest that.

HAL9000

Doing stuff now saves time later.
Procrastination saves time NOW!

Ravenous

HAL9000 said:

Doing stuff now saves time later.
Procrastination saves time NOW!

It takes longer to do things quickly, It's more expensive to do things cheaply, It's more democratic to do them in secret

(Sir Humphrey, mid-'80s)