Rushing and Impatience Are Bad Productivity Strategies.

I will start with the Message in mind:
Impatience is a terrible organizational strategy. Rushing is a really bad productivity strategy. 

Early on a recent Tuesday morning, I was heading out the door to teach Time Management for the Highway Construction Careers Training Program at a local community college.

I love that I get to teach this content to these students, I am so grateful for this opportunity. I have been teaching for this program at this community college for likely 10 years now, and I am glad they keep asking me to come back!  I don’t teach the same Time Management content over and over again to the same group. That seems like the antithesis of time management. I mean, we do often need to relearn lessons all the time, but that does not seem like a good use of our time.  Instead, the students are in a 12-week program, and I get to teach each group of students while they are in the program.

This is a career readiness program for people interested in the trades.  Some of my students are coming back to a classroom setting after a long time out of the classroom setting, so they haven’t thought about studying and time management lately. And some folks, well lets face it, some of us, including my students, have never had the opportunity to learn about time management and productivity, in or out of the classroom.  

When I start our conversation for the day, I ask the class to consider “Why do we need to talk about Time Management?”. As in, why do the organizers of their coursework want them to learn about time management? 

I, of course, think everybody should learn about time management and productivity because come on, it really can make our life better.  You know, productivity is getting the right things done, getting them done well, not doing the wrong things, not wasting our time.  

These students are in a 12-week program.  The rest of their lives did not stop when they signed up to be at this training program from 8-4:30 5 days a week for three months.  They have a lot to juggle.  We talk about time management early in their 12 weeks to help them manage their increased work load and homework. In addition, we talk about time management and productivity on the job, we imagine what that looks like on a construction site, staying on track and on task and on budget for a major project.  Time Management and Productivity matters.

These students will be on construction sites, like in roads and highways, doing their work.  And what I was reminded of that Tuesday morning is that Time Management And Productivity also help keep us safe, like on a construction site.  Or just leaving my house in the morning.

I get to see them again this week, for 4 hours of Stress Management, so I am absolutely bringing this up!

And here is the learning:  Rushing to get things done, or being impatient and therefore careless to get things done may look like time management and productivity, but they typically have the complete opposite desired effect. I can't say that unilaterally. I try not to say never or always, but I will say often, very often, when we rush because we are trying to get something done faster, it has the opposite effect that we were hoping for.

For example:

I was talking to my counselor the Monday before the Tuesday class, and he asked how I was feeling about the stressors in my life. And, truly, I feel pretty good.  There is a lot going on, but most days, I feel like I have planned for all the expected things.

I have planned for all of the expected things. Because they're expected. So of course I've planned for the expected things. I'm a planner, it's what I do. It's probably what you do, too. 

HOWEVER, It's the unexpected things that trip us up. And here's the deal. When we rush, when we are impatient and start getting careless, that is when unexpected things can happen.

For example, I was on fire that morning heading to class, and I mean that in a good way.  I had planned ahead, the bags were packed, it was a many bag day. I had extra clothing packed for my different responsibilities, I had a healthy breakfast and lunch packed. My materials were ready for my presentation.  I was on time and even a little early.  I was good!

And as I was walking out my back door with the last load of things, I caught the back of my foot on the storm door. It closed faster than I expected and it whacked the back of my ankle.

Because... I was rushing. I was thinking ok, last trip, my mind was already in the car and on the drive, so I went flying out the back door with my arms full of stuff, congratulating myself on doing all the things. etc. 

And I should know better, because I am not always a graceful person.  I have learned to slow down and be more careful and mindful in my 50+ years.  I move quickly most days but I try not to rush!

Thankfully, my impatience and carelessness did not completely derail my day or at least morning. But yes, that could happen.  All the good planning in the world can't triumph over a self caused emergency.  I could likely get on track quicker, go to Plan B, etc., if necessary, and those topics have been articles and episodes before now. But luckily, I did not have to stop and do the first aid on an ankle wound, thank goodness. 

AND, I was reminded as I drove to class, I need to mention the importance of NOT rushing or being impatient, even if we think it will help us save time or get more things done.

Because this is an example of how rushing or being impatient can have the opposite effect than what I intended.  Being impatient or careless is a bad productivity strategy. With some of my organizing clients, we are undoing chaos and disarray that occurs due to impatience or rushing or being careless.  Obviously, I am not judging, because yes that happens to all of us!

But things get missed, or fall to the ground, or get lost or get broken.  And now we - all of us! - have accidents and mistakes that happened because we were careless, and we have to clean them up before we can actually get to the physical organizing of things to make life better.

We have to catch up, we have to clean up, we have to put out fires. Fires, unfortunately, occasionally of our own making. We caused the drama, we caused the accident, we caused the emergency. From lack of planning or from being impatient and then being careless and rushing.

Sometimes we need to take more time to save time in the long run.  We need to do a little less so that we can do a little more later. 

Both of those things need to be true. Taking a few extra moments as we plan and implement.  Whether it's getting out the door for your next appointment in a timely manner or sending an email and making sure to reread it before you actually hit send. 

Taking that extra minute. I did that yesterday, sending out an email to one of my students. I had put it together, edited it a bit, and then stepped away, and then it was time for me to leave. And I could have just hit send and left, but I did not. I took the extra 30 seconds to reread it one more time to make sure that it actually made sense, that it actually said what I wanted it to say. I wanted to be encouraging. I wanted him to know that I absolutely believed in his abilities and capabilities and that he needed to work a little harder this week on meeting some deadlines. And he and I both should expect clear communications so I took the moment, deciding to be careful and not careless, and did it right. 

Looping it back to my students, tomorrow when I talk to them about Stress Management, I will also add an addendum about how being impatient or rushing often increases stress and decreases productivity.  If my tripping out the back door isn't a strong enough example of why we shouldn't rush, consider the impact of construction workers if they were to rush or be impatient in their work. 

Their job sites are risky, so we hope for their sake and the sake of their co-workers that they don't rush without thinking through their work.  And, all of us driving the roads or living in the buildings they build would advocate for safety and patience as well. And if we can see the point when we talk about construction, I hope we can see the point when we consider our day to day work and personal lives as well.

Let’s slow down for just a minute and be intentional. Because Rushing and Impatience Are Bad Productivity Strategies!