The Importance of Being Early

Posted: January 04, 2013

[caption id="attachment_11082" align="alignright" width="400"]Image: Dumb Little Man[/caption]Arriving early and getting things done early can have advantages that you may not realize. A couple of the biggest are saving time and stress reduction. If you're habitually late with and for everything, consider the following benefits of being early – you may want to give it a try.

We all notice the people who are always late.

There’s no hiding it when a report is handed in after a deadline. Or when the same person arrives late for meetings every day.

But what about those who are habitually on time? Those who walk in at 9, avoiding trouble by the skin of their teeth?

What benefits could being early possibly give to the 'okay' time keepers?

The fact is that being early actually saves time – here’s why.

Getting work done early...

... Gives you a chance to fix mistakes

Getting work done early gives you the opportunity to get some distance, meaning you are more likely to pick up on mistakes or biases.

Writing in panic mode just before a deadline means not only are more mistakes made, but there is no chance to put them right.

... Reduces stress

We’ve all had times we’ve stressed about a piece of work for weeks before writing it hurriedly in the last couple of days.

The way I look at it now is that, if it has the potential to only take a couple of days, why not just write it and relax the rest of the time? Think of it as doing your future self a favor.

... Gets it done while it's fresh

There’s nothing like getting something done while it’s fresh. Writing up formal appraisal notes straight after a meeting means you can rely on your memory as well as your notes. Writing them a week later means a risk of not being able to decipher your scribbles.

If you hand in an expense report as soon as you return from a business trip it means there’s less chance of you losing the important documents and receipts.

"But I work best under pressure"

Getting work done early is very rare in today’s workplace.

There’s almost a badge of honor awarded to those who pull passable work out of the bag at the last minute, spouting the classic phrase 'I work best under pressure.'

My first thought is always “but how much better could you have done it if you’d given yourself more time?”

My advice to those who work better under pressure is to manipulate the situation to put pressure on yourself… but still get it done early!

Scheduling your whole day or week’s tasks is a quick way to realise you can’t afford to procrastinate on any of them, and means that a report that could be stretched out to take a whole morning when you’re not considering other demands will get done just as well in two hours.

Read the complete article The Importance of Being Early at Dumb Little Man.