When you start a new project, figure out what tasks in that project will require help from other people. Make your first priority be contacting those people and getting them to do their part in it.
It's very, very tempting to leave the part that requires others for later. Resist this temptation. If you run low on time, you can push yourself to get more done. You can work harder or stay late to finish what you need to. It isn't fair to expect others to do so because you waited, and they might not be willing or able.
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4 comments:
This is such good advice! I'm super guilty of this one. I prefer working alone to working with others (usually, anyway), so I do the easy part I can do myself first and then I'm like, "Oh. Crap."
By the time I'm done with my part, there's still plenty of time to finish the project (in my mind), but other people are often surprisingly hard to pin down.
I have to remind myself of this every single time it comes up. I plead and bargain with myself. "Can I just do this one little part first?" I think a big part of it is wanting the instant gratification of success. When you send out a request to someone else, there is almost never instant gratification.
Good advice, Michael. I'm enjoying your blog posts.
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