July 8, 2026–If the early birds gets the worm, they can have it.
I’ve noticed a pattern where people get punished for completing a task too soon, and suffer no consequences for finishing a thing too late, or not at all. This chaps me, because I love getting projects done on time and crossing them off my lists.
Exhibit A:
Someone posted recently they have never responded to a solicitation for jury duty–never replied, called, or filled out the form. That whole concept of thumbing your nose at county law enforcement terrifies me. And yet, this person claimed they did exactly that with no repercussions.
Another time, I heard a conference speaker give out a challenge that when we got back to the office to simply sweep every paper piled our desk into the trash can, and see if anyone in the organization would notice. I never had the copper/zinc orbs to do this, but I felt it would be true. Purging paperwork is like cleaning the closet or emptying the bookshelf–we just cannot do it even though we have not worn paisley pants or read Megatrends in decades.
Got me to thinking of areas where I have procrastinated with zero consequences.
RSVPs
How many RSVPs have you ignored? Was there any pushback?
Nope. You either showed up or you didn’t.
I find it cute how event organizers still believe people will bother to respond. Caterers just compensate by preparing meals for 20% more guests than expected.
On the other hand, I have many concrete examples of finishing a project before deadline, only to be punished for doing too much, too soon.
For example, I have assembled programs for events and turned them in early, only to be told that the personnel had changed or the schedule changed. Now, instead of redoing those three times, I wait until the last days before I begin.
I know you all have got caught in this one, where you buy tickets to a show as soon as they are available, only to have a conflict on the show date. Or your friends who swore they wanted to go, decide to bail out. No refunds, right? Now I wait until showtime and pick up tickets from someone else who bought them too early.
And the one early/late thing that I will not forgive is when you show up for a meeting 10 minutes early, only to have the presenter make you wait until the latecomers arrive 20 minutes later. I now find that if I show up 20 minutes late, I am right on time, plus I don’t have to listen to the introductions of local dignitaries.
One case of being early cost me $170. This year I filed my state sales tax reports weeks early, since I usually missed the deadline. I got a letter from the Comptroller penalizing me $170 because I mistakenly filed for the upcoming year. It would have only cost me $50 if I hadn’t filed at all.
The ultimate flex might be not just procrastinating, but in putting off a task forever. As in not responding to anyone’s request for anything.
I am not infrequently asked by well-meaning people to show up for some event I do not wish to attend, or to write an article about their business, band, or book. The old eager-to-please version of me used to feel guilty and would either do it or try to come up with a polite way to turn down unreasonable requests.
Now, I just don’t respond. It’s less stressful.
For me, anyway.