“Huh?! What’s tha-” I say, my phone frantically buzzing beside my head.
Still rather groggy from my afternoon nap, I reach over to answer.
“Oh.. uh… hello?”
“Guess what?”
“Uh… what?” I say, as I recognize my wife’s voice.
“I thought Leah’s flight arrived at 6pm. But it’s actually arriving at 3.55pm!”
“OH!” I say. Now sitting bolt upright.
“That means I’ll have to pick her up by myself. So we can’t all go like we planned.”
“Sorry, my mistake,” she laments.
“That’s OK,” I say, as I scramble for my keys and wallet, “these things happen.”
“Yeah,” Vicki sighs, “but at least ONE of us will be there.”
“Yep! OK, better dash then…”
I hang up. Race out the door. Jump in the car. And pray the speed cameras aren’t operating today.
55-minutes later I’m pulling into a parking space at the airport.
I can hear the screaming of the turboprops from my daughter’s plane that’s only just arrived.
I bolt in the terminal building. Positioning myself casually against a pillar.
Hoping the beads of sweat wouldn’t give away that I almost missed greeting my youngest daughter.
Phew!
I couldn’t manage this kind of last-minute thing if it was happening every day.
But for one-off times like this…
I’m thankful for the flexibility of having my own business.
But, I tell you what…
Things become a whole lot less flexible when there’s deadlines.
Sometimes they’re self-imposed ones. Like getting my coaching audio finished on time.
Or they’re for client work.
My strategy is to never arrive at the day of a deadline with work still needing to be done.
Although, sometimes even the best organization can’t account for the unexpected.
So it means finishing just as the last grains of sand fall in the hourglass.
If this is regularly happening, I’ve learned that it’s a sign of something else at play.
Namely: good old procrastination.
Which comes from fear of failure.
But I’ve found ways to shake it off.
One of the best for me is just “doing the damn thing!”
In other words… feeling Resistance… and pushing back.
The next time it becomes just a little less uncomfortable.
The sign of a good habit forming.