What’s important for you, isn’t necessarily important for me. What’s urgent for you, isn’t necessarily urgent for me.
Similarly, what’s not important for you, may actually be important for me. What’s not urgent for you, may be urgent for me.
I think we’ve all experienced times where we’ve felt the urgency, or the importance of someone else’s priorities. The pressures of someone else’s deadline. The pains of someone else’s mistakes. But the truth is, none of us have the same priorities, and yet, we all have each other’s priorities.
It was once said, “poor planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part.” But when you’re part of a team, poor planning on your part very often constitutes an emergency for everyone else. Not by choice, but by reaction. Your failure to meet the needs of your team because you failed to plan your time properly causes everyone else to scramble to fix the problem for the sake of the team, or for the benefit of the project.
Is there a solution? Well the simple answer is, “start planning your time properly.”
The harder solution is, “be more transparent with your team, and plan things together, and meet your deadlines.”
The best solution is,
[pullquote1 quotes=”true” align=”center” variation=”copper”]If you’re part of a team, and someone else is counting on you, there are only two right times to do your work: yesterday, and now.[/pullquote1]